Chaos, Racism, and Higher Education: Why the Conditions of Higher Education Matter to Racial Equity

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 5:10 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in Higher Education (Table 8)

Abstract

Scholars who study race(ism) in higher education have come to deeply understand the social constructions of race(ism) that create different outcomes and experiences for racialized people. Few scholars, however, have considered the process of race(ism) as an interaction between individuals and social contexts—much less provide templates for understanding such a process. Using theories from physics, specifically chaos theory, we contemplate ways to better understand the system and interactions within the system that (re)create race(ism). In doing so we model how the physical world may inform the social world to make better sense of race(ism) in higher education.

Authors

• Rachelle Winkle-Wagner, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Ashton R. Cooper, University of Cincinnati