Campus Architectures of Whiteness and a Pluriversal Sense of Place

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Sites of Struggle, Resistance, and Power: Decolonizing Schools and Universities (Table 9)

Abstract

This paper centers finding from a critical longitudinal qualitative study of students’ experiences with an undergraduate residential learning community focused on intersectionality and social justice. Drawing on decolonial feminist and critical spatial theories, we show how dorm renovations and physical architectural changes shifted residents’ sense of place. In doing so, we theorize the ways in which campus architectures can and do reaffirm and/or disrupt whiteness in university living and learning spaces. Overall, this paper troubles the ways space has often been viewed as an afterthought or neutral container in much research in education to demonstrate how architecture and physical space shapes the experiences and sense of belonging of marginalized students.

Authors

• Alexandra Allweiss, Michigan State University

• Ja'Miya Grace, Michigan State University

• Diamond Howell-Shields, Haverford College

• Carl A. Grant, University of Wisconsin - Madison