“I Belong as Much as I Want”: Changing Perceptions of Belonging in a Racialized Organization

• In Event: Racial Integration, Belonging and Gaps Across States, Districts and Schools

Abstract

Drawing on theories of racialized organizations, inhabited institutionalism, and integration, this qualitative study investigates how elite undergraduates who did not initially find belonging on their residential campus adapted throughout college, both in how they defined and sought belonging. Within this PWI, students’ sense of belonging initially relied on racialized norms. However, as COVID-19 precautions altered structural conditions each semester, students developed new ways of inhabiting, resisting, and reforming their sense of belonging. Our findings argue that students who do not reflect the core organizational context must work harder to feel and frame their sense of belonging, ultimately prioritizing social belonging over campus community belonging.

Authors

• Ingrid A. Nelson, Bowdoin College

• Fiona Bor, Bowdoin College