Reclaiming Knowledge: Institutionalizing Black Epistemologies and Decolonizing HBCU Curricula

• In Event: AERA Research in Progress Roundtable Session Five
  In Invited Roundtable: Research-in-Progress RT009 (Sunday)

Abstract

This study examines how Black epistemologies—including BlackCrit, Afrocentricity, and African-centered epistemology—can be institutionalized within historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to disrupt Eurocentric curricular dominance. Through interviews with academic department chairs, focus groups with undergraduate students, and document analysis of program curricula, the research investigates the barriers, strategies, and possibilities for embedding Black epistemologies into coursework and pedagogy. Guided by BlackCrit as the primary framework, complemented by Afrocentricity, Afropessimism, and decolonial theory, the study explores how HBCUs can reimagine curricula to affirm Black intellectual traditions. Preliminary findings suggest that despite persistent colonial legacies, faculty and students envision pathways for decolonizing knowledge systems. This research contributes to scholarship on epistemic justice and curriculum transformation in higher education.

Author

• Britt Spears-Rhymes