Negating, Reproducing, and Negotiating Around Whiteness: A Study of Faculty Hiring

• In Event: Faculty Hiring: Gender, Race, and Connections

Abstract

Faculty hiring can provide an opportunity to diversify the academy and expand the production of knowledge, but given the history of the academy that centers on white masculine and Western power, it may be unsettling to some. This critical qualitative inquiry focuses on understanding the mere gestures and nods to expand or maintain departments and disciplines during faculty hiring. The significance of this study is its attention to the power faculty search committees exercise. Findings show that even aspirational search committees often adopted ideas or mechanisms that perpetuated whiteness, masculinity, and Western paradigms. Thus, this study offers insights into challenging long-standing hiring practices to create a more just evaluative process.

Authors

• Leslie D. Gonzales, Michigan State University

• Jesenia Rosales, Michigan State University

• Naseeb Kaur Bhangal, Michigan State University

• Chastity Stokes, Michigan State University