Addressing race & racism in global higher education through research, teaching, and praxis

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Purpose and Significance
Racism is a global phenomenon in which higher education institutions (HEIs) are complicit. HEIs are not a-historical nor a-political entities, nor are the ramifications of their actions geographically bound. Central to global understandings of higher education (HE) are the ways in which the legacy of colonialism is upheld by these institutions in the form of racism. Mishra Tarc (2013) noted, “race moves under the intensification of transnational flows and connection” (p. 365), rooted in colonialism, the transatlantic slave trade/chattel slavery, racial/ethnic genocide, othering, as well as other historical imperialism that are enmeshed within HE around the world. The implicit suppositions of practitioners and scholars to the contrary, however, have led practitioners at HEIs to perpetuate global social injustices (George Mwangi & Yao, 2020; Viggiano, 2020). Viewing issues of race and racism within HE from a global perspective allows us to analyze the local conceptualization of these issues that also impact People of Color across and beyond borders (Christian, 2019).

The purpose of this panel session is to discuss the necessity of embedding race and racism as topics in international HE research, teaching, and praxis. As HE scholars, we find it imperative that HE stakeholders must examine issues of race and racism in HE along the local-global continuum (Darian-Smith & McCarty, 2017). In doing so, we can better understand how these issues observed and experienced in individual countries are not unique to the local context, but can also provide insight into similar circumstances occurring globally. Although the explicit focus of this panel session is on race and racism, there is also a recognition that racism, in a global context, intersects with colorism, ethnicity, nationalism, nativism, religion, and class, which may surface during the panel given the increased mobility and movement across borders for HE attainment.

Session Structure
To encourage participation and active engagement, presentations will be balanced with ample opportunity for discussion among the attendees. The Chair will begin with a short introduction about the landscape of racism within international higher education. Then each paper presentation will offer examples from research, teaching, partnerships, and praxis that illuminate the challenges and opportunities for racial equity in higher education.

Following presentations, the chair will facilitate a dialogue among panelists and attendees to explore what was shared and engage in (re)imagining higher education for global racial justice. This discussion will be guided by the following activating questions:

1. How do we engage in critical reflexivity as we simultaneously interrogate our complicitness in advancing racism in higher education alongside engagement in anti-racist practice?

2. What anti-racist strategies and frameworks can we share and learn from in response to issues of race and racism in higher education locally and globally?

3. What are opportunities to develop a common language around race and racism that considers the diversity of histories and contemporary realities that shape these constructs and inform higher education practice locally and globally?

4. How do we leverage our collective expertise to develop and apply resistance strategies across global contexts for eradicating racist policies, practices, and ways of knowing and being towards advancing racial equity in global higher education practice and research?

During the session, presenters will discuss ways to create linkages between anti-racist initiatives from multiple perspectives related to research, teaching, and praxis, while decentering whiteness in the imaginations of HE and disrupting racism and racialized disparities as neutral, natural, and normal within HE. Additionally, a goal is to leverage the collective expertise of session participants to interrogate opportunities for resisting policies, practices, and ways of knowing and being that are entrenched in white supremacy, colonialism, and racism in higher education contexts. An ambitious yet desired session outcome will be to develop sustainable strategies for advancing racial equity in global HE teaching, research, and praxis.

Sub Unit

• Higher Education SIG

Chair

• Louise Michelle Vital, Lesley University

Individual Presentations

• Practitioner preparation for addressing race and racism in higher education praxis: Implications for graduate education - Louise Michelle Vital, Lesley University

• Researching in the margins of internationalization: Applying critical ethnographies to advance equity for racialized international students in the global north - Benjamin Denga, University of Alberta

• Rethinking Graduate Education: Preparing Graduate Students for Considering Race and Racism in Global Contexts - Christina W Yao, University of South Carolina

• Understanding black students experiences in global HE: A view from CRT indispensable - Solomon Zewolde, IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

• Better together: Pursuing global racial equity collaborations in higher education - Chrystal A. George Mwangi, George Mason University