Plantation Politics: A Framework for Cultivating Antiracist and Equitable Higher Education Systems

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

This session introduces a plantation politics framework for identifying white supremacy’s influence on traditionally white higher education institutions, particularly the ways those seeking to tackle inequities often end up perpetuating them by not directly addressing the root(s) of the problem. Specifically, participants will explore who and what the barriers are to humanizing processes within higher education, and how an understanding of plantation politics might help us effectively imagine and organize toward emancipatory futures. The overall goal of the session is to help participants envision how they can contribute to the canon of research that utilizes a plantation politics framework to uncover how white supremacy and anti-Blackness were, and continue to be central to the inner workings of higher education systems.

Sub Unit

• Division J - Postsecondary Education

Chairs

• Toby S. Jenkins, University of South Carolina

• Saran Stewart, University of Connecticut

Speakers

• Franklin A. Tuitt, University of Connecticut

• Bianca C. Williams, Graduate Center - CUNY

• Dian D. Squire, Loyola University Chicago