I write you from the Sunken Place

Abstract

Peel popularized the “Sunken Place'' in his 2017 social commentary and film thriller Get Out. This qualitative study utilizes Black Liberation Research Methodology to examine the experiences of Black educators who are Chief Diversity Officers. We present our analysis in a narrative grounded in participant accounts, entitled I write you from the Sunken Place. In an act of bearing witness, our fictional letter draws links between Get Out’s central characters, Andre Hayworth and Chris Washington, and the study’s two participants, to illuminate how the Sunken Place symbolizes what doing racial justice work at predominantly white institutions looks and feels like for Black educators, whether they are CDOs or not. The article closes with a discussion of the implications for this research to support Black educators who advance racial justice in pursuit of their own liberation in and beyond the Ivory Tower.

Keywords:

• Whiteness
• sunken place
• racial justice
• chief diversity officers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chayla Haynes

Chayla Haynes Davison is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration at Texas A&M University. Her research centers on critical and inclusive pedagogy with emphasis on college teaching and faculty development, Black women in higher education and critical race theory and intersectionality methodologies.

Floyd Cobb

Floyd Cobb has over 20 years of experience in P-20 education, having held roles as a faculty member, a classroom teacher, school leader, district curriculum leader, and a statewide policy implementer. He has published numerous articles and book chapters and is the author of the book Belonging Through a Culture of Dignity, which focuses on dignity as a key component of equity implementation.