Perceptions of Black faculty encounters with racism through a collaborative autoethnographical lens: CRT and moral reasoning perspectives

Abstract

Foreign-born scholars as allies from non-advantaged minoritized groups have historically provided critical insights about the racism that is directed at Black people in a racially driven U.S. society. The current collaborative autoethnography is based on the intersecting paths of three university faculty, a Black female scholar and two international J-1 scholars, who documented through personal narratives the racism that is directed at Black faculty at PWIs, drawing from critical race and moral reasoning interpretative frameworks. Building on previous research, the narratives shed light on how anti-Black racism persists at PWIs in the form of micro-aggressions and race-based hostility and that humanizing reparation efforts are warranted but may not be sufficient to ensure comprehensive change. Future research must explore the potential impact of group action initiatives among BIPOC and other minoritized faculty groups (national, international) to promote faculty protections in general while challenging anti-Black racism specifically.

Keywords:

• Critical race theory
• collaborative autoethnography
• Black faculty
• moral reasoning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sharolyn D. Pollard-Durodola

Sharolyn D. Pollard-Durodola, EdD is a Professor of English Language Learning in the Department of Early Childhood, Multilingual, and Special Education at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Her scholarship focuses on enhancing the language and literacy development of multilingual learners during the early childhood years and investigating how to improve the quality of language/literacy practices of teachers to better serve the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students and families.

İkbal Tuba Şahin-Sak

İkbal Tuba Şahin-Sak, PhD is an associate professor of Early Childhood Education in School of Education at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, Turkey. She has worked as a preschool teacher for two years. Her research areas are school readiness, men in early childhood education, classroom management, developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) and anti-bias education.

Ramazan Sak

Ramazan Sak, PhD is an associate professor of Early Childhood Education in School of Education at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, Turkey. He has worked as a preschool teacher for four years. His research areas are men in early childhood education, child-centered education, early childhood curriculums and anti-bias education.