Race, racialization and Indigeneity in Canadian universities

Abstract

This article is based on data from a four-year national study of racialization and Indigeneity at Canadian universities. Its main conclusion is that whether one examines representation in terms of numbers of racialized and Indigenous faculty members and their positioning within the system, their earned income as compared to white faculty, their daily life experiences within the university as workplace, or interactions with colleagues and students, the results are more or less the same. Racialized and Indigenous faculty and the disciplines or areas of their expertise are, on the whole, low in numbers and even lower in terms of power, prestige, and influence within the University.

Keywords:

• Racialization
• Indigeneity
• discrimination
• equity
• marginalization
• neoliberalism

Notes

1. Federal Government documents use the term ‘Aboriginal.’ We, however, prefer to describe this population as ‘Indigenous.’

2. It should be noted that while the census data were sufficient to allow us to disaggregate Indigenous from racialized faculty (reference to in the census as ‘visible minority’), for our survey data, the numbers were too small for us to do the same. Hence, our reference here to racialized faculty is a combination of Indigenous and racialized respondents.

3. Due to limited resources and using an analytic framework that foregrounds race and racism, we were only able to get at social class in relation to tenured versus non-tenured faculty. For basically the same reasons, we were unable to include disability because that data are even more unavailable than for race.

4. Interestingly, the situation has remained about the same and slightly improved for Indigenous faculty.

5. Many of these respondents could have been graduates of a Canadian university, but many were likely foreign hires. This raises concerns about what is happening to Canadian-born racialized doctorates who appear not to be transitioning into the academic labor market. It is a problem seen in other job sectors, and one that is raising concern over potential inequality and alienation from Canadian society (Reitz and Bannerjee 2007).

6. In their study of Black male faculty in white university campuses, Griffin, Ward, and Phillips (2014, 1369) found that their everyday routine experiences not only led to ‘microaggressions,’ but also to psychological states such as ‘imposter syndrome and racial battle fatigue. … Imposter syndrome refers to strong feelings of self-doubt despite one’s intelligence and credentials … while racial battle fatigue marks the physical, mental, and emotional stress that racialized oppression brings forth.’