Full Description
The presence and experiences of Black people at elite universities have been largely underrepresented and erased from institutional histories. This book engages with a collection of these experiences that span half a century and reflect differences in class, gender, and national identifications among Black scholars. By mapping Black people's experiences of studying and teaching at McGill University, this book reveals how the "whiteness" of the university both includes and exceeds the racial identities of students and professors. It highlights the specific functions of Blackness and of anti-Blackness within society in general and within the institution of higher education in particular, demonstrating how structures and practices of the university reproduce interlocking systems of oppression that uphold racial capitalism, reproduce colonial relations, and promote settler nationalism. Critically engaging the work of Black learners, academics, organizers, and activists within this dynamic political context, this book underscores the importance of Black Studies across North America.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Prelude
Finding a Conversation
"Becoming" an Activist
1. Introduction: The University as a Site of Struggle
Settler Colonialism and Education: A Brief Overview
The Canadian University
Whose University? The 1960s
Black Educational Activism and Black (Canadian) Studies
Neoliberalism and the University
On Critical Race Counter-Storytelling
2. Colonial Legacies and Canadian Ivy
Meeting James McGill
Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Economy
The University and its Sponsors
McGill Lineage
3. Trying to Keep Canada White and the Power to Write History
McGill and the Modernization of Québec
Anticolonial Resistance and Black Power
Toward a New Millennium
Conclusion: On a Critical Engagement with History
4. The Idealized Elite University
Class and Class-Minded-ness
"The McGill Bubble": A "Sea of Whiteness"
White Hallways by Cora-Lee Conway
The professoriate
On Mentorship and Academic "Expertise"
The Power of the Prof
Conclusion: Expectations Meet Experience
5. Being and Becoming Black
A Word on Whiteness
Socialization in a Culture of Whiteness
"I didn't know I was Black"
Black Canadian "identity problems"
Managing Interlocking Stereotype Threats
Construction Work
Black as in Radical, Radical as in Rooted
Community and Communing
Conclusion: Navigating and Resisting Racialization and Colonial Ideology
6. Serving Up Resistance
"Diversity & equity" work
Hiring committees
The Africana Studies Committee
Mapping Power and Informed Decision Making
Conclusion
Bibliography
