Whiteness in academia, time to listen, and moving beyond White fragility

Abstract

The months since society observed the horrific, real time murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis have the potential to be transformational in so many areas, including the academy. Many White academics renewed their wokeness, born out of tragedy and pledged to do better. Yet, Dar et al. (2020), in a provoking essay, aptly points to how the academy in general, and business schools in particular, reproduce ideologies that reinforce White supremacy and subordinate people of colour. Although the academy is considered to be an arena where progressive views are fostered (Haynes, 2017), we tend to overlook the performance, networks and power structures of White academics and their White hegemony on a profession that is often held up as steward for racial justice and social change (Hikido and Murray, 2016;Melaku and Beeman, 2020).In the first editorial of a Special Issue on Black Lives Matter (BLM) (see Volume 39, Issue 7), we (Eddy Ng and Andrew Lam) wrote about how Asians are complicit in anti-Black racism. In this second editorial, we (Kim Bates and Eddy Ng), long-time colleagues and friends, reflect on and write about our many conversations on issues of racial justice and fairness in the academy. Our conversations revolve around academics as gatekeepers, our complicity in reproducing Whiteness and what makes us comfortable but reinforces our privilege. We engage in coalition building and engage in micropolitics to influence each other and resist change, to the injury of Blacks, racialized minorities and low status groups. Social science has helped us become cognizant of our biases and flaws, and humanities can guide us to become better humans. The future of the academy as a catalyst for progress and change lies squarely in our own hands.

Supporting diverse health leadership requires active listening, observing, learning and bystanding

“…Focusing our research methods in this manner allowed the project team to invert a publishing power structure that exists in academia, wherein publications are produced from a place of power and as a result do not represent the experiences of those who have been marginalized. Although progressive views can be fostered in academic literature, academia often reproduces "ideologies that reinforce White supremacy and subordinate people of colour" (Bates and Ng, 2021). Given that most academics in global North are white, the voices we wanted to hear from were not found in the academy, but they were active on Twitter.…”

To be accountable: The whiteness of feminist organisation studies

“…In organisation studies, scholars are beginning to reflect on whiteness in organisation studies and organisational practices (e.g. Bates and Ng, 2021;Grimes, 2002;Hunter et al, 2010;Liu and Baker, 2016;Liu and Pechenkina, 2016;MacAlpine and Marsh, 2005;Nkomo and Al Ariss, 2014;Samaluk, 2014). But much less attention has been given to white feminism and white femininities (see Liu, 2020;Swan, 2010Swan, , 2017 for exceptions).…”

Ambivalent borders and hybrid culture: The role of culture and exclusion in historical European discourses of migration

“…While mobility via the Erasmus programme can be accessed by taking up an apprenticeship, the European Erasmus scheme primarily targets and benefits those with access to academia and the arts. Indeed, these are spaces which are heavily mediated by class and race (Arday and Mirza, 2018; Bates and Ng, 2021; Sang and Calvard, 2019). Such cultural policies thus perpetuate political constructions of Europe as spaces which largely enable the free mobility of a certain class (which has racialised implications), while pursuing a hostile migration agenda to those who fall outside of this category.…”