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Critical Race Theory Essay

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A further issue to consider when exploring the experiences of black women academics is the academic subject they specialise in and the curriculum of higher education institutions. For example, higher education institutions are often guilty of eurocentrism, the idea or practice of placing Europe at the centre of one’s world view and assuming supremacy of Europe and Europeans over other world cultures (Hall, 1992). This has a damaging effect of the curriculum because it perpetuates social inequity, as students and academics do not see themselves reflected in the curriculum. Critical Race Theory explains the view that race is not biologically grounded and natural but is socially constructed. One tenet of this is counter-storytelling (McCoy, 2006). …show more content…

This indicates that BME staff do not fit into higher education institutions because it is not perceived as their natural environment. Mills (1997) states that ‘the fish do not see the water and whites do not see the racial nature of white polity because it is natural to them, the element in which they move’. This is illustrated in the notion of colour-blindness, which allows people to ignore the racist policies that perpetuate social inequity (DeCuir and Dixson, 1999). For example, despite the increase in BME students, universities remain unchanged with the whiteness of institutions continues to go un-noticed. Simmonds (1997), a black female sociologist, explains ‘in this white world, I am a fresh water fish that swims in sea water. I feel the weight of the water… on my body’. This can be explained through Bourdieu’s notion of Habitus mix-match, where when we do not adapt to a new environment straightaway or fit in, we feel conscious, reflexive and ill at ease (Bourdieu, 1990). This explains the idea of being a fresh water fish in sea water, because they have managed to access positions within academia. However, they are not the normative figure of a white male, challenging the historic stereotype of higher education. Overall, this notion is useful to understanding what it is like to be a black female academic in an unchanged

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