This masterclass was recorded on December 31, 2022, my last day as David Lam Chair in Multicultural Education. It presents a social cartography of stacked toxic challenges faced by Indigenous, Black and People of Color (IBPOC) navigating what Sarah Ahmed has called “the will to diversity in academia” (Ahmed, 2012; 2022). Drawing on Sarah Ahmed’s work, as well as other scholars who have taken the “affective turn” in social critique, in this presentation I argue that the institutional will to diversity is not a will or commitment to interrupting the naturalization and normalization of colonialism and/or white supremacy.
This presentation was created for colleagues who identify as IBPOC as a way to visibilize the complexities, paradoxes, risks, costs, burdens and price we pay as we navigate academic spaces where the naturalization and normalization of colonialism and cultural supremacy are uninterrupted. Since this masterclass was created specifically for an IBPOC audience, it will use language and analyses that may be triggering, or cause cognitive and emotional dissonance, to people who do not identify as IBPOC. If you want to watch this presentation and you are not IBPOC, I ask you to take a step back to observe any resistance, anxiety or discomfort that may emerge for you. If you would like to explore what this discomfort, anxiety and/or resistance can teach you, there is a list of resources that can support you under “resources” below.
David Lam Chair Report 2022 (PDF)
UBC report from the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force (PDF)
Resources
Resources for both IBPOC and non-IBPOC people
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- Complaint! by Sarah Ahmed (book 2022)
- On Being Included: Racism and diversity in institutional life by Sarah Ahmed (book 2012)
- The Enduring, Invisible, and Ubiquitous Centrality of Whiteness by Kenneth V. Hardy (Eds.) (book 2022)
- Unpayable Debt by Denise Ferreira da Silva (book 2022)
- The White Saviour Industrial Complex (OpEd, 2012)
- The Equity Myth: Racialization and Indigeneity at Canadian Universities by Frances Henry, et. al. (Eds) (book 2017)
- The End of Diversity by Rinaldo Walcott (article 2019)
- Neoliberal Multiculturalism and Western Exceptionalism: The cultural politics of the West by Sunera Thobani (article 2018)
- “We Are All for Diversity, but . . .”: How Faculty Hiring Committees Reproduce Whiteness and Practical Suggestions for How They Can Change (article 2017)
- Conceptualizing Race Critical Research by Sharon Stein and Vanessa Andreotti (article 2018)
- Towards Braiding by Elwood Jimmy, Vanessa Andreotti and Sharon Stein (book 2019)
- Generational Differences in Racial Equity Work by Dax-Devlon Ross (OpEd 2021)
- When Black Women Go From Pet to Threat by Zora (OpEd 2020)
- Building Resilient Organizations: Toward joy and durable Power in a time of crisis by Maurice Mitchell (OpEd 2022)
- On Being a Black Women in the Non-Profit Sector (OpEd 2023)
Resources for IBPOC people
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- Elite Capture: How the powerful took over identity politics by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò (book 2022)
- Refusing the University by Sandy Grande (book chapter 2019)
- Identifying white mediocrity and know-your-place aggression: A form of self-care by Koritha Mitchell (article 2021)
- Racial Trauma: Theory, Research, and Healing: Introduction to the Special Issue (Special Journal Issue 2019)
- The Trickiness of Settler Colonialism: Indigenous women administrators’ experiences of policy in Canadian Universities by Candace Brunette (PhD Thesis 2021)
- (Critical Ethnic Studies) Intellectual by Nick Mitchell (article 2015)
- White Whispers 2: An Asian experience by Karen V. Lee (article 2021)
- What Happened When I Tried to Carry the World on My Back by Mary Annaïse Heglar (OpEd 2022)
- Black women and the glass cliff: ‘I was supposed to bring some kind of Black Girl Magic’ by L’oreal Thomson Payton (OpEd 2022)
- Being-in-the-Room Privilege: Elite Capture and Epistemic Deference by Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò (OpEd 2022)
- A New Immigrant Experience of Navigating Multiculturalism and Indigenous Content in Teacher Education by Lilach Marom (article 2017)
- Notes And Resources On Anti-Blackness And Racism in US Higher Education (Educational Resource 2022)
- What if Justice is Getting in the Way? Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Bayo Akomolafe (recorded conversation)
Resources for non-IBPOC people
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- White supremacy culture by Tema Okun (educational resource)
- White Allies, Let’s Be Honest About Decolonization: I want to experience the solidarity of allied actions that refuse fantastical narratives of commonality and hope by Kyle Powys Whyte (OpEd 2018)
- Teaching while Black: Racial dynamics, evaluations, and the role of White females in the Canadian academy in carrying the racism torch by Beverly-Jean Daniel (article 2018)
- White Resentment in Settler Society by Carol Schick (article 2014)
- The Spectacle of Reconciliation: On (the) unsettling responsibilities to Indigenous peoples in the academy by Michelle Daigle (article 2019)
- Whiteness-at-work in white serving institutions by Orkideh Mohajeri, and Naomi Nishi (article 2022)
- White Psychodrama by Liam Kofi Bright (forthcoming article)
- How well-intentioned white male physicists maintain ignorance of inequity and justify inaction by Mellissa Dancy and Apriel Hodai (article 2022)
- White Benevolence: Racism and colonial violence in the helping professions by Melina Kristensen (Eds.) (book 2022)
- Just the Servant: An Intersectional Critique of Servant Leadership by Helena Liu (article 2019)
- Conspicuous consumption: economies of virtue and the commodification of Indigeneity by Elwood Jimmy and Vanessa Andreotti (article 2021)
- Whiteness, Power and the Politics of Demographics in the Governance of the Canadian Academy by Genevieve Fuji Johnson and Robert Howsam (article 2020)
- 50 Reasons Why There Are No Māori in Your Science Department by Tara McAllister (article 2022).
- Unsettling the University: Confronting the Colonial Foundations of US Higher Education by Sharon Stein (book 2022)
- Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome by Ruchika Tulshyan and Jodi-Ann Burey (OpEd 2021)
- The Dangers of Courage Culture and Why Brene Brown Isn’t For Black Folk (OpEd 2021)
- Robert’s Rules: Why we can’t make change until we change the system by Marty Wilder (OpEd 2020)
- How To Outsmart your Unconscious Bias by Valerie Alexander (TedTalk 2018)