Unsettling Whiteness

This article explores ways that universities, through policies, practices, and structures embody white supremacy. As an extension of society, where anti-Blackness/Brownness prevails, universities replicate this racism. Despite rhetoric purporting democratic decision-making, academia centers whiteness. In this environment, Black and Brown bodies are forced to squeeze intospaces not conceived for them. When they don’t fit, they are labeled unfit (Ahmed, 2014). The co-authors share through dialogic reconstruction layered accounts of a year-long professional development effort at a public, adult education institution in New York. This series focused on decentering whiteness in academia. Utilizing critical race theory/critical theory frameworks, the authors (the facilitator of these sessions and three faculty from the adult education institution) collectively interrogate the purposes, processes, and results of these sessions in relation to the of role diversity, equity, and inclusion in unsettling whiteness.