Arday Jason - Dismantling race in higher education: racism, whiteness and decolonising the academy

Editors

Jason Arday and Heidi Safia Mirza

Dismantling Race in Higher Education Racism, Whiteness and Decolonising the Academy

In this impressive collection, editors Arday and Mirza tackle the perennial status of racism in the academy. Beyond the common refrain that Whites are the center of the problem, the contributors rightfully focus our efforts at dismantling the ideology of whiteness itself. They argue that decolonizing higher education means confronting the white occupation of academic knowledge and unsettling its grip over mundane as well as high stakes decisions. The authors launch a compelling assault on whiteness that not only grabs our attention, it renews our commitment to democracy and simple decency. Their brave response is a welcomed voice during these challenging times.

Professor Zeus Leonardo, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Arday and Mirza have brought together some of the most exciting and highly respected voices in contemporary anti-racist research. They explore the processes by which a war is being waged to determine the knowledge that universities are allowed to teach and the racialized nature of the staff and student body. This superb collection is a landmark intervention into one of the most important debates of our time. The Worlds universities are becoming a key battleground in the ongoing struggle for racial justice, equity and respect. From Cape Town to Berkeley, Oxford to Sydney, Harvard to Toronto, a battle is being waged for the soul of Higher Education. Minoritized scholars, students and communities are making their voices heard as never before but the forces of repression have many weapons and shamelessly deploy concepts like free speech, choice and meritocracy as loaded devices that camouflage White self-interest behind the hypocrisy of grand-sounding ideas.

Professor David Gillborn, University of Birmingham, UK

This collection is a long awaited and much needed challenge to institutional racism in UK universities. It insists on the necessity for present/future decolonization for racial equality and social justice transformation within these white spaces.

Professor Shirley Anne Tate, Leeds Beckett University, UK

Dismantling Race in Higher Education is a must read edited volume for those individuals who are really interested in understanding the influences of race within the UK higher education enterprise. Both Dr Jason Arday and Professor Heidi Safia Mirza assembled an all-star team of UK race studies scholars and researchers to put this book together. In my opinion, it includes important content that may stimulate a new generation of race studies thought leaders in the UK. This edited volume has immense potential to become a classic text for higher education scholars and researchers throughout the UK higher education system and beyond.

Professor James L. Moore III, The Ohio State University, USA

This collection of essays is a timely intervention given the discussions going on in Whitehall and on campuses about access, equality and the legacy of colonialism and empire in our universities. Whilst of course attention must be paid to who is able to participate in higher education, we must also focus on issues of race within the institutions themselves.

Rt Hon David Lammy MP, Higher Education Minister 200710, House of Commons, UK Parliament

Covering multiple experiences, histories, policies and pedagogies, Dismantling Race is an impressive contribution to scholarship on higher education. Across a set of beautifully curated chapters the imbrication of whiteness in the British Academy is catalogued, reported and explained. Few, having read the book, will doubt that higher education is institutionally racist; and few will doubt the urgency of contemporary decolonizing initiatives.

Professor Robbie Shilliam, Johns Hopkins University, USA

This landmark publication takes on an ambitious project: fiercely critical analyses intertwined with intersectional visions of hope and tools for a different practice. A new generation of critical voices takes us closer to the tipping point where enough =enough can trigger genuine transformation.

Professor Philomena Essed, Antioch University, USA