The importance of Black spaces in white academia

In 2009, I walked into a class called Introduction to African American Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. This course was the only one taught at this institution to help us understand how African American students had been educated historically in the United States. In the class, I met four Black ​​women who were also​​ going through their doctoral journeys. We began a friendship that has since lasted more than a decade. For me, this class also provided an opportunity to meet other students who shared scholarly and intellectual interests in a very white space. As an ​​Ecuadorian-American woman who identifies as Afro-descendant and was born and raised in New York City, my relationship with race is rooted in the knowledge that anti-Black racism is a specific form of racism that often becomes lost in notions of diversity. Thus, to be entrenched in Black scholarship within a white space was important for my spirit.

In predominantly white institutions (PWIs), Black spaces where Black scholarship is cultivated are that much more important but, unfortunately, very scarce. Classrooms can be Black spaces where Black scholarship is intentionally constructed. I acknowledged this class, the Introduction to African American Education, as a Black space and also as a space that cultivated Black scholarship. It was taught by a scholar and historian who also identified as a Black​ woman and the majority of students in the class identified as Black. Being in a space that elevated Blackness to an accurate perspective and not one filled with deficits and lies countered some of the effects we ​​were all feeling at a PWI.

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Despite the various contributions of Black scholars to our understanding of social life globally and in the United States, Black scholarship and Black scholars remain vulnerable to epistemological attacks, particularly in white spaces. “Black scholars...are marginalised based both on their race and on their research on Black social realities...[and are] socially located as less powerful, less knowledgeable...​less acceptable and — more broadly —rather untrustworthy in relation to white scholars,” Penelope Muzanenhamo and Rashedur Chowdhury argue in their 2021 article on epistemic injustice. Thus, attacks on Black scholars and Black scholarship in white spaces are consistent with white supremacist and anti-Black logic, and they are unfortunately typical in higher education.

I argue that Black spaces, while not serving all members of a post-secondary campus, should not be intended to do so given the resource deprivation experienced by Black​​ people in predominantly white spaces. This resource deprivation results in epistemological deprivation experienced by Black scholars, to the detriment of the whole campus community. I call on higher education and student affairs (HESA) administrators to add Black epistemological inclusion as a value​​ toward building more equitable and more just environments.

Higher education leaders play a critical role in ​​either supporting or defunding Black spaces, since Black spaces are often a source of organisational conflict for HESA administrators who experience scarcity of resources and space. Using BlackCrit theory, which centres Blackness and Black ​​people in critical race theory and explains the particular ways racism affects Black ​​people in the United States, HESA administrators can learn how Black spaces on their campuses contribute to Black epistemological inclusion and explore their significance to Black scholarship.​​

These recommendations for Black spaces are offered in the spirit of hope, which is critical to drive change — or, if no change occurs, to ensure we are not replicating any systems of domination. In higher education, “critical hope reflects the ability to realistically assess one’s environment through a lens of equity and justice while also envisioning the possibility of a better future”. The following are suggestions for HESA professionals and leaders to build Black spaces committed to Black epistemological inclusion and the development of Black scholarship at PWIs – and other institutions such as Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) – to ​​counter the devaluation of Black students in higher education.

•HESA professionals and leaders should adopt a BlackCrit perspective to analyse Black spaces and their role in contributing to Black epistemological inclusion. This is especially salient in PWIs. Additionally, HESA professionals at other types of institutions (such as minority-serving institutions (MSIs)) could consider BlackCrit perspectives in their work to ensure that Black students, administrators and faculty are being served. Applying racially and culturally relevant lenses and perspectives of minoritised populations within MSIs would prevent a flattening of various identities and the development of a “minority” monolith.

•HESA professionals and leaders should centre Black epistemological inclusion in conversations about diversity. Practices related to diversity are more harmful to Black scholarship and Black scholars than they are helpful ​​because they typically erase the experiences of Black​​ people. Centring Black scholarship and valuing Black epistemological inclusion involves two things: (1) recognising that Black epistemological exclusion exists in white spaces such as PWIs and (2) moving past the understanding that racial conflict is largely interpersonal and individual and instead focusing on institutional and structural racism.

•HESA professionals and leaders should explore existing Black spaces on campuses. Where are they? Who uses them? Black spaces provide a place for refuge from larger white spaces. HESA professionals should protect ​​these spaces by ensuring their existence and providing them with resources. Additionally, faculty or administrators who work within Black spaces supporting Black epistemological inclusion should be given some release from their day-to-day employment activities.

•HESA professionals and leaders should document Black epistemological deprivation. This includes a lack of Black studies departments, Black faculty and Black HESA administrators. In PWIs that already have dedicated Black spaces, HESA professionals could document how ​​these spaces are funded in relation to other spaces or​​ services on campus. Are they being equitably funded and supported? Where are the disparities and what are the plans to ameliorate them?

•HESA professionals and leaders should support the liberatory and visionary needs of Black students, Black faculty and Black HESA professionals. Black spaces prevent Black epistemological deprivation. They demonstrate to Black scholars that their knowledge is valued. Within Black spaces, Black scholarship is cultivated, but so is hope ​​because plans and activities geared ​​towards liberation from white supremacy are acknowledged and developed.

Blanca Elizabeth Vega is an associate professor in educational leadership at Montclair State University.

Excerpted from Black Scholarship in a White Academy: Perseverance in the Face of Injustice, edited by Robert T. Palmer, Alonzo M. Flowers III, and Sosanya Jones. Copyright 2023. Published with permission of Johns Hopkins University Press.

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