Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Who Feels It Knows It! Alterity, Identity and ‘Epistemological Privilege’: Challenging White Privilege from a Black Perspective Within the Academy

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Doing Equity and Diversity for Success in Higher Education

Abstract

The chapter considers some of the contemporary issues faced by Black academics, denoting our constant struggles for equal and fair treatment, thereby interrogating and exposing the centrality of Whiteness; that which requires Black voices to be at the forefront of discussions regarding race, representation and belonging. This enables us to consider and firmly locate the ‘nebulous’ concepts of ‘whiteness and white privilege’ in socio-cultural, racial, and historical contexts. The suggestion is that when negotiating identity through the lens of ‘curricular decolonisation’ or ‘equitable inclusion’, only ‘white knowledges’ seem to matter in a system that was deliberately set up this way. A system that continues to privilege this discrete White racial group, within Higher Education (HE) Institutions that are in too many instances confidence draining and soul destroying work environments for Black academics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    This speaks to a methodological approach that utilises the biographical information I have collated from reasoning with fellow Black academics that cannot be reduced to any orthodox interviewing method. This is because it is rooted in Rastafari reasoning which uses the notion of ‘overstanding’ as opposed to understanding so the issue is considered from all angles. See Henry (2020: 62) for an explanation of this concept.

  2. 2.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/18/whites-can-black-wish-says-lecturers-union/

  3. 3.

    The rationale behind ‘downpressor’ is in line with ‘overstanding’ as Rastafari teach us that an enemy only ‘presses you down’.

References

  • Bhopal, K. (2018). White privilege: The myth of a post-racial society. London: Policy Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cleaver, E. (1990). As crinkly as yours. In A. Dundes (Ed.), Mother wit from the laughing barrel. Jackson/London: University of Mississippi Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dotson, K. (2011). Tracking epistemic violence, tracking practices of silencing. Hypatia, 26(2), 236–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dotson, K. (2012). How is this paper philosophy? Comparative Philosophy. 3.1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dove, N. (2019). Race and sex: Growing up in the UK. In M. Busby (Ed.), New daughters of Africa: An international anthology of writing by women of African descent. New York: Myriad.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eze, C. E. (1997). Race and the enlightenment A reader. London: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fujikawa, T. (2008). Whiteness studies in Japan: Types of whiteness, visible and invisible. Journal of History for the Public, 5, 1–13, Department of Occidental history, Osaka University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuller, N. (1984). The united independent compensatory code system concept a textbook/workbook for thought, speech and/or action for victims of racism (white supremacy), USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, R. (2012). The bleaching syndrome: Western Civilisation vis-à-vis Inferiorized people of color. In R. Hall (Ed.), The melanin millennium: Skin color as the 21st century international discourse. Michigan: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry, W. A. (2012). Shades of consciousness: From Jamaica to the UK. In R. Hall (Ed.), The melanin millennium: Skin color as the 21st century international discourse. Michigan: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry, W. A. (2020). Marxism as a reggaematical tool to chant down Babylon! (In development) Journal for Youth Studies, https://www.tandfonline.com.

  • Henry, W. L. (2007). Whiteness made simple: Stepping into the GREY zone. London: Learning By Choice Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keith, M. (1992). Angry writing: (Re)presenting the unethical world of the ethnographer. Society and Space, 10, 551–568.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laing, R. D. (1990). The divided self an existential study in sanity and madness. London: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leary, J. D. (2005). Post traumatic slave syndrome: America’s legacy of enduring injury and healing. Milwaukee: Uptown Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parasecoli, F. (2010). A taste of Louisiana: Mainstreaming Blackness through food in the princess and the frog. Published online: 6 July 2010# Springer Science+ Business Media, LLC 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pete, S. (2018). Meschachakanis, A coyote narrative: Decolonising higher education. In K. G. Bhambra, D. Gebrial, & K. Nişancioğlu (Eds.), Decolonising the university. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reay, D., Hollingworth, S., Williams, K., Crozier, G., Jamieson, F., James, D., & Beedell, P. (2007). A darker shade of pale? Whiteness, the middle classes and multi-ethnic inner city schooling. London: BSA Publications Ltd, 44(6): 1041–1060.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rigby, P. (1996). African images. Oxford: Berg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method and research. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan, S., & Tuana, N. (2008). Race and epistemologies of ignorance. Charlesbourg: Braille Jymico Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Synott, A., & Howes, D. (1996). Canada’s visible minorities: Identity and representation. In V. Amit-Talai & C. Knowles (Eds.), Re-situating identities: The politics of race, ethnicity and culture. Peterborough: Broadview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tate, S. A., & Bagguley, P. (2019). Building the anti-racist university. Oxon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tate, S. A., & Page, D. (2018). Whiteliness and institutional racism: Hiding behind (un)conscious bias. Ethics and Education, 13(1), 141–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ware, V., & Back, L. (2002). Out of whiteness: Color, politics and culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, B. E. (1985). The Psychopathic Racial Personality and Other Essays. Chicago: Third World Press.

    Google Scholar 

Personal Communications

  • • Associate Professor, Taiwo (Anonymised) Email response, 23 April 2019

    Google Scholar 

  • • Dave Thomas, Email Response, 21 April 2019

    Google Scholar 

  • • Dr Anthony, (Anonymised) Email response, 21 April 2019

    Google Scholar 

  • • Dr Deborah Gabriel, Email response, 21 April 2019

    Google Scholar 

  • • Dr Geraldine, (Anonymised) Email response, 22 April 2019

    Google Scholar 

  • • Dr Sireita Mullings-Lawrence, Email response, 22 April 2019

    Google Scholar 

  • • Harvey, (Anonymised) Email response, 22 April 2019

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of West London, London, UK

    William ‘Lez’ Henry

Authors
  1. William ‘Lez’ Henry
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William ‘Lez’ Henry .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Natural Sciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, UK

    Dave S. P. Thomas

  2. Department of Sociology, Durham University, Durham, UK

    Jason Arday

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Henry, W.‘. (2021). Who Feels It Knows It! Alterity, Identity and ‘Epistemological Privilege’: Challenging White Privilege from a Black Perspective Within the Academy. In: Thomas, D.S.P., Arday, J. (eds) Doing Equity and Diversity for Success in Higher Education. Palgrave Studies in Race, Inequality and Social Justice in Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65668-3_22

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65668-3_22

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-65667-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-65668-3

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation