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Cited by 95Critical Race Theory in EducationHigher Education Research StudiesRacial and Ethnic Identity Research

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Historically White Colleges and Universities: The Unbearable Whiteness of (Most) Colleges and Universities in America

Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo, Peoples, Crystal E.·2022·American Behavioral Scientist
DOI 10.1177/00027642211066047
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Abstract

In this paper, we examine the academy as a specific case of the racialization of space, arguing that most colleges and universities in the United States are in fact historically white colleges and universities (HWCUs). To uncover this reality, we first describe the dual relationship between space and race and racism. Using this theoretical framing, we demonstrate how seemingly “race neutral” components of most American universities (i.e., the history, demography, curriculum, climate, and sets of symbols and traditions) embody, signify, and reproduce whiteness and white supremacy. After examining the racial reality of HWCUs, we offer several suggestions for making HWCUs into truly universalistic, multicultural spaces.

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Cited by

  • Reframing the impostor phenomenon for Black college students

    Connaught, G. (2024) · Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice · doi:10.56433/pv5se246 · Cited by 2

    “…an increase in the amount of White supremacist literature circulating around college campuses, and experiences of racial microaggressions perpetrated by both peers and faculty members (Anti-Defamation League, 2018; Bonilla-Silva & Peoples, 2022; Byrd, 2018; Castle et al., 2020; Victor, 2018).”

Metadata

Authors
Bonilla-Silva, E., & Peoples, C. E.
Affiliations
  • Duke University
  • Duke University (US)
ORCID
Peoples, Crystal E.
Venue
American Behavioral Scientist
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2022-01-15
Volume
66
Issue
11
Pages
1490-1504
ISSN
  • 0002-7642 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-3381
DOI
10.1177/00027642211066047
OpenAlex
W4206262840
Cited by
95
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 24 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 9
FWCI
25.54
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
American Behavioral Scientist (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Race Theory in Education
  • Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
Keywords
historically white colleges and universities, whiteness, racialization of space, racism, higher education, race neutrality, white supremacy, campus climate, course program, multiculturalism, universalism, racial demographics

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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.