Thesis advisor: Ana M. Martínez Alemán / The term “diversity” was popularized in Justice Powell’s opinion in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, which identified the benefits of a diverse student body as a compelling state interest. Forty years after Bakke, deep inequities remain in higher education and racist events occur with regularity on college campuses (“Campus Racial Incidents : The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education,” n.d.). Institutions continue to struggle to address student concerns and a significant gap remains between students and administrators on the topic of diversity and inclusion. Because the public website is the face of the university to the world and the most powerful platform for conveying institutional values, goals, and priorities, representations of diversity on university webpages are potent statements about how institutions address these topics (Snider & Martin, 2012). Jesuit universities in particular have a 500-year tradition in education that is founded on a deep respect for cultural difference, making them an excellent choice for a study on diversity (O’Malley, 2014). This exploratory qualitative study utilizes Critical Discourse Analysis to examine how diversity is characterized on Jesuit higher education websites. The 28 Jesuit higher education institutions in the United States were analyzed during two time periods using a framework combining elements of Fairclough (2003) and McGregor (2014). The data were interpreted through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT), which posits that racism continues to be endemic and omnipresent in the United States. CRT scholarship on microaggressions, whiteness, and colorblindness is a foundational element of this analysis Based on this analysis, institutions were placed in an adapted model of diversity development based on Williams (2013). While respecting cultural difference and care for the marginalized is at the core of the Jesuit mission, translating this to an inclusive diversity web presence has presented challenges for institutions. In this study, just 3 of the 28 Jesuit higher education institutions attained the most advanced stage—Inclusive Excellence. Few Jesuit institutions placed diversity at the core of the mission or maintained cohesive and powerful diversity messaging across the website. This study found instances where imagery, prose, and information architecture issues reinforced hegemonic norms and objectified individuals. This analysis concludes with diversity website content recommendations for administrators, communications professionals, and faculty who seek to be inclusive rather than alienate, deconstruct hegemonic norms rather than reinforce them, and balance marketing goals with campus authenticity. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

In this thesis, I ask 'Do racism and anti-racism affect black middle-class cultural lives?' I answer this question through interviews with thirty-two black Brits in professional occupations, and ethnographic work across middle-class spaces in London. I argue there are three black middle-class identity modes - strategic assimilation, ethnoracial autonomous, and class-minded - that each show a different relationship between racism, anti-racism, and cultural lives. Each of these identity modes are characterised by specific cultural repertoires. Individuals towards strategic assimilation draw on cultural repertoires of code-switching and cultural equity. Through the repertoire of code-switching, individuals towards strategic assimilation 'switch' identities when around the white middle-class. This identity-switching is based on the premise that one must become palatable to the white middle-class in order to attain legitimate middle-class cultural membership. Racism thus affects such individuals' cultural identities as they show racialised (white) barriers to middle-class cultural membership. Nevertheless, such individuals draw on the anti-racist repertoire of cultural equity, meaning they strive to be equal to the white middle-class in terms of cultural capital. Such individuals therefore often 'decode' traditional middle-class culture as white, but consume such culture to maintain an equal standing to the white middle-class in terms of cultural capital. Those towards the ethnoracial autonomous identity mode draw on cultural repertoires of 'browning' and Afro-centrism. Through their anti-racist repertoire of browning, they stress that people ought to be proud of being black. They therefore resist 'code-switching' and challenge the view that one must assimilate with white norms to prove their middle-class status. Such individuals also use the anti-racist repertoire of Afro-centrism to argue that they have a moral duty to positively uphold black diasporic histories, identities, and culture. They therefore prioritise consuming cultural forms which give positive, authentic representations of the black diaspora, consequently challenging the devaluation of blackness in British society. Lastly, those towards the class-minded identity mode draw on cultural repertoires of post-racialism and de-racialisation. Such individuals believe British society is 'beyond' racism, and they define as 'middle-class' rather than 'black', often reproducing negative stereotypes of other black people. Such individuals use their consumption of middle-class cultural forms to symbolically separate themselves from other black people. Racism affects their cultural lives, therefore, as they often reproduce negative ideologies of other black people as being culturally myopic, uncultivated, or 'playing the race card'. My thesis develops the 'two streams' of research on Britain's black middle-class. Firstly, studies of black British middle-class identity have been unidimensional, focusing predominantly on strategic assimilation. My research shows that strategic assimilation is only one identity mode. Secondly, the literature on black middle-class cultural consumption is also unidimensional, making it appear as though all black middle-class people seek to consume 'middle-class' cultural forms that have a 'black' focus (for example, literature exploring black identity). My research shows that certain black middle-class people (those towards the class-minded identity mode) have no affinity towards 'black' cultural forms, while others (those towards strategic assimilation) make sure to consume 'traditional' middle-class culture to maintain an equal standing with the white middle-class.

School leadership has been an evolving topic over the past several decades, with research examining the impact of leadership on school performance, school culture, and other elements in this field. However, only a few studies have examined the construct of leadership in alternative schools, where these specialized sites often serve as mid-points between traditional schools and juvenile detention centers. Considering the evidence related to the displacement rates of minority students, particularly Black males, from traditional schools to alternative settings, these specialized sites are ideal for exploring practices that perhaps can redirect students in the school-to-prison pipeline, back towards their traditional settings or perhaps help to push students towards high school graduation. In this study, leadership is examined at two alternative schools operating in the southeast United States, in two different districts where documented disparities have been published in the media as well as federal complaints filed due to the excessive displacement of Black students from traditional school settings as a result of suspensions, expulsions and/or school-based arrests. According to the literature review, alternative schools have grown exponentially over the past decade across the nation, with many having disproportional numbers of minority students placed in these schools. Often these schools serve as sites for segregating disruptive students, and tend to focus greater attention on managing student behavior as opposed to driving student achievement. Utilizing feedback from local district and business leaders, the two alternative schools included in this study were targeted for this investigation due to their perceived success, related to school outcomes, graduation rates and low suspension/expulsion rates. This study, through the collection of data using participant interviews, constructs portraits of each school principal and their enactment of leadership at each alternative setting. In this study, leadership is examined at two alternative schools operating in the southeast United States, in two different districts where documented disparities have been published in the media as well as federal complaints filed due to the excessive displacement of Black students from traditional school settings as a result of suspensions, expulsions and/or school-based arrests. According to the literature review, alternative schools have grown exponentially over the past decade across the nation, with many having disproportional numbers of minority students placed in these schools. Often these schools serve as sites for segregating disruptive students, and tend to focus greater attention on managing student behavior as opposed to driving student achievement. Utilizing feedback from local district and business leaders, the two alternative schools included in this study were targeted for this investigation due to their perceived success, related to school outcomes, graduation rates and low suspension/expulsion rates. This study, through the collection of data using participant interviews, constructs portraits

Racial profiling, in the context of the current study, concerns the association of racial and/or ethnic status with criminality and manifests in the traffic stop. The body of knowledge now available on racial profiling has documented well the incidence of numerical disparity of traffic stops between racial groups, with motorists of color subject to intrusion by the state at greater rates than White motorists (Withrow 2005). Criminologists then turned to ‘perception’-based research to examine what makes an individual ‘perceive’ he has been racially profiled. I argue that the second wave of research is dominated by a narrow survey approach, concentrates on the microlevel police-citizen encounter, and lacks a theoretical grounding, particularly in race theory. The ‘perception’ orientation, I argue, discursively diminishes the experiences of communities of color in their experiences with the state. The current study re-examines the two main components of the ‘perception’ based research -- personal and vicarious experience with the police – to extend our understanding of the meanings behind personal and vicarious encounters with law enforcement. The current qualitative study, based on more than two dozen in-depth interviews, informs our understanding of racial profiling on a number of levels. Citizenship emerges as a dominant narrative from my respondents, thus extending the effects of the racialized traffic stop effects beyond the particularistic police-minority relationship and into larger legal and political realms not anticipated in the current literature. I find that the ‘shadow citizenship’ identity imposed by the state through racializing and criminalizing processes like racial profiling is regularly rejected by people of color through various forms of resistance to racial oppression. A third important finding concerns the complication of ‘vicarious experiences.’ My respondents indicate that they do not summarily adopt views about the police but contextualize their own experiences within understandings of collective memory. Finally, because I engage racial profiling through the theoretical perspectives of Collins, DuBois, Feagin, and Foucault, among others, and frame my overall research approach using critical race theory, the salience of race in racial profiling processes is undeniably evident, contrary to the racial vacuum dominating the current literature.

This dissertation is an exploration of the role of Euro-North American Philosophy of Education discourse in the genealogy of race struggle. I examine how the reliable narration of Philosophy of Education functions as a project of racial rule premised on moral/temporal/spatial notions of (White) civility and respectability. Tracing the history of race war from the 17th century to present day, I look at how racism has shifted from sovereign power to disciplinary power to biopower as a mode of population management, operating not only through race but through gender and class distinctions as well. I analyze the racialized narrative conventions of liberal modern Enlightenment philosophy and the role these conventions continue to play in the creation and maintenance of a violent racial state. Drawing upon Critical Race Theory, feminist epistemologies, narrative theory, and the work of Michel Foucault, I look at what reliable narration does for philosophers, educators, and students, examining what we/they might have invested in maintaining a distinction between ‘reliability’ and ‘unreliability.’ I ask: How is reliable narration used as a tool by philosophers, educators, and ultimately, the state to distinguish between the civil and uncivil, between those worthy and unworthy of moral consideration, political engagement, and basic human rights? How do the impartiality, univocality, universality, and dispassion of reliable narratives become tied to race and the management of racialized bodies? My aim is to examine the ways in which race as a method of governance acts on a text, its author(s), and its audience. “How are racialized subjectivities constituted through and constitutive of language and knowledge,” I ask, “and to what effect?” I want to trace the social and civil relations mapped out by particular narrative conventions and examine the consequences of failing to adhere to such conventions. I suggest that by questioning the function of reliable narration in philosophical and pedagogical practice, educators, scholars, and students can intervene in the operation of race as a mode of discipline, creating the possibility of a more equitable society in which all have the opportunity to flourish.

This dissertation is an exploration of the role of Euro-North American Philosophy of Education discourse in the genealogy of race struggle. I examine how the reliable narration of Philosophy of Education functions as a project of racial rule premised on moral/temporal/spatial notions of (White) civility and respectability. Tracing the history of race war from the 17th century to present day, I look at how racism has shifted from sovereign power to disciplinary power to biopower as a mode of population management, operating not only through race but through gender and class distinctions as well. I analyze the racialized narrative conventions of liberal modern Enlightenment philosophy and the role these conventions continue to play in the creation and maintenance of a violent racial state. Drawing upon Critical Race Theory, feminist epistemologies, narrative theory, and the work of Michel Foucault, I look at what reliable narration does for philosophers, educators, and students, examining what we/they might have invested in maintaining a distinction between ‘reliability’ and ‘unreliability.’ I ask: How is reliable narration used as a tool by philosophers, educators, and ultimately, the state to distinguish between the civil and uncivil, between those worthy and unworthy of moral consideration, political engagement, and basic human rights? How do the impartiality, univocality, universality, and dispassion of reliable narratives become tied to race and the management of racialized bodies? My aim is to examine the ways in which race as a method of governance acts on a text, its author(s), and its audience. “How are racialized subjectivities constituted through and constitutive of language and knowledge,” I ask, “and to what effect?” I want to trace the social and civil relations mapped out by particular narrative conventions and examine the consequences of failing to adhere to such conventions. I suggest that by questioning the function of reliable narration in philosophical and pedagogical practice, educators, scholars, and students can intervene in the operation of race as a mode of discipline, creating the possibility of a more equitable society in which all have the opportunity to flourish.

The ongoing research concerning African American males enrolled in teacher education programs is essential for a number of reasons. Research specifically addressing preservice teaching, teacher education, and the African American male student is needed to promote the well-being of any school of education. According to McCray, Sindelar, Kilgore, and Neal (2002), colleges of education have addressed the issue of underrepresentation and under population of African American teachers through policy reform and financial support. The narratives of African American male preservice teachers and their perspectives on teacher education may provide a context for other researchers seeking to understand how and why African American males move into the field of education. More importantly, one particular way to enhance and advance the cause of the African American male preservice teacher is to accept a “culturally sensitive practice” (Tillman, 2002, p. 3) and insure epistemological and research practices unfamiliar to many teachers of preservice teachers are approved and embraced. This study is situated in a cultural, racial, and gendered point of view seeking to highlight the individual and shared experiences of three African American male preservice teachers enrolled in a graduate teacher education program. Stabilized through the lens of critical race theory (CRT), the gathering of counter-narratives provided the context to allow the research participants a vehicle to name their own reality.

<p>The first decade of the 21st century in the United States has seen the emergence of a number of protest movements based upon politically conservative ideas, including opposition to affirmative action, undocumented migration, and national health care, among others. Conservative social movement organizations like the Minutemen and the Tea Party have had enormous influence over American politics and society. Conservative movements such as these present challenges to existing ways of thinking about social movements. Most social movement research has centered on so-called progressive movements, like the Civil Rights Movement, which are assumed to be organized by an oppressed population fighting for rights they have been denied historically. However, conservative movements do not appear to involve an oppressed population fighting for rights denied to them. It seems that actually the reverse may be true: conservative protesters tend to be members of privileged populations in contrast to oppressed. But if conservative protesters tend to be privileged instead of oppressed, why then are they protesting? What are their goals?</p><p> To fully answer these questions, we must look beyond existing social movement theory. The purpose of my research is to extend social movement theory, particularly Rory McVeigh's theory of power devaluation by using Blumer's theory of racial group position and Bourdieu's conceptualization of capital to explore the motivations of conservative movements and how they construct movement ideologies. This research explores the goals and ideology of two conservative movements, the anti-illegal immigration movement and the anti-abortion/pro-life movement. To examine these movements, I first performed an ethnographic content analysis of over 1000 articles and posts from movement organization web pages. Second, I conducted nearly fifty semi-structured interviews with movement leaders and participants. Finally, I examined over twenty hours of speeches given at rallies and protest events. </p><p> Consistent with McVeigh's power devaluation theory and Blumer's theory of group position, I found that these conservative activists are motivated by perceived threats to privileges claimed as proprietary rights by their movement groups. Anti-illegal immigration groups perceive threats to existing privileges associated with employment, social services, citizenship, and cultural issues such as language, while anti-abortion groups cite threats to American morality. Furthermore, these groups make proprietary claims to these privileges based upon restrictive identity formations. While anti-illegal immigration activists identify as "American," they constrain who qualifies as an American based upon factors such as language spoken, cultural behaviors, and citizenship of parents. Similarly, anti-abortion/pro-life activists identify as "Christian," but exclude many who would be identified as Christian in the broader population based upon criteria including opposition to abortion and sexual preference. They also claim American is a Christian nation. Following Blumer's group position theory, I also analyzed those individuals from which these groups feel threatened: migrants crossing the border without documentation and women who get abortions. I found that conservative activists portrayed these individuals in terms of perpetrators and victims, providing only mixed support for group position. Finally, I examined the goals of anti-illegal immigration and anti-abortion/pro-life organizations specifically looking at non-policy-oriented goals. Anti-abortion/pro-life organizations emphasize changing American culture as much or, in many cases, more than changing laws. While most anti-illegal immigration organizations stress education as a goal, whether this is for the purposes of policy change or cultural change is unclear.</p> / Dissertation

This study focused on the disciplining actions given to students of color after the implementation of the zero tolerance (ZT) policy in Texas’ schools. Out-of-school suspension and expulsion data were analyzed to depict trends and/or patterns across school levels as well as gender and race/ethnicity. More specifically, the disciplinary action of 34,047 elementary, middle and high school students of color suspended out-of-school and expelled in Texas’ public schools during the1999-2000 and 2002-2003 academic school years were statistically analyzed then evaluated via specific tenets of critical race theory (CRT). A critical policy analysis, as defined by the researcher, was discussed using the results of the data analysis. In addition, the predictive power of the variables school level, gender and race/ethnicity on the disciplinary action given to students of color were analyzed during the school terms under study. The most statistically significant finding of the study was the influence of ethnicity on out-of-school suspension and expulsion rates of students of color in the State of Texas after the implementation of the policy known as ZT during the selected school terms. Furthermore, of the students enrolled in public schools in Texas during the 1999-2000 and 2002-2003 school years, African-American students comprised 14.3 and 14.4 percent of the population; yet, they received more than one-third of all disciplining actions, second to European Americans who comprised 43 and 40 percent of the enrolled population. When compared to other students of color, African-American students received 53.6 and 53.9 percent of the out-of-school suspensions and 64.3 and 65.1 of the expulsions. Even though the data presented were aligned with previous research studies, the view of disciplinary actions for students of color from a critical race theory (CRT) lens highlights the deficiencies outlined via a critical policy analysis of the ZT policy as it is used to fortify the safety of schools.

Racial profiling, in the context of the current study, concerns the association of racial and/or ethnic status with criminality and manifests in the traffic stop. The body of knowledge now available on racial profiling has documented well the incidence of numerical disparity of traffic stops between racial groups, with motorists of color subject to intrusion by the state at greater rates than White motorists (Withrow 2005). Criminologists then turned to ‘perception’-based research to examine what makes an individual ‘perceive’ he has been racially profiled. I argue that the second wave of research is dominated by a narrow survey approach, concentrates on the microlevel police-citizen encounter, and lacks a theoretical grounding, particularly in race theory. The ‘perception’ orientation, I argue, discursively diminishes the experiences of communities of color in their experiences with the state. The current study re-examines the two main components of the ‘perception’ based research -- personal and vicarious experience with the police – to extend our understanding of the meanings behind personal and vicarious encounters with law enforcement. The current qualitative study, based on more than two dozen in-depth interviews, informs our understanding of racial profiling on a number of levels. Citizenship emerges as a dominant narrative from my respondents, thus extending the effects of the racialized traffic stop effects beyond the particularistic police-minority relationship and into larger legal and political realms not anticipated in the current literature. I find that the ‘shadow citizenship’ identity imposed by the state through racializing and criminalizing processes like racial profiling is regularly rejected by people of color through various forms of resistance to racial oppression. A third important finding concerns the complication of ‘vicarious experiences.’ My respondents indicate that they do not summarily adopt views about the police but contextualize their own experiences within understandings of collective memory. Finally, because I engage racial profiling through the theoretical perspectives of Collins, DuBois, Feagin, and Foucault, among others, and frame my overall research approach using critical race theory, the salience of race in racial profiling processes is undeniably evident, contrary to the racial vacuum dominating the current literature.