This thesis focused on the impact of racism and new managerialism on Black female academics in English post-1992 universities. The study explored the extent to which the changing environment of higher education institutions (HEIs) and the ethos and practice of new managerialism had affected the professional lives of Black academic females and how the consequences of new managerialism were being experienced in their daily academic lives. Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain qualitative data about the experiences of seventeen African and Caribbean participants in English post-1992 universities, mainly from business schools or health and social-sciences faculties. The critical race theory conceptual framework was used as an analytical and interpretive structure for understanding their experiences. The findings revealed that new managerialism changes contributed to increased levels of racism encountered by these Black female academics. Racism was endemic and embedded within their HEIs and demonstrated in overt and subtle ways, using micro-aggressions, micro-politics and varying agents, ensuring that racism remained rooted and positioned at different levels. Race was more prevalent in these women’s’ experiences than they had expected. The study discovered that these Black female academics perceived their progression and development as being negatively affected because of new managerialism practices and the inability of their respective HEIs to formulate and implement effective policies of equality and diversity. The HEIs’ neo-liberal policies of fairness, neutrality and meritocracy were experienced as rhetoric rather than practice and as not beneficial to those needing protection. The findings suggest that HEIs and human resource (HR) departments need more effective equality and diversity policies which incorporate a community diversity mind-set, influenced by the ethical codes of their professional HR body. There is also a need for HEI staff across all ethnic groups to be engaged in conversation, information-sharing and communication about racial issues so that Black female academic racialised work experiences can be improved.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:738067 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Johnson, Janice V. |
| Publisher | University of Bedfordshire |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/10547/622485 |
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