Hamer, J.F., and C. Lang. "Race, Structural Violence, And The Neoliberal University: The Challenges Of Inhabitation." Critical Sociology 41.6 (2015): 897-912. Scopus®. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
The question I used to prompt this research was “What does student activism look like in a neoliberal university and what does that tell us about the way black students protest in a university such as this?” Before reading this article I thought about what we have talked in class about what neoliberalism is and how it can affect the African American race. I knew from previous knowledge from the reading that in a neoliberal setting, African Americans are put at a disadvantage so how might this affect the way they protest for their rights?
In the article, it talks about how forms of structural violence, race, and neoliberalism affect African American students on college campuses. The article is written by two African American scholars that attend the University of Kansas and they were prompted by the shooting of Michael Brown to research and write about this topic. One of the main points they discuss is how the university replicates structural violence and racism. I wondered how might the university replicate racism and what might this look like on a campus like Mizzou? I kept reading to see if I could get some clarity. I realized I hadn't come across the definition the author gives for structural violence so I kept reading to see what these two ladies had to say. Structural violence is defined as "the conditions and arrangements embedded in the political and economic organization of social life, that cause injury to individuals and populations, or put them in harm's way." It also states that structural violence affects those groups whose social status denies them to full access to legal and political protections.
Neoliberalism is defined as "the economic and social philosophy that imposes free-market fundamentalist values on all human interactions.
The most helpful part of the article I found was the segment under the subtitle "Radicalized Harm in the University." It begins by stating that the public university is no longer a "safe place" for radicalized students. Of course, with me being a radicalized student at a public university, I questioned why this might be. I kept reading to see if the authors could give me a little more insight on why they felt this way. Because of the rising tuition rates among universities, black students, along with other racial groups, are less likely to attend college. African American students are more likely to have to take out more federal loans and work more to be able to keep up with tuition so they can continue to attend the university. Because of rising tuition trends, African Americans are beginning to not enroll into predominantly white universities making them even more of a minority on the campus. How might this make black students feel on PWI campuses and how might this affect their relationship with their peers, especially in times they have to act as student activists? Before reading on I thought about some of the ways I would feel if I wasn't surrounded by peers that looked like me. I would feel alone and like even more of a minority. I would feel as though I can't relate to the people around me and probably even just feel stuck. I could imagine that this could cause tension between me and my peers just because of the different lifestyle we have by default of our skin color. As I kept reading, I realized that my ideas were confirmed by authors because they introduce the idea of "increased racial isolation." The author also goes on to mention the microaggressions experienced by African American students like racist theme Greek life parties seem to be overlooked because of their status on campus. Students of color seem to not express their feelings about the things they experience because it's uncomfortable for them. They tend to do it in smaller groups with people that look like them and can better understand where they are coming from. They feel that sharing with their white counterparts that their trouble will affirm the stereotypes they have of them. I was able to relate this back to Mizzou's campus because of the microaggressions and racial slurs that are continuously reported to be thrown at students. Town Hall meetings in the GOBCC are called to discuss these issues. The protests put on by Concerned Student 1950 are one of the only instances I have heard of where these issues were talked about publicly. The lack of a diverse faculty is important because diverse faculties help to shape the university's thinking and learning.
Neoliberalism is defined as "the economic and social philosophy that imposes free-market fundamentalist values on all human interactions.
The most helpful part of the article I found was the segment under the subtitle "Radicalized Harm in the University." It begins by stating that the public university is no longer a "safe place" for radicalized students. Of course, with me being a radicalized student at a public university, I questioned why this might be. I kept reading to see if the authors could give me a little more insight on why they felt this way. Because of the rising tuition rates among universities, black students, along with other racial groups, are less likely to attend college. African American students are more likely to have to take out more federal loans and work more to be able to keep up with tuition so they can continue to attend the university. Because of rising tuition trends, African Americans are beginning to not enroll into predominantly white universities making them even more of a minority on the campus. How might this make black students feel on PWI campuses and how might this affect their relationship with their peers, especially in times they have to act as student activists? Before reading on I thought about some of the ways I would feel if I wasn't surrounded by peers that looked like me. I would feel alone and like even more of a minority. I would feel as though I can't relate to the people around me and probably even just feel stuck. I could imagine that this could cause tension between me and my peers just because of the different lifestyle we have by default of our skin color. As I kept reading, I realized that my ideas were confirmed by authors because they introduce the idea of "increased racial isolation." The author also goes on to mention the microaggressions experienced by African American students like racist theme Greek life parties seem to be overlooked because of their status on campus. Students of color seem to not express their feelings about the things they experience because it's uncomfortable for them. They tend to do it in smaller groups with people that look like them and can better understand where they are coming from. They feel that sharing with their white counterparts that their trouble will affirm the stereotypes they have of them. I was able to relate this back to Mizzou's campus because of the microaggressions and racial slurs that are continuously reported to be thrown at students. Town Hall meetings in the GOBCC are called to discuss these issues. The protests put on by Concerned Student 1950 are one of the only instances I have heard of where these issues were talked about publicly. The lack of a diverse faculty is important because diverse faculties help to shape the university's thinking and learning.
While reading this article, a lot of things came to mind. I thought about how important it is to have discussions about race on a PWI, but how it can be an uncomfortable situation because of the lack of diverse leaders on campus, So I think after reading this article, I changed my question to "what can the lack of diversity on a campus tell us about the way we talk about race" I changed it to that because that is the part of the article that stuck out to me the most and made me do the most thinking. I thought about how African Americans are already set up to be the minority in a PWI because of the rising tuition costs.
I have read about how lack of diversity can affect the way we talk about race and cause a racial divide. But how might division within a race affect the way student protests run? I will look into this next issue for my next journal entry.
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