Womanist Musings - Hush Now, Don't Explain
Billie Holiday is one of my favorite singers of all time. I love her less for her voice, than for her pain - a pain to which I fully relate. My empathy for her, the misogynoir that she endured long before we could put a finger on that type of vitriol, and the utter failure of the world around her appears to pale in comparison to the depth of song she contributed.
As a Black scholar, I think of the way Black epistemologies are whitewashed within higher education as proof that even our thinking, our self definition, our very words are deemed as only having value when they tremble through the vocal chords of White staff and faculty. Our pain has resonance only through the batted eyes of Whiteness.
This must be true, because why else would we continue to see the United Kingdom hire predominantly (or all) White faculty when engaging with intellectual curiosity about racism? Why else would White scholars ignore Black scholarship while introducing research on the "intersection of race, class and gender," specifying their concern is "anti-Black" racism? Why does the academy still pretend that "White" is a neutral category?
There are always "so many outstanding scholars" applying for jobs. These outstanding scholars are usually the experts of European Studies and all things that connect to this social construct. Yet, despite this expertise, "White" is presented as a foundational and neutral academic location - one which is benign. While Whiteness may be critiqued as a a social location that oppresses other groups, doesn't it seem odd that Whiteness is always what's required to analyze the subjugated? Doesn't the very act of being the expert of "subjugated" or "colonized" or "colored" people - isn't this very act central to the entire construct of colonization? Click here to continue reading.
Dr. Nash, The Misogynoir to Mishpat (M2M) Research Network © 2024