The Race in Academia Collective

Abstract

At present, academia is a site of colonial production of knowledge where the subject of knowledge, represented by the white European man, produces scientific knowledge about his racialised others. This European perspective is considered to be neutral and unbiased. Whiteness, therefore, is the norm of the university that we experience today. Racialised scholars are excluded in universities in the Netherlands, do not get permanent positions, or at best are ‘tolerated’ and tokenized. For those few of us in academia, it can be a violent space, where we and our knowledges of the world are deemed inferior or invalid.

Despite these challenges, many racialised academics find a way to persevere and push back. They find refuge in small pockets and institutions of like-minded individuals with similar experiences. Using mentoring, tutoring, resistance and joyful safe spaces they find a way to flourish and make a difference. Motivated by social and epistemic justice, the hope of this collective is to facilitate the exchange of knowledges and experiences and the sharing of resources between these groups. We believe that together we can transform academia and beyond and create more space/stability/security for racialised scholars.