Colonizing Knowledge: The Hidden Hand of Settler Colonialism in Building a Higher Education Empire

Description of research project:

This ongoing project is looking at how settler colonialism upholdsoppressive power structures in higher education and informs policy decisions regarding Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) and Native-Serving Institutions (NSIs). The framework of settler colonialism is often conceptualized as a historical phenomenon, but I argue that it is instead a permanent fixture that manifests itself across time and space. The higher education landscape is an exemplar of its manifestation. Various power brokers attempt to: (1) control which institutions Black and brown individuals have access to; (2) decide the resources available at and the efficacy of these institutions; (3) dictate what is taught while also establishing criteria for “knowledgeability”; and (4) influence the life chances of students after their departure from these institutions. This project comprises, on the one side, detailing the specifics of these mechanisms from the grounds up, and illustrating, on the other, how colonial strategies have either changed or, in many ways, stayed the same across the entirety of the United States racialized history.

Description of work that will be assigned to research assistants:

Tasks may include:

• Assisting with a literature review on race, education, knowledgeproduction, power, colonialism, and decolonial theory;
• Reviewing and documenting data from archived newspapers &memoirs from North Carolina across the following time periods:
  • Settler Colonial Era (1700s)
  • Antebellum Era (1800s)
  • Pre-Brown v. Board Era (1900s-1950s)
  • “Integration” Era (1950s-2000)
• Reviewing and analyzing the histories, policies, and funding data of three institutions:
  • UNC – Chapel Hill
  • North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University
  • UNC – Pembroke
• Assisting with interview protocols and coding interviews.
• Additional opportunities may exist if student(s) are interested.

Supervising Faculty Member: Dr. Fatma Müge Göçek

Graduate Student: Parker Martin

Contact information:  parkmart@umich.edu

Average hours of work per week: 6-12 hours per week

Range of credit hours students can earn: 2-4 credits

Number of positions available: Flexible