This book recognizes microaggression as a pervasive issue in colleges and universities around the world and offers critical analyses of the local and institutional contexts in which such incidences of violence and discrimination occur. Authors from Egypt, Barbados, South Africa, Canada, and the United States explore the origins and forms of microaggression which impact students, faculty, and staff in higher education and address issues including xenophobia, sexual violence, linguistic discrimination, and racial prejudice. Drawing on a range of theoretical frameworks and utilizing empirical, qualitative, and ethnographic methods to consider microaggressions perpetrated by both students and staff, each chapter proposes practical ways to prevent violence through education, student agency, policy, and leadership. This book offers a contemporary global dialogue with educators and is vital reading for educators and administrators in higher education.
Recognizing microaggression as an often unseen, yet pervasive issue in schools globally, this book offers critical examination of instances of aggression, hostility, and incivility in school contexts around the world. Drawing on authors’ experiences and empirical analyses, the volume puts forward practical recommendations to remedy such violence and tackle its root causes. Global Perspectives on Microaggressions in Schools brings together contributions from South Africa, Australia, Canada, and the US to explore the various forms that microaggression can take. Authors implement qualitative methodologies, personal reflection, and empirical literature to document microaggressions perpetrated by, and directed against all members of the school community, including students, teachers, school leaders, and administrators. In doing so, they highlight ongoing issues including xenophobia, sexual violence, and prejudice against gifted students, LGBTQ, refugee, and indigenous communities. Looking forward, the volume proposes practical ways to undermine such prejudices and prevent the occurrence of microaggressions through effective training, policy, leadership, and student agency. Given its rigorous approach and attention to widespread issues of school violence, this book will be a timely resource for scholars, researchers, and academics with an interest in the sociology of education, educational leadership, school culture, student well-being, and inclusive education. In addition, school leaders, administrators, and pre- and in-service educators may find benefit from reading this volume.
Get to know the sociopolitical context behind microaggressions Microaggressions are brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership (e.g., race, gender, culture, religion, social class, sexual orientation, etc.). These daily, common manifestations of aggression leave many people feeling vulnerable, targeted, angry, and afraid. How has this become such a pervasive part of our social and political rhetoric, and what is the psychology behind it? In Microaggression Theory, the original research team that created the microaggressions taxonomy, Gina Torino, David Rivera, Christina Capodilupo, Kevin Nadal, and Derald Wing Sue, address these issues head-on in a fascinating work that explores the newest findings of microaggressions in their sociopolitical context. It delves into how the often invisible nature of this phenomenon prevents perpetrators from realizing and confronting their own complicity in creating psychological dilemmas for marginalized groups, and discusses how prejudice, privilege, safe spaces, and cultural appropriation have become themes in our contentious social and political discourse. Details the psychological effects of microaggressions in separate chapters covering clinical impact, trauma, related stress syndromes, and the effect on perpetrators Examines how microaggressions affect education, employment, health care, and the media Explores how social policies and practices can minimize the occurrence and impact of microaggressions in a range of environments Investigates how microaggressions relate to larger social movements If you come across the topic of microaggressions in your day-to-day life, you can keep the conversation going in a productive manner—with research to back it up!
Racial microaggressions, a modern form of racism comprised of subtle daily racial slights and insults, have received increased empirical attention. It has been suggested that these everyday disparaging messages, which are often ambiguous, carry with them more severe psychological consequences than overt forms of discrimination. However, little is known about the experience of microaggressions and their effects on African American doctoral students, particularly those within the field of psychology. This book sheds light onto the experiences of this group, while also describing ways these individuals may cope with micraggressions within higher education.
This volume provides educators with a global understanding of the challenges associated with the growing diversity of student identities in higher education, and it provides evidence-based strategies for addressing the challenges associated with implementing equity and inclusion at different higher education institutions around the world.
The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences and impact of microaggressions in the workplace. By drawing upon the lived experiences of higher education staff who had participated in diversity and inclusion trainings, the hope was to reveal the nature and impact of microaggressions in the workplace among individuals with preparation. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 staff members drawn from institutions in the Northeast to document their lived experiences with microaggressions in the workplace. Results focused on the racial microaggressions detailed by five staff of color, each perpetrated by a White coworker or administrator, and the four witness accounts described by White staff involving a racial microaggression against a coworker of color. The additional White staff member detailed a disability-based microaggression she personally experienced. Thematic analysis of the impact of racial microaggressions included isolation, disempowerment, frustration, anger, and low job morale. Participants employed a number of strategies to manage and cope with experiences including reflection, confronting, and interrupting. Implications for workplace education and future research were discussed.
The purpose of this study was to explore the different kinds of microaggressions that students of color experienced with white faculty, including the process and outcomes of these interactions. Undergraduate students of color face fewer positive outcomes, in comparison to their white peers, such as increased attrition, lower academic self-efficacy, and feeling less connected to their campus (Tinto, 1975; Cabrera et al., 1999; Rankin & Reason, 2005). The relationship between students and faculty has been shown to have a direct impact on student's engagement on campus and their academic self-efficacy (Komarraju, Musulkin, & Battacharya, 2010), thus implying that students of color could benefit from strong relationships with faculty. However, faculty are more likely to have lower expectations of minority students, interact with these students less frequently, and depend on racial stereotypes to develop perspectives on students (e.g., Jussim & Harbor, 2005, Trujillo, 1986, Jussim, Eccles, & Madon, 1996). Participants in this study were recruited from a mid-size Midwestern university from university-based organizations and direct contact with students in various campus locations. Experiences with microaggressions were assessed through a short answer survey, in which participants were asked to recount both a negative incident and a positive incident that involved a faculty member committing or responding to a microaggression. A Grounded Theory approach was used to analyze the data. The emergent themes from this study were categorized in terms of type of incident, proximal outcomes, distal outcomes. Relationships were also examined between the events and outcomes. Participants observed that white faculty did commit microaggressions in the classroom, involving stereotyping, dismissing derogatory comments made by other students, and treating participants differently than their white peers. These microaggressions were typically not noticed by the faculty themselves, and students often did not address them with faculty due to the faculty members' power and influence on participants' grades. However, participants experienced internal cognitive and emotional reactions that led to them feeling a loss of trust and respect for their faculty and institution. Students who experienced classroom microaggressions also experienced a negative impact on their academic performance, as they were less likely to attend class, participate, and seek out the faculty member for academic help after such incidents. These students also reported some positive experiences with other faculty, such as having discussions around diversity or being encouraged to be successful. Participants who experienced such positive interactions felt a stronger connection to faculty and reported that they were motivated and cared more about their coursework. These findings suggest that the interactions between faculty and students of color have an impact on students' relationship with faculty and their academic performance, specifically when they are negative, race-related interactions such as microaggressions.
This edited volume explores and deconstructs the possibilities of higher education beyond its initial purpose. The book contextualizes and argues for a more robust interrogation of persistent patterns of campus inequality driven by rapid demographic change, reduced public spending in higher education, and an increasingly polarized political landscape. It offers contemporary views and critiques ideas and practices such as micro-aggressions, implicit and explicit bias, and their consequences in reifying racial and gender-based inequalities on members of nondominant groups. The book also highlights coping mechanisms and resistance strategies that have enabled members of nondominant groups to contest primarily racial- and gender- based inequity. In doing so, it identifies new ways higher education can do what it professes to do better, in all ways, from providing real benefit to students and communities, while also setting a bar for society to more effectively realize its stated purpose and creed.
Racial Battle Fatigue is described as the physical and psychological toll taken due to constant and unceasing discrimination, microagressions, and stereotype threat. This edited volume looks at RBF from the perspectives of graduate students, middle level academics, and chief diversity officers at major institutions of learning.
