Higher Education and Student Affairs Faculty Publications

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This scholarly essay interrogates the seemingly necessary engagement of normative and essentialist characterizations of identity in the historical study of race in U.S. higher education. The author’s study of the experiences of Black collegians in private, liberal arts colleges in the Midwestern Great Lakes region between 1945 and 1965 grounds this discussion. Although engaging racial essentialism is necessary, the author presents alternative treatments of historicizing race to illustrate the benefits of a critical-realist approach to producing a synthetic cultural educational history.

Publisher's Statement

This article has been copyrighted by the APA. An authoritative version of this article can be found at: http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2016-03915-001/

Publication Date

1-2016

Publication Title

Journal of Diversity in Higher Education

Publisher

American Psychological Association

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000017

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