T. Elon Dancy

Colleges in the Making of Manhood and Masculinity: Gendered Perspectives on African American Males.

Using an interdisciplinary approach, this paper explores the ways in which colleges become sites that socialise African American men as gendered beings. Twenty-four African American men enrolled in 12 colleges and universities across the 19 southern and border states of America participated in this study. The purpose is to illustrate how constructions of manhood and masculinity among this group potentially influence collegiate efforts to serve African American college men academically, socially, and developmentally. The following themes of manhood construction emerged: (1) self-expectations; (2) relationships and responsibilities to family; and (3) worldviews and life philosophies. Respondents reported differences in the ways in which they were treated and engaged in historically black and white institutions, also reinforcing various manhood constructs. The paper is a resource to advance the field’s thinking about this group’s college experiences, retention, and identities.

Faculty of Color in Higher Education: Exploring the Intersections of Identity, Impostorship, and Internalized Racism

Mentoring for faculty of color is critical given their underrepresentation in American colleges and universities. However, the ways in which faculty of color internalize racialized oppression and how it affects their success remains understudied. In this manuscript, the authors juxtapose a literature synthesis concerning faculty of color against a critical review of impostorship theory and impostor syndrome as these phenomena are found to contribute to disparate success trends among marginalized groups in higher education. More specifically, the authors discuss the ways impostor syndrome is shaped among faculty of color and how this disorder is potentially reproduced through their relationships with students in postsecondary education. The authors conclude with implications for mentoring and developing faculty of color, proffering new ways of thinking about relevant frameworks and approaches.

(Un)Doing Hegemony in Education: Disrupting School-to-Prison Pipelines for Black Males

The school-to-prison pipeline refers to the disturbing national trend in which children are funneled out of public schools and into juvenile and criminal justice systems. The purpose of this article is to theorize how this pipeline fulfills societal commitments to black male over-incarceration. First, the author reviews the troublesome perceptions of black boys and men in educational settings throughout the educational pipeline. Next, the ways in which black American boys are scripted out of childhood humanity are discussed, drawing upon tenets of discipline and punishment theory. Second, drawing from additional theories of power, the article re-interprets school discipline and achievement data in the educational pipeline as tools of containment that support school-to-prison pipelines for black males. The third section synthesizes the literature on black male behavioral responses in disempowering educational settings. The article closes with discussion and implications for schools and society.

The Male Initiative on Leadership and Excellence (Mile) and its Impact on Retention and Persistence of Black Men at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

A strong body of research has documented the supportive environments of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and their impact on facilitating student success. Notwithstanding the consistency of these findings, recent reports and empirical research have highlighted the problems that HBCUs are experiencing with Black male enrollment, campus engagement, retention, success, and graduation. The purpose of this article is to discuss the Male Initiative on Leadership and Excellence (MILE) and to describe its impact on retention and persistence of Black men at an HBCU. Hopefully, the MILE will inspire administrators and student affairs practitioners at HBCUs to adopt a similar initiative to positively increase academic success among Black men on their campuses.

Schools for the Better Making of Men? Undergraduate Black Males, Fraternity Membership, and Manhood

This multi-institutional qualitative study was conducted to understand how African American male undergraduates, who are members of Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs), construct manhood within both historically Black college and predominantly White institution contexts. Built on evidence derived from participants’ narratives, this study contributes to the field by offering manhood perspectives as a pertinent part of the overarching view of BGLO membership and identity as experienced by African American males. Following data analysis, two general themes emerged: (1) teaching persistence and leadership and (2) expanding worldviews. Findings from this study inform higher education administrators, advisors and staff about how African American male students construct manhood as members of BGLOs.

Historically White Universities and Plantation Politics: Anti-Blackness and Higher Education in the Black Lives Matter Era.

In this article, the authors argue that U.S. colleges and universities must grapple with persistent engagements of Black bodies as property. Engaging the research and scholarship on Black faculty, staff, and students, we explain how theorizations of settler colonialism and anti-Blackness (re)interpret the arrangement between historically White universities and Black people. The authors contend that a particular political agenda that engages the Black body as property, not merely concerns for disproportionality and inequality, is deeply embedded in institutional policy and practice. The article concludes with a vision for what awareness of anti-Black settler colonialism means for U.S. higher education.

An HBCU in the Anglophone Caribbean: Sociohistorical Perspectives on the University of the Virgin Islands

This chapter discusses the sociohistories that shape the current existential realities for HBCU education in the Caribbean, particularly the University of the Virgin Islands. The distinction, Anglophone Caribbean (also commonly referred to as the British West Indies), is a way of naming the intentional displacement and conquering of the indigenous people of the islands. Following a theorization of colonization, the chapter discusses the politics of higher education in the Anglophone Caribbean that influence the existence of the only HBCU outside the continental US, The University of the Virgin Islands. This context is essential to understanding the university’s founding and modern existence.

After Trayvon Voices From the Academy Respond to a Tragedy

This discussion among a community at the University of Oklahoma came from work presented at an event called “After Trayvon.” Several issues about social justice, African-American bodies, the experience of microagressions, the role and responsibility of local police, and the critical roles of history and the media were discussed in a forum with the public.

Learning with Sandy Hook: Mass Violence in Educational Settings—An Editorial Commentary

Several events in our nation’s recent history will forever be written into the public’s collective memory. These are moments that, when mentioned, draw our minds and spirits back to the exact space our physical bodies occupied on that day, conjuring their own unique smells, touches, sounds, and visions. At the same time, these moments of mass violence and hysteria carry the consistent markers of public disillusionment, fear, and feelings of betrayal. The unimaginable became a reality, and the lovelessness in the world was again revealed. For us, Kirsten and Elon, although the starting point for this section is the tragic shooting massacre that occurred on December 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, CT, our understanding of Sandy Hook is inextricably connected to our recollections of Columbine as the first moment in our lives that we understood school as a target for extreme violence. In fact, we were occupying very similar developmental stages during the mass shootings at Columbine, Virginia Polytechnic and A&M University, and Sandy Hook. Similarly, these events have not only influenced our current analysis, but have also shaped the ways we approach our professional work in education. Our understanding of schools as previously protected, safe domains prior to Columbine is ironic in light of our particular schooling experiences prior to college attendance. Sadly, while we perceived schools as protected, we did not think of them as protective; both of us endured bullying throughout middle and high school. Peer and teacher antagonism and aggression have often colored our memories of K–12 schooling. For Kirsten, the first time she understood schools as a place where she belonged was as a graduate student. Before this, she often received messages of inadequacy and worthlessness within the schooling context. Meanwhile, Elon was the victim of cruel boyhood and masculinity policing in school settings. As he has stated elsewhere (Dancy, 2012), this experience worked to shape early perceptions of schools as spaces of violence and spiteful (dis)engagement. Preand post-Columbine, schools for both of the authors have represented violently hostile spaces of (im)possibility. While we theoretically and