Book Talk on Black Space: Negotiating Race, Diversity, and Belonging in the Ivory Tower by Sherry Deckman.
Protests against racial injustice and anti-Blackness have swept across elite colleges and universities in recent years, exposing systemic racism and raising questions about what it means for Black students to belong at these institutions. In Black Space: Negotiating Race, Diversity, and Belonging in the Ivory Tower, Sherry L. Deckman takes us into the lives of the members of the Kuumba Singers, a Black student organization at Harvard with racially diverse members, and a self-proclaimed safe space for anyone but particularly Black students. Uniquely focusing on Black students in an elite space where they are the majority, Deckman provides a case study in how colleges and universities might reimagine safe spaces. Through rich description and sharing moments in students’ everyday lives, Deckman demonstrates the possibilities and challenges Black students face as they navigate campus culture and the refuge they find in this organization. This work illuminates ways administrators, faculty, student affairs staff, and indeed, students themselves, might productively address issues of difference and anti-Blackness for the purpose of fostering critically inclusive campus environments.
Please join the Urban Education PhD Program for this book talk and discussion on Black Space: Negotiating Race, Diversity, and Belonging in the Ivory Tower with Professor Sherry Deckman. Sherry Deckman will be joined by Kersha Smith, Jordan Bell, Esther Ohito, and CREE Pendergrass.