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LAWRENCE — Traditional educational research has often grouped all people of color together when addressing microaggressions. However, a University of Kansas scholar contends that research should specifically target anti-Black aggressions to create more effective policies at both individual and institutional levels.
In 1974, Harvard psychiatrist Chester Pierce introduced the term “microaggressions” to describe the subtle and routine discriminatory acts experienced by African Americans. Over the years, “racial microaggressions” has evolved to encompass the experiences of all people of color. Dorothy Hines, an associate professor of curriculum & teaching and African & African-American studies at KU, advocates in a recent article for a renewed focus on anti-Black aggressions. This approach, she argues, remains true to Pierce’s original concept and highlights the distinct experiences faced by different racial groups within the educational system.
Published in Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, Hines’ article suggests analyzing anti-Black aggressions on three levels: micro, institutional, and macro.
At the micro level, individual experiences include instances like a Black student being told they are inherently less capable of learning, reflecting societal biases about race and culture. At the institutional level, examples include racially biased policies and programs, such as disciplinary actions that disproportionately affect Black students. At the macro level, ideologies and policies, such as state-level bans on teaching Black history, represent broader systemic issues.
Hines emphasizes that focusing on anti-Black aggressions rather than broad racial microaggressions aligns with Pierce’s original intent and provides a more nuanced understanding of the unique challenges different racial groups face.
“We cannot dilute the unique experiences African Americans have had. The article discusses what happens when we take an idea and expand it beyond what was originally intended,” Hines explained. “What was at the heart of what Dr. Pierce was trying to get at? What it means to be Black in America is different than what it means to be Black in France, which is different than what it means to be Latino in America.” Source: KU News
Hines further argues that including all racial microaggressions in a single research framework diverges from the theory’s history and alters the purpose of such research. She calls for a Black epistemological future in educational research. Scholar Patricia Hill Collins defines epistemology as “the way in which power relations shape who is believed and why.” Research centered on Black epistemology, according to Hines, would better capture the Black experience in American education and support the development of more just policies.
“Overall, I argue it’s not just thinking about racial microaggressions. We need to look at how certain people experience things in education and in life every day, and we need to be intersectional,” Hines stated. “We have a responsibility to do morally right things. For me, it’s having a welcoming experience for Black students, staff, faculty and being supportive and doing research that addresses their lived experiences.”
Hines believes that this focused research will honor the original intent of microaggression theory and lead to more precise inquiries into the Black experience in American education.
“Like Pierce’s work on anti-Black aggressions, Black epistemological futures are a call to researchers to see African Americans rather than disregard them in theory,” Hines wrote in the article’s conclusion. “Moreover, this model explores the impact of knowledge construction with the Black body while reshaping the types of questions that are asked, avoided, and necessary to hearing the African American narrative, wherever it may be.”
