Carl E. James
Carl E. James, FRSC, teaches in the Faculty of Education and in the Graduate Program in Sociology at York University.
Books (1)
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The university is often regarded as a bastion of liberal democracy where equity and diversity are promoted and racism doesn’t exist. In reality, the university still excludes many people and is a site of racialization that is subtle, complex, and sophisticated. While some studies do point to the persistence of systemic barriers to equity and diversity in higher education, in-depth analyses of racism, racialization, and Indigeneity in the academy are more notable for their absence. The Equity Myth is the first comprehensive, data-based study of racialized and Indigenous faculty members’ experiences in Canadian universities.
Challenging the myth of equity in higher education, this book brings together leading scholars who scrutinize what universities have done and question the effectiveness of their equity programs. The authors draw on a rich body of survey data and interviews to examine the experiences of racialized faculty members across Canada who – despite diversity initiatives in their respective institutions – have yet to see changes in everyday working conditions. They also make important recommendations as to how universities can address racialization and fulfill the promise of equity in higher education.
A landmark study on racism in Canadian universities, The Equity Myth shows how the goal of achieving equity in higher education has been consistently promised, but never realized for racialized and Indigenous faculty members. It further reveals that the policies and diversity initiatives undertaken so far have only served to deflect criticism of a system that is doing little to change itself.
The book will be appeal to anyone interested in the issue of equity within the university setting. This includes faculty members from many disciplines; administrators at all levels; students and graduate students; and people interested in equity issues outside of academia.
Reviews
"[G]roundbreaking new research led by York University Professor Emeritus Frances Henry puts Canadian universities under the microscope. This new inquiry … shows that racialized and Indigenous faculty are low in numbers and even lower in terms of power, prestige and influence compared to non-racialized [white, male] counterparts within the university" — Megan Mueller, Manager, research communications, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, York University
"The Equity Myth brings to the surface tensions that racialized faculty widely experience but seldom formally discuss in their workplaces. These include pay inequity, unequal hiring processes, a lack of visibility for racialized faculty in the professoriate, Euro-centric curricula and racial discrimination.
Until now, those tensions have been felt only in the abstract or anecdotally. Statistics Canada does not collect data on racialized minorities as part of the data it compiles on faculty and students at Canadian universities; nor do provincial governments collect such information. There has been recent change on this front from the University of Toronto and Ryerson University, both of which have announced in the past year that they would start collecting race-based data about their students. But no data exists on the effectiveness of university employment equity policies or policies against discrimination, despite their ubiquity across Canadian campuses." — Jackie Wong, University Affairs, November 2017
"The Equity Myth paints a bleak picture in which the hegemonic whiteness and patriarchy of the institution show remarkable resilience through lip service and tokenism. [...]On the other hand, it recommends possible concrete solutions[...]a must-read for anyone interested in the social sciences, in discrimination, or simply in being decent and well-informed human beings." — Sylvie Vrackx, Canadian Literature, May 2019
"This compelling and important text is the first of its kind in Canada. It provides rigorous and informative investigations of the status, representation, and everyday lived experiences of racialized and Indigenous scholars in English-speaking Canadian universities … I recommend this book not only for scholars but also for administrators serious about equity and institutional change." — Annette Henry, David Lam Chair in Multicultural Education and Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education and the Social Justice Institute, University of British Columbia
Educator Information
Related Topics: Education, Indigenous Studies, Post-Secondary Education, Race & Ethnicity; Sociology
Table of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Additional Information
392 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 6 graphs, 33 tables
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