A critical race theory analysis of transnational student activism, social media counter-stories, and the hegemonic logics of diversity work in higher education

Abstract

This article employs critical race theory (CRT) to explore what student activist counter-narratives reveal about the logics of institutional diversity work and the ways this work reinforces racist configurations of power and exclusion in higher education. In 2014, student activism erupted in a series of critical incidents on university campuses around the world. As a form of counter-narrative, social media content generated by movements employing hashtags like #RhodesMustFall and #itooamharvard, drew attention to the discrepancy between institutional conceptions of inclusion evidenced in diversity policies and practices, and student experiences of persistent exclusion. A corpus of 2500 social media posts, representing Must Fall and I, Too, Am campaigns at three universities, was analyzed and emergent themes utilized to interrogate the hegemonic logics of higher education diversity work. Findings include: (1) compression in diversity discourse, (2) the paradox of diversity as capital, and (3) bureaucratic institutional responses to student activism.