Disrupting Discipline of Black Women in Higher Education from a Black Feminist Perspective of Foucauldian Discipline

Abstract

Abstract The goal of our article is to explore how Michel Foucault and Patricia Hill Collins scholarly contributions work together to understand Black women’s experiences in the academy more deeply. Our qualitative and theoretical project was focused on 1) how the processes of surveillance, regulation, and discipline affect Black women, 2) how these processes reinforce white norms, and 3) how these processes exclude Black women from the university’s discourse of normality. While we contend that processes of surveillance, regulation, and discipline are found throughout the university structure, we focused on Black women’s relationships with these processes through their interactions with faculty. Inspired by the stories Black women students shared, we discuss and offer tension spaces as starting points for discussion and critical reflection that aim to disrupt the subordination of Black women in higher education.