Examining the Double Bind of anti-Racism in (U.S.-Based) Communication Programs’ Statements against Racism

Abstract

In this study, we critically analyze statements published by doctoral degree-granting Communication programs throughout 2020 and 2021 in response to racism against Black Americans and Asian American/Pacific Islanders. Because anti-racist discourses are intertwined with social practices in that they help create the spaces for equitable policies, we seek to understand the ideological struggles in the discourses around institutional racism during a moment of racial reckoning, as produced through these statements. We frame our analysis around the concept of the double bind, through which discourses of anti-racism simultaneously invoke colorblindness and, as we demonstrate, is further complicated by the need for these statements to address multiple, overlapping publics within their institutions that are defined by different racial identifications. In this regard, we draw upon Lauren Berlant’s notion of intimate publics to demonstrate how the anti-racist double bind operates as a form of (an)othering to construct sentimental communities of sameness and difference among these overlapping audiences. Using this framework, we analyze how the statements demonstrate tensions between discourses, reflecting how the transition from “diversity” to “anti-racism” is mediated by discourses of “solidarity.” We offer future directions for the development of institutional anti-racist discourse within the discipline.