Ivory in an ebony tower: how white students at HBCUs negotiate their whiteness

Abstract

ABSTRACT How do white individuals establish themselves as authentic and belonging members of communities of colour? To explore this question, I examine the experiences of white students of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In-depth interviews with 30 white HBCU students reveal the ways that white individuals navigate their whiteness in a space where they are deemed outsiders. Specifically, I demonstrate that white HBCU students use three strategies to differentiate themselves from whiteness writ large and establish belonging with this black community: acknowledging whiteness, wherein whites portray themselves as recognising white privilege; mitigating whiteness, wherein whites aim to balance the desire to participate in and preserve black spaces; and resisting whiteness, in which whites aim to dissociate from whiteness altogether.