Navigating 'race' and challenging racisms in the Academy: the career geographies of a German UK sociologist

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article reflects critically on growing societal controversies about the role of racism in Western society and discusses why and how racism and white normativity should be addressed and challenged more prominently in higher education. Reflecting on my own career geography in universities in the UK and Ireland and my positionality as a white German researcher in the UK, I draw on a conceptual frame of Critical Whiteness Studies, historical sociology and racism analysis, postcolonialism and intersectionality to set out the epistemic and ethical gains to be had of a historically grounded intersectional analysis of racism. I show how key discussions and historical insights in the field can help us to more fully grasp and challenge the foundations of racism, and that of racialised inequalities in Western society. I argue that we need to develop a broader understanding of the problematic historical legacy of Western racism and more critical, global perspectives in higher education (and beyond) accounting for and reaching beyond Eurocentric white normative accounts of modern history. A critically informed education is key to achieve this.