ABSTRACT This paper re-theorises the Vietnamese refugee intake of the late 1970s and early 1980s as a key moment of civilisational anxiety in Australia's national imaginary. While the end of the White Australia policy is often celebrated as the beginning of a humanitarian and multicultural era, this paper argues that the arrival of Vietnamese refugees revealed unresolved anxieties within the settler-colonial psyche, particularly regarding Australia's identification with whiteness, Western modernity, and civilizational order. Drawing on critical race theory, postcolonial studies, and settler-colonial critique, the paper develops the concept of civilisational anxiety to explain how racialised migrants are included or excluded and symbolically framed as threats to national cohesion. Through discursive and conceptual analysis, the study shows how Vietnamese refugees, especially those arriving by boat, became figures of symbolic disruption, activating fears around borders, racial purity, and Australia's geopolitical position in Asia. Their conditional inclusion exposed the limits of multiculturalism, which often functioned more as a mechanism of containment than genuine transformation. Marking fifty years since Vietnamese resettlement, this paper urges a critical reassessment of national belonging. It offers civilisational anxiety as a diagnostic framework for understanding how race, identity, and emotional governance continue to structure Australia's response to migration and difference.

The graduation rate of Black undergraduate students in nursing programs remains lower than that of their peers despite a notable increase in enrollment. Without disaggregated data, anecdotal and emerging evidence suggests student attrition rates are associated with unreasonable demands and unmet learning needs. Black nursing students experience systemic anti-Black racism from instructors, nurses, peers, and patients, which also contributes to their slow progress. These experiences impact equity, diversity, and inclusion in higher education and nursing. We explored the experiences of Black students in the two undergraduate nursing programs in Saskatchewan, Canada, to deepen our understanding of their needs and inform strategies for addressing anti-Black racism in nursing education. Using focused ethnography grounded in critical race theory and intersectionality, N = 26 individual interviews with current and former Black students from Saskatchewan nursing programs were analyzed using thematic analysis. Racist experiences reported by study participants were more prominent in clinical than classroom settings. Five main themes were identified. This paper focuses on Theme 1, "Racism is part of the culture in nursing," and its subthemes, namely racial microaggressions, racial stereotyping and accent bias, isolation and exclusion, unfavorable environment, and impact on mental health and well-being. Support and accountability measures in nursing education are needed to facilitate social justice.

Exploring the relationship between race, older age, and health inequality in the UK: the experience of racialised minority older adults living in the UK.

ABSTRACT The model minority myth (MMM) positions Asian and Asian American students as academically successful, diligent, and self-reliant, leading to unrealistic expectations and obscuring the challenges they face. This phenomenological study explores how Asian American and Asian international college students perceive, experience, and respond to MMM-related stereotypes in U.S. academic and social settings. Through interviews with 15 students from diverse backgrounds, the study reveals differences in how these groups understand the MMM, with shared experiences of stereotypes related to intelligence and personality, and varied responses shaped by individual and contextual factors. Informed by critical race theory, AsianCrit, and intersectionality theory, the study highlights how MMM operates within broader systems of racial inequality, leading to stress, invisibility, and restricted support. Findings underscore the need for culturally responsive, stereotype-aware support systems in higher education, with implications for addressing similar stereotypes affecting Asian students in educational contexts worldwide.

The public relations (PR) industry plays a vital role in shaping corporate reputation, public discourse, and social engagement. However, despite serving diverse audiences, the industry has long struggled with racial equity, representation, and inclusion. This study examines the current state of racial diversity within PR, assessing recent industry initiatives, and persisting challenges, and provides potential solutions to advance meaningful change. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) as an analytical framework, this research explores structural barriers that impact career advancement for PR professionals of color and evaluates whether existing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts effectively challenge systemic inequities. Through a qualitative analysis of a focus group discussion with influential affinity group, senior-level PR practitioners, this study uncovers key themes, including the role of leadership in fostering DEI, client-driven diversity demands, and the necessity for accountability measures. Findings reveal that while DEI efforts have gained momentum, structural barriers remain pervasive, limiting true progress. This study offers strategic recommendations for PR firms, corporate communication teams, and industry organizations to enhance accountability, create sustainable DEI frameworks, and drive equitable representation across all levels of leadership.

African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) populations in high-income countries (HICs) continue to experience long-standing health inequities rooted in structural and anti-Black racism embedded in health systems, policies, and institutional practices. From an ecosocial perspective, these inequities reflect the embodiment of intersecting forms of oppression structured through racialized, gendered, and socioeconomic relations. Critical racial literacy (CRL) has emerged as a promising framework for recognizing and addressing structural racism in ways that foster critical reflection and support justice-oriented action in health contexts. However, evidence on how CRL is conceptualized and operationalized in health research, policy, and practice concerning ACB communities remains fragmented and limited. This scoping review aims to map how CRL is conceptualized and operationalized in HICs and examine its potential to advance health equity for ACB populations. This scoping review will be conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute guidance. Comprehensive searches will be conducted in MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase, CINAHL, PsycInfo, ERIC, Scopus, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global from inception to March 31, 2026. Peer-reviewed articles and theses or dissertations will be included, with no restrictions on study design or publication type. At least 2 independent reviewers will conduct screening, charting, and analysis of the data. A 3-phase thematic mapping process guided by critical race theory, intersectionality, and ecosocial theory will be used to analyze and interpret the findings. Searching, screening, data charting, and analysis will be undertaken between April 2026 and July 2026. Manuscript preparation will be completed by July 31, 2026, and dissemination will occur between August 2026 and October 2026. The findings will identify key CRL components, applications, strategies, barriers, and equity pathways across clinical, policy, and community contexts. This scoping review will provide a comprehensive overview of how CRL is conceptualized and applied in health contexts involving ACB populations in HICs. By clarifying current conceptualizations, applications, and gaps in the literature, the review will identify priorities for future theoretical, methodological, and practice-based development. In doing so, the findings will inform more critically grounded, praxis-oriented, and structurally focused antiracism efforts across health systems. Results will be disseminated through open access publications, conference presentations, and stakeholder engagement activities to advance evidence-informed health equity action. PROSPERO CRD42024623132; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42024623132. PRR1-10.2196/79361.

ABSTRACT This article critically examines public school board reviews in Ontario, Canada, as tools for accountability, democratic governance, and anti-racist reform. Using qualitative document analysis of four reviews conducted between 2013 and 2019 – Near North, Toronto, York Region, and Peel District School Boards – the study analyzes responses to governance failures, financial mismanagement, and systemic racism. Informed by Critical Race Theory, Critical Whiteness Studies, and critical democracy, findings show reviews rely on technocratic, procedural framings that reveal how neoliberal, technocratic accountability reforms fail to address systemic racism, reinforcing inequities. Anti-racist, community-centered, and relational accountability measures are required for critical, democratic transformation in schooling.

ABSTRACT This study explores how food-based pedagogies foster belonging among Black undergraduate students at a predominantly White institution. Grounded in critical race theory and using a narrative inquiry approach, the study centers the experiences of three first-year Black students who participated in a food justice-themed seminar. Through activities including community cookbook development, food storytelling, and group cooking sessions, participants engaged in practices that affirmed their identities, strengthened community, and challenged experiences of marginalisation. Their narratives demonstrate how food-centered pedagogies can disrupt dominant institutional norms and create spaces of connection, agency, and joy. By examining the intersections of race, food, and pedagogy, this study contributes to scholarship on inclusive teaching and student belonging. The findings suggest that food-based pedagogies offer a meaningful and accessible approach to centering Black student voices and cultivating transformative learning environments, particularly within higher education contexts where equity, inclusion, and belonging remain contested and urgent concerns.

ABSTRACT This study concentrated on the technical fouls that were called against conferences whose members were historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) for the sport of Division II men's college basketball. The extant literature on referee bias and HBCU sports was unpacked in the literature review. Publicly available data was quantitatively analyzed. Findings revealed that the HBCU conferences of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) were called for more technical fouls per game than any other conference. This was at a statistically significant level. No conferences that house mostly predominantly White institution (PWI) teams were called for a technical fouls per game average at a statistically significant level. The discussion section centered on why Division II referees called more technical fouls against HBCU teams relative to PWI teams. Implications for HBCUs and Critical Race Theory (CRT) were also illuminated in the study discussion.

Epistemic gatekeeping and whiteness as property in academic nursing organizational culture, interdisciplinary expertise, and institutional accountability.

This article argues that End-of-Course (EOC) exams, though framed as neutral measures of academic mastery, function as institutionalized violence against historically marginalized students. Drawing upon legal precedent, educational theory, and multi-faith theological reflection, the author exposes how these assessments reinforce Eurocentric benchmarks, codify access to opportunity, and act as gateways to the school-to-prison pipeline. By examining the emotional, academic, and legal consequences of EOCs in under-resourced schools, particularly those serving Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth, this article identifies a pattern of harm embedded in policy and profit. The analysis integrates practitioner experience, including firsthand narratives from the author’s school, with critical frameworks such as epistemic injustice, culturally relevant pedagogy, and critical race theory. Ultimately, the manuscript positions EOCs not as flawed tools but as active agents in a system that criminalizes difference, devalues cultural knowledge, and produces trauma under the guise of rigor. It calls for a systemic shift toward culturally sustaining, justice-oriented assessment models rooted in equity and human dignity.

ABSTRACT This theoretical paper critically unpacks the racialized experiences and emotions that Black children experience while using Black Language in a Spanish/English dual language bilingual program (DLBE). Employing Critical Race Theory, Raciolinguistics, and Emotions as Entanglements as theoretical lenses, this article interrogates the nuanced phenomena of Black children’s racialized experiences that are shaped by interconnected dynamics in bilingual programs. In this article, a composite counterstory details how raciolinguistic ideologies influence the specific racialized emotions and experiences of Black children that often place them on the margins in bilingual education spaces, such as performing respectability politics. In this counterstory, we argue that these racialized emotions are unique to Black children with Black Languaging practices in DLBE programs, highlight how their emotions are racialized differently from other participants in bilingual programs, and explain how DLBE programs become an extension of spaces that promote Whiteness for Black children. In sharing these tensions, we demand careful attention to the framing of Black children’s linguistic practices in DLBE programs and offer recommendations toward justice for Black children in DLBE programs.

ABSTRACT This study critically examines the racial, gender, and regional representation of authors on reading lists from seven first-year criminology modules at a UK Russell Group university. Drawing on critical race theory and decolonial scholarship, it explores whose knowledge is legitimised through curriculum design and how structural inequalities are reproduced in pedagogical materials. The findings reveal a striking overrepresentation of white, male, and Global North scholars, with racially minoritised and female authors often confined to identity-focused modules. These patterns highlight the epistemic exclusions embedded in criminology’s disciplinary canon and raise urgent questions about efforts to decolonise curricula. The paper argues that transformative reform must go beyond representational inclusion to challenge the institutional, cultural, and epistemological structures that maintain whiteness as the normative centre of criminological knowledge.

ABSTRACT Racial/ethnic categories used in education research are frequently aggregated across groups and often used in regression models as relative to white individuals, (un)consciously centering whiteness. We employ Quantitative Critical Race Theory (QuantCrit) to consider the implications of collapsing racial/ethnic categories and of reference group category selection. We propose a decision tree framework to support researchers in choosing a reference category and illustrate its application using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K). We describe students’ interest in math and estimate a series of models that vary the reference group, including comparisons to white students but also 1) to the average of all students, 2) to the average of all students excluding white students, 3) to a universal target, and 4) that analyze within group differences. We demonstrate how choices around racial/ethnic categories and reference groups can produce different interpretations of the same underlying data.

UK Academics face multiple pressures that foster competition. These include, a failing funding model leading to universities cutting academic posts; increasing reliance on short-term, insecure contracts; career progression linked to securing research funding; increasingly nebulous metricisation such as requirements to deliver ‘impact’ through research; and, the emphasis of the Research Excellence Framework to publish 4* publications. Simultaneously, many universities promote a, collectively supportive ethos as a cornerstone of their identities often articulated within institutional policy as ‘collegiality’ or ‘citizenship’. This article explores how collegiality is valorised in terms of academic citizenship at a cost to academics of colour. It argues that ‘collegiality’ emerges as a performance related culture promoting the interests of established White groups. Drawing on 25 interviews with female academics of colour, and critical race theory, it outlines how collegiality perpetuates racisms which impact career progression and a sense of belonging for female academics of colour.

Prenatal testing (prenatal screening and diagnostic testing) is a central component of prenatal care in the UK. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) play a key role in guiding parents through the testing pathway. Against a backdrop where Black and racially minoritised parents are disproportionately impacted by maternal health inequalities, little is known about how HCPs working in prenatal testing services navigate the delivery of equitable care in everyday practice. Understanding HCP perspectives is essential, especially as prenatal testing technology advances. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 HCPs who deliver prenatal testing across England. Interviews explored experiences of discussing prenatal testing with parents from Black and racially minoritised backgrounds, influences on delivering equitable care, and views on service improvement. Data were analysed using codebook thematic analysis informed by Critical Race Theory to examine how structural factors shaped practice. HCPs valued equitable care, making deliberate efforts to support parents' varying needs. However, four interrelated themes highlighted constraints on equitable delivery: unequal starting points for parents entering testing discussions; uneven clinical confidence and knowledge of genetics across the workforce; variability in support for culturally sensitive care; and reliance on informal, individual labour to address gaps in service design. These dynamics meant that equitable care was often pursued through personal adaptation rather than consistently supported systems. Providing equitable care cannot rely on individual effort. System-level investment in clinical education, service design, and organisational cultures that support culturally sensitive care is needed. With the expansion of prenatal genomics, addressing these structural conditions will be essential for ensuring the benefits of prenatal testing are realised equitably.

ABSTRACT The TPSR model, developed by Don Hellison, has been widely adopted in PE and YDP to foster life skills such as respect, effort, and self-direction among students, particularly those from marginalised communities. However, through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT), this article examines how TPSR’s predominant research focus on racialized minority students – especially Black students – racializes responsibility, positioning racialized minority youth as inherently ‘irresponsible.’ This ‘othering’ process reinforces the deficit-oriented narratives that attribute behavioural and social shortcomings to racialized identities rather than systemic inequities. Drawing on CRT tenets such as the permanence of racism and the critique of liberalism, the analysis reveals how TPSR, despite its emancipatory intentions, perpetuates racial hierarchies by framing Black students as needing intervention to achieve ‘normal’ responsibility (e.g. Boyd, K., Dixon, C., Simon, M., & Bennett, G. (2025). “In the line of fire”: Critical race counternarratives from Black and Latine physical education and teacher education faculty. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.2025-0049). This scholarly exploration integrates historical context, empirical research trends, and theoretical critiques, drawing on existing PE literature addressing race and racism (e.g. Abel et al., 2024). Students’ perspectives on racism and anti-racism in physical education: a systematic review. Frontiers in Sociology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2024.1374277; Blackshear, T. B., & Culp, B. (2023). Critical race studies in physical education. Human Kinetics; Harrison, L., & Clark, L. (2016). Contemporary issues of social justice: A focus on race and physical education in the United States. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 87(3), 230–241. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2016.1199166) to advocate for anti-racist adaptations of TPSR. Implications for educators include shifting from deficit models to asset-based pedagogies that centre racial justice.

Structural inequities, racial discrimination and gendered expectations of "motherhood" shape perinatal mental health outcomes among Black women by influencing access to care and social support. Despite this, Black mothers remain at a higher risk of developing perinatal mental health disorders compared to other racial groups, reinforcing the urgency of addressing this disparity. Research on perinatal depression and anxiety often neglects the distinct racial, cultural, social, and health perspectives of Black women in Canada. How do cultural beliefs, values, health perspectives and perceived social support influence perinatal mental health in Black women in Canada? 13 qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted virtually. The participants were Black mothers who have given birth or attended the birth as a legal parent in Canada between 2019 and 2025. Interviews were coded inductively and deductively for relevant themes. Data analysis was guided by Critical Race Theory and Black Feminist Theory, displaying the interplay of race, culture, and gender in perinatal mental health experiences. The identified themes were: (1) Postpartum Mental Health Barriers for Black Mothers; (2) Beyond the Baby Blues; (3) Beliefs, Faith, and Holistic Approaches; (4) Healing Love: Support and Spirituality in Perinatal Mental Health, and (5) Navigating Change Pre- and Post-Birth. These findings emphasize the need for culturally tailored screening tools and diagnostic strategies to address the perinatal mental health needs of Black mothers in Canada, providing a foundation for future research and practical interventions.

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the everyday racialization of Iranian immigrants in Canadian Atlantic cities to indicate their position on the Canadian racial hierarchy. Using postcolonial and critical race theories through a symbolic interactionist lens and drawing on data from 42 ethnographic interviews and participant observation, I demonstrate how Iranian participants tend to deflect their racialized encounters onto other markers of difference, such as immigration status or language. The article reveals how the mismatch between the Iranian's self-racial perception and the recognized-racial perception contributes to their silence about their racially motivated experiences, limiting them from addressing systemic racism. I introduce the concept of the racialized spiral of silence to show how racism embedded in everyday social interactions, combined with the belief in the Aryan myth, shapes Iranian experiences of racialization. This study highlights how colonial legacies of white gaze persist, shaping the shifting ambiguities of racialization in the context of migration.

ABSTRACT The debates in education surrounding COVID-19 school safety measures, Critical Race Theory (CRT), and LGBTQ+ issues emerged with incredible force during 2020–2022, and created and shifted narratives about youth, families, and communities. Through a Critical Gender and Sexuality Analytic and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), we examined the discursive strategies used in newspaper coverage of school board meetings and policies during this timeframe. We examined national news outlets and newspaper coverage in Texas and Arizona. We found that media coverage of LGBTQ+ issues, CRT, and COVID-19 reflected and emphasized the conflation of gender and sexuality. We argue that the conflation of gender and sexuality can be a tool for perpetuating inequitable educational conditions and hostility toward students and communities, especially those within the LGBTQ+ community. Although these discursive moves to erase and marginalize LGBTQ+ people are not new, the timing of COVID-19 amplified these moves.