Eurocentrism in British Universities: Perspectives from Black Female Academics
Rae-Anne Cohen
Abstract
This study explored the personal experiences of three Black female academics (a lecturer, a reader and a professor) to examine how Eurocentrism has impacted their lives, and how their knowledge and positionality in British universities can challenge the Whiteness ever-present in Eurocentrism. This study adopted Critical Race Theory as the theoretical perspective to conduct research. Via online semi-structured interviews, the narratives of the three participants were obtained as primary data for the chosen method of Thematic Analysis to be applied. The four key themes that emerged from this study were: Whiteness; Presence of Black Female Academics in Higher Education (HE); Supporting Black Female Academics; and Supporting Black Students. This study concludes that Whiteness is detrimental to Black female academics and therefore ought to be provided with effective mentoring. Additionally, Black female epistemes challenge Eurocentrism as does the mentorship of Black students.