Antiblackness as Global Aspiration? Centering Black Studies in Global Higher Education Research

Abstract

Although education researchers have increased attention to the study of antiblackness, particularly within schools and national boundaries, how antiblackness impacts transnational phenomena within the higher education (HE) field remains undertheorized. As such, this conceptual article introduces the “antiblackness as global aspiration” heuristic and applies it to one cogent example: Sino-African relations in HE. The heuristic highlights two features of antiblackness shaping the globalization of HE: anti-humanity and extraction. The article argues that Black studies illuminate antiblackness in the moves made by aspiring global white subjects in HE.

Keywords

Africa African students antiblackness China Confucius Institutes cultural analysis globalization higher education race

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