5 Overview of findings and discussion

The findings and discussion section of this report are primarily drawn from the thematic analysis of the interviews. Results of the web search and literature review are being submitted elsewhere for publication (Fernandes & Cort, forthcoming; Johnson et al., forthcoming). We briefly summarize the results of the literature review here before sharing the more fulsome findings of this overall report.

Literature Review

The literature review found that HWIs subject Black students and faculty to debilitating misogynoir and anti-Black misandry, unbelonging, labor extraction, and racial trauma. A Black feminist disability framework, developed by Bailey and Mobley (2019), was used to turn the gaze on HWIs as the violating instruments of anti-Black racism and ableism.  Through the framework, the review emphasized the historical and ongoing critical imbrications of anti-Black racism and ableism in white society and HWIs. The review found that it is essential to situate any critical questions about access to, within, and across post-secondary education landscapes in North America in the context of the fundamental and disabling anti-Blackness of HWIs.

The following findings are grouped into 3 parts: Pitfalls, Practices, and Aspirations.