Doing Equity and Diversity for Success in Higher Education

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxxiii

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2. Introduction: The Owl of Minerva Has Flown: Can Equity and Diversity be Done for Success in Higher Education Now?

   • Dave S. P. Thomas

   Pages 1-18

3. A Review of the Past and a Look into the Future

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19

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   2. The Myth of Academic Underperformance and Notions of Truth 52 Years After the Passing of the Race Relations Act 1968: In Conversation with Dame Jocelyn Barrow

      • Dame Jocelyn Anita Barrow, Dave S. P. Thomas

      Pages 21-36

   3. A Diverse Society Needs Diverse Solutions

      • Sir Geoffery Palmer

      Pages 37-47

   4. What We Don’t, but Should Know

      • Marika Sherwood

      Pages 49-63

   5. Decolonisation or Empowerment in Higher Education?

      • Hakim Adi, Dave S. P. Thomas

      Pages 65-76

   6. Travelling Between Historical Memory and the Current Predicament of Educational Reforms in Higher Education: A Transnational Perspective

      • Amina Mama, Dave S. P. Thomas

      Pages 77-86

   7. Fencing the Race: Responding to the Past to Help Shape the Future

      • Olivette Otele, Dave S. P. Thomas

      Pages 87-95

4. Equality, Diversity, Inclusivity or Decolonisation: The Big Conundrum

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 97-97

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   2. Decolonising Academic Spaces: Moving Beyond Diversity to Promote Racial Equity in Postsecondary Education

      • Frank Tuitt, Saran Stewart

      Pages 99-115

   3. Towards the Unmaking of Canons: Decolonising the Study of Literature

      • Sandeep Bakshi

      Pages 117-126

   4. “Merit”, “Success” and the Epistemic Logics of Whiteness in Racialised Education Systems

      • Harshad Keval

      Pages 127-137

   5. Decolonising the Academy: A Look at Student-Led Interventions in the UK

      • Ilyas Nagdee, Azfar Shafi

      Pages 139-149

   6. On the Fallacy of Decolonisation in Our Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)

      • Nadia Mehdi, Maryam Jameela

      Pages 151-160

   7. Diversify or Decolonise? What You Can Do Right Now and How to Get Started

      • Michelle Grue

      Pages 161-172

5. Big Data: Am I a Name or Number?

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 173-173

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   2. The Unknown Student, and Other Short Stories: An Ethical and Methodological Exploration of Students as Data

      • Liz Austen

      Pages 175-199

   3. Turning Big Data into Informed Action

      • Nathan Ghann

      Pages 201-214

   4. Using Data-Driven Approaches to Address Systematic Awarding Gaps

      • Katharine Hubbard

      Pages 215-226

This book provides a forensic and collective examination of pre-existing understandings of structural inequalities in Higher Education Institutions. Going beyond the current understandings of causal factors that promote inequality, the editors and contributors illuminate the dynamic interplay between historical events and discourse and more sophisticate and racialized acts of violence. In doing so, the book crystallises myriad contemporary manifestations of structural racism in higher education. Amidst an upsurge in racialized violence, civil unrest, and barriers to attainment, progression and success for students and staff of colour, doing equity and diversity for success in higher education has become both politically urgent and morally imperative. This book calls for a redistribution of power across intersectional and racial lines as a means of decentering whiteness and redressing structural inequalities in the academy. It is essential reading for scholars of sociology and education, as well as those interested in equality and social justice.

• racialised other
• Decolonisation
• Inclusion in Education
• Diversity in Higher Education
• Widening Participation in Higher Education

• Division of Natural Sciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

  Dave S. P. Thomas

• Department of Sociology, Durham University, Durham, UK

  Jason Arday

Dave S. P. Thomas is Doctoral Researcher and Diversity Practitioner at University of Kent, UK. He is also an Occupational Therapist and Public Health Specialist, Consultant to AdvanceHE in diversity and inclusion and a member of the United Kingdom Health and Care Professions Council EDI Forum. 



Jason Arday is an Associate Professor in Sociology at Durham University, UK, a Visiting Research Fellow at The Ohio State University, USA and an Adjunct Professor at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa. He is a Trustee of the Runnymede Trust and the British Sociological Association.

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