Utilities of Counterstorytelling in Exposing Racism Within Higher Education

This chapter focuses on critical race theory (CRT) counterstorytelling within higher education scholarship. The authors begin by highlighting the historical fiction Mansart Builds a School from W.E.B Dubois’s Black Flame trilogy, which they argue provides an overlooked exemplar of CRT methodologies within higher education scholarship. Second, the authors connect their brief analysis of Mansart Builds a School to current CRT methodologies engaged by higher education scholars. This link seeks to establish this trilogy as a potential foundation that can facilitate an understanding of how of race, racism, and white supremacy permeate and affect higher education campuses and the people of color (POC) who attend them. Because racism is a permanent feature of the United States higher education campuses are rife with racist issues as well. Thus, to address racist issues in higher education, the authors call for more higher education scholars to use CRT methodologies in research on the impact of racism—a complex system that is vital to understand in part because it significantly impacts POC at two- and four-year colleges. Despite higher education scholars’ use of CRT counterstories, scholars provide critique counterstories in higher education due to the lack of equitable policy changes to improve the experiences and achievement of students of color. Though CRT counterstorytelling was not created for policy change, this chapter will function as a starting point in connecting CRT counterstories to policy changes that can radically improve higher education for POC.