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Abstract

Scholars have been documenting the effects of neoliberal educational policies, practices, and ideologies on staff, faculty, and students of color in higher education. Their work has raised important conceptual questions about the relationship between neoliberalism and race: Has neoliberal hegemony brought about a significant rupture with previous racial regimes, or does the current racial-neoliberal formation in higher education represent a re-articulation, a recombination of pre-existing elements in new formations? Our ability to answer this question will aid in theory development and lead to new strategies for interventions. In this article, I argue that the intersection between race and neoliberalism should be understood as a rearticulation of already existing elements by introducing an articulated racial projects framework, developed from Stuart Hall’s theory of articulation and Michael Omi and Howard Winant’s racial formation theory. I focus on two of the major neoliberal racial sub-projects: colorblindness and diversity, discuss some of the ways these sub-projects position students, and suggest possible implications for higher education research, policy, and practice.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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