People “do” racial boundary work all the time in a multitude of ways. One action prompts another’s reaction and on it goes. Oftentimes it gets complicated, especially when race interacts with class, gender, and other axes of identification (what social scientists often refer to as “intersectionality”). This is as true in institutions of higher education as it is elsewhere.
INSTRUCTIONS:
- With your eye trained to detect racialized boundary work, read this article on how race became complicated at a small, all-women’s college in Massachusetts (Links to an external site.).
- Address the two questions below in your post to this discussion. Be careful to label number your responses to each question. Then read others’ posts and address part 3.
- Using a “racial boundary work” analytical perspective, discuss how TWO different people performed racial boundary work during this situation–concentrate on the section called “A Summer Day.” (Do not include in this part the actions of the college’s president.) You can label these 1A and 1B.
- Do you agree or disagree with the college president’s responses? Why or why not?
The link to read the article:
