CSP 27 Micro in Name Only? Tracking Racial Microaggressions Across Time, Space, and Place

Renowned Harvard psychiatrist and educator, Dr. Chester Pierce, first coined the term "Racial Microaggression" (i.e. everyday racism) in the early 1970s and developed the subsequent theoretical framework and informed practice through the mid-1990s. Pierce's work on everyday racism was utilized only sparingly by laypersons and academics during the latter part of the 20th century. However, the concept has undergone a revival of sorts thanks to its recent invocation by aggrieved Students of Color who are engaged in racial justice movements at and beyond colleges and universities. Despite (and perhaps in light of) their increased use and subsequent media exposure, racial microaggressions have shifted into an even more contested terrain amongst activists, academics, and the general public. The core of the conflict(s) swirling around the research and application of everyday racism concerns its conceptualization and etiology, empirical validity, and usefulness in dismantling the effects of white supremacy. Thus, we will spend time in our shared space: (1) Tracing the disparate development of the theories of microaggressions within their primary fields of articulation (Education, Psychology/Counseling, and Legal Studies), (2) Assessing the applicability of these theories in educational spaces across three distinct historical iterations of structural antiblackness (i.e. eras of chattel slavery, Jim Crow/racial apartheid, and neoliberal multiculturalism), and (3) Crafting informed proposals for future research and utilizations of microaggression frameworks. These tasks will require us to develop and hone useful tools such as critical reading, structurally informed critique, as well as reflective/analytical writing. We will strive to build and maintain a liberatory educational experience that is organic and collaborative for all co-learners.