My Research
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At the intersection of the sociology of higher education, critical social and racial theory, and organizational studies, my research explores how we define and recognize the nature of racialized organizations and what implications arise for social change once we account for an organization’s racialization. Higher education serves as the empirical case for my work.
While my scholarly record empirically touches on various aspects of higher education, such as undergraduate enrollment trends, the impact of race-conscious admissions, and university-community engagement, I also explore questions on the relationships between the sociology of knowledge and the sociology of race. My research investigates how the color line, history, community, and context are critical epistemological dimensions for research. An additional area of personal inquiry pertains to anti-Blackness, anti-queerness, and gender conformity within the Sikh and Sikh-American diaspora and how it manifests itself in political and educational advocacy. Some of my public engagement work includes:
A copy of my CV is available here for download (as of 08/2019). |
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MY DISSERTATION
Despite purporting to value an egalitarian and multicultural ethos, how does higher education’s most critical feature – the professoriate – remain segregated by race and gender? Faculty are the source of a university’s intellectual capital and faculty legitimize knowledge, yet faculty’s notions of valuation are understudied (Lamont, 2009). This inquiry is particularly critical given the professoriate’s pervading white, male homogeneity, which serves as a liability for knowledge production because lack of demographic diversity can result in lower performance and productivity – more so when individuals are from the same status level in a prestige hierarchy (Green, 1989; Hong & Page, 2004; Kilduff, Willer, & Anderson, 2016). Among the tenure-track professoriate, white men’s representations increase with academic rank, while the rates decrease for all other demographics: white men constitute between 32-55% of tenure-track positions across rank while Black and Latinx individuals of any binary gender constitute between 1-4% (NCES 2016).
Scholars, drawing on historically-grounded analyses, highlight the role of merit as a reason why the professoriate remains white; yet, the merit scholarship has focused on students. For faculty, scholars focus on minoritized faculty’s experiences, as these faculty are more burdened with service and diversity work. To explore how the professoriate remains homogenous, it is necessary to interrogate “merit” because ideas of merit are inherently political contestations over knowledge. The qualitative project uses a three-tiered organizational research design at four, elite public and private institutions to unpack what constitutes merit, how those ideas are applied, and who determines which ideas are controlling. I ask: 1) How are merit, faculty diversification, and diversity work historically intertwined in higher education? 2) What is merit, how is merit identified, and how are different metrics of merit compared for candidates? and 3) How do faculty view their own diversity work and their responsibilities in the context of their institution’s and higher education’s history? The project explores what constitutes merit and how these ideas are operationalized in evaluations, because even if all current Black, Latinx, and Indigenous faculty were tenured, they would be underrepresented for the foreseeable future.
Scholars, drawing on historically-grounded analyses, highlight the role of merit as a reason why the professoriate remains white; yet, the merit scholarship has focused on students. For faculty, scholars focus on minoritized faculty’s experiences, as these faculty are more burdened with service and diversity work. To explore how the professoriate remains homogenous, it is necessary to interrogate “merit” because ideas of merit are inherently political contestations over knowledge. The qualitative project uses a three-tiered organizational research design at four, elite public and private institutions to unpack what constitutes merit, how those ideas are applied, and who determines which ideas are controlling. I ask: 1) How are merit, faculty diversification, and diversity work historically intertwined in higher education? 2) What is merit, how is merit identified, and how are different metrics of merit compared for candidates? and 3) How do faculty view their own diversity work and their responsibilities in the context of their institution’s and higher education’s history? The project explores what constitutes merit and how these ideas are operationalized in evaluations, because even if all current Black, Latinx, and Indigenous faculty were tenured, they would be underrepresented for the foreseeable future.
PUBLICATIONS
kehal, prabhdeep singh, Garbes, Laura, and Kennedy, Michael D. (2019). Critical Sociology of Knowledge. In Lynette Spillman (Ed), Oxford Bibliographies in Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press. Available here.
Willse, Cadence, kehal, prabhdeep singh, and Mathew Johnson. (Forthcoming). Social Innovation and Civic Engagement: A Critical Praxis for Engagement in Higher Education. In E. Mlyn, and A. M. McBride (Eds.), The Civic Mission of Higher Education: Connecting Social Innovation and Civic Engagement. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
kehal, prabhdeep singh and Cadence Willse. (Forthcoming). Institutional Type, Organizational Pathways, and Student Engagement: Deepening Student Engagement and the Benefit-Use Paradox in Formal Engagement Spaces. Journal of Community Engagement in Higher Education.
kehal, prabhdeep singh, Hirschman, Daniel, and Ellen Berrey. When Colleges Drop Affirmative Action: Trends in Admissions Policies and Student Enrollment at Selective U.S. Institutions, 1990-2016. Under review.
kehal, prabhdeep singh. The merit concept, higher education, and colonial racial humanity. In preparation.
please feel free to reach out to me if you have difficulty obtaining a copy of publication materials
Willse, Cadence, kehal, prabhdeep singh, and Mathew Johnson. (Forthcoming). Social Innovation and Civic Engagement: A Critical Praxis for Engagement in Higher Education. In E. Mlyn, and A. M. McBride (Eds.), The Civic Mission of Higher Education: Connecting Social Innovation and Civic Engagement. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
kehal, prabhdeep singh and Cadence Willse. (Forthcoming). Institutional Type, Organizational Pathways, and Student Engagement: Deepening Student Engagement and the Benefit-Use Paradox in Formal Engagement Spaces. Journal of Community Engagement in Higher Education.
kehal, prabhdeep singh, Hirschman, Daniel, and Ellen Berrey. When Colleges Drop Affirmative Action: Trends in Admissions Policies and Student Enrollment at Selective U.S. Institutions, 1990-2016. Under review.
kehal, prabhdeep singh. The merit concept, higher education, and colonial racial humanity. In preparation.
please feel free to reach out to me if you have difficulty obtaining a copy of publication materials
Presentations
2019
“To Fulfill These Rights: Political Struggle Over Affirmative Action and Open Admissions by Amaka Okechukwu.” Author Meets Critic, Association of Black Sociologists, New York, New York, August, 2019.
2018
“Racial Excavation: Racializing Organizations and Organizing Race.” Manuscript presented at Du Boisian Sociology: Critical Insights for Theorizing Race and Ethnicity, American Sociological Association, Philadelphia, PA, August, 2018.
“The Decline of the Diversity Imperative? Enrollment Trends Among Colleges Voluntarily Abandoning Race-Conscious Admissions.” Manuscript presented at Institutional Change in Higher Education, American Sociological Association, Philadelphia, PA, August, 2018.
“Excellence, Reflexivity, and Racism: On Sociology's Nuclear Contradiction and Its Abiding Crisis.” Manuscript presented at the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, Brown University, Providence, RI, April, 2018.
“Fleeting Access: Racialized and Class Exclusion through Higher Education Enrollment Management.” Invited Lecture at Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, February, 2018.
2017
"Race and Merit: Racialized Exclusion from Prestige in Higher Education Enrollment, 2004-2013." Paper presented at student workshop series, Brown University Department of Sociology, Providence, RI, October, 2017.
"Something in the Way We Race: Racial Order and Institutional Logics." Manuscript presented at
“Who Gets to Walk the Straight Line? Racial Differences in the Accumulation of Structural Advantage/Disadvantage in Education.” Manuscript presented at Population Association of America, Chicago, IL, April, 2017.
“Minoritized Identity Formation: Students’ Experiences with Diversity and Inclusion.” Presented at Association for Psychological Science, Boston, MA, May, 2017.
“Reclaiming Activist Sikhi: An Excavated Perspective.” Invited Lecture for Speaking of Sikhs Lecture Series, Sikhs of Princeton, Princeton University, March, 2017.
2016
"(Re)Imprinting Race into Organizations: A Theoretical Framing of Racial Imprinting." Manuscript presented at student workshop series, Brown University Department of Sociology, Providence, RI, April, 2016.
2015
“A path to dialogue: Graduate students of color and liberating education”, Gramlich Showcase, University of Michigan, Ford School of Public Policy, March, 2015.
“Educational and social pathways: A Critical Race Theory exploration of California Sikh youth”, Jakara Sikholars, Stanford University Center for South Asia &, Feb, 2015.
2014
“Institutionally stratified degree attainment in Michigan's postsecondary education”, Division of Accountability Services & Educational Services, MI Dept. of Ed, Aug 2014.
“To Fulfill These Rights: Political Struggle Over Affirmative Action and Open Admissions by Amaka Okechukwu.” Author Meets Critic, Association of Black Sociologists, New York, New York, August, 2019.
2018
“Racial Excavation: Racializing Organizations and Organizing Race.” Manuscript presented at Du Boisian Sociology: Critical Insights for Theorizing Race and Ethnicity, American Sociological Association, Philadelphia, PA, August, 2018.
“The Decline of the Diversity Imperative? Enrollment Trends Among Colleges Voluntarily Abandoning Race-Conscious Admissions.” Manuscript presented at Institutional Change in Higher Education, American Sociological Association, Philadelphia, PA, August, 2018.
“Excellence, Reflexivity, and Racism: On Sociology's Nuclear Contradiction and Its Abiding Crisis.” Manuscript presented at the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, Brown University, Providence, RI, April, 2018.
“Fleeting Access: Racialized and Class Exclusion through Higher Education Enrollment Management.” Invited Lecture at Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, February, 2018.
2017
"Race and Merit: Racialized Exclusion from Prestige in Higher Education Enrollment, 2004-2013." Paper presented at student workshop series, Brown University Department of Sociology, Providence, RI, October, 2017.
"Something in the Way We Race: Racial Order and Institutional Logics." Manuscript presented at
- W.E.B. Du Bois and the Color Line in the 21st Century: Continuity, Challenges, and New Directions, Social Theory Forum, Boston, MA, March, 2017.
- Mini-conference on Race and Organizations, Eastern Sociological Society, Philadelphia, PA, February, 2017.
“Who Gets to Walk the Straight Line? Racial Differences in the Accumulation of Structural Advantage/Disadvantage in Education.” Manuscript presented at Population Association of America, Chicago, IL, April, 2017.
“Minoritized Identity Formation: Students’ Experiences with Diversity and Inclusion.” Presented at Association for Psychological Science, Boston, MA, May, 2017.
“Reclaiming Activist Sikhi: An Excavated Perspective.” Invited Lecture for Speaking of Sikhs Lecture Series, Sikhs of Princeton, Princeton University, March, 2017.
2016
"(Re)Imprinting Race into Organizations: A Theoretical Framing of Racial Imprinting." Manuscript presented at student workshop series, Brown University Department of Sociology, Providence, RI, April, 2016.
2015
“A path to dialogue: Graduate students of color and liberating education”, Gramlich Showcase, University of Michigan, Ford School of Public Policy, March, 2015.
“Educational and social pathways: A Critical Race Theory exploration of California Sikh youth”, Jakara Sikholars, Stanford University Center for South Asia &, Feb, 2015.
2014
“Institutionally stratified degree attainment in Michigan's postsecondary education”, Division of Accountability Services & Educational Services, MI Dept. of Ed, Aug 2014.
