Research Focus
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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.
A copy of my CV is available here for download (as of 12/2019). |
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Racializing Meritocracy: Ideas of Excellence and Exclusion in Faculty Diversity
If the university does not take seriously and rigorously its role as a guardian of wider civic freedoms, as interrogator of more and more complex ethical problems, as servant and preserver of deeper democratic practices, then some other regime or ménage of regimes will do it for us, in spite of us, and without us. – Toni Morrison, “How Can Values Be Taught in This University?” (by way of Giroux)
Can merit be self-evident and anti-racist? As higher education renews debates on how ideas of merit are interlocked with efforts to diversify the faculty, little is known of faculty’s notions of valuation despite faculty being a source of a university’s intellectual capital. Scholars increasingly note merit’s role in faculty hiring and promotion, yet it remains unclear how faculty construct ideas of merit and how these constructions relate to faculty diversification or ideas of diversity on campus. Understanding faculty’s notions of merit is fundamental because even if all current Black, Latinx, and Indigenous tenure-track faculty were tenured, these communities would be underrepresented for the foreseeable future. Through a multi-sited, institutional ethnography at four, elite public and private institutions, Racializing Meritocracy uses a three-tiered organizational research design to explore how ideas of merit and faculty diversity are historically intertwined, how those ideas are applied during hiring and promotion, and who determines which ideas are controlling. The dissertation combines historical, institutional, and media data with ethnographic observations and 88 semi-structured interviews with tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty across the disciplines.
Drawing on the sociology of knowledge and anticolonial racial theories, Racializing Meritocracy reveals how universities follow a model of racial and colonial capitalism. First, ideas of merit and diversity are reflective of faculty subjectivities regarding racial worth; and, second, hiring decisions are the result of multi-tiered processes that include institutional and national colonial histories, not solely faculty discretion. Faculty evaluations act as if merit is self-evident, centering merit debates on which measures indicate that self-evidence, while placing questions of racial inclusion within debates on the merits of diversity on campus and in society. While faculty individually formulate this relationship as “tradeoffs” between merit and diversity given their understandings of the political economies of knowledge, they also experience racialized stress in response to pressures for diversification. I argue these experiences are, in part, a product of how elite universities have historically invested in diversification, as campus allocations for faculty lines are structured by course enrollments, legal constraints, and histories of exclusionary ideas that maintained white, male hegemony. To make sense of universities’ and faculty’s roles in this historical and structural context, the dissertation reframes “diversification” as “desegregation” in higher education. To this end, Racializing Meritocracy presents reflexive logics necessary for re-imagining how merit can be anti-racist, though not self-evident, within bureaucratic structures.
Can merit be self-evident and anti-racist? As higher education renews debates on how ideas of merit are interlocked with efforts to diversify the faculty, little is known of faculty’s notions of valuation despite faculty being a source of a university’s intellectual capital. Scholars increasingly note merit’s role in faculty hiring and promotion, yet it remains unclear how faculty construct ideas of merit and how these constructions relate to faculty diversification or ideas of diversity on campus. Understanding faculty’s notions of merit is fundamental because even if all current Black, Latinx, and Indigenous tenure-track faculty were tenured, these communities would be underrepresented for the foreseeable future. Through a multi-sited, institutional ethnography at four, elite public and private institutions, Racializing Meritocracy uses a three-tiered organizational research design to explore how ideas of merit and faculty diversity are historically intertwined, how those ideas are applied during hiring and promotion, and who determines which ideas are controlling. The dissertation combines historical, institutional, and media data with ethnographic observations and 88 semi-structured interviews with tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty across the disciplines.
Drawing on the sociology of knowledge and anticolonial racial theories, Racializing Meritocracy reveals how universities follow a model of racial and colonial capitalism. First, ideas of merit and diversity are reflective of faculty subjectivities regarding racial worth; and, second, hiring decisions are the result of multi-tiered processes that include institutional and national colonial histories, not solely faculty discretion. Faculty evaluations act as if merit is self-evident, centering merit debates on which measures indicate that self-evidence, while placing questions of racial inclusion within debates on the merits of diversity on campus and in society. While faculty individually formulate this relationship as “tradeoffs” between merit and diversity given their understandings of the political economies of knowledge, they also experience racialized stress in response to pressures for diversification. I argue these experiences are, in part, a product of how elite universities have historically invested in diversification, as campus allocations for faculty lines are structured by course enrollments, legal constraints, and histories of exclusionary ideas that maintained white, male hegemony. To make sense of universities’ and faculty’s roles in this historical and structural context, the dissertation reframes “diversification” as “desegregation” in higher education. To this end, Racializing Meritocracy presents reflexive logics necessary for re-imagining how merit can be anti-racist, though not self-evident, within bureaucratic structures.
Public Sociology
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 BBC radio interview with Nihal discussing queer gender identity in the South Asian community
- A profile with a British South Asian diaspora magazine Barfi Culture
- An interview on the podcast The One with Shabd Singh and Smalls discussing race, queerness, gender(s), and Sikhi
- An interview with the queer art and pop culture magazine Wussy Mag on the politics of nonbinary identity, Sikhi, and my research
- A roundtable panel with Logo TV discussing the intersections of queerness and Sikhi as part of their Pride 2019 efforts
- An interview with Apni Sehat, a show on Punjabi Radio USA, discussing the basics of gender and sexuality in gender: Part 1 | Part 2
- Note: Please extend grace to both my conversational Punjabi and to my ability to translate my thoughts fully in Punjabi. I have more vocabulary to learn, but may this help us build a stronger language around LGBTQI+ issues in Punjabi within the diaspora. The discussion around intersexual identity was especially limited by language. The Intersex Society of North America provides additional information, as does Planned Parenthood.
- NB: Anti-queerness is structural. Unfortunately, Part 2 never aired on Punjabi Radio USA due to concerns around "exposing children" to the "dangerous ideas" of who is in LGBTQIA+ communities.
- An interview on Chat Chat with Chandani to discuss parenting, Sikhi, and gender and sexuality
- An interview on the podcast Blessed Are the Binary Breakers with Avery discussing Sikhi, queerness, colonialism in higher education, and interfaith dialogue when based in western traditions (episode 17). A transcript is available courtesy of Avery.
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. Merit as Race Talk: The Ontological Myopia of Merit Knowledge. Under review. Draft available here on SocArXiv.
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. In preparation. Draft available here on SocArXiv.
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. Merit as Race Talk: The Ontological Myopia of Merit Knowledge. Under review. Draft available here on SocArXiv.
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. In preparation. Draft available here on SocArXiv.
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.
