Belonging in Irish Higher Education for Black and Minority Ethnic Students: The 3 P’s of an Inclusive Campus – Place, Pedagogy and Power.

Abstract

Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) as an analytical prism, this study interrogates the sense of belonging and inclusion experienced by Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students on one higher education campus in Ireland. The most important story told within the study is as simple as it is complicated. The simple part is that the BME students felt that the campus was inclusive and that they experienced a sense of belonging. The complicated part is that the findings are premised in a normative assumption of whiteness as evidenced by numerous and incremental moments of exclusion in the daily experience of microaggressions, the mispronunciation of name, curriculum and pedagogical exclusions. The article uses this case to reflect on how the higher education experience can be made more inclusive by developing a race consciousness to embrace campus diversity, minimise microaggressions and create inclusive learning environments. Suggestions for inclusive practice are considered in the conclusion.