Critical Engagement: Lessons Learned and Implications for HRD About Black Male Faculty Leadership in Higher Education

Abstract

The Problem

Limited discussions of the Black male as a leader has taken place in the human resource development literature. Hence, racialization, the process of constructing and attaching meaning to racial identity, is an under-studied topic. Further problematic, traditional leadership theories advance a race-neutral, universalized mainstream view of leaders, and do not consider the multiple ways that race changes the master narrative. A direct result of this shortcoming is the lack of research and theories that inform the experiences of Black males in Historical White Institutions (HWIs).

The Solution

In this article, an autoethnography approach is used to counter the master narrative that has concealed the everyday, lived experience of Black males in higher education faculty and leadership roles. Critical race theory is applied as a framework for viewing lived experience as a legitimate and appropriate source of analysis. Socio-cultural theory is used to explain how cultural competence is needed to appropriately identify racism as an enduring problem that is a product of its culture and environment.

The Stakeholders

HRD faculty, HWIs administrators, hiring committees, diversity, equity and inclusion practitioners, search committees, and Black males in faculty roles in HWIs.