‘How Does One Survive the University as a Space Invader?’: Beyond White Innocence in the Academy

Abstract

Abstract In this interview, Gloria Wekker looks back on how her experiences as a young student of colour and later full professor inspired her to write White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race (2016). While exposing the university as a place whose modi operandi have historically been shaped by ingrained imperialist notions of race, she also offers administrators, researchers, lecturers and students practical suggestions that may help them turn academia into a more diverse and inclusive environment.