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Making Power Visible: Racialized Epistemologies, Knowledge (Re)Production and American Sociology

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Making Power Visible: Racialized Epistemologies, Knowledge (Re)Production and American Sociology Jennifer Lynn Padilla Wyse Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In Sociology David L. Brunsma, Committee Chair Ellington T. Graves Lakshmi Jayaram Wornie Reed September 23, 2014 Blacksburg, Virginia Keywords: race, U.S. American Sociology, knowledge reproduction, power, epistemology Copyright Making Power Visible: Racialized Epistemologies, Knowledge (Re)Production and American Sociology Jennifer Lynn Padilla Wyse ABSTRACT This dissertation methodologically analyzes triangulated qualitative data from a critical race and feminist standpoint theoretical approach in order to explore American Sociology’s contemporary process of institutionalized knowledge reproduction, as well as how race structures that process. American Sociology is institutionalized knowledge that is structured into academic departments or an “institutional-structure” (Wallerstein 2007). Prestige structures the discipline, where the top-20 departments enact social closure through hiring practices and as such represent an element of elite power within the institutional-structure (Burris 2004; Lenski 1966). To be sure, institutional-structures are sites of collective memory, knowledge reproduction, professionalization and cognitive socialization processes. Therefore this dissertation data includes PhD-level required theory course syllabi, interviews with faculty that study race, Ph.D. candidates that study sociology, and defended dissertations from the year 2011, from the top-20 U.S. sociology departments that read as cultural representations of how race structures the reproduction of American Sociology’s institutionalized knowledge. This study has implications for the teaching, learning, and practice of American Sociology, as well as future scholarly research on the reproduction of knowledge and the sociology of sociology. Acknowledgements Many people assisted me to this point in my academic career. I would first like to thank my committee. Dr. Dave Brunsma, my committee chair and devoted mentor, encouraged this research from the beginning. He provided valuable mentorship in helping to improve my research, writing, and teaching. His writing seminars proved to be invaluable, and have sharpened and molded skills that will prove useful throughout my career. I will forever be appreciative for what I have learned and hopefully continue to learn from him. I would also like to thank Dr. Ellington Graves for creating a vigorous intellectual environment; Dr. Lakshmi Jayaram for also encouraging this research from the beginning and providing invaluable support along the way; and lastly Dr. Wornie Reed for challenging my ideas, pushing me forward, and encouraging intellectual debate. And, of course, thank you to all the faculty and Ph.D. candidates who participated in this study; I very much appreciated your willingness to share your experiences at your respective departments and within our field more generally. I would be remiss if I did not thank Dr. Terry Kershaw. Though I was set to only complete my master’s degree, Dr. Kershaw encouraged me to pursue a PhD and affect change. Many thanks to Dr. Anthony Peguero for being a unwavering support, both personally and professionally. A special thanks to Dr. Woody Farrar who, though he is no longer with us, I am a quite sure would have loved this dissertation topic. I would also like to thank Dr. Ansley Abraham and the Southern Regional Education Board Doctoral Scholars Program for their support along this journey. More broadly, I would like to thank the Africana Studies program and the Department of Sociology at Virginia Tech. It was my education in both sociology and Africana Studies that encouraged this dissertation topic. Specific shout outs to Dr. Polanah, Dr. Karl Precoda, Dr. Beverly Bunch-Lyons, and Dr. Carol Bailey. I would like to think all my friends and colleagues who have supported me along the way; Nicklaus Spruill, Laura Agnich, Jahi Johnson, Pamela Mullins, Sara McDonough, Nate Chapman, Leighton Vila, Shawn Braxton, Carson Byrd, Lindsay Khale, Gary Wood, Njeri Kershaw, George Still, and April Stapp. I would also like to thank the many participants of Dr. Brunsma’s writing seminars who, collectively, reviewed multiple manuscripts from this dissertation. If I have missed anyone, please know that I appreciate all your support and love. I would like to outwardly express my appreciation and love for my parents, William Jay and Linda Wyse, who have always supported me in all my endeavors. My sister Emily and brother-in-law James Perkerson who always provided me with support and a much needed space outside of the Ivory Tower! I am proud to represent for my ancestors including Great Tata Merced and Great Grandma Sotera Padilla, Grandpa Walter Padilla, Grandma Mavis Wyse, Aunt Alice and Uncle Val Padilla. I am indebted to the unwavering support and prayers of the strongest women I know, the Padilla women, including Beryl Padilla, Dorita Rosewitz, Christine Lane, and Sandra Colón. Thank you to my cousins Ashley Colón, Eric Rosewitz, Joey Colón, Todd Rosewitz, Ryan Lane, Kurt Lane, and Miriam Kopels. I would also like to thank my grandparents Bill and Bess iii Wyse for their prayers and support. To my niece Ryan Perkerson; my little cousins Mia, Bryanna, Isaiah, and Lilah Ruth; and my godkids Anthoni, Maleak, Tuck, and Alyssa. I hope that each of you will be able to do what you love. And of course I have to give a shout out to my friends who have witnessed this improbable journey and have supported me every step of the way: Maria Atubiga, Donetta Watson, Nicole Gonzales, Fallon Lewis, Laura Benjamin, Rose Cariazo, Stephen Guenzi, Debbie and Rod Burley, as well as Lori and Art Rowe. iv Table of Contents Introduction Pg. 1 Chapter 1: American Sociology: History and Racially Gendered Classed Knowledge Reproduction Pg. 2 Chapter 2: Reproduction of Racially Gendered Institutionalized Knowledge: The Case of American Sociology Pg. 38 Chapter 3: The Reproduction of Race in American Sociology: Faculty Reflections Pg. 81 Chapter 4: The Reproduction of Race in American Sociology: Ph.D. Candidate Reflections Pg. 110 Chapter 5: American Sociology: Race, Gender, and the Production of Knowledge Pg. 142 Conclusion: American Sociology: Contemporary Reproduction of Racialized Structural Inequalities of Knowledge Pg. 172 Table 1: Top-20 U.S. Sociology Departments Pg. 211 Appendix: Methodology Pg. 212 v Introduction This dissertation seeks to understand U.S. American Sociology’s contemporary institutionalized knowledge reproduction process as well as if, and how, race structures that process. Recent literature identifies American Sociology as an “institutional- structure” of both institutionalized knowledge and structured departments of prestige (Wallerstein 2007). The top-20 U.S. sociology departments through interdepartmental hiring processes enact social closure and as such are representative of disciplinary power with U.S. American sociology (Burris 2004). In order to understand US Americans sociologies contemporary institutionalize knowledge preproduction process, this dissertation utilized triangulated data from the top 20 US sociology departments including PhD-level required theory course syllabi, interviews with faculty that study race, Ph.D. candidates that study sociology, and defended dissertations from the year 2011 from the ProQuest database. This dissertation is formatted in manuscript style. The first manuscript (Chapter 1) historically contextualizes U.S. American Sociology, as an “institutional-structure,” within racialized power-relations. The second manuscript (Chapter 2) is an analysis of the required PhD-level theory syllabi. The third manuscript (Chapter 3) is an analysis of the interviews with faculty that study race at the top-20 U.S. sociology departments. The fourth manuscript (Chapter 4) is an analysis of the interviews with PhD candidates the study Sociology at the top-20 US sociology departments. The fifth manuscript (Chapter 5) is an analysis of dissertations defended in 2011 at the top-20 U.S. sociology departments that were available on the ProQuest database. And the sixth manuscript (the conclusion) is analysis of the triangulated data dad allows for a robust understanding the contemporary process of knowledge reproduction in U.S. American Sociology. Together this data illustrates the contemporary reproduction of racialized structural inequalities of knowledge in U.S. American Sociology and has real implications for future research on the sociology of knowledge, sociology of sociology, as well as the practice of teaching and learning. 1 Chapter 1: American Sociology: History and Racially Gendered Classed Knowledge Reproduction Abstract This paper explores how racially gendered classed power-relations structure history, knowledge and American Sociology’s historical memory and disciplinary knowledge production. In order to do so, this paper 1) utilizes Cabral’s (1970) theory of history to center humanity as historically developed into a racially gendered classed capitalist world-system, 2) employs intersectionality as a heuristic device to see how knowledge is manipulated to normalize dehumanization as well as to perpetuate exploitation and privilege by denying “Others’” knowledge, and lastly 3) sociologically imagines this racially gendered classed process in the institutional-structure
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