The Equity Myth: Racialization and Indigeneity at Canadian Universities by Frances Henry et al. (review)

There is an invariably self-reflective quality to academic studies of academics. And yet The Equity Myth achieves an effective balance. What this study lacks in research data it makes up for in challenging the silence around racism in Canadian universities. The authors' findings could easily apply to workplaces throughout the country.

The authors argue that racialized and Indigenous faculty, who are numerically underrepresented in academia, experience widespread forms of discrimination. Indigenous and racialized faculty's work is undervalued. There are myriad obstacles to engaging in research and teaching. They experience lower rates of pay, tenure, and promotion. Journals publish fewer articles on race and Indigeneity. Departments do not offer sufficient courses for students. Racial bias, often unconscious, is pervasive, from graduate training to reference letters and curriculum. Racialized and Indigenous faculty are at times a token symbol for their institution, which creates additional burdens on their time and service obligations (and fosters a culture where people have to justify their position). Racialized faculty are also primarily concentrated in business, health, science, and engineering faculties. Because of their lower representation in the humanities and social sciences, their scholarship in those disciplines is routinely unrecognized. The book ends with a series of recommendations around how universities can address inequality among racialized and Indigenous faculty.

A central theme in this book is neoliberalism. The authors' argue that universities and the experiences of racialized and Indigenous scholars are profoundly shaped by neoliberalism. Rather than promote the acquisition of knowledge, postsecondary institutions encourage competition. Precarious work (as exemplified in the recent college strike in Ontario) and an obsession with productivity in top journals (or in securing grants) pervade the university workplace. In such an atmosphere, the knowledge that racialized faculty bring to the classroom and their research is disregarded. Equity and anti-racism policies, rather than continuing to evolve, are increasingly seen as an impediment to success.

One of the strongest contributions of this study is the authors' critical assessment of equity policies in Canadian universities. Those policies that exist to address racism and inequality are poorly enforced, vaguely defined, and sometimes unenforceable. They are routinely ignored because institutions are more concerned with austerity measures, accountability, and public relations. Most policies originated in efforts to address sexism or discrimination on the basis of disability or sexual orientation. They have yet to adapt to fully address racism. As a result, even institutions committed to addressing equity often fall short of confronting the unique situation facing racialized and Indigenous faculty. Even more frustrating is that the simple existence of these policies is too often taken as a presumption that universities are serious about equity despite their policies' limitations.

Another unique contribution of The Equity Myth is the authors' critique of human rights policies. One of the great legal innovations of the 20th century was human rights legislation that sought to eliminate discrimination in the workplace. Human rights policies at universities were modelled on these laws. However, as the authors argue, these policies complement the neoliberal ideology of the modern university. They are concerned with individuals rather than the systemic racism that produces inequality. Equity (human rights) staff are sometimes more concerned with managing workplace relations than addressing structural problems.

The self-reflective quality that is inherent to academic studies of academia, however, is limiting. None of the authors work at French language institutions (most work in Ontario). The surveys, interviews and other research that forms the basis of this study do not include francophone institutions. The Equity Myth, therefore, is really about racialization and Indigeneity in English Canadian universities. This is unfortunate given current debates, especially among many francophone Quebeckers, around accommodation and equity in public workplaces. Similarly, none of the authors work in any of the disciplines where racialized faculty are concentrated. Again, this is reflected in the research for this book, which concentrates on the social sciences and...