Lisa A. Flores and Logan Rae Gomez

ABSTRACT

Amid rising controversy around the alleged distinctions between merit and excellence lies a familiar refrain, scarcity. The narrative of academic scarcity, proclaiming the insufficient numbers of scholars and academics of color, permeates conversations in higher education. We suggest that the academic scarcity narrative, a remnant of stagnant logics of diversity, circulates as a contemporary mechanism of what we name disciplinary containment. Extending disciplinary conversations around rhetorical containment, we argue that disciplinary containment perpetuates whiteness.

KEYWORDS

Containment, race, whiteness, scarcity, abundance

From: Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 2020 17 (2)

Editor: Wang Yi