Vocalizing Silenced Voices

We live in a world in which representatives of dominant institutions, like education and the media, spend a considerable amount of time subtly persuading people that patriotism means believing that we live in a free and fair society. The result is many people, especially middle, upper-middle and upper class folks, overlook the extreme socio-economic, racial, gender and other inequities in our society. They see the social hierarchy characterized by, for example, white supremacy, racism, social caste and gender discrimination as normal, natural and common sense. Few schools teach children to become critically conscious of the hegemonic process by which social hierarchy in the United States has been handed down over five hundred years. As a result, many of us have no idea how many people have been silenced to reinforce, maintain or only minimally change the social hierarchy, including inequities in their universities. In this book, we identify some of the hegemonic ideologies, ideas, narratives, and ways of framing reality that silence and traumatize students, faculty and staff of color and all social justice activists in higher education through complex social processes or mechanisms called cultural hegemony. We also name some alternative narratives that are already and will continue to lead to collective action, critical consciousness, accountability, hope, equity, and social justice.