Developing Annihilationist Strategies: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and The Racial Capitalist University

In this article, I situate the story of my students in the university as a racial and gendered capitalist institution which requires and deploys diversity initiatives as part of its strategy to maintain its accumulative potential. Using several examples from my experiences with students on Georgeto...

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Main Author: Arjun Shankar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University Library System, University of Pittsburgh 2025-03-01
Series:Radical Teacher
Online Access:https://radicalteacher.library.pitt.edu/ojs/radicalteacher/article/view/1241
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author Arjun Shankar
author_facet Arjun Shankar
author_sort Arjun Shankar
collection DOAJ
description In this article, I situate the story of my students in the university as a racial and gendered capitalist institution which requires and deploys diversity initiatives as part of its strategy to maintain its accumulative potential. Using several examples from my experiences with students on Georgetown’s campus, I show how such strategies produce an excess emotional stress for students of color, and women of color in particular, who are forced to participate in this form of labor on campus. I will then turn to the kinds of strategies – strategies which I term annihilationist – that we might deploy in our classrooms in order to begin to teach students the skills they need to protect themselves as they seek to overturn systems that produce so much of their unwellness. I evoke “annihilation” to center anti-caste and anti-colonial traditions that challenge the university’s rigid hierarchies and stratifications.
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spelling doaj-art-60dfdf117fcd45689ead94a04d09da5a2025-08-20T03:02:02ZengUniversity Library System, University of PittsburghRadical Teacher1941-08322025-03-0113110.5195/rt.2024.1241Developing Annihilationist Strategies: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and The Racial Capitalist University Arjun Shankar0Georgetown University In this article, I situate the story of my students in the university as a racial and gendered capitalist institution which requires and deploys diversity initiatives as part of its strategy to maintain its accumulative potential. Using several examples from my experiences with students on Georgetown’s campus, I show how such strategies produce an excess emotional stress for students of color, and women of color in particular, who are forced to participate in this form of labor on campus. I will then turn to the kinds of strategies – strategies which I term annihilationist – that we might deploy in our classrooms in order to begin to teach students the skills they need to protect themselves as they seek to overturn systems that produce so much of their unwellness. I evoke “annihilation” to center anti-caste and anti-colonial traditions that challenge the university’s rigid hierarchies and stratifications. https://radicalteacher.library.pitt.edu/ojs/radicalteacher/article/view/1241
spellingShingle Arjun Shankar
Developing Annihilationist Strategies: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and The Racial Capitalist University
Radical Teacher
title Developing Annihilationist Strategies: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and The Racial Capitalist University
title_full Developing Annihilationist Strategies: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and The Racial Capitalist University
title_fullStr Developing Annihilationist Strategies: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and The Racial Capitalist University
title_full_unstemmed Developing Annihilationist Strategies: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and The Racial Capitalist University
title_short Developing Annihilationist Strategies: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and The Racial Capitalist University
title_sort developing annihilationist strategies diversity equity and inclusion and the racial capitalist university
url https://radicalteacher.library.pitt.edu/ojs/radicalteacher/article/view/1241
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