ABSTRACT
American institutions are experiencing an erosion of the public trust, including institutions of higher education that have espoused egalitarian American principles and practice, in theory, the ideals of equity. Historically, institutions of higher education have been complicit in de facto and de jure segregation and other systems of exclusion, and given the nature of the historical role of higher education within American society, have served as evangelist of the white and male supremacy—institutionalized “othering”. Over the course of the nation’s history and the maturation of higher education, the institutions emerged as the gatekeepers and authenticators of information, and “enjoyed the consequences of the societal maxim which proclaims that knowledge is power”. Utilizing the philosophical frameworks of Ubuntu and Buddhism, this inquiry seeks to theorize or re-imagine what American higher education might look like if education was engaged first as an endeavor of human being-becoming. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
