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Restorative Justice Practices Within Higher Education and the Arts: Addressing...
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Restorative Justice Practices Within Higher Education and the Arts: Addressing Complex Legacies of Harm

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 February 2026) | Viewed by 8547

Editors

Prof. Dr. Assata Zerai

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Sociology & Criminology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Interests: sociology of health and medicine; race and ethnicity; global/transnational sociology; inequality; decolonial feminist methodologies; Black feminist thought; gender equity and development effectiveness; maternal and child health; sociology of religion
Prof. Dr. Teresa Neely

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of University Libraries & Learning Sciences, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Interests: diversity and leadership in librarianship; 19th century banking practices and procedures; user designed data sets (Native American and African American hip-hop lyrics); digital humanities and text analysis; assessment in research libraries and higher education; spaces for people and paper in academic libraries
Mariann Skahan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Anthropology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Interests: language endangerment and revitalization, language circulation, ideologies of language; indigeneity and sovereignty, historical educational trauma, feminist decoloniality, and the US Southwest
Dr. Kathy L. Powers

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
UNM Political Science, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Interests: the nature of institutional authority as well as institutional change and effects
Pamela Agoyo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Student Affairs, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Interests: American Indian students in higher education and educational equity

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is informed by restorative justice practices, the scholarship of feminist decoloniality, and the histories of higher education and the arts, and we locate discussions of universities confronting their past within social movements for educational equity and the arts and the agency of creators and learners who demand their rightful place. Articles submitted to this Special Issue will examine the experiences of groups that have been marginalized in higher education and the arts, with authors exploring whether complex legacies of harm—along the lines of race, culture, citizenship, state and tribal sovereignty, globalization, and disability—require both personal and institutional reflexivity to unveil the multidimensional experiences of both perpetrators and survivors. We aim to provide guidance to those willing to move beyond acknowledgment to correcting harm in higher education and the arts.

Prof. Dr. Assata Zerai
Prof. Dr. Teresa Neely
Mariann Skahan
Dr. Kathy L. Powers
Pamela Agoyo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Publisher’s Notice

The Special Issue, together with its publications, has been removed from Section Crime and Justice on 16 January 2026. The publications remain available in the regular issues in which they were originally published. The Editorial Office confirms that these articles adhered to MDPI's standard editorial process (https://www.mdpi.com/editorial_process).

Keywords

  • feminist decoloniality in higher education
  • histories of higher education
  • restorative practices in higher education
  • social movements for educational equity
  • marginalized groups
  • secondary marginalization
  • Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs)
  • Native American faculty and students
  • Black faculty and students
  • disability studies
  • DACA and undocumented students in higher education
  • restorative practices in the arts
  • minority-serving institutions (MSIs)
  • healing and reclamation

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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29 pages, 390 KB  
Article
Conceptualizing Anti-Blackness at a Hispanic-Serving Research University
by Brandi Wells-Stone, Assata Zerai and Teresa Neely
Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(3), 151; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15030151 - 25 Feb 2026
Viewed by 1307
Abstract
This study examined the experiences of Black students attending a Hispanic-Serving Research University (HSRU). Utilizing a mixed-methods Black Student Belonging Survey, the research team sought to understand how Black students across Afro-diasporic communities, including students who self-identify as Black, Afro-Latinx, Afro-Indigenous, West African, [...] Read more.
This study examined the experiences of Black students attending a Hispanic-Serving Research University (HSRU). Utilizing a mixed-methods Black Student Belonging Survey, the research team sought to understand how Black students across Afro-diasporic communities, including students who self-identify as Black, Afro-Latinx, Afro-Indigenous, West African, and others, described their encounters within an HSRU. Findings from this study revealed that the percentages of students at the HSRU under study who stated that they encountered challenges related to their Black identities at the target university was not equally distributed among various ethnic and multiheritage groups within the Afro-diaspora, χ2 (2, n = 319), p < 0.01. Thus, it appears that challenges at the university related to Black identities vary by background. This is an important finding because it reveals that studies that flatten the Black identity of student respondents may be missing significant variations in experience. Moreover, analysis of qualitative results using an anti-Blackness framework sheds light on the pervasive experiences of anti-Black encounters across the university. These findings include anti-Black aggressions, politics of belonging, and bearing the weight of representation as the most frequent challenges experienced within the HSRU. Recommendations based on these findings call for participatory action research with students, enhanced upstander interventions, and continued work to humanize and broaden practices in higher education that promote servingness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Restorative Justice Practices Within Higher Education and the Arts: Addressing Complex Legacies of Harm)
16 pages, 507 KB  
Article
Decolonial Feminist Care: Devising and Scripting of the Embodied Experience of Black Women Academics in Higher Education
by Siphiwe Motloung, Luthando Ngema, Pumelela Nqelenga and Ongezwa Mbele
Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(2), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15020112 - 12 Feb 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1291
Abstract
The paper presents reflections from four black women academics on their process of creating theatricalised performances about their experiences in higher education. These women are part of the research group Feminist Decoloniality as Care (FemDAC). The performances were presented at various academic conferences [...] Read more.
The paper presents reflections from four black women academics on their process of creating theatricalised performances about their experiences in higher education. These women are part of the research group Feminist Decoloniality as Care (FemDAC). The performances were presented at various academic conferences by the four women. The making of the performance drew on letter-writing reflections prompted by questions centred on the experiences of black women academics in higher education. The audiences and performers engaged in post-performance discussions about issues and ideas pertinent to them. The process involved addressing issues of academic woundedness and exploring how black women can embody the structural injustices of the academy. What happens when black women academics see patriarchy and white supremacist tendencies in themselves? How do we facilitate decolonial care when the theatre process digs into our wounds? How does the performance give insight into the fractured relationship between black women and their fellow academics? This paper describes a decolonial approach to evoking care practices within the academy, especially drawing on the discourse of the arts for social change. The theatrical performance reflected the deep discomfort of black women academics in caring for and healing themselves amid ongoing academic woundedness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Restorative Justice Practices Within Higher Education and the Arts: Addressing Complex Legacies of Harm)
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18 pages, 304 KB  
Article
Understanding Inequity in Graduation Rates at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs): An Intersectional Analysis by Race, Gender, and First-Generation College Status
by Christopher Erwin, Nancy López, E. Diane Torres-Velásquez and Cynthia Wise
Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(1), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15010033 - 7 Jan 2026
Viewed by 1491
Abstract
We examine complex inequities that emerge when race, gender, and first-generation college status are treated as interdependent, rather than independent statuses, for assessing student outcomes at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). Drawing on student-level administrative data from two public HSIs in the U.S. Southwest, we [...] Read more.
We examine complex inequities that emerge when race, gender, and first-generation college status are treated as interdependent, rather than independent statuses, for assessing student outcomes at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). Drawing on student-level administrative data from two public HSIs in the U.S. Southwest, we analyze four-year graduation and placement in developmental English and mathematics. Using continuing-generation college white women as the reference group, we estimate marginal effects and then construct linear combinations for twenty intersectional social locations defined by race, gender, and first-generation college status. Our findings show that first-generation American Indian men, first-generation college Black men, and first-generation college Hispanic men experience some of the largest achievement gaps in both graduation and developmental placement, gaps that would remain obscured in conventional reporting by race, gender, or class alone. We argue that quantitative intersectionality, grounded in critical race and intersectionality scholarship, offers a value-added approach to state-based institutional analytics that can inform equity metrics, accountability systems, and resource allocation at HSIs and beyond. We conclude with recommendations for redesigning data infrastructures, reporting practices, and equity initiatives to better align HSI servingness with the lived realities of structurally marginalized students. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Restorative Justice Practices Within Higher Education and the Arts: Addressing Complex Legacies of Harm)
15 pages, 269 KB  
Article
Unpacking the Performativity of Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Designation: Holding Universities Accountable and Developing a Call to Action
by Florence Emilia Castillo, Angeles Rubi Castorena and Nancy López
Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(10), 585; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14100585 - 1 Oct 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2083
Abstract
Against the backdrop of historic and contemporary attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion, what could ethical accountability and a call to action look like in Hispanic Serving Institutions? There are only a handful of institutions in the nation to simultaneously hold the Carnegie [...] Read more.
Against the backdrop of historic and contemporary attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion, what could ethical accountability and a call to action look like in Hispanic Serving Institutions? There are only a handful of institutions in the nation to simultaneously hold the Carnegie distinction of “very high research activity” and the designation of Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Yet some of these institutions have historically provided little if any resources to support and retain Hispanic-identifying students, and when programs exist, they tend to be performative rather than substantive. We employ intersectionality as critical inquiry and praxis (action/reflection) to name and shed light on the various mechanisms that continue to marginalize Hispanic students. In this case study, we attempt to examine institutional administrative data to shine a light on the underrepresentation of Latine students and faculty within the institution. Instead, however, we describe the practice of institutional and statistical gaslighting we encountered while trying to obtain this data. We then utilize content analysis of archival documents of two university departments and combine these findings with autoethnographic data to highlight both the past and current state of Latine faculty hires. We further examine the lack of student services and the precarious funding situations of Hispanic-centered programs at the heart of Hispanic student success, and the impact of Presidential Executive orders prohibiting the use of federal funds to support these resources. Finally, we include steps that can lead to institutional transformation as an ethical imperative to serve all students. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Restorative Justice Practices Within Higher Education and the Arts: Addressing Complex Legacies of Harm)

Other

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14 pages, 254 KB  
Perspective
Confronting Disability Pasts, Constructing Disability Futures: Recommendations for Growing Access, Equity, and Inclusion for Disabled Faculty in Higher Education
by Marissa Greenberg and Siobhán M. Cully
Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(2), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15020094 - 4 Feb 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1293
Abstract
Faculty with disabilities are under-represented in institutions of higher education (IHE). Barriers to full inclusion and access have been described in recent syntheses and include issues surrounding in/visibility, disclosure concerns, stigma, denial of access needs, and feelings of isolation, among other concerns. Although [...] Read more.
Faculty with disabilities are under-represented in institutions of higher education (IHE). Barriers to full inclusion and access have been described in recent syntheses and include issues surrounding in/visibility, disclosure concerns, stigma, denial of access needs, and feelings of isolation, among other concerns. Although IHE in the United States are bound by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and related legislation, accommodations for faculty are often provided slowly, sometimes reluctantly, and through arcane structures that prove difficult to navigate and involve decision-makers with limited training in disability. Creating equitable futures for individuals with disabilities requires a systematic approach that redresses prior harms, acknowledges present challenges and successes, and works toward ameliorating social, cultural, and physical environments to maximize inclusion and access. To better understand the needs of faculty with disabilities and to inform efforts to redress associated harms, we opportunistically analyze data from a survey of faculty with disabilities conducted at a public university in the American Southwest. We provide descriptive statistics of quantitative data and thematic analysis of qualitative findings. Themes address the need to prevent discrimination and stigma experienced by faculty with disabilities, to reduce inconsistencies in the provision of accommodations, and to be proactive and inclusion-oriented (rather than compliance-oriented) when designing and implementing solutions. We conclude with general guidance for institutions seeking to create such cultures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Restorative Justice Practices Within Higher Education and the Arts: Addressing Complex Legacies of Harm)
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