Personal accounts of belonging and inclusion from four Black students at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa were chronicled in a new photo essay by Department of Ethnic Studies Assistant Professor Ethan Caldwell.
In the photo essay published in the Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity, Caldwell photographs each of the four students at places on campus where they feel the most and least belonging. At the place where they feel the least belonging, the students don a veil.
“I’m trying to get folks to understand that not only are Black students present on campus but they are having quite a varying set of experiences. So many of them do question, ‘Where do I belong on campus?’ and ‘Where do I find that belonging?’” Caldwell said. “It takes a lot of courage. There comes a level of trust when you’re putting yourself out there in this particular manner. And I think part of that also helps show the rapport that the students have not only with some of the faculty but also with one another.”
One student named Bliss, whose last name is not used, said she feels the most belonging at the Women’s Center in the Queen Liliʻuokalani Center for Student Services.
“I came from a tornado of a past with some seriously heavy baggage, and the Women’s Center was the place where I first found relief and support,” Bliss shared in the essay. “It was my safe space where I could rest and regulate my nervous system. I was always met with kindness, camaraderie and care. It will always hold such a special place in my heart because it was the birthplace of some lifelong friendships and transformation for me.”
Bliss, who self-identifies as African American and Japanese, and female, sits with a black cloth over her shoulders in the middle of Campus Center.
“I feel swallowed up by the students during passing period,” Bliss said. “I feel invisible, awkward and uncomfortable there. I feel like an outcast partly because I don’t look like a lot of the students on campus. On the island, I feel the weakest sense of belonging in spaces like Waikīkī, where there are hordes of tourists that are much like the people from my hometown.”
To see the entire photo essay, and read the stories of four students, visit the journal’s website.
Caldwell wrote, “By addressing the histories, movements and ideas related to Blackness through an oceanic lens, the resulting images and dialogue with students highlight the need for campuses and constituents to address diversity, inclusion, equity and justice work on university campuses beyond the continent. In addition, their experiences solidify the need to challenge anti-Blackness in all spaces on campus to ensure the safety of Black students, staff and faculty, a measure all will benefit from.”
The Department of Ethnic Studies is housed in the UH Mānoa College of Social Sciences.
