The Racial Reckoning of Elite Education: The Ghostly Entanglement of Race, Class and Privilege Haunting in Private Elite Independent Schools (PEIS)

Abstract

This dissertation explores the racial reckoning that occurred within New England’s Private Elite Independent Schools (PEIS) following the 2020 murder of George Floyd. These schools serve as exclusive training grounds for the elites and affluents of the nation. Using a qualitative methodological approach, interviews were conducted with administrators and alumni of PEIS, in combination with a personal journal, data from social media by Black students in PEIS, and news articles, were used to examine how these institutions confronted systemic biases and engaged in racial reckoning. Grounded in phenomenology and critical theory, this study focuses on how the nation’s violent history of racial oppression and antiblackness continues to be one of the defining feature modern social interactions, especially in elite circles such as PEIS. Central to the analysis of this dissertation is the concept of “haunting,” which describes the transgenerational transmission of trauma and the persistence of past racial hierarchies in contemporary elite spaces. Subsequently, this research seeks to understand how these schools are moving toward substantial systemic change while addressing the fragmented memories of their diverse student bodies.