by Jon Lackman | 2 August 2010 | Uncategorized
There are of course other kinds of diversity besides those of academic background.
When completing the U.S. government’s “Survey of Earned Doctorates” today, I noticed that it asked about race/ethnicity, and so I went online to see what the latest data was on that for art history.
Of the 207 people who received PhDs in art history, art criticism, or art conservation in 2008, 161 were U.S. citizens or permanent residents. These are the only people SED tabulates ethnicity on. Of those 161 people, zero reported themselves to be American Indian, six Asian, three Black, two Hispanic, three Other, three Multi-race, and 144 White. That adds up to 89% white.
By contrast, the PhD recipients in “Letters” (English/American literature & classics) who were citizens or permanent residents were 71% white. In philosophy, the figure is 69%; in history, 65%.
By the way, among humanities fields, only German literature and Musicology/Ethnomusicology are more white (94% and 91%).