Thoughts and Recommendations from Women of Color in the Academy
This piece is a part of our Spark Series: Women of Color in the Academy
Throughout this series, authors shared intimately about their journeys through the academy. These stories are important for other Women of Color (WOC) who are in the beginning of their journey or who can now reflect and guide others. This work is also important as researchers continue to understand the complex lives and experiences of women of color in the academy.
In closing, the NCID offers a brief Q&A with the authors, who give recommendations on what worked for them as they moved through the academy as WOC.
Why did you decide to enter the academy?
I entered the academy because I believe(d) in the power of knowledge, the power to use knowledge for the benefit of our communities and other forms of justice. As a first-generation Latinx, I also believed in the importance of finding spaces within the academy, however tight and narrow those were, to tell our stories, to elevate our ancestors, to speak our truths, to (re)claim our erased epistemologies. (Latinx Anónima)
I wanted to disrupt the picture of who is a scholar, a teacher, and a gatekeeper within our field. I remember thinking that I had not met a faculty member ‘like me’; through my educational journey, I didn’t have a lot of professors who represented diversity in terms of race, gender, age, and personality. (Tiffany J. Davis, Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Houston)
What was the best piece of advice you received from mentor(s) on being successful in the academy?
Your research trajectory should tell a story… it shouldn’t be bits of research about one topic here and another topic there. Also, your research trajectory should be in line with your passion, because if you are not passionate about what you do, it won’t be very relevant. I have held onto that advice throughout my career. (Jennifer Payne, Associate Professor at Azusa Pacific University)
As a young grad student, I once heard a junior Latinx professor say to the young Latinx in her presence, “You have to be a bitch to survive in the academy.” I remember feeling stunned by that advice. Later, in my conversations with my Chicana/Latina mentoras, I learned that it was quite the opposite. They modeled for me what it was like to be human, they embodied the importance of being vulnerable and honest. To “be a bitch” was to affirm patriarchy. What I learned from my mentoras, my chingona mentoras, who were sharp while always maintaining that softness, was that authentic cariño, and what I later came to a kind of political love, was what would allow us to thrive and be “successful” in the academy. It was also what would keep us alive. They showed me that mentorship was about walking with your students, all the while pushing them to question, question, question. Caminando y siempre preguntando. (Latinx Anónima)
How can women of color be change agents in creating or countering traditional academic spaces?
Our mere existence in the academy is radical and counter to traditional academic spaces. First, it’s important for us to be intentional about the access, socialization, and training that we afford to undergraduate and graduate students. We need to be serious about diversifying the professoriate across identities by building pathways and pipelines. Second, we have to care for personal and professional selves so that we thrive in the academy. Increasing numbers of minoritized faculty are leaving the academy. Lastly, women of color can be change agents by working toward systemic and sustainable institutional, organizational, and cultural change. Sometimes that might involve taking on an additional service commitment (amid the already present emotional labor and cultural taxation that WOC often face). However, it’s important for our voice to be at the table when decisions are made and we should prioritize these types of opportunities to serve as a catalyst for change. (Tiffany J. Davis, Clinical Assistant Professor at University of Houston)
Kerry Ann Rocquemore’s book How to Win Tenure Without Losing Your Soul is an excellent read and discusses some of the pressures that persons of color have in the academy. Similar to the title of the book, to be a change agent we should not “lose our soul” or the essence of who we are, but instead, we should bring who we are into these academic spaces courageously and strategically. (Jennifer Payne, Associate Professor at Azusa Pacific University)
How can women of color move from surviving to thriving in the academy?
The academy can be an isolating and sometimes competitive space. Be intentional about finding supportive and empowering communities, both personally and professionally. Finding a community where you can authentically discuss the ways in which race and gender shape your experiences only enhances these types of communities. (Tiffany J. Davis, Clinical Assistant Professor at University of Houston)
Create our own opportunities, not just for ourselves but for others. When we do this, we create community too. (Lata Murti, Associate Professor of Sociology at Brandman University)
We should encourage and recruit more women of color to pursue higher education, and we should have more spaces available where women of color can ask questions about what the academy is like and why they should potentially pursue academic positions. We should have more ways of encouraging women of color at all stages, from the first day of their doctoral programs to their graduation day. There should be ways of addressing the specific gender and cultural issues that women of color face that hinder their completion of doctoral programs. And of course, there should be efforts to retain women of color in the academy. (Jennifer Payne, Associate Professor at Azusa Pacific University)
Survival is what we know how to do. We have inherited this skill from our ancestors and our foremothers. Oftentimes, it feels like the onus for “thriving” is put back on us. I want to toss it back into the laps of those in power. Into the comfortable lap of the academy. Do better. Be better. Create policies that address and actively breakdown the implicit heteronormativity, coloniality, and white supremacy embedded in your structures. Remember that equality is not the same as equity. (Latinx Anónima)
