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Scholarship March 29, 2017

From Oppression to Grace:  Women of Color and Their Dilemmas within the Academy

The Wabash Center

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Author
Berry, Theodorea Regina and Nathalie D. Mizelle, eds.
Publisher
Stylus, Sterling
ISBN
1579221114
Table of Contents
Introduction : what the fuck, now what? : the social and psychological dilemmas of multidimensional being as a woman of color in the academy

Part 1 Move on up a little higher : completing the terminal degree
ch. 1 The journey of an African American female chemist-scholar (Amanda C. Bryant-Friedrich)
ch. 2 My skin is brown and I do not wear a tie : exploring my selves as a southern, black, educated, Christian woman (Menthia P. Clark)
ch. 3 Bridging identities : making sense of who we are becoming to be (Aki Murata)
ch. 4 Watching, my other education : vicarious learning about gender and race in the professorate (M. Francyne Huckaby)
ch. 5 Balancing the margin is my center : a Navajo woman's navigations through the academy and her community (Tiffany S. Lee)
ch. 6 Transitions : finding my voice (Tinaya Webb)
ch. 7 In between China and North America (Ming Fang He)
ch. 8 Both oppressor and oppressed : an Asian Indian woman's experience within the academy (Kiran Katira)
ch. 9 Mentoring and its role in scholarly development (Beatrice Bridglall)

Part 2 Pride and prejudice : finding your place after the degree
ch. 10 Being all things to all people : expectations of and demands on women of color in the legal academy (Danielle Conway-Jones)
ch. 11 The "intercultural space" where worlds collide (Amanda Kim)
ch. 12 Sides of the tenure and promotion process : can I be a parental figure, scholar, and spouse? (Cassandra Sligh Dewalt)
ch. 13 Perspectives on negotiating identity and profession at a historically black college or university (Cassandra Slight Dewalt and Cheryl Thompkins Horton)
ch. 14 Choosing my best thing : black motherhood and academica (Kaavonia Hinton-Jonson)
ch. 15 Seen, not heard : a conversation on what it means to be black and female in the academy (Lavada Taylor Brandon)
ch. 16 In this place where I don't quite belong : claiming the ontoepistemological in-between (Ddenise Taliaferro Baszile)
ch. 17 Una Lucha de Fronteras (a struggle of borders) : women of color in the academy (Maria V. Balderrama, Mary T. Texeira and Elsa Valdez)

Part 3 Words of womanhood wisdom : voices of senior faculty who are women of color
ch. 18 Critical race feminist foremothering : multiplicities in the post 9/11 world
ch. 19 A Nuyorican in the academy : lessons learned
From the Publisher
This book gives voice to the experiences of women of color - women of African, Native American, Latina, East Indian, Korean and Japanese descent - as students in pursuing terminal degrees and as faculty members navigating the Academy, grappling with the dilemmas encountered by others and themselves as they exist at the intersections of their work and identities.
Women of color are frequently relegated - on account both of race and womanhood - into monolithic categories that perpetuate oppression, subdue and suppress conflict, and silence voices. This book uses critical race feminism (CRF) to place women of color in the center, rather than the margins, of the discussion, theorizing, research and praxis of their lives as they co-exist in the dominant culture.
This book makes salient three characteristics of critical race feminism. Just as it is places emphasis on the application of theory to real life issues, the authors' narratives address concerns about the academic community, home, and family. Just as CRF supports a discourse of resistance, the book provides a forum for different voices as multi-representations of the counterstories against the acceptance of the dominant culture and the status quo. And, finally, the contributors' stories reflect CRF's emphasis on narrative to deepen the understanding of their lives as women of color.
The first part of the book addresses the issues faced on the way to achieving a terminal degree: the struggles encountered and the lessons learned along the way. Part Two, Pride and Prejudice Finding Your Place After the Degree, describes the complexity of lives of women with multiple identities as scholars with family, friends,and lives at home and at work. The book concludes with the voices of senior faculty sharing their journeys and their paths to growth as scholars and individuals.
This book is for all women of color growing up in the academy, learning to stand on their own, taking first steps, mastering the language, walking, running, falling and getting up to run again, and illuminates the process of self-definition that is essential to their growth as scholars and individuals.