About
Introduction
Liberate Your Research offers life-affirming workshops that transform academic oppression into joy and writing prosperity. They train faculty and graduate students of color how to affirm the parts of our souls that need healing from oppressive academic systems and persevere. They help scholars of color tap into their powerful
“By collaboratively working through the deep pain of academic oppression, workshop participants release the constraints of the academic ecosystem, shifting to self trust and collective power. They gain tools for producing their highest and their most intentional, genuine, steadfast, and principled academic writing.”
The journey
I founded Liberate Your Research workshops after persevering through my own journey of academic oppression. I learned that university structures that undervalue scholars of color and our contributions create a profoundly wounding ripple effect that not only harms well being but also obstructs the potential for cultivating ideas, writing, publishing, and ultimately, growing one’s career. I realized that we need to do more than merely end race/class/gender/sexuality-based discrimination if we really want to support scholars of color because the oppression we face in academia is bigger than that. It’s compounded by how scholars of color tend to produce research that is highly interdisciplinary and challenges the status quo more intrinsically than their white counterparts–especially within the disciplines. These realities often lead reviewers to treat our scholarship with more scrutiny or to even devalue it.
With the cards often stacked against them, scholars of color need extra support along the way. My workshops offer intentional support for BIPOC faculty and graduate students now rather than expecting them to wait for campuses to develop and implement necessary large structural change down the line.
Liberate Your Research provides scholars of color with tools for growing the brilliance of our voices and ideas without minimizing our contributions out of fear of publication rejection, promotion failure, or job loss. It offers administrators with a pathway for resolving retention issues.
About Dr. Nadine Naber
Dr. Nadine Naber is a public scholar, author, and teacher from Al-Salt, Jordan and the Bay Area of California. Dr. Naber has co-created connections, research, and activism among scholars of color and social movements for the past 25 years. She is author/co-author of five books, an expert author for the United Nations; co-founder of the organization Mamas Activating Movements for Abolition and Solidarity (MAMAS); co-author of the forthcoming book, *Pedagogies of the Radical Mother* (Haymarket Press); and founder of programs such as the Arab and Muslim American Studies Program at the University of Michigan and the Arab American Cultural Center at the University of Illinois. Her work has been recognized through awards such as the Lifetime Achievement Prize from the American Studies Association (2022), the Y-Women’s Leadership Award, and awards from foundations such as Macarthur, Ford, Russell Sage, Open Societies, and Andrew W. Mellon.
Testimonials
Testimonials anecdotally indicate that the breakthroughs and confidence gleaned from my workshops have led to more and more BIPOC scholars completing their degrees and flourishing on the path to promotion and tenure. I have been grateful to hear Administrators consistently share feedback that they have finally found a path towards reporting positive outcomes about their efforts to not only diversify, but retain BIPOC faculty. I’m excited to bring LYR to your campus!
“Dr. Naber’s workshop is a profound experience for marginalized scholars
seeking to explore complex questions that often affect our populations…
I entered her workshop completely uncertain if I could adequately write a page of my dissertation and left her workshop feeling a sense of place and purpose in my research.”
“I wanted faculty to find a space where they could remember the “why” of their research and feel empowered in their work. Mission
accomplished! Nadine truly helped all of us understand that we have powerful
and unique voices to contribute to our disciplines and fields, and how to use
those voices to speak to those issues that matter to us the most.”
“I cannot recommend this workshop highly enough. Nadine inspired participants in this workshop to approach our research with joy and confidence. She gave us the tools to quell the oppressive criticism many of us have internalized that undermines our writing…
Those of us participating strengthened our sense of community in ways that will
persist beyond the workshop.”
“There were a lot of “aha” moments for me during this workshop. I’ve never really
thought about the ways that my lived experience informs the methodological &
theoretical aspects of my work. I feel like this is such an empowering way to look at my work and show myself why I am the one who is able to do it.
“Before I participated in Nadine’s Liberate Your Research workshop, I was filled with trepidation and dread about a challenging new project. That all changed:
with Nadine’s illuminating insight. I was able to gain clarity and ownership of
the research project. I felt both relieved and empowered to see how my methodologies were both fitting and necessary. Nadine is an amazing facilitator and guide: her sensitivity, care, and generosity of spirit are truly
inspirational.