I had spent decades documenting the struggles underrepresented scholars face in moving their projects forward in the face of academic gatekeeping, hyper-scrutiny, tokenism, and devaluing. I wanted to create a space for putting urgent, bold, and invaluable projects into the world….the very projects that so often get stifled, shut down, or sidelined.
Universities are under siege—and they are complicit in their own destruction. Higher education is unraveling by an even more deliberate, calculated force than before. Websites deleted. Students and faculty disappeared. Faculty positions erased. What stood yesterday is gone today.
A Reflection It is easy to feel hopeless right now. The U.S. administration has designated professors as enemies of the nation, using broad, vague language reminiscent of post-9/11 rhetoric—”the enemy is everywhere and anywhere.” This strategy fosters a state of...
Established research shows that colleges and universities maintain historical legacies that undervalue BIPOC scholarship and their contributions through the explicit clandestine gatekeeping of BIPOC scholarship practices such as racial discrimination in evaluations,...
It’s no surprise that so many scholars of color share a sense of disconnection and non-belonging in U.S. academia. There is a violence at play that harms both faculty and graduate students of color, one that obstructs the capacity to grow and write clear,...
A central writing challenge that many scholars of color face is not merely that our voices, core ideas, and creative contributions are disproportionately scrutinized compared to our white counterparts, but that the gatekeeping is so well established that scholars of...
Do you ever feel like you “can’t write theory”? If so, you’re not alone. Most of my workshop participants say that “writing theory” makes them feel: tortured | overwhelmed | stuck | in chaos | like an imposter But it’s not you!...
Are you in a toxic relationship with academia? During my Liberate Your Research workshops with faculty and graduate students of color, I ask participants to share how they feel about their research. In every workshop, nearly every...
Do you ever find yourself obsessing over what gatekeepers are going to think about your work? Have you ever feared that you may not survive an academic evaluation? Of course, hierarchical academic structures–reviews, tenure evaluations, etc.--create the conditions...
Do you ever feel too exhausted to write? Let’s be real. Internalized academic oppression exhausts us. Traumatic experiences in our fields and on our campuses can lead many of us to ruminate: Do I even have the right to be in academia? How is my critique any different...