Unmasking the Experiences of Racialized Women in Academia

Sandra Dixon is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.Cecille DePass is Professor Emeritus at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

This anthology is a topical, comprehensive, and timely achievement that surely recasts the academic location of Indigenous, Black, and other racialized women who, via their encounter with racism and related multi-locus marginalizations, unapologetically reclaim their subjective and professional agencies with clear counter-oppression messages and methodologies.Contributors to this collection narrate their stories and struggles with thick onto-epistemological reconstructions and triumphant survivalist strategies that relay a Sankofa-esque revaluation and redemption. In doing so, they achieve impressive, anti-colonial intellectual responses that reconnect the past with the present, while contemporaneously heralding a grand refusal to be invisiblized, amidst performative visibility measures, in the still exclusionist plains and hinterlands of colonialist academia. An excellent, timely work indeed. The book should be widely read, and discussed with decolonizing and liberatory intent.

• Notes on ContributorsForeword, Stephen Emeka OkoliAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Mapping the Academic Landscape, Sandra Dixon and Cecille DePassPart 1: Breaking Silence: Racialized Women’s Academic Journey1. The Journey of (in)Visibility: To be a Black Woman in Academia, Isabelle Dena2. Navigating Vulnerabilities and Agency as a Filipina in the Canadian Academy, Jessica Ticar3. Racism and the Doctoral Journey: Becoming more than just a Statistic, Dalon P. Taylor 4. Succeeding in Graduate School: Overcoming the Odds, Fiona EdwardsPart 2. Unveiling Authenticity: Navigating Identity, Safety and Belonging in Academia5. Unmasking my Truth: Navigating Feelings of Imposter Syndrome, Millie Batta6. Fighting an Uphill Battle: Dealing with Student Aggression and Character Attacks, Sonia Meerai and Anh Ngo7. Fostering Cultural Safety in Supervision: A Bicultural Woman’s Perspective, Anusha Kassan8. Indigenous Teachings from My Baby Crow Boots, Gwendolyn D. VillebrunPart 3. Disrupting the Narrative: Black Women’s Truths in Academia9. Strong Black Superwoman Syndrome: Sharing my Experience in Academia, Venise Bryan10. Deconstructing Stereotypes of the Angry Black Woman, Towani DuchscherPart 4. Decolonizing Academia: Critical Voices, Spaces and Praxes11. Decolonizing Curricula and the Praxis of Social Justice, Jacqueline M. Linder12. A Love Letter for Indigenous Scholarship: Reflections on Academic Perseverance, Tiffany Hind Bull-Prete13. Decolonizing and Indigenizing Spaces for Women of Color in Academic Leadership, Gertrude Tinker Sachs and Shelley WongPart 5. Embodied Truths: Redefining Identity and Leadership in Academia14. Beyond an Illusion of Inclusion: My Experiences as a Palestinian Muslim Woman in the Academy, Muna Saleh15. La Gente Pobre: Testimonio of a Chicana/Latina First-Generation Scholar, Noni Mendoza-Reis16. Becoming Unapologetically Me: Redefining Leadership in Post-Secondary Education, Martha Mathurin MoePart 6. Flourishing in Academia: Hope, Spirituality, Wellness and Community17. Anti-Racism as a Spiritual Practice: Learning from Rumi, Zahra N. Kasamali18. Well-Being Strategies of an Afro-Caribbean Academic Woman, Dihema R. Longman19. Applying Utu/ Ubuntu Principles to Community- Engaged Practice, Sophie Yohani20. Academic Incongruence in Canadian Psychology: Forging a Future in an Alien Profession, Judi L. MaloneConclusion, Yabome Gilpin-JacksonAn Elder’s Blessing: Backward glance, Forward momentum, Cree Elder Doreen SpenceAfterword, Rosalinda Quintanar-SarellanaIndex