Chapter 6: Finding Wholeness and Community in the Academy: Tales From a Sister Circle

The experiences of faculty women of color (FWOC) across the U.S. make one thing clear: academe can be hostile territory for us. Overwork, micro- and macro-aggressions, underrepresentation, isolation, and presumed incompetence are only a few of the many workplace hazards we must contend with (Muhs et al., 2012). Often the result of the intersections of systemic racism and sexism, these hazards are damaging, especially when many of our institutions do not provide support structures that help reduce the threat level or mitigate the negative effects.

While familial and community spaces bring us relief from the struggles of the academy, they too can have their own hazards, demanding time, and energy that we do not always have in large stores or demanding we conform to roles that no longer align with our 21st century context. These hazards appear less damaging than those in academe, but they are nonetheless molded by the same racist and sexist systems. The result: within and outside academe, FWOC must traverse problematic white and patriarchal spaces that have the potential to cause physical and psychic injury (Turner, 2002; Turner et al., 2011).