Chapter 4: Proactively Equipping Self and Community with Navigational Tools to Disrupt Othering Within Higher Education

Specifically focusing on the graduate student experience, recent research (Ball, 2022; Ballinas, 2017; Bernard et al., 2018; Edwards, 2019; Lopez, 2021; Roberson, 2021) explored the lived realities of doctoral students of color and the identification of affirmative tools to aid in successful navigation and graduation. The core of this chapter is based on my own research titled, Analysis, Affirmation and Advocacy: Deconstructing Experiences of Imposter Syndrome Amongst Doctoral Students of Color at a Predominately White Institution (Ball, 2022), centered around personal narratives from faculty and doctoral students of color.

The most salient form of being othered within the academy was noted as being othered by the “dominant view or voice of knowledge,” this meaning the white view within largely white spaces. Participants called out the perpetuation of whiteness within upheld academic practices, syllabus, selected literature and amongst the learning community. Participant dialogue vulnerably shared how the academy demonstrated a prioritization of white authors, layered with traditional views disparaging a reflective diverse voice and experience (Ball, 2022, p. 64). In this chapter, two themes will be highlighted from participants interviews and dialogic engagements: (1) the juxtaposition of self and (2) resisting forms of othering as a graduate scholar of color.