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Presumed Incompetent II: Race, Class, Power, and Resistance of Women in Academia

edited by Yolanda Flores Niemann, Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs and Carmen G. González
foreword by Angela P. Harris

Utah State University Press, 2020
eISBN: 978-1-60732-966-4 | Cloth: 978-1-60732-964-0 | Paper: 978-1-60732-965-7
Library of Congress Classification LB2332.32.P74 2020
Dewey Decimal Classification 378.12082

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

ABOUT THIS BOOK

The courageous and inspiring personal narratives and empirical studies in Presumed Incompetent II: Race, Class, Power, and Resistance of Women in Academia name formidable obstacles and systemic biases that all women faculty—from diverse intersectional and transnational identities and from tenure track, terminal contract, and administrative positions—encounter in their higher education careers. They provide practical, specific, and insightful guidance to fight back, prevail, and thrive in challenging work environments. This new volume comes at a crucial historical moment as the United States grapples with a resurgence of white supremacy and misogyny at the forefront of our social and political dialogues that continue to permeate the academic world.

Contributors: Marcia Allen Owens, Sarah Amira de la Garza, Sahar Aziz, Jacquelyn Bridgeman, Jamiella Brooks, Lolita Buckner Inniss, Kim Case, Donna Castaneda, Julia Chang, Meredith Clark, Meera Deo, Penelope Espinoza, Yvette Flores, Lynn Fujiwara, Jennifer Gomez, Angela Harris, Dorothy Hines, Rachelle Joplin, Jessica Lavariega Monforti, Cynthia Lee, Yessenia Manzo, Melissa Michelson, Susie E. Nam, Yolanda Flores Niemann, Jodi O’Brien, Amelia Ortega, Laura Padilla, Grace Park, Stacey Patton, Desdamona Rios, Melissa Michal Slocum, Nellie Tran, Rachel Tudor, Pamela Tywman Hoff, Adrien Wing, Jemimah Li Young

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Yolanda Flores Niemann (PhD, Psychology, University of Houston, 1992) is professor of psychology at the University of North Texas.

Carmen G. González (JD, Harvard Law School, 1988) is professor of law at Seattle University.

Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs (MA and PhD Stanford University, 2000) is professor of modern languages and women studies at Seattle University.

REVIEWS

“This work is a powerful call to action and must read for chief diversity officers, deans, department heads, presidents, and provosts. Building on Presumed Incompetent, these are courageous and bold testimonies of racism, sexism, and bullying faced by women of color—who continue to survive and thrive, in spite of it all. The academy can no longer use the excuse of not knowing or understanding the experiences of women of color. It now has a responsibility to respond, change, and eliminate these unjust and unfair barriers. Reading this work is an important step for those who consider themselves allies, advocates, and leaders who are committed to inclusive excellence. It is also essential for women of color in the academy to know that they are not alone in their experiences and journeys.”
—Menah Pratt-Clarke, Vice President for Strategic Affairs and Diversity, Professor of Education, Virginia Tech

“As a bastion of elites, whiteness is fiercely protected in academia. Institutions claim to ‘value diversity’ yet consistently remain overwhelmingly white. Contrary to the claim that this is a ‘pipeline’ issue, this powerful collection of essays makes visible the daily mechanics of white supremacy and its intersections with class and gender in academic institutions. We cannot address a problem we cannot see. May these eye-opening essays help loosen the grip of whiteness in academia.”
—Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism

"Presumed Incompetent II leaves a legacy for contemporary women as well as those who had to remain silent in their academic isolation. The voices of stoic, unapologetic, and courageous women who put up and pushed back in the culture of patriarchy can embolden many others. This second book again captures the nuances of intersecting identities for women in the academy and highlights the systemic bias that persists. Their lived experiences need to be shared and honored."
—Patricia Arredondo, American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education

"This updated edition is filled with new empirical studies and personal accounts from women of color in academia. Each chapter points out the subtle and not-so-subtle ways that gender, race, class, sexuality, and religion are used to quiet women of color, even in the academy, the supposed palace of the mind. Each study and personal story unflinchingly confronts structural oppression and personal bullying that seek to eradicate women of color from the academy. This work is a call to action and should be read by fellow academics, especially those in positions of power."
—CHOICE

"The authors remind women of color of their agency in enacting resistance to the shenanigans of the academy and in developing ways to hold institutions liable for their actions."
—Teachers College Record

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Foreword: Presumed Incompetent in the Era of “Diversity” by Angela P. Harris

Acknowledgments

Introduction by Yolanda Flores Niemann, Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, and Carmen G. González

Section 1: Tenure and Promotion

1. “Still I Rise” by Jacquelyn Bridgeman

2. The Lucky Law Professor and the Eucatastrophic Moment by Lolita Buckner Inniss

3. Tenure with a Termination Letter by Penelope Espinoza

4. Picked to Pieces: The Cost of Opportunity by Pamela Twyman Hoff

5. Surviving a Difficult Tenure Process: Tips for Junior Faculty of Color by Cynthia Lee

6. They See Us, but They Don’t Really See Us by Jessica Lavariega Monforti and Melissa R. Michelson

7. Promotion while Pregnant and Black by Jemimah Li Young and Dorothy E. Hines

Section 2: Academic Leadership

8. Senior Chicana Feminist Scholars: Some Notes on Survival in Hostile Contexts by Donna Castañeda, Yvette G. Flores, and Yolanda Flores Niemann

9. Can I Charge My Therapy to the University? by Jodi O’Brien

10. Racial Harm in a Predominantly White “Liberal” University: An Institutional Autoethnography of White Fragility by Lynn Fujiwara

11. Presumptions of Incompetence, Gender Sidelining, and Women Law Deans by Laura M. Padilla

12. Unlikely Alliances from Appalachia to East L.A.: Insider Without and Outsider Within by Desdamona Rios and Kim A. Case

13. Academia Is Violence: Generatives from a First-Generation, Low-Income PhD Mother of Color by Jamiella Brooks

14. Silent Bias and Resisting Narratives of Deficit: Social Class and Poverty in the Academy by Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs

15. They Don’t Call It Work for Nothing: Navigating by Classism in Academic Relationships by Amelia Ortega

Section 4: Bullying, White Fragility, and Microaggressions

16. Making Visible the Dead Bodies in the Room: Women of Color/QPOC in Academia by Susie E. Nam

17. The Alpha Female and the Sinister Seven by Sahar F. Aziz

18. Mindful Heresy as Praxis for Change: Responding to Microaggressions as Building Blocks of Hegemony by Sarah Amira de la Garza

19. Exposure to Discrimination, Cultural Betrayal, and Intoxication as a Black Female Graduate Student Applying for Tenure-Track Faculty Positions by Jennifer M. Gómez

20. Through a White Woman’s Tears: Fragility, Guilt, and the Journey toward Allyship by Rachelle A. C. Joplin

21. And Still We Rise by Adrien K. Wing

22. Closet Chair and Committee Side Piece: Black Women STEM Faculty at HBCUs by Marcia Allen Owens

23. In Name Only: A Principal Investigator’s Struggle for Authority by Nellie Tran

Section 5: Activism, Resistance, and Public Engagment

24. Spectacular Bodies: Racism, Pregnancy, and the Code of Silence in Academe by Julia H. Chang

25. Hashtag: Social Media as a Source for Developing Community by Meredith D. Clark

26. My Tenure Denial by Grace Park

27. In Lak’ech: The Interconnectedness between Faculty and Students of Color by Yessenia Manzo

28. Securing Support in an Unequal Profession by Meera E. Deo

29. Healing Is Speaking: Stories Evolving Perceptions of Microaggressions, Abuse, and Racial Battle Fatigue—The Good Mind in Action by Melissa Michal Slocum

30. The Social Ecology of Tokenism in Higher Education Institutions by Yolanda Flores Niemann

31. Why I Clap Back against Racist Trolls Who Attack Black Women Academics by Stacey Patton

32. Unconquered and Unconquerable: A Chickasaw Woman’s Quest for Tenure by Rachel Tudor

Afterword by Deena J. González

About the Authors

Index

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