Characterization of Faculty of Color Experiences

Abstract

This chapter explores the experiences of faculty of color by examining their day-to-day interactions. The authors focus on the professional, affective, and long-term impact on the faculty. They also consider how broader professional support might affect situations in their institutions. While the responses show some variation in experiences, this chapter demonstrates that, overall, faculty of color experience the profession and their particular institutions in unique ways. Critical discourses about hegemony, marginalization, and intersectionality inform this discussion to demonstrate how these individual and shared experiences highlight the unique positions and positionings of the respondents. Furthermore, the authors use the grounded data provided by respondents as a basis for theorizing the institutional space as one that offers opportunities for challenging hegemonic systems and one that also functions as a vital point of contestation and renewal.