Abstract
Navigating the academic terrain as unapologetically Black, multiracial, multiethnic women can be an uphill battle. Constantly negotiating obstacles and the emotional labor of teaching critical content is exhausting. Black women are underrepresented in higher education, particularly given the demographics of the students, faculty, and staff at PWIs; the recruitment, retention, support, and sustainability of Black women across colleges and universities throughout the U.S. remains problematic. This is compounded by a culture of business, or “busyness,” as usual. Higher Education enforces a work-centric system with increased initiatives and limited resources that aren't enough in a post-George Floyd era, in which colleges are leaning even more on EDI roles, where bias is a buzzword and action, advocacy, and activism aren't “really” seen as scholarship and where respect, empathy, accountability, and communication are some comm”UNITY” norms that we strive to “REACH” while engaged in emotional labor that rarely is acknowledged and hardly gets rewarded and is often gendered and racialized.
TopIntroduction
Black women in leadership positions often find themselves at a crossroads: caught between can and can’t or between a rock and a hard place called burnout and exhaustion. Sometimes they are stuck in sickness and sadness, or frustration and “F-you”; either way, they need support, direction, and guidance. Circumnavigating institutional hierarchies and archetypes that have been given form by the dominant culture and reinforced by privilege, power, and performative practices is exhausting. Working for institutions that concurrently love them and hate them is simultaneously nuanced in “wokeness that has been weaponized” and the messiness of microaggressions, manifestations of white supremacy/white fragility, as it all exists across all lines of oppression in and outside of the classroom.
The process of navigating the deep-rooted contradictions present will highlight the author’s lived experiences serving in and negotiating positions defined by built-in rigidity. These conditions range from figuring out what is “real” or “cosmetic”, what is performative and/or transformative, critically questioning what is “Community Engagement” or “social change & ethical leadership”. Adding to this is the inherent tension created when Black women in leadership begin to deconstruct oppressive systems, diversify the meaning of commUNITY, and creating best practices. All the while simultaneously navigating abusive practices that perpetuate a dominant culture rooted in colonized education practices, policies, and processes that remain the same and serve the selected few. Overall, most Black women often face institutional resistance that limits their professional development, growth, and upward mobility (Davis & Maldonado, 2015; Logan & Dudley, 2019). Ultimately, the goal is to build a SEAT(Social justice, Equity, Accountability, Transformation) at the table for Black women.
The perfunctory concurrence that manifests expectations for Black women in institutions, particularly PWI’s in higher education is predicated on a belief that white is human and affirms an unequal power dynamic between men and women. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), especially Black women, are viewed as equivalent to nonhuman which arbitrarily divides humanity into different groups for the purpose of excluding them from taking a SEAT at the table and gaining access to the upper echelons of administration. Higher education is primarily dominated and managed by White males who are reluctant to recognize their connection or relationship to sexism and or racism as they are looking from both a White and male perspective, forging an inherent power difference in the lived experiences of BIPOC communities and women (Collins, 2000). Drawing on Williams, Squire, & Tuitt’s (2021) framing of plantation politics, the writer offers a critical analysis highlighting the parallels between contemporary higher education institutions and slave plantations.
Racial and gender biases, among other discriminatory obstacles, makes professional advancement significantly harder for Black women whose social identities are different from the dominant culture and workplace expectations. The writer uses their own lived experiences and narratives to bridge the gap between theory and praxis - connecting recruitment, retention, mentorship, and support of minoritized groups, and how they struggle to reach their goals of serving in senior-level leadership and executive roles in higher education administration while bringing their whole selves to the table.
The objective of this chapter is to highlight the authentic first-hand narratives of Black women then and now, examine how their experiences and obstacles can impact both others and one's own value, and perception of worth, and report the “real work” of Black women, beyond the business plan or busyness model brought on by toxic dominant culture; to expose how higher education is a business that cultivates a “busyness and burnout culture” that continues to perpetuate and fuel male dominance, anti-blackness, and white supremacy.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Plantation Politics: The understanding that institutions including higher education are based on the practice of plantation life, slavery and slave economy, whereby operationalizing the purchase, sale, safety, and invisible exploitation of Black bodies.
Reach: An acronym for the following CommUNITY Norms – Respect, Empathy, Accountability, CommUNITY, Home.
Anti-Blackness: The conscious and unconscious dehumanization, discrimination, harm, hate, violence, and systemic oppression against Black bodies.
Community: A supportive and safe group with shared interests, goals, and values as it pertains to building UNITY and solidarity.
Black Feminist Thought: A praxis of amplifying the experiences and perspectives centering Black women embodying the intersections of identity.
Autoethnography: An approach and a process to critically examine, reflect, amplify, and legitimize reflexive personal narrative and experiences as/in research, as a way to speak truth to power.
Weaponizing “Performative” Wokeness: The action of using abuse, gossip, gaslighting, and psychological warfare that harm individuals who are often systematically oppressed, with performative wokeness, perceived awareness, or consciousness of inequities, injustices, and the toxic impact of institutional knowledge, privilege, and power.
Anti-Racism: The conscious act of exposing, disrupting, and rejecting white supremacy, by addressing and interrupting perpetuating abusive, antiracist, and oppressive values impacting BIPOC commUNITY to proactively change, create and sustain equitable, inclusive policies, practices, and processes.