Teaching while Black : analysis of (in)authenticity among Black women faculty in the academy and Black communities

Teaching While Black: Analysis of (In)Authenticity among Black Women Faculty in the Academy and Black Communities investigates how Black women faculty understand their Black identities by defining Black (in)authenticity in the Black community and white academy. Specifically in the academy, I observe how Black women faculty navigate racial and gender discrimination at the university and how that impacts their identities as Black women. Lastly, I am interested in the academic and non-academic relationships of Black women faculty members to support themselves in both communities. I collected qualitative data from 8 Black women faculty, ranging from varying levels of professorship, to gain insight into their personal experiences with discrimination at a predominantly white institution and how their perceptions of their racial (in)authenticity affects their engagement in their communities through the framework of Black feminism. My purpose for selecting Black women faculty as my interlocutors for my research originates from the work of Collins (2002), who addresses the history of Black women’s marginalization in predominantly White women’s organizations and Black men’s organizations. In the pursuit of my research, I would hope to (re)center the voices of Black women and understand the uniqueness of Black women faculty’s positionality within the white academic space and in the Black community. Ultimately, I hope my project will highlight issues of institutional racism and the inequitable social structures that are imposed upon Black women faculty’s academic and non-academic labor. Additionally due to the roles of Black women faculty, I am interested in how these women understand their identities in their respective communities.Women's and Gender Studie