Degrees of Difference: Reflections of Women of Color on Graduate School

by Kimberly D. McKee (Editor), Denise A. Delgado (Editor), Karen J Leong (Foreword by), Aeriel A Ashlee (Contribution by), Denise A. Delgado (Contribution by)

Overview

University commitments to diversity and inclusivity have yet to translate into support for women of color graduate students. Sexism, classism, homophobia, racial microaggressions, alienation, disillusionment, a lack of institutional and departmental support, limited help from family and partners, imposter syndrome, narrow reading lists—all remain commonplace. Indifference to the struggles of women of color in graduate school and widespread dismissal of their work further poisons an atmosphere that suffocates not only ambition but a person's quality of life.

In Degrees of Difference, women of color from diverse backgrounds give frank, unapologetic accounts of their battles—both internal and external—to navigate grad school and fulfill their ambitions. At the same time, the authors offer strategies for surviving the grind via stories of their own hard-won successes with self-care, building supportive communities, finding like-minded mentors, and resisting racism and unsupportive faculty and colleagues.

Contributors: Aeriel A. Ashlee, Denise A. Delgado, Nwadiogo I. Ejiogu, Delia Fernández, Regina Emily Idoate, Karen J. Leong, Kimberly D. McKee, Délice Mugabo, Carrie Sampson, Arianna Taboada, Jenny Heijun Wills, and Soha Youssef

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780252043185
Publisher:	University of Illinois Press
Publication date:	05/11/2020
Edition description:	1st Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Kimberly D. McKee is an associate professor in the Integrative, Religious, and Intercultural Studies Department at Grand Valley State University and the author of Disrupting Kinship: Transnational Politics of Korean Adoption in the United States. Denise A. Delgado received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University and works as an analyst and trainer.

Table of Contents

Foreword Karen J. Leong ix

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction Kimberly D. McKee Denise A. Delgado 1

Chapter 1 Evoking My Shadow Beast: A Critical Analysis of Caretaking as a Woman of Color Doctoral Student Carrie Sampson 17

Chapter 2 Sen bmit ragel "A Woman as Good as 100 Men": An Arab Woman's Narratives on Discrimination in and outside Academia Soha Youssef 36

Chapter 3 You're Going to Need a Team: Community, Mentoring, Self-Care, and Other Lessons from the McNair Scholars Program Delia Fernández 52

Chapter 4 Stats and Stories: The Path of One Native Scholar in the Medical Sciences Regina Emily Idoate 75

Chapter 5 Disciplinary Peripheries: A Conversation between Canadian Women of Color Jenny Heijun Wills Délice Mugabo 94

Chapter 6 For Those Considering Medical School: A Black Queer Feminist Perspective Nwadiogo I. Ejiogu 115

Chapter 7 Finding Grace: An Asian American Womxn's Counterstory to Graduate School Racial Microaggressions Aeriel A. Ashlee 134

Chapter 8 How to Help: Learning the Legacy of the Social Work Professional Arianna Taboada 146

Epilogue Kimberly D. McKee Denise A. Delgado 165

Bibliography 173

Contributors 191

Index 195

Editorial Reviews

Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2020

"A valuable book. . . . Degrees of Difference provides administrators and others in academia an opportunity to consider ways that altering the campuses where they work can more authentically attempt to gain and retain women of color graduate students to change the meaning of diversity work from token gestures to real social justice activity." —Hypatia

"These essays, rich in nuance, will raise the collective consciousness about experiences of disenfranchisement overcome through resiliency: stories so viable and vivid that reading them becomes a spiritual experience, not just an intellectual one. In fact, anyone who has experienced disenfranchisement, bias, discrimination, or downright open hostility while pursuing higher education will find personal validation here and will also be re-confronted by past challenges to their humanity." —Resources for Gender and Women's Studies

"This important addition to the literature on the academic experience will appeal to graduate students, those considering grad school, and anyone looking to expand their understanding of academia." —Library Journal

"Degrees of Difference contributes to larger conversations about the systemic violence and injustice women of color face in higher education and works towards creating strategies for transformative change within and beyond the Ivory Tower." —Women's Review of Books

"The book incites the disruption needed to make change happen." —Science Magazine

​”Read this book! Degrees of Difference is a compelling collection of testimonies accompanied with sharp analyses and just the right amount of real talk. It offers both vulnerable and empowered reflections on the experiences of women of color and indigenous women in graduate school.”—Nitasha Tamar Sharma, author of Beyond Ethnicity: New Politics of Race in Hawaìi

”The informed editors of this collection, Degrees of Difference, utilize all their tools and the most renowned feminist theorists (Ahmed and Anzaldúa) to incorporate the book within a body of literature that has precedents, however precedents that have somewhat left out a group in academia: graduate students, which this collection remedies. Graduate students, ABD, professors to be, often work under the worst conditions, in structures of power that invisibilize them. In its invaluable introduction Degrees of Difference, the editors beautifully encapsulate the importance of a varied array of titles that set a precedent for this innovative feminist, diverse and inclusive manuscript. The personal and the political are addressed in this multifaceted collection, which is a blanket of resources for graduate students and tenure track academics, as well as for seasoned and tenured committee members, serving on university rank and tenure committees. Bravas! This is a great addition to a collection of groundbreaking literature in this area, I applaud the press. This collection honors all women academics, especially in times like these.”—Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, editor of Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections of Race and Class for Women in Academia

"In a series of sharply realized, personal, lively essays, the authors work to expose “uncomfortable truths” about how indigenous women and women of color (IWWOC) academics traverse universities that are not designed to support them, nor to realize their success." —Public Books

"An important addition to the body of work on underrepresented women in academia. . . . Highly recommended." —Choice

"A carefully edited and expertly curated text, Degrees of Difference is a timely work that takes seriously and urgently the inequities that have become distressingly commonplace in the contemporary higher education landscape. What further contradistinguishes Degrees of Difference from other works is its keen attention to mentoring and mentorship. The essays and accounts which comprise this collection offer invaluable insights for those within the academia and those who are contemplating careers within it."—Cathy J. Schlund-Vials, author of Modeling Citizenship: Jewish and Asian American Writing

From the Publisher

04/01/2020

With this collection of essays, McKee (integrative, religious, and intercultural studies, Grand Valley State Univ.; Disrupting Kinship) and analyst Delgado fill a void in literature on higher education. Not only do they focus on graduate rather than undergraduate students, they also explore the experiences of women of color, who have long been marginalized in this sphere. The essays span myriad disciplines and varied types of graduate programs. One contributor discusses the labor of caring for parents, children, and partners while also obtaining an education. Another examines the impact of impostor syndrome and microaggressions, as well as ways to combat these challenges. An especially vivid piece looks at importance of community- and relationship-building as the author explores methods for combating isolation in academia. Though these essays are works of scholarship, the authors imbue their writings with an intimate, heartfelt tone. VERDICT This important addition to the literature on the academic experience will appeal to graduate students, those considering grad school, and anyone looking to expand their understanding of academia.—Sara Holder, Univ. of Illinois Libs., Champaign

Library Journal