Presumed Incompetent:
The Intersections of Race and
Class for Women in Academia
Edited by:
Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs
Yolanda Flores Niemann
Carmen G. González
Angela P. Harris
Utah State University Press,
2012
Presumed Incompetent: Introduction
Angela Harris, Professor of Law, University of California, Davis School of Law and
Carmen G. González, Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law
“The women of color who have managed to enter the
rarefied halls of academe as full-time faculty find
themselves in a peculiar situation. Despite their
undeniable privilege, women of color faculty members
are entrenched in byzantine patterns of race, gender,
and class hierarchy that confound popular narratives
about meritocracy."
Essay: "No hay mal que por bien no venga": A Journey to
Healing as a Latina, Lesbian Law Professor
Elvia R. Arriola, Professor of Law, Northern Illinois University
"In modern society, witch hunts and burnings do not
take the medieval European form, when thousands of
women who defied male supremacist systems of power
were burned or hanged. However, they still take place.
Anyone who has been involved in or witnessed the
politics of tenure at a university understands well that
metaphoric burnings at the stake are common. Women of
color are frequent outsiders whose identities have been
brightly burned at the stake of academic politics."
Essay: Present and Unequal: A Third Wave Approach to Voice
Parallel Experiences in Managing Oppression and Bias in the
Academy
Kimberly Moffitt, Assistant Professor of American Studies, University of Maryland
“Most participants believed the marginal status of women
academics of color meant the academy was not a conducive
environment for encouraging and bolstering others who
shared their phenotype. In fact, they found the academy
oppressive and feared minority women who wanted to be
teachers might choose another career or be forced to leave the
academy.”
Essay: African American Women in the Academy: Quelling the Myth of
Presumed Incompetence
Sherri L. Wallace, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Louisville
Sharon E. Moore, Professor of Social Work, Raymond A. Kent School of Social Work, University of Louisville
Linda L. Wilson, Associate Director for Administration and Programming, Asian Studies, College of Arts and
Sciences, University of Louisville
Brenda G. Hart, Professor of Engineering and Director of Student Affairs, J.B. Speed School of Engineering,
University of Louisville
“Because they are viewed as the product of targeted initiatives,
which generate unworthy, handout attitudes, they fall victim to
societal perceptions that they are incompetent—defined as
lacking ability, unskilled, amateurish, and/or inept—by
students, staff, colleagues, and administrators in the academy.
These women are continually challenged to prove that they do not
have their job—or will be kept in their job—because of
affirmative action, opportunity hiring, and/or tokenism. . . .”
Essay: On Being Special
Serena Easton, Assistant Professor of Sociology
"It turned out that the students at the university actually did
think I was ‘special’ -- the way that people label learningdisabled children that way. In the eyes of these wealthy,
white eighteen-year-olds, I couldn't possibly be educated,
qualified, or smart enough to be a teaching assistant. I was
this northerner, this girl only a few years older than them,
this large black woman who evoked a mammy image and
reminded them of their nannies and maids who worked back
home in their large houses ensconced in well-manicured
subdivisions."
Essay: Igualadas
Francisca de la Riva-Holly, Professor of Ethnic Studies
"What has been most interesting about my experience at this
small private university is that the Latin@s involved
(mostly Latin American upper-middle and upper-class
people, as well as upper class Spaniards) turned the
stereotypes that had been used against them toward me,
validating the voice of mainstream racism and classism, as
well as Hollywood portrayals of Chicanos as troublemakers."
Essay: Black/Out: The White Face of Multiculturalism and
the Violence of the Canadian Imperial Project
Delia D. Douglas, Canadian independent scholar, Vancouver, British Columbia
“After I had completed my PhD, a white male
friend in the U.S. told me that owing to the
implementation of affirmative action policies his
employment opportunities were severely limited…
It has been 14 years since that conversation and
the aforementioned friend is now an associate
professor while I have yet to secure a tenure track
position.”
Essay: La Lucha: Latinas Surviving Political Science
Jessica Lavariega Monforti, Assistant Dean, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences and
Associate Professor of Political Science, The University of Texas - Pan American
“The focus of this research is on the experiences of
Latinas in political science as graduate students and
faculty members. This work provides a serious wake-up
call for those who laud the increasing numbers of Latinos
in political science without recognizing the oftentimes
harsh reality Latinas face in the profession.”
Essay: A Prostitute, a Servant, and a Customer Service
Representative: A Latina in Academia
Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo, Associate Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies
Washington State University
“Ethnic studies does not hide behind the veil of
objectivity, and in fact, to be effective, it has to advocate
and strive for a fundamental transformation of race
relations. Stating that there is inequality is not enough.
And here is where I come in: I am a Latina telling my
mostly white students that racism, discrimination, and
inequality still exist and affect all our lives (theirs
included), both in ways that can be measured and ones
that cannot.”
Essay: Stepping in and Stepping out: Examining the Way
Anticipatory Career Socialization Impacts Identity Negotiation of
African American Women in Academia
Cerise L. Glenn, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies,
University of North Carolina, Greensboro
"In addition to receiving responses from those inside academic
institutions that African American women do not belong in our
respective fields in academia as we obtain undergraduate and graduate
degrees and begin interviewing for positions, these messages also come
from our families, peer groups, and communities. Instead of
challenging our intelligence and potential to achieve, this feedback
focuses on what we may lose by pursuing academic careers. As we
decide to enter the realm of occupations that earn higher wages, we will
be stepping outside of the safe spaces that help us resist negative
notions of our identity."
Essay: The Port Hueneme of My Mind: The Geography of
Working-Class Consciousness in One Academic Career
Constance G. Anthony, Associate Professor of Political Science, Seattle University
“Class position follows you throughout adult life,
unless your family of origin also moves up to the
middle class or the earning power of your spouse
surpasses that of the average academic. Workingclass adults are not going to inherit income from their
families, and, as a consequence, retirement savings are
much more important. Academic careers and income
are a problem for everyone who is not independently
wealthy, but for the working-class academic, being a
faculty member is a life-long material challenge.”
Tenure and Promotion: Introduction
Deena J. González, Associate Provost, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles
“Women of color -- guest workers, as so many
conceptualize their positions and work -- offer a
unique and daring perspective. We watch as Sonia
Sotomayor must "regret" her wise, womanly
remark, feeling aghast as well at what it takes to
get the job done. We've all done it ourselves -- in
small, less public forums, or in loud, recorded
moments where the only outcome is vilification,
misunderstanding, and migration (to another
institution).”
Essay: Silence of the Lambs
Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Charles M. and Marion J. Kierscht Professor of Law, University of Iowa
"How then can women of color, especially those
from poor or working-class backgrounds, draw the
line between following advice for survival and
resisting their own subjugation--between balancing
the identity-affirming conduct that maintains
their voices and the identity-negating conduct of
remaining silent?"
Essay: Lessons from a Portrait: Keep Calm and Carry On
Adrien Katherine Wing, Bessie Dutton Murray Professor of Law, University of Iowa
“My advice to my sisters when the bombs are
dropping—literally or figuratively—is to [follow
the British saying]—keep calm and carry on. I
have unknowingly tried to pursue this motto over
the years in all the areas that affect us as teachers,
scholars and service providers as well as on the
personal level.”
Essay: They Forgot Mammy Had a Brain
Sherree Wilson, Associate Dean, Cultural Affairs & Diversity Initiatives
University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
"While hiring a critical mass of faculty of color to avoid
placing one of them in solo status is recommended to
facilitate their retention, the fact that a campus or
department is ethnically and racially diverse in number
doesn't necessarily translate into an environment that is
positive for faculty of color. "
Essay: Are Student Teaching Evaluations Holding Back
Women and Minorities?: The Perils of “Doing” Gender and
Race in the Classroom
Sylvia Lazos, Justice Myron Leavitt Professor of Law, University of Las Vegas, Nevada
“In sum, minority professors must negotiate many more
burdens than non-minority professors from the first moment
that they walk into the classroom. These additional burdens
and potential risks are difficult to navigate even for the most
experienced professor; but the risks are higher and the
penalties even heavier for newly minted assistant professor
who must also master new material, learn to teach
effectively, and get a productive research agenda on track.
New minority professors start their careers with a
significant handicap.”
Essay: Visibly Invisible: The Burden of Race and Gender for
Female Students of Color Striving for an Academic Career
in the Sciences
Deirdre Bowen, Associate Professor, Seattle University School of Law
"Neither gender, nor ethnicity, nor class allows for a
one-size-fits-all approach. But if we are to truly change
the nature of the field, mentors must think
carefully about the way they engage female students of
color so they no longer remain visibly invisible. Perhaps
we should work to develop programs that better train
professors in the art and science of effective mentorship
for all students, not just the ones they see when they look
in the mirror."
Essay: Working Across Racial Lines in a Not-So-Post-Racial
World
Margalynne J. Armstrong, Associate Professor of Law, and Associate Academic Director of the Center
for Social Justice and Public Service, Santa Clara University
&
Stephanie M. Wildman, Professor of Law, and Director of the Center for Social Justice and Public
Service, Santa Clara University
"The existence of presumed incompetence that affects both women of
color and white women should provide a basis for deeper
understanding, sisterhood, and alliance among women and enable
work across racial lines to combat the presumption as well as other
professional issues. But women can only forge that bond by
acknowledging—rather than ignoring—the differences in the
presumption’s operation. Systems of privilege operate through
multiple identity categories and affect a professor’s institutional
presence and possibilities."
Essay: Waking Up to Privilege: Intersectionality and
Opportunity
Stephanie A. Shields, Professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies, Pennsylvania State University
“A metaphor best expresses the way my understanding of
white privilege has operated and changed over the years. I
think of white privilege as lighting my path of
professional development. Over the course of forty years of
academic life, I have come to see how this light made
travel over the rocky and difficult road possible, how it
lighted up opportunities at many critical junctions, and
how it blinded me to what was just outside my own
experience.”
Essay: Where’s the Violence? The Promise and Perils of
Teaching Women of Color Studies
Grace Chang, Associate Professor of Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
"White, Western feminist discourses constructing
women of color as more oppressed, exploited, and
helpless than white, Western women . . . imply the need
for women of color to be saved, presumably of course by
white, Western men and women, as individuals or
representatives of their governments. This serves to
distract Western women from their struggles against
their oppressors and blinds them to their complicity in
oppressing others."
Essay: What’s Love Got to Do with It?: Life Teachings from
Multiracial Feminism
Kari Lerum, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington
"Scholars such as Audre Lorde, Patricia Hill Collins,
bell hooks, Gloria Anzaldúa, Suzanne Pharr, and Shane
Phelan have long inspired me; they are the ones who gave
me the courage to teach about intersectional oppression to
begin with. They also warned me about the dangers of
sweeping claims about women, feminists, and lesbians
and the need to stay vigilant about multiple and
intersecting forms of oppression. Despite the fact that I
already knew these things, my personal experiences have
made these lessons stick."
Essay: Notes toward Racial and Gender Justice Ally Practice in
Academia
Dean Spade, Associate Professor, Seattle University School of Law
"There are many structural obstacles to working as a white
ally in struggles for racial justice in legal academia. The
pressures of professionalism promote silence and assent,
perhaps especially in untenured professors. The white
cultural norms that shape academic institutions -hierarchy, individualism, competition, scarcity -encourage us not to act as allies, not to endure the risks of
taking unpopular action by naming oppression in our
academic work or professional interactions with students,
faculty, and staff. . . However, a central tenet of this work
is recognizing the opportunities that privilege provides to
disrupt the creation of that privilege and the obligation to
take action."
Essay: On Community in the Midst of Hierarchy (and
Hierarchy in the Midst of Community)
Ruth Gordon, Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
"Many of us spend our professional lives contesting hierarchy and
exclusion -- whether on the basis of race, gender, or class -- but when
it comes to academia -- and I would suggest especially legal academia
-- we appear to have finally found a hierarchy we can believe in. It
not only goes unquestioned but is often at the core of our complaint.
Thus, Professors Merritt and Reskin's excellent study focuses on
access by white women and people of color of both genders to the
sixteen most prestigious law schools. But most of us, regardless of
gender, race, or class, do not teach at those schools, nor do most of the
law students in this country attend them."
Essay: Free at Last! No More Performance Anxieties in the
Academy ‘cause Stepin Fetchit Has Left the Building
Mary-Antoinette Smith, Associate Professor of English, and Director of Women’s Studies,
Seattle University
“In spite of the occasional difficulties that have
surfaced throughout my journey to professional success
in the ivory tower—I maintain a positive and hopeful
outlook for myself and other faculty of color in our
pursuits of achievements within the academy. . . . I am
realistic and sensitive [however] to the reality that my
positive perspective is juxtaposed against troubling and
pervasive statistics on the possibility that faculty of
color, particularly women, can integrate affirmatively,
substantially, and successfully into a congenial,
scholarly, working environment in the academy.”
Essay: Reflections of an Academic "Misfit"
Kelly Ervin, Senior Research Psychologist, U.S. Army Research Institute
"As I think about the comparison between my
experience in the academy as a full-time assistant
professor and my current situation as a civilian in
a military environment, I've come to the
conclusion that there is no comparison . . . .
because those of us who work for the army benefit
from advances that the government has made in
workforce diversity and establishing an
environment where rank, command experience,
and the ability to complete a mission are what is
respected and valued, regardless of your ethnicity."
Essay: Dis/Jointed Appointments: Solidarity amidst Inequity,
Tokenism, and Marginalization
May C. Fu, Assistant Professor, Departments of Ethnic Studies and History,
Colorado State University
"It is ironic that as scholars invested in equity issues for
disenfranchised groups, we are so poorly valued for our work.
We are neither supported nor rewarded for our engagedactivist scholarship, yet the university benefits from our
engagement, activism, and scholarship. When we ask that our
labor be honored in ways that are reflected in annual
evaluations or tenure and promotion, it is telling to observe the
strategies the administration uses not only to deny our
requests but also to frame their justifications in ways that
divide faculty interests and potential solidarities."
Essay: Dis/Jointed Appointments: Solidarity amidst Inequity,
Tokenism, and Marginalization
Roe Bubar, Associate Professor, Department of Ethnic Studies and School of Social Work,
Colorado State University
"It is also ironic that many of us as womyn of color have
strategic, organizing, mediation, and research skills related
to equity, allocation of resources, power, and structural
racism/sexism; yet seldom do we put those skills into
practice in collective ways to address gender inequity and
retention of womyn of color within the academy. We create
circles of support for students and others, yet our isolation
within the academy keeps us from creating that same
support for ourselves as a collective."
Essay: Dis/Jointed Appointments: Solidarity amidst Inequity,
Tokenism, and Marginalization
Michelle A. Holling, Associate Professor, Department of Communications,
California State University, San Marcos
“ Structural disempowerment is an integral part of the
process . . . . We accepted joint appointments for
utilitarian reasons, to achieve synergy in our intellectual
interests, and/or to transcend the limitations of
disciplinary boundaries. As we recognized their reality,
particularly our structural disempowerment as womyn
of color, we experienced resentment, discouragement, and
resignation.”
Essay: Navigating the Academic Terrain: The Racial and
Gender Politics of Elusive Belonging
Linda Trinh Võ, Associate Professor, Department of Asian American Studies
University of California, Irvine
"As a democratic society, we are grappling
with how to ensure that access, allocation,
and distribution of limited resources are
equitable, and these struggles over scarce
resources are mirrored in the universities
where we work."
Essay: Sharing our Gifts
Beth Boyd, Professor of Psychology, University of South Dakota
“We have to learn how to deal with turmoil without
getting changed by it. We have to remember why we
are doing this work, develop a vision for ourselves . .
Success means helping our people, connecting to
others, being real, and making things better for our
families and communities. It is essential to find a
way to integrate that definition into the work that we
do – otherwise we do run the risk of losing ourselves
in the work for reasons we do not fully understand.”
Essay: Present and Unequal: A Third Wave Approach to Voice
Parallel Experiences in Managing Oppression and Bias in the
Academy
Diane Forbes Berthoud, Professor of Organization Communication,
University of California, San Diego
"What we propose is a more expansive and integrated
approach to feminism in this third-wave generation that
acknowledges our diversity and the complexity of
connectedness with other women...What has been shared
here exhibits and broadens the tenets of third-wave
feminism in profound ways. These women’s stories come
together to create a means of thinking, understanding, and
negotiating their interlocking identities and ...oppression."
Essay: Native Women Maintaining Their Culture
in the White Academy
Michelle M. Jacob, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of San Diego
“The academy will be a better, healthier place if we
(1) continue to actively build collectives and openly discuss
challenges involved with being Native scholars in the
academy,
(2) continue to be true to our values of honoring the collective
above individualism,
(3) use our collective strength to communicate and advocate
to the academy for community needs,
(4) focus on the ways that our struggles will benefit future
generations, and, most importantly,
(5) continue to raise all of these issues in official capacities
inside of the academy to foster progressive change.”
Presumed Incompetent: Foreword
Bettina Aptheker, Professor of Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
"We are in the university. We are in the labs. We
are in the law schools and courtrooms, medical
schools, and operating theaters. We prevail, but
sometimes it is at enormous cost to ourselves, to
our sense of well-being, balance, and confidence.
This book should go a long way toward healing
wounds, affirming sanity, and launching renewed
determination."
Essay: Facing Down the Spooks
Angela Mae Kupenda, Professor of Law, Mississippi College School of Law
“As a final story, when I was working in an extremely
oppressive environment, my sleep was regularly disturbed
by dreams of being chased by something scary. When I
told my mother about these fitful dreams and scary
characters, she said the next time I had that dream I
should make myself acutely aware of their presence, stop
running, turn around, and face them down. I did, and
these nocturnal creatures went away. I stood up to them in
my dreams and also, subsequently, found courage and
words to confront them in my nightmarish work situation.
Somehow facing them minimized their power over me and
enlarged my own power.”
From back cover of Presumed Incompetent
Mari Matsuda, Professor of Law, University of Hawaii, William S. Richardson School of Law
“This book felt so painfully familiar I almost
could not read it. Those of us who started our
careers as firsts and onlys have had to forget
much about the cruelty hidden in academic
enclaves. Forgetting, a means of surviving,
buries pain and erases history, leaving us
morally and intellectually flimsy. Thanks to
these women for taking the harder path of truthtelling.”
Presumed Incompetent:
The Intersections of Race and Class for
Women in Academia
Utah State University Press, 2012
Presumed Incompetent is a pathbreaking account of the intersecting roles of race, gender, and class
in the working lives of women faculty of color. Through personal narratives and qualitative empirical
studies, more than 40 authors expose the daunting challenges faced by academic women of color as they
navigate the often hostile terrain of higher education, including hiring, promotion, tenure, and relations
with students, colleagues, and administrators.