Abstract
This chapter analyses Black women academics and senior managers’ experiences of working in UK higher education. Testimony included in this chapter is drawn from the authors’ experiences with White staff, and critical discussion and shared reflection as the chapter was being prepared. The chapter utilises the theoretical lenses of intersectionality and critical race theory that have coincided with and been supported by the phenomenological experiences of the authors. The womens’ narratives reflect notions of resistance and resilience, which coalesce around themes of challenging visibility and invisibility, negotiating institutional power and the use of their networks in sustaining their survival.
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- 1.
In the UK, and in this chapter, “Black” is used to refer to people of African and African Caribbean heritage.
- 2.
Runnymede (2015) drew attention to “high profile initiatives such as the ‘We Too Are Oxford’ student campaign, the ‘Why Isn’t my Professor Black?’ events and Black British Academics network (info@blackbritishacademics.co.uk), the push for ‘Black Studies’ and concern in Parliament, suggest a strong appetite for change from without and within the university system, from staff and students, organisations, institutions (including leading and Russell Group Universities), policy-makers and (some) politicians” (p. 4).
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Wright, C., Maylor, U., Watson, V. (2018). Black Women Academics and Senior Managers Resisting Gendered Racism in British Higher Education Institutions. In: Perlow, O., Wheeler, D., Bethea, S., Scott, B. (eds) Black Women's Liberatory Pedagogies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65789-9_4
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