The Vulnerable Academic

Abstract

In this article, I use vulnerable personal narratives to demonstrate how de/colonizing and microaggressive discourses intersect in higher education in the United States. Arguing that vulnerability offers a means of reconceptualizing and rethinking possibilities for addressing social inequities in higher education, I demonstrate how colonizing and decolonizing discourses exist always already in relation to one another. I recount my decade-long journey from graduate student to tenured faculty member, reflecting on how employing strategic de/colonizing scholarly moves have enabled me to survive navigating academia as a woman of color. Some of these moves have accommodated a colonizing structure of inquiry, whereas others resist the very same structure. My intent in producing such knowledge is to create entry points for those in similar situations, build conversations across differences, and create solidarity in praxis among qualitative scholars who resonate with the subject positions identified in this article.