Abstract
Inside the Ivory Tower: Narratives of Women of Colour Surviving and Thriving in British Academia is an incredibly timely book that brings to the forefront experiences that metrics of underrepresentation fail to capture. This collection shares the testimonies of women of colour (WoC) in the academy in a way that brings together the analytical, the affective and the political in order to reflect the forceful entanglement of race and racism in the academy, particularly for WoC. Each chapter is presented as an auto-ethnographic account and the contributors expertly weave their stories of personal experience with academic literature to present nuanced and critical reflections. Critical Race Theory and Black feminist literature is drawn upon to centre the marginalised female voice against a backdrop of institutional Whiteness. The book does not solely aim to encourage more Black women to enter academia, it also seeks to identify and locate racism and sexism in British universities.
The overriding message of the book is the powerful and intricate display of concurrent racism and sexism experienced by WoC in the academy. The narratives explore a full spectrum of racist encounters, from daily microaggressions, excessive scrutiny and surveillance, as well as physical and sexual abuse. It explores the role and function of White supremacy in the academy, both in the ways it is manifested through a troubling ‘diversity’ agenda and in the ways it violently seeks to hold WoC in place. Leonardo (2009) defines White supremacy as the ‘direct processes that secure domination and the privileges’ for persons racialised as White (p.75). The Whiteness of policies, practices and behaviours in the academy perpetuate the assumption that Black bodies do not belong (Bhopal, 2018) and that their scholarship is inherently centred on identity politics (Puwar, 2004) and therefore biased. These structures fail to recognise how knowledge is produced, thus claims to neutrality, objectivity and rationality that are presumed to exist within the canons of European knowledge systems, are positioned perspectives that become taken for granted in the academy (Delgado, 2009). The narratives in this book expose the Whiteness of the academy, in all its pervasive structures and forms. The book directs a need to challenge how knowledge is currently constructed and prioritised within the academy, raising important questions about whom the knowledge economy is championed to serve, and whom it is designed to exclude.
The WoC in the book share the routine racial microaggressions they experience whilst working in the academy, from suspicious looks to instances of mistaken identity and questioning of their roles within the university. The authors highlight the persistent patterns of marginalisation WoC experience and the need for informal networks as a means of surviving and thriving. There is a community of ‘sisters’ who are walking the path or have walked it before and are there to support, advise and guide other WoC who encounter various iterations of White privilege. WoC are placed at the margins of the academy and this, as Hooks (1990) states, creates the potential for resistance; these networks are just that, spaces for resistance. Informal networks such as Black British Academics have been useful for these women to retreat – if only temporarily – from the most abrasive forms of racism and also because for universities, racism is a ‘diversity and equality’ consideration and not a health and safety issue. The book makes a strong case for framing and appealing for institutional accountability for racism and its affects as part of universities’ Health and Safety policies because it directly impacts upon the mental well-being of Black women. Institutional accountability is an important thread that runs throughout the book. University equality and inclusion agendas are critiqued for the White privilege that sustains it and it is made clear that people of colour should not bear the burden of addressing the racism that is inflicted on them. The book presents a clear need to centre race as well as gender in university charter marks, particular for agendas such as Athena SWAN which hold institutions to account for their advancement of gender equality but ignores race, thus ensuring that White middle-class women can continue to be the beneficiaries of such charters (Bhopal, 2015).
The book argues that statistics provide a partial knowledge (and therefore a skewed politics) about the marginalisation that WoC encounter in academia. In sharing these stories of being in the Ivory Tower, the authors provide multifarious narratives that augment the generalisations that statistics on ‘diversity’ seek to produce. Whilst speaking back to the academy through their stories, the contributors also leave a breadcrumb trail of insider knowledge for WoC entering or currently in academia, who do not have the informal networks, mentors or support systems, so that they might too find ways to survive and thrive in British universities.
The stories shared in the book are stories of pain, frustration, hope, resilience and power. It offers expressions of triumph, shares stories of success and tells personal tales of overcoming. The book is a source of inspiration, a collective console and a call to action. When you read the edited volume, feel some sense of responsibility and consider what you as a reader might do differently. This collection is a must-read for all scholars and students interested in and affected by the racialised structures of British Academia.