(Em)Bracing Ourselves

Women of Color in the Academy Supporting Each Other Through Troubling Times

Abstract

Educational institutions in the U.S. face imminent changes to programs and curricula due to politicized attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion. As four women from various marginalized backgrounds, we find ourselves consistently processing the threat of suppression as we attempt to establish an Office of Inclusive Excellence within a college of education. The notion of vibe (Miles, 2022) helps us individually and collectively examine “the often-unsayable [yet conscious] ways racial structures organize day-to-day life” (p. 375) as we interact with social structures that impact our sense of safety. More specifically, in this manuscript, we use co- autoethnographic methods (Coia & Taylor, 2009) to consider how the vibe of our institution impacts our experience of racialized emotions (Bonilla-Silva, 2019). Through our content analysis of individual journals on pre-determined topics, group conversations, and observation notes, we consider the questions: Where and why do we feel most (un)safe in this work? How do we respond to the threat of suppression of us and our work? Our findings highlight how we, as Women of Color, navigate academia with a keen awareness of our positionality and challenge norms while maintaining our sense of self. From this perspective, we explore our realities as higher education administrators/faculty and students leading diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice initiatives and emphasize the importance of cultivating supportive relationships as a key strategy for maintaining personal well-being.