Abstract / Excerpt
“This was a difficult article to write. I am uncomfortable examining the struggles of women of color in their academic lives because I am uncomfortable thinking through where I fit within the systems of advantage and structural disadvantage that women of color and black women in particular face in the academy. But I accepted the invitation to think about the ways social inequality is reproduced in our discipline, despite our collective support for diversity and inclusion, and in doing that I found it important to consider this issue as it relates to women of color in departments of sociology, and even within the American Sociological Association (ASA) itself. To address this question for the purposes of the town hall meeting at the 2016 Annual Meetings of the ASA in Seattle, Washington, I will consider the intersections of race, gender, and class among women of color faculty. I call attention to the hierarchies that sort scholars in academic institutions, while reflexively considering my own path and navigation as a professor.”