Invisible Bodies: Utilizing Critical Race Theory to Problematize Women of Color in Academia From Muslim and Indigenous Perspectives

• In Event: 66.060 - Survival, Resistance, and Resiliency: Problematizing Diverse Experience of Women in Academia in a Post-Truth World

Abstract

bell hooks (1996) problematizes the lack of women’s voices within racial discourse. Not only are half the population’s experiences being discounted but this gap represents a barrier towards dismantling racial hierarchies. This paper presents a critical discussion of racial discourse centering the lived experiences of a Muslim Indonesian scholar and a Native American, bi-sexual, CRT scholar, who highlight their experiences in our current “Post-Truth” era.
Framework
Critical race theory (CRT) is a interdisciplinary framework that challenges dominant ideologies, privileges the experiences of communities of color, acknowledges the permanence of racism, and highlights the existence of oppressive systemic structures (Bell, 2005; Crenshaw, Gotanda, Peller, & Thomas, 1995). Ultimately, CRT can be utlized as an analytic tool to deconstruct matrices of domination (Collins, 2009), facilitate empowering reconstructions of identity and act as a catalyst for counterhegemonic acts of resistance (Solórzano, 1997).
Methodology
The two authors utilized the research method of autoethnography. Autoethnography is “a form of autobiographical narrative that explores the writer’s own experience of life” (Savin-Baden & Major, 2013, p. 201). With this method, researchers draw from their own experiences to make sense of, connect with, and understand the social context of their worlds.
Data Collection and Analysis:
Data was collected over a period of two years (2015-2017). Researchers took field notes from their survival strategy/support sessions and wrote journal entries (post significant experiences). This paper focuses on various particularly striking racially significant encounters. Thematic coding and analysis via horizontalization were utilized (Merriam, 2009). Vignettes are utilized with pseudonyms to protect anonymity.
Findings:
Strip Searched
After bumping Aiya, a Muslim woman from her first flight, even though she is early, security subject her to a strip search, including her clothing, underwear, and luggage. She misses her second flight After 3.5 hours of waiting, after her bank accounts were verified, she is given her belongings, and she takes her third assigned flight of the day. She leaves feeling confused, violated, and angry.
White Bashing?
Ava and Elena start to whisper furiously. Lucero looks up and asks, “Is there something else that we need to talk about?” Elena answers, “Well, maybe, maybe not. But a few of us were talking after class last week and someone said that the first lecture was white bashing.” “Wait, what? What was white bashing? What do you mean?” Lucero asked.
Aiya experiences racism, prejudice, isolation, and racial profiling. Her experience is common for students of color, but is exasperated by her positionality as s female, Muslim, foreign exchange student. Lucero’s positionality as a Native American, bi-sexual, critical race scholar presents challenging situations that she must negotiate. Both of the authors problematize these experiences, including acts of violence and efforts to marginalize and silence their voices.
Significance
As two women scholars of color, this scholarship is vital for marginalized experiences to be legitimized. We seek to support future generations of women scholars of color with combating oppression, racism, and racial profiling, while problematizing and offering strategies for resistance and empowerment.

Authors

• Andrea Abeita, University of New Mexico

• Liah Rosdiani Nasution, State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Padangsidimpuan, North Sumatra,Indonesia