A Power Game: Race, Emotions, and Dominance in Leadership

• In Event: Voices Unheard: Exploring Diverse Perspectives on BIPOC Experiences in Higher Education

Abstract

Asian Americans face the “bamboo ceiling” where despite their competence, they lack representation in leadership positions. The current presentation examined how the bamboo ceiling occurred using the presenter’s autoethnography as a chair of a predominantly white department. Emotionalities of whiteness and Asian critical race theory were employed as theoretical frameworks. The counterstories suggest that the white faculty effectively manipulated various stereotypes associated with Asian American women to control her leadership. She became a recipient of the faculty’s emotional outbursts, which served to solidify their dominance. Discussing leadership without considering how white members manipulate women leaders of color’s gender and race for the purpose of maintaining the leadership of whiteness perpetuates the invisibility of whiteness in higher education.

Author

• Yukari Takimoto Amos, Eastern Michigan University