Trapped Inside: Black Postdocs Experiencing the Rise and Fall of Institutional Commitments to Social Justice

• In Event: Black Scholars Experiencing and Resisting Superficial Institutional Commitments to Social Justice

Abstract

Purpose:
In this culminating presentation, we employ kitchen-table talk methodology to interrogate our lived experiences as Black postdoctoral scholars hired amidst widespread social justice commitments in higher education. We elevate the themes and theoretical perspectives drawn upon by our individual presentations to ground our interpretation of navigating a Research 1 historically white institution during the rise and fall of institutional social justice commitments.

Theoretical Perspectives:

This study draws from an afropessimist conceptualization of antiblackness, which considers the impossibility, denial, and assault of Black humanity as a structuring feature of Western society. Afropessimism focuses on the historical and contextual specificity of antiblackness—the pervasive linkage of blackness to the inhuman. We leverage these perspectives to explicate antiblackness in relation to performative institutional commitments and participants’ navigations and subversions. However, at a micro level we simultaneously recognize the need for Black survival and wellness. In examining participants’ navigations and subversions, we turn to Black feminism to name and place practices of community, preservation, and counterspaces. By integrating these perspectives, we recognize the tensions and potential irreconcilably between their stances on resistance, the relevance of intersectionality, social transformation, and Black humanity, which we address in our discussion.

Methods & Data Sources:

A kitchen-table talk is a qualitative research method that gathers a small group of participants in an informal setting to engage in open, candid, and improvisational dialogue. Honoring the afropessimist and Black feminist tradition of rejecting white criteria for legitimacy, we established a relaxed, familiar environment among colleagues-turned-friends. This approach enabled authentic discussions and facilitated keen insights into our lived realities and the impact of shifting institutional commitments on our professional journeys as early-career Black scholars.

Results:

Despite our differing backgrounds and orientations, we identified four key common themes that connected our experiences:

Facing the Temporary and Temporal Nature of Institutional Commitments: Social justice efforts often felt performative and superficial.
Walking with Skepticism: Continuously interrogating the depth of racial empathy and using our evaluations to adjust our behavior accordingly. By carrying our awareness of the superficial nature of institutional commitments with us, we were able to protect ourselves and maintain personal commitments to social justice in our work.
Leveraging Institutional Resources: Engaging in work aligned with our personal, rather than institutional, definitions of resistance and social justice. These resources included financial support, building connections, engaging in certain projects, and adjusting syllabi.
Establishing Community: Creating a critical counterspace among ourselves for support, maintaining sanity, and experiencing joy.

While these themes are based on our particular experiences, we believe they speak to the experiences and coping mechanisms of many Black social justice hires.

Scholarly Significance:

This presentation is significant in two ways. Firstly, we nuance extant critiques on social justice commitments in higher education by foregrounding the voices of Black early-career scholars, an understudied population in the literature. Secondly, we employ separate theories of Blackness to analyze and make meaning of a common phenomenon. In doing so, we identify theoretical tensions and parallels that provide particular insights into how to navigate and resist antiblackness.

Authors

• Alex J. Kenney, Rutgers University

• Shanique Lee, Rutgers University

• Hilary Naa-Afi Tackie, SUNY - College at New Paltz

• Travis E. Dumas, Rutgers University