From Representation to Responsibility: The Invisible Labor of Faculty Identity Alignment with Students

• In Event: 20461 - Teaching and Learning Symposium Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 9: Engaged Pedagogy

Abstract

I investigate the invisible caregiving—or “identity taxation”—disproportionately undertaken by faculty of color at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), specifically faculty-student identity alignment and its implications for students’ educational experiences and faculty workloads. Using interviews (n=11) with former students and my testimonio as a young Latina tenure-track faculty I show how age and racial/ethnic alignment combined with gendered expectations between faculty and students at HSIs significantly blurs traditional social hierarchies. Students see faculty close to their age as more approachable, relatable, and accessible, leading to increased trust and rapport. Additionally, age and racial/ethnic alignment affirm students’ identities by offering visible representations of achievable success grounded in shared experiences. This blurred hierarchy, however, also intensifies faculty workloads, especially for women, as students place heightened expectations for care work, including emotional support and instrumental assistance. Due to multiple shared social locations, identity taxation disproportionately falls on women, people of color, and young faculty and is acknowledged and undervalued in universities’ retention, tenure, and promotion (RTP) processes. I show identity alignment can serve as both a pedagogical tool and a site of systemic inequity for faculty and students and call for institutional reforms to value and reward the contributions of taxed faculty with practical recommendations for alleviating their taxation, as all faculty should support students.

Author

• Janet Muñiz, California State University-Long Beach