Reimagining Academia through Conocimiento: How Women Faculty of Color Navigate Racial Bias and Labor Precarity

• In Event: 21020 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 11: Educator Identities and Experiences

Abstract

Women faculty of color in academia navigate an environment entrenched in systemic racial and gender biases that impede their professional advancement and well-being. Despite the increasing push for diversity, higher education remains structured around exclusionary practices that marginalize these scholars, resulting in disproportionate service burdens, tenure and promotion disparities, and persistent microaggressions. This study employs Gloria Anzaldúa’s conocimiento framework to examine how women faculty of color process, resist, and transform their experiences within academic institutions.
Through a qualitative approach utilizing testimonios, this research explores the survival strategies these faculty members employ, such as mentorship networks, strategic visibility, and self-care as resistance. Findings suggest that conocimiento serves as both a coping mechanism and a transformative tool, allowing women faculty of color to navigate institutional racism while advocating for systemic change. This study highlights the urgency of reimagining academia to recognize and value the intellectual and emotional labor of these scholars.
By grounding this work in conocimiento, this research not only amplifies the voices of women faculty of color but also calls for institutional accountability and structural reforms. It challenges academia to move beyond performative diversity efforts toward genuine equity by addressing the systemic barriers that hinder the success and well-being of marginalized faculty. The findings underscore the need for policies that center the experiences of women faculty of color, ensuring that academia evolves into an inclusive space where all scholars can thrive.

Author

• Gladys F Leyva Penuelas, University of California-San Diego