Embracing Identity in a Global Sisterhood: An Exploration of Academic and Personal Growth

• In Event: Roundtable Session 1
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Sharing the mist: An interdisciplinary journey of international women doctoral students

Proposal

Responding to a Facebook post initiated an unexpected academic journey that profoundly shaped my personal and professional development. Before our first meeting, I reviewed the impressive biographies of my fellow female PhD candidates. Their fields ranged from education to microcellular biology, and their remarkable achievements were inspiring and intimidating. Initially, I grappled with imposter syndrome as I compared my pursuit of a degree in educational leadership with their work in the “hard sciences,” feeling my contributions were less significant.

However, the fellowship evolved into a profoundly transformative experience, offering insights far beyond academic comparisons. I found myself in a unique position as a white woman within a sisterhood of Black women, an experience that was both humbling and enriching. Being part of this space brought the concepts of interdependence and interrelation to life as I learned from and leaned on my fellow scholars in ways that transcended racial and disciplinary boundaries.

Together, we learned from guest speakers who taught us about the hidden curriculum of academia that we, as women, will face during our PhD journey. The activities, such as the IDPs, allowed me to constantly reflect on my identity and privilege while also intensely appreciating my peers' perspectives, challenges, and resilience. As a group, our narratives--especially the racial and cultural experiences that shaped our academic journeys--intersected to create a robust collective understanding, where each voice added depth to our shared experiences of navigating academia as women from different backgrounds.

This experience also had a profoundly evocative quality, eliciting powerful emotions of solidarity, empathy, and respect.The more our group interacted and our relationship grew, the more my struggles with imposter syndrome faded away. My admiration for these women, especially our facilitator Enet, grew as they led with resilience and grace, embodying the African proverb Enet often shared: “Big mountains share mists.” This fellowship was transformative, not just academically but politically, as it highlighted the importance of creating spaces where women, particularly women of color, can thrive.

In our final project, I embraced this transformation by co-leading a grant-writing webinar for Alimah International, stepping out of my comfort zone and contributing to a collective vision of empowering women scholars across the globe. This journey reinforced that our diverse experiences were not just interconnected but essential to the larger mission of change and equity in academia.

Author

• Elizabeth Buckhold, Oakland University