Volume 8, Issue 2, now available in hardcopy and on Project MUSE and JSTOR.
The 19 essays in this issue weigh observations, best practices, and visions for learning, working, navigating, and matriculating in higher education. Research has shown that U.S. graduate programs have seen a recent rise in enrollment among racial and ethnic minority women. However, recruiting diverse students of color, achieving comparable rates of retention and degree completion, and sustaining inclusive and supportive environments remain a constant struggle.
As current graduate students and recent graduates, contributors raise compelling issues that are accessible and immediate. The issue discusses an array of topics including moving and transitioning to a new place, mentoring and teaching, caretaking, mental health, parenting, campus organizing, and intersectional identities.
Below, find 28 additional essays as well as resources for graduate students on the “Crosstalk” tab on our website.
Online Essays
Migration
“Graduate School and My Emancipatory Project” by Giang Nguyen-Dien
“Learning from Mistakes: The Wounding Academia” by siri gurudev (D.C. Hernández)
“Racially ‘Othered,’ Nationally ‘Selved’: The Identification Struggles of a Foreign Doctoral Student in Poland” by Luis Escobedo
“Disrupting the Ecology of Inequality: Becoming the Very Thing You Didn’t Have” by Lainey Sevillano
Mothering
“In the Margins of Academe: Balancing Intersecting Positionalities as Mothers of Color in Graduate School” by Briana Starks & Andrea S. Mora
“Pregnancy Loss: The Challenge I Never Saw Coming as a Doctoral Student” by Marjorine Henriquez-Castillo
“Life Balance: Teacher, Mommy, and Doctorate Degree” by Destini Braxton
Loss
“The Things I Carry: A Precarious Reflection from a Black Doctoral Student in Crises” by Angela D. Mack
“A Story of Determination: In Honor of Kay” by Shakirah Mujahid
Professionalization
“Elephant in the Room and Mouse in the Corner: Tales of Networking while Black” by Carieta Thomas
“Becoming a Black Woman Librarian and Doctorate Recipient in the Academy: A Reflection on Pathways, Intentions, and Transitions” by Kimberly Y. Franklin
“Between Graduate School and Diversity Worker: My Black Queer Survival in the Academy” by LK
“Brown Girl Interrupted: Experiences of a Chicana Internal Exile in the Academy” by Marisa D. Salinas
Personal Storytelling
“The Smart Black Girl” by Kamryn Morris
“The Path of an Unforgotten Journey” by Mai S. Lee
Teaching
“Disrupting Tradition, Speaking Truth” by Maria Ahumada
“May I Have an Afro Caramel Macchiato, S’il Vous Plaît!” by Michael Cotto
“Overcoming Adversity: The Coming-of-Age Journey of a Graduate Part-Time Instructor” by Apryl Lewis
“Changing Poison into Medicine: Using Struggle as a Springboard to Create Transformative Classrooms” by Ashley Stone
“The Miseducation of Higher Education: A Black Woman’s Personal Experience” by Mecca K. Terry
“Faculty Lounge Flashpoints and an Asian, Muslim GTA’s Navigation in the Classroom” by Joanne Baltazar Vakil
Tips or Guides
“Plan Vigorously, Network Hard” by Carissa McCray
“When Joy Comes in the Morning: Reflections from a Black Female Graduate Student” by Christina Sessoms
Bodies Out of Place
“The Way Out: Reflections on Academia’s Liberatory Possibilities” by christina ong
“Black and Woman in the Academy: Recognizing and Addressing the Manifestation of Bodies Out of Place” by Chonika Coleman-King, Gloshanda Lawyer, and Enkeshi El-Amin
Bureaucracy
“The Romanticism of Academia: Ethnic and Racial Identities within a Hispanic-Serving Institution” by Erika Nacim
Academic Language
“Writing for my Mother: On Tone, Form, and the Slippages of Linguistic Refusal” by reelaviolette botts-ward
“Black Academics and International Relations” by Kayla Tolbert