Presumed Incompetent Presumed Incompetent The Intersections of Race and Class for Women in Academia Edited by Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs Yolanda Flores Niemann Carmen G. González Angela P. Harris © 2012 by the University Press of Colorado Published by Utah State University Press An imprint of University Press of Colorado 5589 Arapahoe Avenue, Suite 206C Boulder, Colorado 80303 The University Press of Colorado is a proud member of The Association of American University Presses. The University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part, by Adams State College, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Metropolitan State College of Denver, Regis University, University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado, Utah State University, and Western State College of Colorado. All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Cover art: Color Block Face by Bernadette Elszy-Perez ISBN 978-0-87421-869-5 (paper) ISBN 978-0-87421-870-1 (e-book) “Where’s the Violence? The Promise and Perils of Teaching Women of color Studies,” by Grace Chang, reprinted from Black Women, Gender, Families. Copyright 2007 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Used with permission of the author and the University of Illinois Press. “The Making of a Token: A Case Study of Stereotype Threat, Stigma, Racism, and Tokenism in Aca- deme,” by Yolanda Flores Niemann, reprinted from Chicana Leadership: The Frontiers Reader, edited by Yolanda Flores Niemann, with Susan H. Armitage, Patricia Hart, and Karen Weathermoon. Copyright 2002 by Frontiers Editing Inc. Used with permission of the University of Nebraska Press. An earlier version of the essay now titled “African American Women in the Academy: Quelling the Myth of Presumed Incompetence,” which subsequently was revised, appeared in Dilemmas of Black Faculty at US Predominantly White Institutions in the United States: Issues in the Post-Multicultural Era, edited by Sharon E. Moore, Rudolph Alexander Jr., and Anthony J. Lemelle Jr. Copyright 2010 by Edwin Mellen Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Presumed incompetent : the intersections of race and class for women in academia / edited by Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs ... [et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-87421-869-5 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-0-87421-870-1 (e-book) 1. Women college teachers. 2. Women college teachers—Social conditions. 3. Minority college teach- ers. 4. Women in higher education. 5. Sex discrimination in higher education. 6. Feminism and higher education. I. Gutiérrez y Muhs, Gabriella LB2332.3.P74 2012 378.1’2--dc23 2012022578 Contents Acknowledgments ix Foreword xi Bettina Aptheker Introduction 1 Angela P. Harris and Carmen G. González Part I: General Campus Climate Introduction 17 Brenda J. Allen 1 Facing Down the Spooks 20 Angela Mae Kupenda 2 Waking Up to Privilege: Intersectionality and Opportunity 29 Stephanie A. Shields 3 A Prostitute, a Servant, and a Customer-Service Representative: A Latina in Academia 40 Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo 4 Black/Out: The White Face of Multiculturalism and the Violence of the Canadian Academic Imperial Project 50 Delia D. Douglas 5 They Forgot Mammy Had a Brain 65 Sherrée Wilson 6 Present and Unequal: A Third-Wave Approach to Voice Parallel Experiences in Managing Oppression and Bias in the Academy 78 Kimberly R. Moffitt, Heather E. Harris, and Diane A. Forbes Berthoud 7 Navigating the Academic Terrain: The Racial and Gender Politics of Elusive Belonging 93 Linda Trinh Võ Part II: Faculty/Student Relationships Introduction 113 John F. Dovidio 8 Visibly Invisible: The Burden of Race and Gender for Female Students of Color Striving for an Academic Career in the Sciences 116 Deirdre M. Bowen 9 Stepping in and Stepping out: Examining the Way Anticipatory Career Socialization Impacts Identity Negotiation of African American Women in Academia 133 Cerise L. Glenn 10 Silence of the Lambs 142 Angela Onwuachi-Willig 11 On Being Special 152 Serena Easton 12 Are Student Teaching Evaluations Holding Back Women and Minorities?: The Perils of “Doing” Gender and Race in the Classroom 164 Sylvia R. Lazos 13 Notes toward Racial and Gender Justice Ally Practice in Legal Academia 186 Dean Spade 14 Where’s the Violence? The Promise and Perils of Teaching Women of Color Studies 198 Grace Chang Part III: Networks of Allies Introduction 221 Nancy Cantor 15 Working across Racial Lines in a Not-So-Post-Racial World 224 Margalynne J. Armstrong and Stephanie M. Wildman 16 Native Women Maintaining Their Culture in the White Academy 242 Michelle M. Jacob 17 Dis/Jointed Appointments: Solidarity amidst Inequity, Tokenism, and Marginalization 250 Michelle A. Holling, May C. Fu, and Roe Bubar 18 What’s Love Got to Do with It?: Life Teachings from Multiracial Feminism 266 Kari Lerum 19 Sharing Our Gifts 277 Beth A. Boyd Part IV: Social Class in Academia Introduction 285 Samuel H. Smith 20 Igualadas 287 Francisca de la Riva-Holly 21 The Port Hueneme of My Mind: The Geography of Working- Class Consciousness in One Academic Career 300 Constance G. Anthony 22 On Community in the Midst of Hierarchy (and Hierarchy in the Midst of Community) 313 Ruth Gordon Part V: Tenure and Promotion Introduction 333 Deena J. González 23 The Making of a Token: A Case Study of Stereotype Threat, Stigma, Racism, and Tokenism in Academe 336 Yolanda Flores Niemann 24 Lessons from a Portrait: Keep Calm and Carry On 356 Adrien Katherine Wing 25 “No hay mal que por bien no venga”: A Journey to Healing as a Latina, Lesbian Law Professor 372 Elvia R. Arriola 26 La Lucha: Latinas Surviving Political Science 393 Jessica Lavariega Monforti 27 Free at Last! No More Performance Anxieties in the Academy ’cause Stepin Fetchit Has Left the Building 408 Mary-Antoinette Smith 28 African American Women in the Academy: Quelling the Myth of Presumed Incompetence 421 Sherri L. Wallace, Sharon E. Moore, Linda L. Wilson, and Brenda G. Hart 29 The Experiences of an Academic “Misfit” 439 Kelly Ervin 30 Lessons from the Experiences of Women of Color Working in Academia 446 Yolanda Flores Niemann Afterword 501 Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs References 505 Contributors 541 Index 555 Acknowledgments For several years and at different junctures in the evolution of this book, Aldo Ulisses Reséndiz Ramírez, Brittny Nielsen, Rae Wyse, and Marianne Mork helped me consolidate, format, and manage this monumental manuscript. From the first stages of formulating lists of contributors and calling for papers to the very last-minute changes and revisions, as well as assisting with some of the intellectual work of organization, their help was invaluable. I thank Jennifer Evans for her work on the last leg of this project. I am sure that this is the first book of many that each of them will work on. I also thank Eric Muhs for making beautiful spaces for me to work in and Enrico and Eleuterio for letting me have the many hours it took to com- plete this project, instead of spending the time in front of the tube with them. I also wish to thank my intellectual mentors—Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano, Jacquelyn Miller, Helena María Viramontes, Mary Pat Brady, Norma Cantú, Francisco Alarcón, Karen Mary Dávalos—and my friends: Susana Gallardo, Shirley Flores Muñoz, Antonia García, Lucy Ramírez, Melyssa Jo Kelly, Graciela Vega Carbajal, Lupe McKeithen Vega and especially, Sally Hawkridge for mothering and educating my children in her mariachi ways. In memory of Don Luis Leal, Adrianna Castillo-Berchenko and Lila Martin-Geldert. Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs I owe a special debt of gratitude to people who have supported and encouraged my personal and professional development over the years. There are no words to describe the difference that these cherished family members, friends, and mentors have made in my life. I do not name them here for fear of unintentionally omitting someone who has contributed to my success and quality of life, but they know who they are. I especially appreciate Barry, my husband, and our two children, Russell and Mychaelanne. Their unconditional love and support of my career goals for making the academic environment a place where every person can thrive have given me courage. I value their insistence that I take the time to nurture my physical and psychological health. I am truly blessed. Yolanda Flores Niemann I would like to thank my research assistants, Ursula Owen and Tamara Rogers, for their work on this project. I am also deeply grateful for the support and encourage- ment that I received from Richard Delgado, Jean Stefancic, Eileen Gauna, Gloria ix