A Warning/A Call: The Spectacle of (In)Visibility in the Vernacular Response to DEI-A Work

Abstract

This short piece was originally conceptualized as a response and support of a young tenure-track faculty-of-color who was experiencing academic bullying and threat of recrimination for her unwavering work in DEI-A (diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism) in an academic unit that claims to support the work of decolonizing its curriculum. But also, a unit in which some seemingly resist personal challenge and the necessary self-work that differentially inconveniences majority students and faculty. The response of resistance becomes the vernacular of dis-ease that interrupts DEI-A work in a liberal economy. This commentary, which extends beyond the place and space of this encounter, speaks to what might be national tensions between the cultural sustainability of privilege and cultural transformation for social justice. This piece also evidences the importance of academic administrators being able to articulate and strengthen their own commitments to DEI-A, to support faculty in the collective struggle of our academic and political defensive labor for social justice. This recognizing that none of us are immune to the sting of critique in defense of our convictions and that of our university values.