Academia Will Not Save You: Stories of Being Continually “Underrepresented”

Abstract

My entire life I have had to navigate educational structures labeled (by other people) as “underrepresented” in my fields—mathematics and mathematics education. As many people who are similarly labeled in this way know, this meant I had to navigate oppressive structures that positioned me as lesser (e.g., white supremacy, patriarchy). Making sense of these repeated interactions, I wrote my dissertation as a series of three articles, each prefaced with an essay that situated a broader social, cultural, and political context and also connected to my lived experiences navigating academia. These essays were some of my most personal academic writing, and I took time to process why it was important for me to write down these stories of my life—both for the purposes of my dissertation and for my own healing as a human trying to live in this academic world. My conclusion is the title of this piece: Academia will not save you. I initially did not think academia deserved these stories; however, upon further reflection I realized that I did want to share my experiences for those who might have similar experiences navigating the academy. What follows is a revised and expanded collection of those essays.