(Un)masking self in the ivory tower: An African herstory

ABSTRACT

From a critical autoethnographic perspective, this article records the herstory of a young African woman positioned as an international academic in the U.S. ivory tower. I rely on Dove’s [(1998). African womanism: An Afrocentric theory. Journal of Black Studies, 28(5), 515–539. https://do.org/10.1177/002193479802800501] African womanist theory and Afrocentric cultural frames to narrate and interpret my experiences. I critically navigate my intersectionality through cultural communication and autoethnography as I dance to tunes of apatampa to present a positioned, encultured, and embodied account of myself. As a corollary, I use different African features and methods of womanist engagements, such as storytelling, poetry, and proverbs, to share my experiences as a young African woman in a predominantly white institution (PWI). I share how this ussearch can be utilized to inform practice to increase the whistle volumes of African and international female faculty in U.S. higher education.

KEYWORDS:

• African herstory
• African womanist theory
• critical autoethnography
• intersectionality
• academic career progression

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This dance is performed by the Fante people of Ghana’s Akan clan in West Africa. The name of the dance originates from a Fante woman’s ability to use dance to save the men in her community from the attack of a giant (Lizkwae, 2019).

2 This is a reference term in Fante for a person to maintain anonymity.

3 I have resolved not to respond to the question ‘where are you originally from?’

4 This is a Fante proverb meaning high-quality beads do not speak about their quality. You can tell their quality by their look.

5 Kente is a handwoven Ghanaian cloth made from strips of cotton and silk.

6 The use of this term whether in speech or text gives me dire unrest because of its connotation of color and inherently dichotomized nature. Truthful, I was never Black and called Black or a person of color until I came to U.S. I am still unmasking the meanings of these identifiers. I use the term to be respectful of those who have reclaimed this identity, though historically tainted, and because aspects of those identities inevitably resonate with me. My capitalization of the term is my resistance to its negative connotations and associations, an act to reclaim blackness.

7 Ahenema is an Akan traditional royal slipper.

8 This refers to head gear in Fante language.

9 This is Greek meaning ‘another of the same kind.’

10 Student names are redacted to letters.

11 This is a reference term in Fante for a person to maintain anonymity.

12 LAFA, locally acquired foreign accent, is a Ghanaian term for Americanized accent (see Shoba et al., 2013).

13 Ampe, oware and ludu are Ghanaian games.

14 This refers to beads in Fante.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rita Daniels

Rita Daniels is a faculty member in the Department of Communication Studies at Western Washington University. Her research emphases are intergroup communication and organizational communication with a particular interest in how gender conceptualizations are encouraged, accepted, and deeply woven into the social fabric.