We the minority-of-minorities: a narrative inquiry of black female academics in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This article highlights the additional marginalisation of black female academics within the UK academy of higher education. The article engages with the narratives of eight such women as they navigate their careers as a minority-of-minorities within high-ranking institutions. The literature on black academic severe under-representation, intersectionality theory and the author’s own experience as a black female academic is used abductively to story the narratives and engage the reader towards an emancipatory aim. Critically, it highlights the additional marginalisation of black academics due to racism and the double marginalisation of black females based primarily on their race and gender. The findings both confirm and richly contextualise the literature from an insider perspective. The narratives provide implications for policy and further research.

Keywords:

• Higher education
• black feminism
• intersectionality
• critical race theory
• social justice
• narrative inquiry

Notes

1. Misrepresentation according to Fraser is political injustice, addressed through representation; that is, ensuring the rights of individuals/groups to have their voices heard in debates about social justice/injustice (Fraser 2009).

2. I have defined ‘spaces’ as the settings where they experienced their career as an academic in the United Kingdom.

3. A logical inference moving from observation to theory and back again. This is done in an emergent format to arrive at the simplest explanation (Douven 2016).

4. Economic injustice is addressed by redistributing access to resources (e.g. education) (Fraser 2009).

5. A self-selected association of 24 universities that is widely viewed as representing top-profile universities in the United Kingdom (Russell Group 2016).