From Oppression to Grace: Women of Color and Their Dilemmas within the Academy »

Theodorea Regina Berry is Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Leadership, College of Education, Lewis University, Romeoville, IL.

Nathalie Mizelle is Assistant Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Studies, the School of Allied Health Sciences, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC.

This book gives voice to the experiences of women of color--women of African, Native American, Latina, East Indian, Korean and Japanese descent--as students pursuing terminal degrees and as faculty members navigating the Academy, grappling with the dilemmas encountered by others and themselves as they exist at the intersections of their work and identities.

Women of color are frequently relegated--on account both of race and womanhood--into monolithic categories that perpetuate oppression, subdue and suppress conflict, and silence voices. This book uses critical race feminism (CRF) to place women of color in the center, rather than the margins, of the discussion, theorizing, research and praxis of their lives as they co-exist in the dominant culture.

The first part of the book addresses the issues faced on the way to achieving a terminal degree: the struggles encountered and the lessons learned along the way. Part Two, "Pride and Prejudice: Finding Your Place After the Degree" describes the complexity of lives of women with multiple identities as scholars with family, friends, and lives at home and at work. The book concludes with the voices of senior faculty sharing their journeys and their paths to growth as scholars and individuals.

This book is for all women of color growing up in the academy, learning to stand on their own, taking first steps, mastering the language, walking, running, falling and getting up to run again--and illuminates the process of self-definition that is essential to their growth as scholars and individuals.