“If Only We Are Brave Enough to Be It”: Demanding More from Diversity, Equity, andInclusion Efforts to Support Women Faculty of Color (2021).

ABSTRACT. The Black Lives Matter protests, the racial inequality laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol prompted several organizations and academic institutions to write statements in support of the Movement for Black Lives and to re-evaluate their dedication to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Using auto-ethnographical analysis, I address the inadequacy of such liberal initiatives to effectively challenge racial barriers to the promotion and retention of faculty of color, especially women of color. In fact, I argue that such initiatives could present further challenges for women of color, who are only included superficially and in ways that create more invisible, unrecognized labor. I propose that the language of DEI efforts must more centrally name racism at the same time that they address intersectionality through what I call racism-centered intersectional approaches. These approaches are particularly needed given the history of attacks on ethnic studies and critical race theory.

Beeman, A. (2021). “If Only We Are Brave Enough to Be It”: Demanding More from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts to Support Women Faculty of Color”. Critical Sociology, 47(7–8), 1099–1109. https://doi-org.libproxy.kenyon.edu/10.1177/08969205211003316