|
Article Excerpt
The author presents results of an exploration of the experiences of counselor educators of color, focusing on participants' relationships and interactions with the system of academe and how they are exemplified in the tenure and promotion process. Results suggest P. H. Collins's (1991) concept of the "outsider within" academe is highly relevant.
**********
Essays and narratives by faculty of color and other culturally diverse faculty suggest those who differ from the White, middle-class norm experience life in academe as "outsiders" (e.g., Collins, 1991; James & Farmer, 1993; Mindiola, 1995). McKay (1997) described how the dynamics of the larger society, perpetuated in academe, situate European American faculty and faculty of color within systems of power and privilege:
American and all Western society remain provinces in which white men, and some white women, of a particular class with particular dominant ideologies determine the nature of all of our existences. Thus, even without deliberate intentions to enforce dominance over others, the relations between whites and the "other" in white institutions of higher education develop and emerge out of a dynamic that reifies racist and sexist paradigms of power and powerlessness. (pp. 15-16)
The counseling profession promotes in its practitioners empathy, genuineness, regard, and, increasingly; appreciation for and understanding of diversity. Yet, if the literature suggests that faculty of color generally experience life in academe, and are positioned therein, as outsiders in a White, middle-class system, what will be revealed by a study of the experiences of counseling faculty of color?
R. L. Young, Chamley, and Withers (1990) found that counselor education departments reported that 90.6% of the faculty were European American, compared with 79.8% being European American in the total U.S. population. Similarly, Dinsmore and England (1996) found that 15% of counselor educators were non-White, compared with 25% being non-White in the general population. Although the hiring rate for ethnic minority faculty in counselor education has been slowly increasing, R. L. Young et al. (1990) projected that the current rate will "actually perpetuate minority underrepresentation" (p. 153). In addition, counselor educators of color are more likely to be nontenured or part-time faculty than are European American counselor educators (Bradley & Holcomb-McCoy, 2002; Brinson & Kottler, 1993). Difficulties in securing tenure track positions or in achieving tenure may force some faculty of color to leave academe to seek employment elsewhere.
An important step in recruitment and retention of a more diverse faculty is to gain understanding of the day-to-day experiences of counselor educators of color in predominantly European American counseling departments. The counseling literature includes several articles and essays that shed some light on these experiences. For example, in their exploration of cross-cultural mentoring in counselor education, Brinson and Kottler (1993) found that cross-cultural communication and power dynamics between faculty of color and White faculty may come into play in mentoring relationships. They also discussed feelings of isolation that women and men of color may experience when working in predominantly White counselor education programs. Personal narratives by counselor educators of color that appeared in a Journal of Counseling & Development special issue on racism (e.g., Durodoye, 1999; Jackson, 1999) suggested that the experience of intentional and unintentional racism on individual and systemic levels presents ongoing challenges in the professional lives of faculty of color. However, in-depth exploration and analysis are still needed of the experiences of counselor educators of color and of the perceived and manifest consequences of these experiences.
This study, which involved exploration and analysis of the intersection of ethnicity, social class, and gender in the lives of counselor educators of color, was undertaken to help fill this need. Questions focused on participants' entry into and success in higher education; their choice of field; and the salience of ethnicity, social class, and gender in participants' experiences in academe--both in interactions with colleagues and students and with the educational system as a whole. Analyses included attention to how these three factors affect and shape the participants' lived experiences in academe and the meanings they construct about those experiences. Each of these factors interacts simultaneously (Andersen & Collins, 2004), and each, in conjunction with the others, influences the process of meaning making (Robinson & Howard-Hamilton, 2000). Each factor plays a part in establishing the positionality of culturally diverse faculty in relation to the European American, middle-class norm that characterizes academe as a whole.
METHOD
Counseling is concerned fundamentally with meaning. Multicultural counseling, in particular, is concerned with people's multiple and complex identities as "raced," "classed," and "gendered" beings and how these identities influence meaning making (Robinson & Howard-Hamilton, 2000). Qualitative research is also concerned with meaning, with the subjective experiences and perceptions of the research participants and how they make meaning in the world (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). In this study, using a grounded theory approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) and inductive data analysis, I sought to understand the phenomenological world of the participants and the meanings they constructed about their lives in academe. As Mertens (1998) explained,
By using an inductive approach, the researcher can attempt to make sense of a situation without imposing preexisting expectations of the phenomena under study. Thus, the researcher begins with specific observations and allows the categories of analysis to emerge from the data as the study progresses. (p. 150)
Participants
Participants were counselor educators of color with earned doctorates who were teaching in counseling departments in 14 universities across the United States that ranged from large state universities to a small private liberal arts college. Their academic rank ranged from assistant to full professor; 2 were department chairs. Nearly all were professionally active on a national level; a number...
|
