Until Every Woman Is Free - by Christina L Dobbs & Christine Montecillo Leider (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

In this volume, women in academia use autoethnographic methods to document and unpack their experiences as women of color in the academy.

Many higher education institutions have made public-facing, explicit commitments to diversifying and retaining faculty of color, yet research continues to document how, even under these changes, the experiences of faculty-especially women-of color have changed minimally, if at all. Through the use of duoethnography and other autoethnographic methods, this edited collection highlights the voices of women of color in academia from a range of university settings, developmental career stages, and professional trajectories, providing a space for women of color to process their own experiences navigating, surviving, and thriving in white male-dominated academia. The contributors featured in this volume offer important insights into how institutions of higher education could better support women of color professors.

Review Quotes

"Until Every Woman Is Free is an act of resistance, a testament of care, and a necessary contribution to the ongoing fight for equity and belonging in the academy. Engaging duoethnography as both method and metaphor, this volume channels the power of relational inquiry to amplify the voices of women scholars of color. What emerges is something deeply communal, richly intersectional, and defiantly hopeful. Dobbs and Leider have curated a space for truth telling, dreaming, and solidarity that stretches beyond the page. This is a book to be read slowly, held closely, and returned to often. For those navigating the academy's sharp edges and for those committed to transforming it, this volume offers not only company, but a call to action. Afterall, none of us are free until every woman is free." --Dawn Burleigh, University of Lethbridge

"Until Every Woman Is Free: Equity and Belonging in the Academy Through Duoethnography, edited by Christina L. Dobbs and Christine Montecillo Leider, is an unflinching exploration of how women navigate, resist, and reimagine spaces so that they can thrive 'in' but not be 'of' the university. Through deeply personal and collective storying, the contributors speak back to a system that demands relentless extractive production, punishes potential, and weaponizes silence, distraction, and invisibility. They make visible what is typically left unsaid or purposefully evaded. These narratives recognize the strengths, brilliance, and creativity of those who have been historically marginalized and too often silenced by the academy." --Tina Cheuk, California Polytechnic State University

"Dobbs and Leider's book provides a space for women scholars of color to share their stories, reveal how the academy continues to neglect them, offer insights on resistance and persistence, suggest ways to foster belonging and equity, and serve as connection points to elicit camaraderie and celebrate joy. The collection reflects Dobbs and Leider themselves, who engage in this work individually and collectively to both demand and develop a more just academy, not only for women scholars of color, but also for staff and students. The book is a call to action. It inspires me to better support my women of color colleagues, and it should motivate higher education institutions to do and be better for the women of color in their communities." --Sonja Ardoin, Clemson University

"In this text, Dobbs and Leider have reimagined academia as a humanizing space where engaged scholars can 'unlearn and restory' their intersectional experiences as women and people of color. Across the chapters, readers have the opportunity to engage with the authors in 'dialogues of refusal' that subvert the status quo. I highly recommend it for all who find themselves seeking a different way to do research and teaching-this book offers a courageous path forward!" --Janna McClain, Middle Tennessee State University

About the Author

Christina L. Dobbs is Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Boston University, Wheelock College of Education and Human Development. She is also Program Director for the English Education for Equity and Justice program
Christine Montecillo Leider is Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, USA.