2022 · PS: Political Science and Politics
A Tool for Healthy Critique: Community Spaces for the Development of Non-Tenured Women of Color in Political Science
Academia can be isolating for junior women of color — this piece makes the case that peer communities built for honest, supportive critique are a real tool for helping them thrive in political science.
Women of color in political science remain a numerical minority, and are too often presumed to be incompetent. Drawing on Black feminist thought, including the Combahee River Collective and Audre Lorde, we make the case for community spaces—such as workshop retreats organized by women scholars of color—where non-tenured women of color can find creativity, community, collective agency, and room to be authentic as they develop as scholars.