Academia Will Not Save You: Stories of Being Continually

Abstract

My entire life I have had to navigate educational structures labeled (by other people) as "underrepresented" in my fields - mathematics and mathematics education. As many people who are similarly labeled in this way know, this meant I had to navigate oppressive structures that positioned me as lesser (e.g., white supremacy, patriarchy). Making sense of these repeated interactions, I wrote my dissertation as a series of three articles, each prefaced with an essay that situated a broader social, cultural, and political context and also connected to my lived experiences navigating academia. These essays were some of my most personal academic writing, and I took time to process why it was important for me to write down these stories of my life - both for the purposes of my dissertation and for my own healing as a human trying to live in this academic world. My conclusion is the title of this piece: Academia will not save you. I initially did not think academia deserved these stories. However, upon further reflection I realized that I did want to share my experiences for those who might have similar experiences navigating the academy. What follows is a revised and expanded collection of those essays.