Week 1 - Jamie McCaa

Jamie McCaa
ASA 002 Section A03
Week 1

Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde’s "Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia" invoked a number of deep, emotional responses from me, that I had not been expecting when I started the reading. While I feel that as both a woman of color, and a mixed-race Asian American involved in ethnic studies, I was aware of certain prejudices existence, I don’t think I was fully aware of the extent of these prejudices and obstacles until reading carefully Valverde’s experience through her tenure battle. I found the paper to be deeply inspiring, as someone who has aspirations to be involved with academia in the ethnic studies field, but I also found it to be somewhat of a wake-up call to the realities of what may lie ahead.

One part of the paper that I found compelling and worthy of note is Valverde’s warning against feeling “isolated and alone, unable and sometimes unwilling to seek assistance and fight” (371). Valverde makes this claim out of personal experience – for many women of color and other minorities, it is easy to feel as though moments of systemic oppression are part of a rare case, or are in some way disconnected from larger structures of power. However, if women of color continue to experience these systemic oppressive obstacles, without sharing their personal experiences and fighting, it makes it all the more difficult for the future of women in academia, who will need solidarity with other scholars who have experienced similar battles.

Additionally, Valverde’s mentioning of inter-racial and inter-ethnic tension is especially relevant, and I feel is often looked over in the field of ethnic studies. Valverde’s claim of “I was made to feel  very  aware  of  my  positionality  as  a  mixed  race,  Vietnamese American subject within this department” sheds light on the divisions within even other minorities – I feel that many ‘minorities within minorities’, such as women in academia, non-East Asians in spaces dominated by East Asians, and mixed race individuals in spaces made up of predominantly mono-racials, may believe that speaking up against their further division or ostracization from communities that they are a part of will somehow “distract” from that communities’ goals or mark them as a “troublemaker”, in Valverde’s words. Because of this, Valverde’s unwillingness to be taken for less than what she is (noted by her accomplishments and support from established colleagues) is all the more impressive, and definitely gives other women and academics who may face similar situations an example to strive toward.

Question: Valverde mentions that she felt othered not only by her position as a Vietnamese-American, but also as a mixed race Asian within the Asian American Studies department, despite the fact that non-Asians outside her department believed her to have the full support of her department. Why are Asian Americans unwilling to admit or discuss inter-ethnic and inter-racial biases, as Valverde’s suggests? And why are non-Asians unaware of these tensions?

References:
Valverde, K. (2013). "Fight the Tower": A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia, 12(2). 367-419. Retrieved October 1, 2017
"Leaks in the Academic Pipeline for Women"[digital image]. Retrieved October 1, 2017 from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/rabble-rouser/201510/women-in-science-what-explains-gaps-part-i