Straddling Cultures, Identities, and Inconsistencies: Voices of Pre-Tenure Faculty of Color in Educational Leadership
Journal of Research on Leadership Education
Published online on September 15, 2015
Abstract
Drawing on the notions of biculturalism, or double consciousness, and hybridity, this qualitative study explored how 12 pre-tenure faculty of color (FOC) in the field of educational leadership working at universities in the United States negotiated their self-identified cultural identities within their predominantly White departments. Results indicated that participants were more bicultural in nature than they were in self-authoring a new hybrid identity. Nonetheless, bicultural skills equipped FOC with a better sense of how to help their departments critically examine and move beyond White-dominant notions of educational leadership preparation to more culturally responsive approaches.