Review by Choice Review
Gutierrez y Muhs (Seattle Univ.) brings together testimony from women faculty of color via qualitative studies and personal narratives. The contributors highlight the cycle of obstacles women in academia face and relay the resentment directed toward them at work within academia's historically white male structure. When colleagues consider a woman of color as a token graduate student and then a token faculty member and when her colleagues surmise that she was selected primarily because of her race, gender, or ethnicity, there is an assumption that other, more qualified applicants were passed over simply because they were male or white. Then, when that woman struggles, it seems reasonable that she was never smart enough or qualified enough for the position at all. This is a painfully familiar cycle for women in academia, and the uniqueness of this text is its focus solely on this topic, with viewpoints from across the spectrum of minority studies. Importantly, the collection highlights that the mere presence of minority women in academia is not going to resolve the problem. Rather, active structural change and personal outreach are necessary. Should be required reading for students entering graduate studies. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. R. Price Duquesne University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
