Week Three - Authenticity

In week three Dr. Alexis Smith Washington from OSU's business school came to talk to us about authenticity. It may seem odd to have a business professor come to talk to a Diversity and Inclusion in STEM seminar but research and teaching in D&I is exactly what Dr. Smith Washington does with her life.

I have pages and pages of notes from her presentation but there were a couple of big take homes that stuck out to me. Dr. Smith Washington introduced the term "social identity" as the thing that makes us part of our group and further explained that bias is the way that we maintain the boundaries of our inclusive groups.

She really brought this concept home to our group when she explained it in terms of academia. She said it's kind of like how in the sciences we feel that we have so many hurdles to get to our PhD. Some of us did a master's first. Some of us have to complete a proposal defense, then a comprehensive exam, then a dissertation defense. For some the comprehensive exam in both written and oral... and on and on. Her point was that those of us who have cleared all these hurdles those who have not are considered "outsiders." Perhaps we view them as "PhD lite" rather than a full PhD. This creates an in-group to which we belong and an out-group of those who are excluded. If someone who does not meet our criteria (you didn't even have to take comps?!) tries to enter our in-group we reenforce our boundaries (she didn't even do a master's first!). This concept applies across the whole spectrum of identities.

Things get more complicated when a person has points on their axis that do as well as as don't fit with the group. In academia minorities and women will have the training, intelligence, and expertise to join the academic "in-group" but their "out-groupness" may also act to exclude them. This results in a constant tension within the minority or female individual.

Of course, much of what we've discussed in this course is how to change the system and the system desperately needs changing, but in the meantime how does an individual navigate in the academic environment?

While I think we all want to be authentic individuals Dr. Smith Washington pointed out that there are a lot of parts of one's authentic self and that assessing the situation and determining what parts of one's authentic self the situation merits can alleviate a great deal of inner turmoil. I don't think any of us show all of our inner world to the outer world and what Dr. Smith Washington suggests is assessing which parts we will chose to show at work. She emphasizes, though, that she is not proposing that a person should be something other than themselves.

She suggested we ask ourselves the following questions:

Who am I?

What is expected of me?

How am I being perceived?

What is my desired professional image?

And asses personal motivation:

Do I care?

Can I do anything about it?

Is it worth it?

She further went on to point out that these steps are particularly difficult in when you are "the different one" and suggests those in the minority tend to ask themselves a further question: do I want to stand out or fit in?

Because of what she terms "collective self esteem" some attempt to distance themselves from their social identity. This occurs when negative stereotypes have created a stigma has been created around a group to which one belongs. She points out that "when there is a stigma there is a constant need to prove that the stigma doesn't apply to you." This results in "social identity management strategies:"

- Fitting in: "I'm not like the people in my stigmatized group."

- Standing out: A person opts to play up their uniqueness relative to the "in group".

Dr. Smith Washington likens the above process to putting on one's armor. While I would like to live in a world where women and minorities don't need to armor-up before going to work in the sciences that is far from a reality.

Something inside me bucks at the idea of purposely crafting an "image" and withholding parts of myself in order to operate successfully in academia. To me, I guess, this seems inauthentic. Conversely, I see the logic and wisdom in being self aware and reflective and making purposeful decisions about what parts of myself I will chose to expose to such a hostile environment. In the end my perception of these lessons is that there is a line to walk where a person holds on to their authenticity while also withholding or exposing parts of their identity when and where they deem appropriate. The more I think about it, for me, the take home is that in order to do this successfully I have to know what my boundaries are with regard to my personal identity and mental health and I have to enforce those boundaries in a healthy way.

As always, I recognize my limited viewpoint. While I hope I am learning to see the world in a more expansive way I invite your opinions. What are your thoughts on navigating academia as a minority and/or a woman? Do you "armor up"? If so in what ways?

Finally, everything I've written in my perception and interpretation of what Dr. Smith Washington presented. I invite you to explore her research on "gender, status, and influence, as well as diversity and bias at work."