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The Urban Review

, Volume 47, Issue 4, pp 676–695 | Cite as

The “Battlefield”: Life Histories of Two Higher Education Staff Members of Color

  • Mary Louise Gomez
  • Kelly Ocasio
  • Amy Johnson Lachuk
  • Shameka N. Powell
Article
First Online:

Abstract

Deploying Russian philosopher M. M. Bakhtin’s notions of utterances or communicative interactions, we explore the life histories of two administrators at State University, a predominantly White institution of higher education in the Midwestern United States. In particular, we explore how working with White students, peers, and supervisors demands that staff members of color find means of answering overt and implied criticisms of their daily work. We name and analyze metaphors each participant uses to define ways she negotiates a campus culture that privileges some and interprets others as oppositional when they call into question long held institutional priorities and practices.

Keywords

Race Racism Life histories Metaphor 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  • Mary Louise Gomez
    • 1
  • Kelly Ocasio
    • 2
    • 3
  • Amy Johnson Lachuk
    • 3
    • 4
  • Shameka N. Powell
    • 3
  1. 1.Department of Curriculum and InstructionUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonMadisonUSA
  2. 2.Texas State Department of Public InstructionAustinUSA
  3. 3.University of Wisconsin-MadisonMadisonUSA
  4. 4.Department of Curriculum and Teaching, Hunter CollegeCity University of New YorkNew YorkUSA

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