“Am I going crazy?!”: A Critical Race Analysis of Doctoral Education

Abstract

The graduate school experience for students of color has been theorized as oppressive and dehumanizing (Gay, 2004). Scholars have struggled to document how students of color navigate and negotiate oppressive and dehumanizing conditions in their daily experiences of doctoral education. We provide a critical race analysis of the everyday experiences of Latina/o and black 1 doctoral students. We draw from critical inquiry and critical race theory to establish and describe an overarching and powerful social narrative that informs, influences, and illustrates the endemic racism through which black and Latina/o students struggle to persist in pursuit of the doctorate. We call this social narrative, "Am I going crazy?!" Deconstructing the narrative into its core elements, we provide an extended definition that illustrates a dehumanizing cultural experience in the everyday lives of doctoral students. We problematize these cultural norms to promote a more humanizing experience of doctoral education for black and Latina/o students.

Exploring Student Success in a Doctoral Program: The Power of Mentorship and Research Engagement

“…The less a student fits the "expected" socialization pattern, the more likely a student is at risk of not finishing the doctoral program; this is especially true for students from underrepresented populations (women and students of color). Gildersleeve, Croom, and Vasquez (2011) stated that it is not uncommon for underrepresented students to experience "racialized aggressions" (p. 110), which may heavily impact students' emotional states. Ali and Kohun (2006) discussed students' feelings of isolation at four program stages of the Ph.D. study process including the following: a) preadmission to enrollment, b) the first program year, c) the second year until candidacy, and d) the dissertation stage.…”

“…According to Gildersleeve et al (2011), faculty guidance is experienced through "socialization", which is defined as "…the process by which doctoral students learn the customs, traditions, and values of any given discipline or field through mentoring and advising relationships as well as by engaging in research, service, and teaching" (p. 94). How this process is put into place-and the aspects of its focus-varies within programs and institutions.…”

The Flip Side of the Attrition Coin: Faculty Perceptions of Factors Supporting Graduate Student Success

“…Specifically, underrepresented groups often have disparate socialization experiences, resulting in feelings of isolation and marginalization (Felder et al, 2014;Gildersleeve, Croom, & Vasquez, 2011;Solórzano & Yosso, 2001;Taylor & Antony, 2000). As one graduate student in Barker's (2011) study described, there is a "mentoring, racial hierarchy" and as a black student, she considered herself "second best" (p. 394).…”

My Story, My Identity: Doctoral Students of Color at a Research University

“…More pointedly, graduate students of color express the need to prove their academic ability (Antony & Taylor, 2001) and, correspondingly, faculty underestimate their academic abilities (JohnsonBailey, Valentine, Cervero, & Bowles, 2009). These students report graduate life as "something to survive" (Johnson-Bailey et al, 2009) or as a dehumanizing experience (Gildersleeve, Croom, & Vasquez, 2011). The research literature on graduate students of color suggests graduate students of color experience graduate school differently because of their race (Gopaul, 2015;Howard-Hamilton et al, 2009).…”

“…Asking critical questions helps to disrupt the status quo of theories and methods that do not take into account race as a factor in experience and those that devalue the scholarship of researchers of color (Bensimon, 2012). Some examples of using CRT in higher education research include the educational journeys of Mexican-American PhD students (Espino, 2012), the social experiences of Black students at a southern university (JohnsonBailey, Valentine, Cervero, & Bowles, 2009), and the experience of doctoral education culture by Black and Latino/a students (Gildersleeve et al, 2011). These studies use CRT as a way to forefront race as a factor of experience and give voice to students of color.…”