Cultural and Identity Taxation: The Experiences of Minority Faculty in Academia

Abstract

Using data from the Faculty Diversity Project (co-PIs Alford Young and Mark Chesler at the University of Michigan), my co-author Laura Hirshfield (University of Illinois-Chicago) and I found that the extra "diversity" service expectations placed upon minority faculty led to them feeling "taxed" because of their minority status. We argue that this is "cultural taxation" which may become a barrier to tenure and promotion for underrepresented faculty. Additionally, we suggest that underrepresented faculty of other demographics (e.g. LGBTQ, women in the sciences) may experience a similar burden, which we call "identity taxation." This may also influence tenure advancement prospects and the nature and content of the intellectual products we produce and reward in the academy.

If you cannot attend but want to learn more:

• Tiffany D. Joseph and Laura Hirshfield. 2010. “ ‘Why Don’t You Get Somebody New To Do It?’:Race and Cultural Taxation in the Academy.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 34:121-141.
  
• Laura Hirshfield and Tiffany D. Joseph. 2012. “ ‘We Need A Woman, We Need A Black Woman’: Gender and Cultural Taxation in the Academy.” Gender and Education 24:213-227.
  
• Tiffany D. Joseph and Laura Hirshfield. 2013. “ ‘Why Don’t You Get Somebody New To Do It?’ Race, Gender, and Identity Taxation.” Pp. i153-169 in Faculty Social Identity and the Challenges of Diverse Classrooms in a Historically White University. (Eds. Mark Chesler and Alford A. Young, Jr.) Boulder: Paradigm Press.

Speaker

• Tiffany D. Joseph, Assistant Professor, Sociology Department, Stony Brook University​​