Understanding the Multidimensionality of Mentorship for Underrepresented Scholars: A Labor of Love Workshop Presenters: Jessica Birch; Maria Velazquez; and Tamyka Morant This workshop continues conversations begun in our 2013 & 2012 workshops on teaching as radical praxis. We address the role of feminist care work in remapping the university, specifically highlighting the ways in which the university can be hostile to care work, teaching as a kind of loving praxis, and how this paradigm is gendered, raced, and classed. Our workshop activities this year will specifically include collaborative brainstorming on how to give and accept nourishment, in both parallel and mentoring relationships; performing care work in the classroom to resist hegemonic discourses; and writing mission statements based around praxii of love. The public/private divide is and has been constructed differently for poor women and/or women of color. We whose economic conditions and cultural narratives make care work a potential means of resistance as well as a potential means of exploitation need ways to both problematize and valorize shared support within discourses of love, but the portrayal of care work as associated with “traditional” femininity and its uncomplicated rejection on that basis continue to influence mainstream feminist discourse. The ongoing professionalization of women’s studies as a discipline also contributes to its force as a disciplinary tool, particularly for scholars from historically marginalized backgrounds, whose institutional experiences are rarely ones of lovingkindness. Audre Lorde’s 1984 indictment of “racist feminism” rejected “an either/or model of nurturing which totally dismissed [her] knowledge as a Black lesbian” (1); we reject that either/or model, acknowledging the entanglements between private and public spheres, as we—and our workshop participants—collaborate on ways to incorporate love as part of our academic labor. We present this workshop to discuss our knowledges as women of color, to locate ourselves within a longer genealogy and larger context of feminisms centering wellness and self-care as radical strategies, and to continue our discussions of teaching and learning studies in the context of the feminist classroom and the university system. Jessica E. Birch American Studies, Purdue University English & Gender Studies, Indiana University South Bend jeekaise@iusb.edu jessica.elizabeth.birch@gmail.com http://www.jessicaelizabethbirch.com/
Maria I. Velazquez Department of American Studies University of Maryland College Park mvelazqu@umd.edu maria.i.velazquez@gmail.com http://www.mariareadsalot.com/
Tamyka Morant College of Education University of Maryland College Park tamyka@umd.edu
Models of Mentoring Mentoring can include
“career functions, which include sponsorship, exposure and visibility, coaching, protection, and challenging assignments” (Hayes & Koro-Ljungberg 686)
“psychosocial functions, which include role modeling, acceptance and confirmation, counseling, and friendship or mutuality” (Hayes & Koro-Ljungberg 686)
a “learner-centered mentoring paradigm” (Hayes & Koro-Ljungberg 683)
Parental
Maternal mentors o
provide “instrumental and psychosocial support” (Griffin & Reddick 14)
o
“engage in students’ lives outside the classroom” (Griffin & Reddick 15)
Paternal mentors o
use a “more formal, distant manner” (Griffin & Reddick 17)
o
involve “a concern for maintaining appropriate levels of respect for the role of teacher and student” (Griffin & Reddick 17)
o
may attend to “the dangers of bringing sexuality into the public space” (Griffin & Reddick 17)
o
“authoritarian, teacher-dependent, student-supplicant paradigm” (Zachary 3) Benefits of Mentoring
Mentoring can provide opportunities to:
promote change/justice orientations in mentees defend/protect junior colleagues from institutional repercussions or pressure perceive institutional issues/problems from multiple perspectives challenge the prevailing patriarchal ideology that tells women to be superwomen encourage the extension of comfort zones/embracing of differences bring new/more recent information, research, and ideas to more established researchers practice saying and hearing “I don’t know” recreate the institution of the university as a collaborate rather than a competitive environment combat the devaluing of caring and care work by constructing mentoring as care work reinscribe care work as requiring the input of those who are cared for recognize the value of faculty and students as persons and not merely as role-fulfillers base pedagogical and disciplinary research and innovation in concrete experience deconstruct traditional institutional hierarchies build academic community
Barriers to Successful Mentoring Relationships Per Hayes & Koro-Ljungberg: (a) role collusion (roles are taken for granted and expectations are not discussed), (b) role diffusion (mentors assume unnecessary and unreasonable roles resulting in the failure of their mentees’ developing independence), (c) role confusion (lines of authority are blurred and roles are overlapping), and (d) role protrusion (mentors interfere and unnecessarily intercede on behalf of their mentees). (686) Hayes & Koro-Ljungberg’s descriptions of barriers
alternative interpretations that consider consequences of cultural, racial, ethnic, and gender differences (culture clash explanations)
unclear relational boundaries & expectations
mentoring often consists of a set of unwritten rules, and many lack access to that discourse
lack of mentors who share mentees’ research interests
research that focuses on disadvantaged populations or that challenges the status quo may be less likely to result in faculty and institutional support
mismatched agendas
mentors may focus on their own goals for their mentees rather than addressing mentees’ goals and/or mentees may not understand how mentors’ goals fit into their own aspirations
poor communication
life commitments and other academic commitments (e.g., sabbaticals) can hinder relationship development and/or cause resentment
lack of time
persons from underprivileged populations may be particularly reluctant to place mentors—especially mentors who are from similar backgrounds—in a position where mentees’ needs may conflict with mentors’ own stresses, research, and careers (e.g., when mentors are applying for tenure or significant grants)
variation in mentor expectations
expectations and protocols of institutions and programs often include unwritten and unspoken rules combined with pressure to accomplish tasks within specific time frames (e.g., choose a committee)
low expectations
persons from wealthier and more privileged backgrounds are more likely to assume help will be provided to them; also, persons from underprivileged backgrounds experience microaggressions related to assumptions about tokenism/stereotypes and/or may be subjected to assumptions based on stereotypes (including issues of credibility)
political consequences
pressure to be a particular kind of academic, i.e., expectations for tenure-track aspirations and/or particular research topics; academia often rewards the ideal (i.e., white masculine) worker who has no obligations outside of those related to employment
Creating a Mentoring Mission Statement Directions: Take a moment and create a mission statement that captures and communicates your beliefs, values, goals and objectives for your mentorship relationships, whether you serve as a mentor or as a mentee. A mentoring mission statement is a broad statement of 1-3 sentences that serves as a summary of your aims, values, and definitions for your mentoring relationships. Your mission statement helps you to identify and communicate your ideas, goals, and inspirations for your mentoring relationships; it also describes how your mentoring relationships will improve your life and the lives of those with whom you have mentoring relationships. As a mentor, my mission is to...
As a mentee, my mission is to...
At this moment in my life, these statements are especially important to me because‌
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