Evaluating Race and Gender: Women of Color as Teachers in Political Science
Anna Sampaio
Department of Political Science
University of Colorado at Denver
All too often, women of color in higher education have headed the warnings of "publish or
perish" accentuating the centrality of research and publications to their careers in the university.
However, for the preponderance of women of color, the singe-minded attention to research often
obscures another aspect to their work that for many occupies more attention, demands greater time,
and yields more satisfying results than strictly research. By this I mean teaching and service, which
for the majority of women of color who are not at research-centered universities occupies the
greatest amount of time, but can carry with it some of the greatest risks.
In effect, as political scientists we are familiar with the necessity and at least some of the
obstacles to successful publishing in the academy for women and faculty of color generally (i.e.
devaluing of research about communities of color and women, methodological and ideological
narrowness of prominent journals/publishers, lack of familiarity with the field among editors and
publishers). However, there has been less focused attention to the weight and obstacles teaching
presents for women of color; particularly for those who are attentive to challenging the rigid
discursive and intellectual hierarchies of the university through what bell hooks (1994) as well as
Maher and Tetrault (1994) refers to as an "engaged classroom.”
While very few graduate students
1
Previous iterations of this paper have benefited from the feedback and discussions among female faculty of color
present at the 2005 APSA panel on Women of Color in the Classroom, as well as the 2002 APSA Pre-conference on
Women of Color in Political Science.
2
In their recently completed climate study on women faculty in Political Science, the APSA Workshop on the
Advancement of Women in Academic Political Science in the United States noted with concern that “more and more
women are now hired in part-time or non tenure-track positions, while the percentage of men in these categories is
declining” (APSA Workshop on the Advancement of Women in Academic Political Science in the U.S., 2005, p. iii).
These concerns are confirmed by data from the National Center for Education Statistics which found that “relatively
few women and minority faculty [are] teaching at doctoral institutions and holding tenure and the highest ranking
positions,” and that women, including ethnic minority women, spend a greater proportion of their total work time on
activities related to teaching, averaging about 60% of their time (Bradburn and Sikora 2000). Finally the National
Science Foundation has reported that while the number of women and women of color receiving doctorates in Political
Science has increased, particularly in the last decade, these women tend to be concentrated at assistant levels or lower
ranks (National Science Foundation 2001). This concentration virtually assures that these women will spend a greater
deal of their time invested in teaching over research or other professional obligations.
3
By this I mean a commitment to students, to the production of knowledge that moves beyond simply finding creative
ways to present material or which even invokes the praxis model (linking intellectual 'conscientization" with practice)
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