Published! Investigating experiences of racialised early career scholars at LSE with Dr. Moé Suzuki
Moé and I spent a year exploring what it’s like to be a ‘non-white’ early career researcher at an elite university like LSE. Read the official report here. I learned so much from Moé as their research assistant, and also from the amazing interviewees they spoke to. The participants openly shared their stories of dedication to their work and students while dealing with precarious contracts, unwelcoming environments and unseen, undervalued burdens.
Highlights from the findings:
Those on fixed-term contracts mentioned the feeling of being disposable. One participant expressed that if you don’t learn how to survive at LSE, “you are easily replaced”. (p.12)
Racialised academics in more senior posts (i.e. in positions with more power) tend to be the ones who go out of their way to support racialised ECRs. This work happens behind the scenes. This raises the question of unequal distribution of racialised and gendered (unpaid) labour. (p.14)
The marginalisation of Black staff is “extreme”. In particular, Black research and epistemology considered to be outside of the “Western canon” are delegitimised and devalued. There are hidden assumptions about what are good journals and legitimate scholarship. One participant pointed out that, even among racialised ECRs, those who speak the language of the Western canon tend to do better at LSE. As a result of such hidden rules, Black staff engaging in scholarship outside of the Western canon are silently pushed out of the institution, which “very, very silently dissuade or manufacture precarity” as one participant put it. (p.14)
We also organised an amazing launch event that drew together dozens of staff, researchers, PhD students especially non-white people who shared their experiences and most importantly, connected with each other.
This is exactly the kind of work I want to be doing - researching issues that matter to my communities and creating spaces where we can strengthen our bonds and take care of each other as we push for change.
Get connected if this sounds like the kind of mission you can get behind.