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Like many racially minoritized faculty who engage in work for equity and social justice, we are no strangers to the daily manifestations of systems of oppression and oppressive behavior in academia. Recently during one of our conversations, the topic of imposter syndrome surfaced as we both processed some of our experiences. Dr. WrightMair and I shared how we are frustrated with some people constantly using the term 'imposter syndrome' so casually.
Imposter syndrome is a common term used to describe thoughts and feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, often without considering the underlying reasons people feel like an imposter. Seldom have we observed people pausing and reflecting that imposter syndrome is a direct byproduct of systemic oppression (e.g., racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism), resulting from a system that fails certain individuals and not a failure of those individuals specifically. As we continue to witness people engaging with the term so lightly, we feel the need to problematize its use - especially as the continuous embrace of 'imposter syndrome' helps sustain exclusionary and meritocratic ideals of academia that reinforce messaging that the individual lacks something, needs to rectify a problem within themselves, and that, by extension, they cannot succeed.
Shortly after our conversation concluded, we encountered content on social media that further affirmed these ideas in an Instagram post by activist Blair Imani who wrote "Calling it 'imposter syndrome' hides the fact that oppressive systems teach many of us to actively suppress and hate ourselves. It's not imposter syndrome, it is the consequences of oppression."
Imani's message reaffirmed our ideas on the problematic nature of imposter syndrome as we recalled examples of this dynamic and how it operates in higher education, even in the most seemingly innocuous ways. Among these examples, we recount the detrimental ways that systemic failure can deeply impact and wound those who are made to feel that they need to be fixed, made to feel they do not belong.
In our faculty experiences, we have noticed some fellow academics reaffirm imposter syndrome in many ways with graduate students and faculty alike. Encounters that sustain imposter syndrome happen as the one who feels like an imposter speaks of their feelings of inadequacy per normative standards or question the legitimacy of their presence in academia. These...