ABSTRACT
In this chapter the author chronicles her struggles within higher education against low expectations, racist stereotyping and an ethnocentric curriculum. These processes, she argues, make it difficult for Black women academics to sustain positive self identities. Rather, support to develop an alternative academic identity is provided in this account by peer group organisations, black feminist writings and research which linked her with political and community activists outside the academy. It is these sources of support which make resistance to the dominant racialised discourses and practices within higher education possible. Institutionalised racist practices in the British educational system contribute to the poor self esteem and lack of academic progress of many Black scholars. The negation of the identities of Black undergraduates is reflected in Eurocentric curricula, attitudes, expectations and behaviour. Black feminism strengthens Black female students, researchers and lecturers. Politically and academically, privileged Western scholarship attempts to define, limit and silence us on a global scale.
