ABSTRACT
Lived experiences and self-exploration can shape scholar identity in a profound way. This chapter is an intimate reflection of a 29-year academic journey. The author uses a first-person narration to produce an excerpt of the last segment of her educational journey. She begins to truly reconcile, that to some, her very existence within a doctorate program was an unwelcomed disruption to the system. She begins to understand that a pursuit for higher education also includes sitting with the hurt and disappointment that comes with the exposure of bias and oppression that still exists today within the academe. She breaks free of Euro-centric scholarship to begin the journey of defining her own scholarship. Which to the narrator also means coming to terms with completion of her journey. Her journey comes full circle as she defines her own conceptual scholarship built on resistance, radical love, vulnerability, and authenticity.
