Black faculty members are expected to be “entertaining” when presenting their academic research to their mostly White peers.
That’s the findings of a new study conducted by Dr. Ebony O. McGee, an assistant professor of education, diversity and urban schooling at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development who co-authored the article “Entertainers or Education Researchers? The Challenges Associated with Presenting While Black,” with Dr. Lasana Kazembe of the University of Illinois-Chicago.
Thirty-three African-American faculty members—16 of whom are assistant professors—from institutions across the country were surveyed about their personal experiences presenting their academic research at conferences and symposiums.
Many said that they were advised regularly by their White peers to be “more entertaining” and to “tell more jokes” during their academic presentations.
Black women, in particular, recounted examples of their White colleagues being preoccupied with their clothing, hairstyle and their body figure during their presentations, said McGee in an interview with Diverse.
“Many felt that their very bodies were being perceived as less than,” said McGee, who conducted the study with Kazembe over a five-month period. “They expressed feeling like a piece of meat on stage.”
Dark-skinned Black women expressed wearing wigs and said that they straightened their hair or used make-up to lighten their skin in order to be more widely accepted by their colleagues.
