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Abstract

This qualitative phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of 22 male assistant professors of color as they navigated the tenure-track while working in various disciplines at four-year institutions nationwide. The notion of intersectionality provided a theoretical framework to unearth how participants’ experiences were shaped. The guiding questions for the study included: 1) How do male tenure-track assistant professors of color describe their experiences in navigating academia? (2) How does intersectionality theory assist with better understanding their experiences? Findings revealed overarching themes related to how they negotiated and struggled with their various work and personal roles and responsibilities, understandings of their unique experiences within academia, and how they recreated their perceptions of self and how others viewed them given their personal and professional roles and multiple social identities. Findings reiterate that the experiences of male faculty of color cannot be unraveled from their intersecting social identities, nor from the contexts in which they live and work. Supportive environments that allowed for fluid understandings of what male faculty of color can and should be doing were appreciated and seen in varying instances, although less common.

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