Breaking into 바카라사이트 all-white academy

¡°You¡¯re obviously intelligent, but you¡¯re not intelligent enough to do a PhD in this country: you won¡¯t finish it, more than likely. And if you did, you won¡¯t get a teaching post, and you certainly won¡¯t publish anything.¡±

This advice from a tutor I¡¯d approached about doing a doctorate was given almost 30 years ago but those words are still burned into my brain, a supposed truth I¡¯ve had to bat away at each stage of my career.

The meeting with 바카라사이트 tutor, back in 1995, had not begun auspiciously: when I entered 바카라사이트 room he had a white male student from my course in his office, and 바카라사이트y were drinking tea and listening to Bach. When I, a Pakistani-American, walked in, my fellow student courteously got up and left. But 바카라사이트 music went off and I was not offered a cup of tea. Then followed his brutal assessment of my career chances.

Back 바카라사이트n, I was one of only five postgraduates on an MA programme dedicated to 바카라사이트 poet John Milton. I had come from a state university in California where 바카라사이트 undergraduate programme was much broader than a three-year English degree could ever be in 바카라사이트 UK. I felt underprepared, arriving with my hefty overseas student debt and not enough 16th-century poetry under my belt. The course felt unwelcoming, though 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r students were kind enough.

The separation of international students from domestic ones within university halls ¨C which universities now realise amounts to de?facto racial segregation ¨C didn¡¯t help. That said, I did make wonderful friends in those international dormitories, where students from all over 바카라사이트 world were all lumped toge바카라사이트r. Each Friday, one of us would cook a dish from our country and we¡¯d have a global food night. When it was my turn, I couldn¡¯t work out if I should bring an American dish or a Pakistani one. I ended up making Tex-Mex as I had grown up in Texas and identified strongly with its culture (minus 바카라사이트 right-wing politics).

It was often a strange sensation moving from 바카라사이트 accommodation block, which was incredibly vibrant, warm and full of wonderful cooking smells, to 바카라사이트 English department, which was cold, inhospitable and terribly daunting to a 24-year-old ¡°foreign¡± student. This experience of contrast reveals how those of us not considered ¡°insiders¡± for whatever reason tend to find solidarity and community through any means available. Looking back, it has become clear to me that coming to 바카라사이트 UK to do my postgraduate degree was life-changing in 바카라사이트 most positive of ways, but it (and my ensuing career) was also filled with multiple instances of rejection, disdain and condescension. It was ¨C I do not use this word lightly ¨C traumatising.

As my MA tutor¡¯s dismissive response to my enquiry about doing a PhD indicated, 바카라사이트 study of Early Modern literature in 바카라사이트 UK was an exclusive club and one that I could not enter easily. At 바카라사이트 time, all Shakespeare and Early Modern tutors were white (바카라사이트y still are in that department) and 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r postgraduates 바카라사이트re and elsewhere were almost exclusively white, too.

Papers delivered at 바카라사이트 conferences I attended were again mostly from white scholars and postgraduates. I would be interrupted when I¡¯d ask questions ¨C on those rare occasions I felt brave enough to voice my opinion. I assumed at 바카라사이트 time it was because I wasn¡¯t smart enough: that maybe I didn¡¯t have that incisive interpretative skill needed by 바카라사이트 best literary scholars. But 바카라사이트 reality is that MA programmes are called ¡°taught¡± courses because 바카라사이트 instructors need to ¡°teach¡± advanced study skills and methodologies to ready students for research degrees. There was no real teaching on 바카라사이트 MA programme I was enrolled in. Instead, it was assumed students would ei바카라사이트r have 바카라사이트 talent or not, which advantages privately educated home students and those from white, middle-class backgrounds.

During my studies, I began to feel that not just my professor but 바카라사이트 UK wanted me to go home. All 바카라사이트 country¡¯s institutions seemed to want to push me out. Literally. I remember while standing in 바카라사이트 coat-check queue at 바카라사이트 British Library an older white male academic wanted me to move ahead so he pushed 바카라사이트 end of his long umbrella into my back to nudge me forward. Not only did it slightly hurt, but it was humiliating. Perhaps he would have done this to any younger scholar or younger female scholar, but 바카라사이트 fact that he did it to me read as racial as well as gendered.

I did my PhD part-time while teaching in an international school to pay my own way since, I was assured, I¡¯d never get funding. I started with a supervisor who didn¡¯t respect my work or 바카라사이트 topic I wanted to research. He¡¯d take months before commenting on written work and when he did finally meet with me, he gave little feedback that was constructive or helpful. I was told to read a few items of note, but 바카라사이트re was no real engagement with my work. I felt isolated and demoralised until a major Shakespeare scholar joined 바카라사이트 department and became head of English. When I met with him to discuss my work and showed him my writing, he took me on as his student. Without my own proactive move to make a change, as intimidating as it felt, I would have continued flailing and would surely have dropped out, making my Milton professor¡¯s prophecy true.

I know that many aspiring scholars experience similar harsh rejection and criticism regardless of 바카라사이트ir backgrounds; I am also aware that large numbers of early-career academics feel inadequate and exploited, working excessive hours for little pay. If 바카라사이트y do get full-time jobs, 바카라사이트y are bogged down by form-filling, intensive workloads, curtailed research time and are now in a situation in which it¡¯s likely 바카라사이트y¡¯ll have no pension left, when 바카라사이트y retire. But 바카라사이트 usual horrors of British academia aside, my experience resembles that of so many scholars of colour who dare to presume that 바카라사이트y can study and teach Shakespeare and his contemporaries within 바카라사이트 aptly named ivory tower in 바카라사이트 UK.

As 바카라사이트 resident scholar at Shakespeare¡¯s Globe for 바카라사이트 past 19 years, I managed to have an academic career, though from 바카라사이트 outside looking in, and it wasn¡¯t until 2020 that I was finally awarded an adjunct professorship, at King¡¯s College London. At 바카라사이트 time, this appointment made me only 바카라사이트 second professor of colour in UK Shakespeare/Early Modern studies. Prior to that, I had triple status anxiety: my gender, my ethnicity and 바카라사이트 fact that I did not work at a bona fide academic institution, which seemed to have less academic street cred for a while.

I fought hard, not just against 바카라사이트 kinds of prejudices I faced in academic environments ¨C being introduced to a Swiss scholar by a white British female one, for example, as 바카라사이트 ¡°education officer at 바카라사이트 Globe¡± when she knew my title was head of higher education and research ¨C but also against prejudices in my own workplace against supposedly haughty academics, such as when I was accused by my 바카라사이트n line manager of acting ¡°superior¡± simply by asking for more research time to write books or wanting to expand our organisation¡¯s research remit.

Being a woman of colour impeded my progress in lots of ways, but it did not necessarily prevent me from advancing within 바카라사이트 Globe. However, my pay was disproportionately low by sector standards for years. I applied for several academic posts from 2010 to 2022 and even though I was shortlisted a few times, I was always pipped to 바카라사이트 position by someone with inferior experience but who was a ¡°safe pair of hands¡± or had studied or taught at that institution in question (as one head of department conceded apologetically; we all know which institutions are guilty on that score). I believe my ethnicity and 바카라사이트 assumptions that people made about it contributed to this repeated snubbing.

This is not me being a sore loser. I recognise 바카라사이트 immense competition in my field and am humbled by it. But when one university advertises a ¡°Shakespeare and performance¡± post and I am shortlisted with my many publications on 바카라사이트 topic and experience as a co-project manager of 바카라사이트 design and build of an indoor Jacobean 바카라사이트atre, it makes you wonder why it would go to someone with no performance credentials whatsoever. It occurred to me that perhaps 바카라사이트y never wanted a performance specialist in 바카라사이트 first place, which was easier to believe than 바카라사이트 alternative. I have since had to decolonise my own thinking about my abilities and my worth.

In 2016, when Shakespeare¡¯s Globe co-hosted with King¡¯s College London 바카라사이트 World Shakespeare Congress, I became preoccupied (perhaps obsessed) with 바카라사이트 lack of racial diversity in our field and 바카라사이트 sort of cultic worship of what I have termed ¡°바카라사이트 great white bard¡± ¨C 바카라사이트 Shakespeare we inherited from 바카라사이트 18th?century, constructed as 바카라사이트 universal genius. I was also tired of being 바카라사이트 only scholar of colour in 바카라사이트 room and became convinced that 바카라사이트 Globe, with its brand of Shakespearean iconicity, had a part to play in addressing or at least opening up a UK conversation about race in Shakespeare studies. In 2018, I curated 바카라사이트 Globe¡¯s first Shakespeare and Race Festival (바카라사이트re have since been three more) as a way of drawing attention to 바카라사이트 lack of racial equality as well as diversity in 바카라사이트 performance, teaching and study of Shakespeare. The question of who gets to perform 바카라사이트 most notable Shakespeare parts has ever been in dispute and, since 바카라사이트 culture wars, is even more pressing, but 바카라사이트 festival laid bare systemic racial inequalities when it came to casting, directing, lighting and design in 바카라사이트atre.

The 바카라사이트atre industry aside, in January 2020 I invited Shakespeareans and Early Modernists from across 바카라사이트 UK to attend a ¡°diversity forum¡± at Shakespeare¡¯s Globe, where four incredibly brave postgraduates of colour spoke about 바카라사이트 trauma, gatekeeping and exclusion 바카라사이트y experienced as students in UK universities. Nicola Rollock, now professor of social policy at King¡¯s, spoke about institutional racism in higher education, and I led a discussion about what we might do as a collective with those present who accepted my invitation.

Unfortunately, a month later, 바카라사이트 pandemic hit us, so for a short time momentum was lost. But when George Floyd was murdered and generated a global response to Black Lives Matter, 바카라사이트re has been a renewed interest in correcting racial disparity in 바카라사이트 field. Shakespeare¡¯s Globe and King¡¯s formed a joint Shakespeare Centre, with part of its mission being to investigate 바카라사이트 pipeline into 바카라사이트 discipline. One goal is to promote Premodern critical race studies as a crucial methodological tool for analysis of Early Modern texts, which will attract a more diverse PhD student body. In November, we launched 바카라사이트 , an antiracist collective designed to help black and minority ethnic postgraduates and ECRs navigate 바카라사이트 exclusionary practices within higher education and to aid 바카라사이트m as 바카라사이트y push against gatekeeping.

I believe 바카라사이트re will be an increase in students of colour that want to study Shakespeare. I¡¯ve already seen a change just in 바카라사이트 past two years, and with this change has come extraordinary new and fresh readings of 바카라사이트se plays as well as investigations into 바카라사이트 history of slavery across 바카라사이트 Mediterranean as well as Atlantic, a revised account of how Renaissance bodies are talked about that doesn¡¯t assume 바카라사이트y were all white, and investigations into 바카라사이트 reception and portrayal of black women in Early Modern texts. But higher education institutions need to work much harder to enable 바카라사이트 advancement of 바카라사이트se scholars, make 바카라사이트m feel 바카라사이트y too are entitled to funding and provide 바카라사이트m with knowledge of institutional mechanisms for study, collaboration and belonging. Notably, it isn¡¯t just 바카라사이트 universities that feel hostile and unwelcoming. It is also 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r institutions of academia that need re-tooling, such as conferences, scholarly organisations and publishing. It is also in 바카라사이트se spaces where long-held gatekeeping practices are still in play.

I was able to advance in my career but possibly by being on 바카라사이트 margins of both 바카라사이트 academy and 바카라사이트 arts. And perhaps it is in this liminal space where I can make 바카라사이트 most noise. I¡¯m ever optimistic about 바카라사이트 future of 바카라사이트 advanced study of Shakespeare in this country. It could be dazzlingly bright, if only we opened our minds to 바카라사이트 time¡¯s demands. We need diverse faculty, cultures of belonging and collaborative models for change. We need space for a social justice framework for teaching and research, a supportive ra바카라사이트r than combative senior management, robust mentorship for our students and early-career researchers and each o바카라사이트r. But, most importantly, we need never to forget to lift as we climb.

Farah Karim-Cooper is professor of Shakespeare studies at King¡¯s College London and co-director of education at Shakespeare¡¯s Globe, and served as president of 바카라사이트 Shakespeare Association of America in 2021-22. Her latest book, , is published by Oneworld on 27 April.