Community as Rebellion: A Syllabus for Surviving Academia as a Woman of Color

by Lorgia García Peña

An inspiring personal testimonial woven with political analysis, Community as Rebellion offers a meditation on the possibilities of creating spaces of freedom within the university for students and faculty of color who often experience violence and unbelonging due to the colonizing, racializing, classist, and unequal structures that sustain academia and the university.
Sharing stories, personal reflections, and experiences, the author invites readers--in particular Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian women--to engage in liberatory practices of boycott and abolition, in contrast with the university's tokenizing and exploitative structures that shape our experiences in the academy, and hinder our possibilities of survival and success. Paired with radical community building, these practices are necessary for survival and critical for fighting back against a system that destroys us. One key site of freedom-making in the university is the classroom. Meditating on teaching ethnic studies, the author invites teachers to think about activism and social justice as central to what she calls "teaching in freedom," a progressive form of collective learning that prioritizes subjugated knowledge, silenced histories, and the epistemologies that come from the Global South and from Indigenous, Black, and brown communities. By teaching in and for freedom we not only acknowledge the harm that the university has inflicted on our persons and our ways of knowing since its inception, but also create alternative ways to be, to create, to live, and to succeed through our work.

Genres: Nonfiction, Academia, Race, Social Justice, Education, Academic, Teaching

120 pages, Paperback

Published May 31, 2022

Reviews

[Allyson Pérez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book the moment it arrived in the mail and I simply could not put it down until I finished. García Peña beautifully and expertly eviscerates the systemic racism, colonialism, and imperialism of the academy and the way it continues to fail Faculty and Students of Color, especially Women of Color. Weaving in heart-wrenching personal experiences and recountings of interactions with colleagues, students, family members, and others, she makes the case for dismantling these structures within universities that continue to perpetuate exclusion of marginalized peoples, even in the name of "diversity of inclusion," in favor of creating spaces of community and radical hope. Also, #EthnicStudiesNow. This reads like a labor of love and I know it will save the lives of countless students and academics in the future.

[Sloka Sudhin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish the average academic in hard sciences, particularly minorities, were ready to read a novel like this. the structure of this novel is a course outline for the table of contents, and a clear description for each assignment (prerequisites, objectives, reading list, midterm, and final), a course that you can take all through your academic journey. The most powerful message that Dr. García Peña gives us is to stop trying to fit within the confines of performative inclusion measures that reward those who are marginalized for being “extraordinary” (see: labor paid not in wages but in bragging rights for the institution you serve) and exclude all others in an attempt to drive us against one another.

My own experiences as a WOC studying mathematics, which can’t be properly explained on an app for logging books so I won’t even try, feels so affirmed by the institutional trauma that Dr. García Peña describes: seeing someone else experience the same trauma responses at working myself to the bone just to be discredited and belittled is so freeing!! and I think she’s helped me begin moving on from it as I’ve internalized it for so long.

my only issues here are that I think the focus specifically on ethnic studies as the solution to these issues… while I’ve been sold that it’s an important step, I dont think it can adequately acknowledge the deeply rooted problem in that our institutions exist to serve those within academia to be opportunistic for their own at the direct expense of intellectuals trying to find a voice they would not have in their communities otherwise. It’s a great first step, but ethnic studies on its own won’t keep me from being belittled for studying mathematic.

however, I’m not the only audience for this book, and I think this is the kind of novel anyone studying any humanities or social sciences should listen and learn from. I could read books upon books written by Dr. García Peña, and I cant wait to revisit this in the future and have newfound insight to provide. Thank you Sydney for buying me this, and to FFR per usual for reaffirming that I have a place in academia even if I don’t always feel like it 😊

[Sandra Del Rio · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate this text incredibly

[Oviya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful account of Dr Peña's experiences as a Black Latina, working class, immigrant in academia. Despite tenure denial and horrific racist attacks, the kinds of freedom work she continues to foster by building ethnic studies curriculum, learning structures outside the university, and public archives that help students connect "flesh to theory" are inspiring and instructive examples. This book is useful to imagine ourselves as working towards freedom no matter how precarious our belonging in academic spaces might be.

[Isabella Hagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have very strong feelings about this book that I haven’t yet completely formed. Above all I think this book is well written and well constructed. I enjoyed the layout and flow of the text. However, I had some personal struggles with getting through the book as I never felt as though I was gaining any knowledge I didn’t already possess. While I am aware that sounds arrogant, it is how I felt reading this book. I found myself wanting more from the author. What that “more” is I’m not quite sure about. I usually read books of this nature to gain knowledge and exposure to the topic at hand. I finished this book with a take away that I feel I could’ve gotten from a summary of the book or even just simply reading the back of the book.

Maybe I’ll change my mind on this but at the moment that’s how I feel.

[riddhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

all throughout university, because the people teaching me were cruel, i was cruel to myself too. i could barely show up to classes, meet deadlines, and even sitting amongst my classmates was pure agony and torture. i would cry uncontrollably at the mere prospect of having to interact in that space, because everything was fueled by competition and anger and jealousy and hatred. i tried to end my life multiple times, simply because i did not know how to survive in a space like that. i was so burdened by not just the overwhelming nature of the institution and course i was in, but also the evilness that people harbored. partly, this was caused by the fierce rivalry induced in students who did not see each other as peers, but rather as pawns to win a race against. even then, i tried. i spoke up against the injustices done onto students, and i had to pay for it by losing out on awards i deserved, opportunities that i had worked day and night for, and almost failing papers because the professor refused to accord me marks.

at times like these, i wished i had a professor and a mentor as the author describes. i wish there was someone who could have taught me that what i say matters, and that my words aren't falling on deaf ears. i wish i was able to work on projects as much as my heart desired, rather than having to sit under piles of rote learning examinations. there truly wasn't much i learnt in college, rather than how to keep myself alive when my anxiety seems to overshadow every possible positive thing in my life. i wish our institutions were kind, to the students and to the teachers. the world was so big, and yet i couldn't see anything beyond the miniscule four walls of my university. i could never be the "perfect" student, because i needed time and patience to open up.

as much as this book fills me with hope that there exist people out there who are dedicated to the work of pedagogy and activism, this was also a stark reminder of how downright bleak academia is becoming. this is nothing new, these are the mechanisms it has thrived on forever. i wonder with dread if my wishing and my hope and my ideas will ever have a space in this panopticon.

[Asha Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful, truthful, exhausting. This is the story of myself and so many others & will more than likely continue to be my story as I follow the tenure track path in elite white institutions. I am still optimistic despite the harm that has already been done to me and that I have watched be done to others. But I am not stupidly hopeful— just hopeful in the sense that I know there’s work to be done that is mine to do and I can’t let these systems break me

[Clarke · Rating 2 out of 5]

could have been worse. not "real" theory as in useful for everyday life outside of this niche issue, but she is at least a mostly clear writer.

she better be part of her labor union talking like this, though. if not, that is really embarrassing...

[Samantha Prado · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read. Lorgia offers us a way over do honest conversation about the gatekeeping in higher education and academia. Truly inspirational. Ignites the necesity for la lucha.

[Cori Birkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hugely important and insightful.

[jess tran · Rating 5 out of 5]

terrifying & inspiring for my future in academia esp. in disrupting the institutional dominant ways of learning & teaching !!

[Maya Greally · Rating 4 out of 5]

read it in one sitting, made me want to light my undergrad on fire then go back for my phd so i could burn it down again. required reading for anyone in academia.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, sweet, honest, and heartfelt. García Peña’s writing is revelatory and even conspiratorial in urging women of color to resist the white supremacist project of academia. Strong recommend for the academic of color in your life!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many wonderful takeaways from this book! As a Latina always in pursuit of higher education, and education in general, I was upset to hear how underrepresented Latino scholars are in academia, even in 2022.

I had the privilege to attend the City University of New York at Brooklyn College, where we had a Puerto Rican and Latino Studies department. I was about to minor in PRLS but it was less credits for me to minor in Political Science, and obtain my Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education. I went on to obtain my Master’s Degree in Adult Education from Stayer University. I’d love to continue on and earn my Doctorate in something beneficial, like Ethnic Studies. I know it would be another uphill climb, but I do love when Latinos achieve degrees to show the current white supremacy system that we’re not going anywhere. And we sure as heck won’t stop. We have equal rights to the pursuit of knowledge.

[McKinney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a very sexy title that does not match the content. Reading it as a memoir, though, is a much better fit and you will likely finish it in one sitting. The lessons are important and need to be named. This would have especially blown my mind as an undergraduate student and it offers many good reminders as a faculty member.

[Arianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shoutout to my lovely friend Johanna for letting me read this gem. First year of PhD done and...I desperately needed it. One of my favorite teaching mentors always says: teaching autobiographically is the most valuable thing for educating certain students; and Peña does a beautiful job of combining her personal experiences along with pedagogical tools that will practically help me in the classroom, navigating the academy, and with feeling seen. And when colonial institutions are continuously making efforts to ERASE and DESTROY we need visibility more than anything. And I was reminded of that! And I was also reminded of why my own efforts, the spaces I take up, how I "represent" myself versus people's perception of me matter, at least to the people who's lives I want to impact. Meaning, I'm here for my BIPOC students, my queer, disabled, migrant, low-income kin. And just being here, and sharing the knowledge that I have so that THEY can better dismantle the master's tools while they're out in the world, is all I have ever wanted to do. But re-instilling hope into teaching is what this book does and I'm so thankful to the strong and brave WOC before me who's words continue to inspire and motivate against all odds. Thank you Dr. Peña.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful and succinct. Within the pages is Pena's own painful story of the abusive nature of academia-- which abuses women of color in compounding ways. Rejection of the competitive, individualist demands of the academic institution is the best way to survive, and the best way to actually achieve the purported goals of the institutions that serve the public good with the aim of expanding knowledge. How to do this? Build community, find (and DO) allyship.

My complaint (if there is one) has less to do with this book specifically, and more to do with this genre-- the critique of the elite, private institutions is an overriding feature of these works-- but those elite private institutions are a drop in the bucket of the larger body of higher education. Some of the critiques provided here are things that are, if not unrecognizable, operationalized differently in public regional institutions.

[Marina Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't have the words to express my thoughts and feelings more eloquently toward Dra. Garcia Peña's work. I had ignored my wounds, hoping I would move on and learn to find AND trust my new community as a first year doctoral student in my new school. Lorgia ripped those wounds open. She brought all of that trauma and violence front and center, but she did it in such a cathartic way because she knows what it'slike firsthand. I felt validated - that what I experienced wasn't just me misinterpreting or overreacting. Her words gave me strength to start healing rather than pushing it all so deep inside me that I forget. We read this as a class for my Latinx Seminar, and I couldn't be more grateful.

Perfect gift for BIPOC, first generation students in higher ed at any level!! I plan on gifting this to a couple of mentors, Latina women with/pursuing doctorates, who didn't let me fade away.

[Brianna Berrios · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected so much more from this book. I was hoping for deep, cutting, intersectional analysis of women in patriarchy vs POC in a white power structure vs rebellion in tension with conformation. Instead it was mostly personal anecdotes from the author on how as a WOC in academia she is experiencing daily violence via macro & microaggressions. And something about the over- and casual use of the word "violence" really screamed early 2020s woke identity politics (non-derogatory). I'm not here to dismiss the death-by-a-thousand-cuts of microaggressions, but it really feels jarring to refer to it as violence when we're seeing and hearing about daily instances of truly physical violence.

It was a chore to get through the book and it felt like it mostly went in chronologically-ordered circles rather than actually get to a point.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is short but mighty, packing a wealth of reflections, ideas, proposals, and truth-telling into its 112 pages. I'm a white woman; I have never experienced the racial exclusion central to Peña's critique of academia. Yet much of what Peña wrote about gender, being seen as a problem for academia to solve (or discard), and the necessity of organizing and change resonated hard. Peña is uncompromising in her honesty, in being exacting in her descriptions of the ways in which academia has enacted violence upon her body and mind, and yet this book is also full of hope. I don't mean hope in the sense of flighty optimism, but rather hope as a discipline, as something we do rather than something we feel. A must read.

[Alejandra Salemi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brought so many tears to the surface. Tears of being seeing and understood, tears of anger and exhaustion, tears of hope. Peña unapologetically and prophetically captures the challenges of navigating the academy while reminding us of the ways that education can build a better world through a commitment to liberative praxis.

Would recommend for WOC in the academy and also to anyone wanting to better support WOC academics—from students to professors. I’m certain reading this book can lead to more robust allyship as we continue to challenge the ivory tower.

Thank you, Profesora Peña!!!

[Maddie Key · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read García Peña’s read book after I was assigned one of her chapters for a class. As an administrator in higher education, this was such an important book to read. There’s so much to take away, but I particularly am thinking about her call to center social justice and equality in all the work that we do.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Decolonizing the university requires that people recognize their own complicity with the colonizing project of the university and make efforts to change those structures even when they benefit them. To decolonize the university, we would need to admit that our successes are not solely the reflection of our labor but also the result of institutional inequality." (41)

[Hannah Potantus · Rating 3 out of 5]

While she did sneak some things in there that I don’t necessarily agree with she makes some great points and brought to light some things I was unaware of in the university.

This was required reading for a class, but it’s emotional and powerful in a way that made it very easy to read.

[Jasmyne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I’d expected to, and even hoped I would. I will likely revisit it when I’m further along in grad school to see whether it resonates with me more.

⭐️ ⭐️⭐️ - This book was fine but I probably wouldn’t read it again.

[Elisa]

Wonderful, disruptive and thought-provoking. Tells the story of one woman who made it, and makes me think of the many who didn't, and had to give up because of the soul-sinking hellhole academia can be. She inspired me greatly on the kind of instruction I want to provide on my classes from now on!

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a BIPOC woman in higher education who has experienced the pain, violation, and grief of being othered, diminished, and silenced, this book was cathartic. After finishing the last page, I immediately purchased multiple copies to share with others.

[Alessandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gracias Lorgia García Peña por esse livro <3

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book. So brutal about being a Latinx academic in the US and the tenure track system.

[Nohe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommend