Impostorization in the ivory tower: less discussed but more vexing than impostor syndrome

• Date: 12 December 2023
• Pages: 77-90
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-03-2023-0094
• Published date: 12 December 2023
• Author: Angélica S. Gutiérrez,Jean Lee Cole

Impostorization in the ivory tower:

less discussed but more vexing

than impostor syndrome

Ang

elica S. Guti

errez

Department of Management, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles,

California, USA, and

Jean Lee Cole

Department of English, Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Abstract

Purpose –Given the lack of research on the lived experiences of raciallyminoritized women in academia, this

paper provides primary accounts of their experience with impostorization. Impostorization refers to the

policies, practices and seemingly innocuous interactionsthat make or intend to make individuals (i.e. women of

color) question their intelligence, competence and sense of belonging.

Design/methodology/approach –To explore experiences with impostorization and identify effective

coping strategies to counter the debilitating effects of impostorization, 17 semi-structured interviews were

conducted with women of color PhD students and faculty at universities throughout the USA and across

disciplines.

Findings –While impostorsyndrome, which refers to feelings of inadequacy that individuals experience and a

fear that they will be discovered as fraud, has garnered much attention, the present accounts suggest that the

more vexing issue in academia is impostorization, not impostor syndrome. Forms of impostorization include

microaggressions, grateful guest syndrome, invisibility and inclusion taxation.

Originality/value –The interviews reveal the implicit and explicit ways in which academia impostorizes

racially minoritized women scholars and the coping strategies that they use to navigate and survive within

academia. The accounts demonstrate the pernicious effects of labeling feelings of inadequacyand unbelonging

as impostor syndrome rather than recognizing that the problem is impostorization. This is a call to change the

narrative and go from a fix-the-individual to a fix-the-institution approach.

Keywords Ethnic minorities, Workplace, Women, Impostor phenomenon, Microaggression, Impostorization

Paper type Viewpoint

Introduction

“We need you to leave because we’re about to have a meeting.”Those were the words a

racially minoritized woman scholar, Isabela, heard from a white male undergraduate after he,

with a group of other students, had barged into her classroom one Thursday evening. Isabela

was talking with a group of her students about a presentation that they had just delivered in

class and looked on in dismay as this student interrupted her conversation to tell her to leave.

Isabela responded, “I’m a professor, and I teach an MBA class here that runs from 6:30–10

p.m. This is my classroom.”She pointed to the clock at the back of the classroom, which read

9:40. She assumed he’d relay this information to his peers and leave promptly along with

them. Instead, he continued to stand in front of her and flatly said, “We have a meeting here.”

His compatriots, both male and female, stood intimidatingly around the podium.

This incident took place in February 2023, just a week after a mass shooter at Michigan

State University had killed three and wounded five others. Engulfed with fear, Isabela

hurriedly finished talking with her students and left. Although the students were the

impostors in her classroom, Isabela was the one who felt like she did not belong. Her

credentials, degrees, awards, publications and faculty position did not shield her from the

blatant disrespect, vitriol and effort to undermine her authority. Isabela was made to feel like

the impostor –as though the space was not hers and she had no authority to be there.

Impostorization

in the ivory

tower

77

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 30 March 2023

Revised 15 August 2023

Accepted 6 November 2023

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 44 No. 1, 2025

pp. 77-90

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-03-2023-0094