![]() National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, University of South Carolina, 2015. “Of Blue Collars and Ivory Towers: Women from Blue-Collar Backgrounds in Higher Education.” Rooper Review 18:1 (1995): 27-33. / Welcoming blue collar scholars into the ivory tower : developing class-conscious strategies for student success. “What’s a Nice Working-Class Girl Like you Doing in a Place Like this?” Working Class Women in the Academy: Laborers in the Knowledge Factory. Eds. However, working-class academics can use their “‘outsider within’ status to challenge the institution….” (Gardner, p. This topic is significant because class oppression-like racial and gender oppression-is real within the Ivory tower. For those from traditional, blue-collar families, this may mean choosing a life a scholarship that is far removed geographically-and ideologically-from their communities of origin. The term “success” is defined differently in each world, with success in academia often marked by “separateness and alienation from the working-class world of one’s roots” (Gardner, p. ![]() Many working-class academics from blue-collar families of origin straddle two worlds, never quite assimilating into either. One study stated that, in particular, “Women from blue-collar backgrounds in higher education experience a profound sense of not belonging, of being an ‘outsider within’ the academy” (Miller and Kastberg, p. The term originated in the French critic Sainte-Beuve’s description of poet Alfred de Vigny as living in an ivory tower (1837), that is, isolated from life’s harsh realities. She invited the party to her home, the Ivory Tower, where she and Keyleth. Sadly, the social constructs of class, race, and gender can strongly influence one’s career trajectory in academia. ivory tower A situation or attitude remote from practical affairs. During the Winters Crest season, a strange blue crystal was delivered to. The conferral of a doctoral degree indicates full membership in the academic community, right? But what if you are a first-generation academic-perhaps the only member of your family to earn a graduate degree and then secure a faculty position? Although support services abound for first-generation undergraduate students who often struggle financially, academically, and socially in college, no such services are in place for working-class academics. ![]() While white collar workers may often use their hands to do their job (e.g. ![]() This panel discussion will focus on the construct of class within academia, the intersection of class with gender and race, and the lived experiences of working-class academics at the 54th Annual NeMLA Convention March 23-26, 2023 in Niagara Falls, NY The most obvious one is that a white collar worker works at an office, while blue collar workers can work in various non-office settings, such as construction sites, production lines, on the road etc. Do you have working-class or blue-collar roots? Are you a first-generation academic? If so, you are invited to share your insights. ![]()
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