Diversity & Inclusion — Patricia A. Matthew

Written/Unwritten is a collection of interviews and first-person essays about the experiences of Black faculty and faculty of color. It represents faculty at all different stages of their academic careers—faculty in contingency positions, untenured assistant professors, associate professors, full professors, and administrators who have evaluated tenure files—from a variety of institutions: liberal arts colleges, regional state institutions, and research universities.

UNC Press | BookShop | Google Play | Indiebound | Powell’s

DIVERSITY LECTURES & DIALOGUES

Barnard College •Columbia University • Hunter College, CUNY• Indiana State University • Montclair State University • National Women’s Studies Association • Queens College, CUNY • Stony Brook-SUNY •SUNY• The Graduate Center, CUNY •University of Buffalo • University of California, Merced • University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill • University of North Texas • University of Oregon • University of Missouri • University of South Dakota • University of Virginia • University of Vermont •Wheaton College

PRAISE

“I don’t think there has been a more important higher education book in the last thirty years than Patricia Matthew’s Written/Unwritten, which obliterates the notion that all we need in our nation’s colleges and universities is more black and brown professors. In pieces that are at once brilliantly personal and critical, Matthew and her contributors show us how professors of color, and primarily black women professors, are critiqued and disciplined so much more harshly while being asked to do work their male colleagues would never be asked to do. We’ve been waiting generations for this book. This book will change the way evaluation and value are ritualized at America’s colleges and universities.”
— Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir

“These essays are now, more than ever, a timely and courageous contribution to the exploration and critique of the operation of power as it refracts against diverse, non-dominant identities in American higher education.”
— James H. McDonald, NY Journal of Books

“Matthew’s return on her promise is Written/Unwritten. It’s a collection of essays and interviews from minority scholars in different fields answering a broad set of questions about their careers in relation to diversity. And while each story is unique, the common thread is how they -- in Matthew’s words -- “started, stumbled and survived” shifting expectations, even when they had been hired with an eye toward diversity.”

— Inside Higher Ed

“An impressive volume that investigates a wide range of issues confronted by underrepresented groups in the professorate.”

—Journal of Political Science Education

“Written/Unwritten: Tenure and Race in the Humanities is a game changer in the burgeoning public conversation on diversity in the humanities. This fine collection will sit on the table in my office to be perused, jotted in the margins, and possibly ‘stolen’ by students and junior colleagues because it is the sort of work that can shift a person’s perspective and save more than careers.”

—Jafari Allen, author of iVenceremos?: The Erotics of Black Self-making in Cuba

“The powerful testimony from veteran and young scholars in Written/Unwritten illustrates the barriers that still must be shattered, while also pointing the way forward to creating a more inclusive, diverse and intellectually vibrant academy.”

—Diverse: Issues in Higher Education