Academia Unplugged: An Intersectional Analysis of the Comparative Career Experiences of Black Women Academics in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Addressing under-representation and inequitable treatment is important to higher education (HE) in South Africa (SA) and the United Kingdom (UK). However, studies have insufficiently examined how the combination of gendered and racial systems explain this under-representation. ‘Intersectionality’ attends to how social categories like gender and race interconnect to explain patterns of disadvantage. This mixed-method project examines how gendered, racial experiences play out in black women academics’ careers, how these lived experiences compare between SA and the UK, and what successful strategies enable black women’s advancement in HE. Black women’s experiences will be analyzed against the backdrop of HE policies and through interviews and focus groups with black women and HE stakeholders in SA and the UK. This partnership project will contribute new scholarship and facilitate knowledge exchange on creating inclusive university cultures, co-produced with stakeholders in distinctive socio- historical contexts, thus promoting socio-economic development through enhanced HE performance.