Abstract
More Black women are graduating with advanced degrees; however, as the author notes, “the corporatized university, long celebrated as a purveyor of progress and opportunity, is systematically and en masse indebting Black women then disposing of their bodies and their intellectual contributions, as well as their potential” (p. 2). In addition, Black women are often highlighted in institutional marketing and, as a result, are led to believe that education is available to everyone, regardless of one's social and economic location. Nzinga's central argument in this clear and concise book is that “far from being a site generative of equality and opportunity, the university—whether private, for-profit, or not-for-profit—currently operates as a hyper-producer of inequity for marginalized populations, particularly academic women of color. Furthermore, in light of the corporatizations of academic labor, the privatization of education, and other critical shifts in higher education, such dynamics must be recognized as intrinsic, not tangential, to the operation of the neoliberal university” (pp. 2–3).
Lean Semesters will be of particular interest to social workers and those who study and work at schools of social work because the author Sekile Nzinga, PhD, MSW, was a social worker prior to becoming an academic. She is now the Chief Equity Officer for the State of Illinois. As a social worker, she often encouraged Black women to stay in school or attend college so that they could be well positioned for success. As an academic, she noticed that many of her “highly educated and accomplished academic colleagues’ material conditions look eerily similar to [her] former clients’ realities” (pp. 1–2). In her conclusion, “Statement of Solidarity,” Nzinga notes that her experiences in higher education echo those of the Black women she interviewed for this study.
This important book models how academic approaches can and should dovetail with activist approaches. This womanist critique of neoliberal institutions of higher education employs both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Nzinga interviewed 31 Black women in various stages of graduate work and employment in higher education in order to recount their lived experiences. In addition, she analyzed large data sets, including those from the American Association of University Professors, the US Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, and the American Institutes for Research. Lean Semesters is a compelling and brilliant weaving of qualitative and quantitative data to tell a stark narrative that higher education is silencing and negating Black women in extraordinary numbers.
The book has an introduction (“The University as Hyper-Producer of Inequity”) and a conclusion (“Statement of Solidarity,” which is a personal testimony of the impact of the university as hyper-producer of inequity). In between are four powerfully titled chapters that focus on various facets of inequity. In Chapter 1, “Mortgaging Our Brains: Black Women, Privatization, and Subprime PhDs,” the author describes how higher education reproduces inequity by greedily “pricing out Black women, who are less likely to be able to afford a college education, particularly a graduate education” (p. 13). In Chapter 2, “Ain’t I Precarious? Black Academic Women as Contingent,” the author critiques the position of Black women who are disproportionately contingent faculty, both contractually and structurally. In Chapter 3, “Families Devalued: Black Academic Women and the Neoliberal Era's Family Tariff,” Nzinga critiques “family friendly” and “inclusive” policies and practices, which often have a negative impact on Black women academics. In Chapter 4, “Jumping Mountains: Resisting the Marketized University,” Nzinga shares the stories of Black women who are working within and transforming institutions and society at large.
Everyone in the higher education community, those thinking about entering higher education, and those who support them should read this book. In March 2022, Nzinga discussed her book as part of the Academic Innovation for the Public Good Series sponsored by Stanford University and Trinity College (Hartford, Connecticut). This book and that discussion will transform the way we understand higher education in general, the structural injustices within higher education, and the increasing inequities in the United States.
