Episode 14. Lean Semesters: How Higher Education Reproduces Inequality

Dr. Beverly Yuen Thompson overviews the book entitled, “Lean Semesters: How Higher Education Reproduces Inequality,” by Sekile M. Nzinga. This book centers the experience of Black women who are graduate students, MA graduates, or PhD graduates, who are teaching as part time adjunct teachers in higher education. Yet even with, or indeed, because of, their graduate degrees, they are more indebted than ever because of their student loan burden. This ethnographic study presents the voices of women laboring in higher education and contrasts the demographic ideals of higher education with the reality of student loan burdens on the American public. Timeline: 0:00-1:54 Introduction to video 1:55- 8:10 Book Introduction 8:11-18:03 Chapter One: Mortgaging Our Brains 18:04-25:56 Chapter Two: Ain’t I Precarious? 25:57-31:53 Chapter Three: Families Devalued 31:54-38:39 Chapter Four: Jumping Mountains 38:40-43:32 Conclusion: Statement of Solidarity 43:33 Video ConclusionVideo Link Get full access to Dr. Beverly Yuen Thompson at snakegrrlsociology.substack.com/subscribe