“I See It as a Form of Reparations”: Faculty Research Communities as Educational Homeplaces for Systematically Marginalized Faculty

This study explores the experiences of systematically marginalized faculty as we participated in a faculty research community at our university. Using composite counter-storytelling to foreground our experiences and voices, the study sought to identify factors that contribute to feelings of belonging at our institution, particularly with regard to the collegial sharing, understanding, and support of our research. Findings reveal that while faculty experienced layers of oppression and marginalization at their institution, the faculty research community provided a homeplace to gather with other systematically marginalized faculty, to critically discuss research, and to be free from the oppressive gaze that often shadowed day-to-day experiences within the institution.