In Canada, Black nurse educators are often funneled into non-specialized positions in the clinical and classroom context and are overlooked by colleagues and patients as key decision-makers and leaders in the field. Contributions made by Black nurse educational leaders to the nursing profession are neglected within the curriculum delivered to students. Black educators continue to be under-represented in undergraduate nursing faculty departments across Canada. Although still under-researched, scholarly conversations have begun to proliferate surrounding unconscious demotion and its impetus behind the aforesaid issues. Through autoethnographic reflections, I critically examine my lived experiences with unconscious demotion in nursing education as a profession, weaving stories from my early career as a Black nurse to a nurse educator. Through Womanist inquiry, I answer the question: How have my experiences with unconscious demotion formed my perception of professional identity as a Canadian Black educator? Tracing my journey allows me to locate pivotal points in my development of identity from leadership at the bedside into a post-secondary lecturer position within the professional educator realm of nursing: an area that is predominantly White and female-dominated. This paper will discuss the exclusionary behaviours I faced from patients and colleagues, identifying the barriers perceived in producing public and personal confidence in the educator role. The significance of this self-study is the insight provided into the intersectionality that race and gender had coupled with unconscious demotion, in addition to the influence it had on my professional identity and practice as a Black nurse educator.

Authors:
Stepahanie Yi, Brock University, Canada

About the Presenter(s)
Stepahanie Yi is currently a Ph.D. in Educational Studies student in the Faculty of Education at Brock University, Canada.

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