Joy as a technology of resistance and freedom: critical insights from racialized scholars in academia

Abstract

This article examines how nine racialized scholars based in the Netherlands and Belgium experience and practice Joy in predominantly white academic spaces. Drawing on a reflexive thematic analysis of podcast conversations, we show how Joy emerges through intentional engagement in alternative modes of teaching and doing research that resists institutional whiteness. The experiences of racialized scholars particularly emphasize the generation of Joy within and through alternative spaces rooted in collective care, solidarity, and humanizing connections, countering the individualistic, exploitative, and competitive ethos of the academy. These findings offer critical insights into embodied experiences of racialized scholars within academia, expanding our understanding of the operation of Joy as a radical and relational praxis that enables alternative imaginations of anti-racist and liberatory educational futures.