{"id":43,"date":"2026-05-12T10:11:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T09:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/bath-student-journal-of-society-and-social-change\/?p=43"},"modified":"2026-05-12T10:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T09:11:17","slug":"alienation-in-academia-autoethnographic-and-antiracist-framework-approaches-to-black-minority-ethnic-and-working-class-student-experiences-with-impostor-phenomenon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/bath-student-journal-of-society-and-social-change\/2026\/05\/12\/alienation-in-academia-autoethnographic-and-antiracist-framework-approaches-to-black-minority-ethnic-and-working-class-student-experiences-with-impostor-phenomenon\/","title":{"rendered":"Alienation in academia: Autoethnographic and antiracist framework approaches to Black, Minority Ethnic and Working-Class student experiences with impostor phenomenon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author<\/strong>: Jamil Adjallah, Department of Psychology, University of Bath<\/p>\n

Author bio:<\/strong> Jamil Adjallah is an undergraduate psychology student currently on research placement from the BSc (Hons) Psychology programme, with research interests in social media, mental health and EDI.<\/p>\n

Author contact:<\/strong> jja57@bath.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Underrepresentation of Black and minority ethnic (BME) and working-class students remains an issue that universities are attempting to address in their admissions and support processes (Greaves et al., 2022). Despite their efforts, students from these backgrounds remain susceptible to impostor phenomenon (IP; Rice et al., 2023). IP is a psychological experience in which sufferers face persistent feelings of fraudulence for their achievements and abilities (Clance and Imes, 1978). BME and working-class students struggling with IP have faced compounded mental health struggles as a result (Stoll et al., 2022), leading to fewer students from these backgrounds graduating from university and pursuing career advancement (Husbands, Linceviciute and Yetkili, 2025). This piece examines the roots of this increased susceptibility and potential ways to address it.<\/p>\n

Background: Impostor Phenomenon
\n<\/strong><\/h1>\n

IP is especially prominent in high-performance environments, such as universities (Sakulku, 2011). It is also most likely to affect an individual when they appear to be an outlier in their given environment \u00a0(Gullifor et al., 2024). Cokley and Colleagues (2024) examine this in underrepresented groups, finding that they may feel like impostors at university. Canning and colleagues (2020) may provide some reasoning for this; their findings suggest that BME group and working-class student representation is minimal at UK universities, particularly at selective institutions (Lewis and Bolton, 2025). Subsequently, BME and working-class students are likely to feel that they are outliers in higher education because those who surround them are from different backgrounds.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, when knowledge differences related to systematic failings disadvantage underrepresented students, they are less likely to refute the belief that they are impostors (Nadal et al., 2021). One example of this is the enabling nature of insider knowledge \u2013 selective knowledge only available to those in the inner circle of a group (Subotnik, Olszewski-Kubilius and Worrell, 2023). In university contexts, this may range from utilising contacts to aid in attaining work course-relevant work experience or advice for adapting to university-style learning (Castillo-Montoya, 2017). Students from underrepresented groups are less likely to have insider knowledge, as they are more likely to be first-generation university attendees (Oldfield, 2007). This means they are also likely to be unaware of the enabling boost it provides to their peers. Consequently, BME students may feel as if their non-minority group peers are succeeding faster and take this as confirmation for their IP. In reality, this only signifies a difference in their starting points.<\/p>\n

Current mitigating policies and their inadequacies
\n<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Aware of these issues, universities have responded with various measures. One such research-informed method (Black, 2024) is the use of bridge programmes, pre-university support pathways designed to aid adjustment (Sablan, 2014). While these schemes help by supporting underrepresented students through providing insider knowledge, they may inadvertently cause harm. By focusing on \u2018fixing\u2019 underrepresented students rather than systemic institutional issues, universities risk pathologising their experiences, which may foster impostor feelings before university has even begun. These issues are likely to occur when research into underrepresented groups does not involve their lived experience in the research process (Shevlin et al., 2022), which is evident in some of the literature recommending bridge programmes (Bradford, Beier and Oswald, 2021).<\/p>\n

New Solutions \u2013 Collaborative Autoethnography and Antiracist Frameworks
\n<\/strong><\/h1>\n

To improve upon these efforts, universities must adapt how they conduct the research that informs policy and interventions. Collaborative autoethnography (CAE) in conjunction with antiracist frameworks (ARFs) may offer promising approaches. CAE is an approach in which a group of researchers recount their own personal experiences alongside the cultural consequences of said experiences (Hernandez, Chang and Ngunjiri, 2017), while ARFs outline specific strategies to avoid perpetuating institutional racism and reproducing class-related power imbalances (Goings et al., 2023).<\/p>\n

Furthermore, CAE directly addresses the mistrust towards researchers some underrepresented groups may hold due to historic misrepresentations (Pacheco et al., 2013; Emery, Silverman and Carey, 2023). This is achieved by directly involving researchers from historically excluded groups, thereby promoting more authentic representation. This approach aligns with the research-specific ARF proposed by Goings et al.<\/em> (2023), which emphasises the need to eliminate power imbalances by re-evaluating research traditions. For example, power imbalances may occur when research teams are led by a single individual holding significant influence over the project, which can minimise the voices of less senior, yet equally important, team members (Goings et al., 2023). In research on IP and underrepresented groups, this process may instead involve researchers from underrepresented groups who share equal decision-making power with other members of the primary leadership team. Such an approach would allow the sharing of lived experience without fear of it being diminished, revealing insights into the cultural and social dimensions of IP. With the voices of those truly affected, we can begin to understand IP as an institutional failure rather than misinterpreting it as an individual failing.<\/p>\n

Future Steps
\n<\/strong><\/h1>\n

By embracing CAE and ARFs in their research into policies and interventions, universities may help reduce the increased susceptibility to IP faced by historically underrepresented students. Without discussions and research on IP in relation to BME and working-class students being conducted with<\/em> them instead of about<\/em> them, interventions to help them may remain ineffective. While effectively reducing exposure to IP may be a monumental task, it lies in designing and executing studies that simultaneously include and elevate underrepresented students.<\/p>\n

References
\n<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Black, A.M., 2024. The role of bridging programmes in supporting student persistence and prevention of attrition: a UK case study. Studies in Higher Education<\/em> [Online], 49(9), pp.1519\u20131531. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/03075079.2023.2269246.<\/p>\n

Bradford, B.C., Beier, M.E. and Oswald, F.L., 2021. A Meta-analysis of University STEM Summer Bridge Program Effectiveness. CBE life sciences education<\/em> [Online], 20(2), p.ar21. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1187\/cbe.20-03-0046.<\/p>\n

Castillo-Montoya, M., 2017. Deepening understanding of prior knowledge: what diverse first-generation college students in the U.S. can teach us. Teaching in Higher Education<\/em> [Online], 22(5), pp.587\u2013603. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/13562517.2016.1273208.<\/p>\n

Clance, P.R. and Imes, S.A., 1978. The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, research & practice<\/em>, 15(3), p.241.<\/p>\n

Cokley, K.O., Bernard, D.L., Stone-Sabali, S. and Awad, G.H., 2024. Impostor Phenomenon in Racially\/Ethnically Minoritized Groups: Current Knowledge and Future Directions. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology<\/em>[Online], 20(Volume 20, 2024), pp.407\u2013430. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1146\/annurev-clinpsy-081122-015724.<\/p>\n

Emery, L.F., Silverman, D.M. and Carey, R.M., 2023. Conducting Research With People in Lower-Socioeconomic-Status Contexts. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science<\/em> [Online], 6(4), p.25152459231193044. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/25152459231193044.<\/p>\n

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Greaves, R., Kelestyn, B., Blackburn, R.A.R. and Kitson, R.R.A., 2022. The Black Student Experience: Comparing STEM Undergraduate Student Experiences at Higher Education Institutions of Varying Student Demographic. Journal of Chemical Education<\/em> [Online], 99(1), pp.56\u201370. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1021\/acs.jchemed.1c00402.<\/p>\n

Gullifor, D.P., Gardner, W.L., Karam, E.P., Noghani, F. and Cogliser, C.C., 2024. The impostor phenomenon at work: A systematic evidence-based review, conceptual development, and agenda for future research. Journal of Organizational Behavior<\/em> [Online], 45(2), pp.234\u2013251. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/job.2733.<\/p>\n

Hernandez, K.-A.C., Chang, Heewon and Ngunjiri, F.W., 2017. Collaborative Autoethnography as Multivocal, Relational, and Democratic Research: Opportunities, Challenges, and Aspirations. a\/b: Auto\/Biography Studies<\/em>[Online], 32(2), pp.251\u2013254. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/08989575.2017.1288892.<\/p>\n

Husbands, D., Linceviciute, S. and Yetkili, O., 2025. The impostor phenomenon among racially minoritised university students: \u2018who knows how to get rid of this?\u2019 Race Ethnicity and Education<\/em> [Online], 28(5), pp.670\u2013688. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/13613324.2024.2386949.<\/p>\n

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Nadal, K.L., King, R., Sissoko, D.R.G., Floyd, N. and Hines, D., 2021. The legacies of systemic and internalized oppression: Experiences of microaggressions, imposter phenomenon, and stereotype threat on historically marginalized groups. New Ideas in Psychology<\/em> [Online], 63. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.newideapsych.2021.100895.<\/p>\n

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Rice, J., Rosario-Williams, B., Williams, F., West-Livingston, L., Savage, D., Wilensky, J.A. and Landry, A., 2023. Impostor syndrome among minority medical students who are underrepresented in medicine. Journal of the National Medical Association<\/em> [Online], 115(2), pp.191\u2013198. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jnma.2023.01.012.<\/p>\n

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Sakulku, J., 2011. The Impostor Phenomenon. The Journal of Behavioral Science<\/em> [Online], 6(1), pp.75\u201397. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.14456\/ijbs.2011.6.<\/p>\n

Shevlin, M., Rose, R., Shevlin, M. and Rose, R., 2022. Respecting the Voices of Individuals from Marginalised Communities in Research\u2014\u201cWho Is Listening and Who Isn\u2019t?\u201d Education Sciences<\/em> [Online], 12(5). Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/educsci12050304 [Accessed 13 December 2025].<\/p>\n

Stoll, N., Yalipende, Y., Byrom, N.C., Hatch, S.L. and Lempp, H., 2022. Mental health and mental well-being of Black students at UK universities: a review and thematic synthesis. BMJ Open<\/em> [Online], 12(2), p.e050720. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/bmjopen-2021-050720.<\/p>\n

Subotnik, R.F., Olszewski-Kubilius, P. and Worrell, F.C., 2023. The role of insider knowledge in the trajectories of highly accomplished scientists. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences<\/em> [Online], 1527(1), pp.84\u201396. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/nyas.15034.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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