The Common Experience of "Otherness": Ethnic and Racial Minority Faculty

This study identified the commonalities underlying the experiences of ethnic and racial minority faculty members at a predominantly white research university. Despite the heterogeneity of "minority" faculty, their common experiences included: (a) the bicultural stance they cultivated, (b) the ethnocentrism they perceived, and (c) the discriminatory behavior they experienced. This paper explores the usefulness of theories of race and ethnic relations in aiding understanding of the common experiences of those perceived as "other" by the dominant majority.