The Impostor Phenomenon Among Racially Minoritised University Students: “Who Knows How to Get Rid of This?”

Husbands, D., Yetkili, O. and Linceviciute, S. 2024. The Impostor Phenomenon Among Racially Minoritised University Students: “Who Knows How to Get Rid of This?”. Race Ethnicity and Education. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2024.2386949

TitleThe Impostor Phenomenon Among Racially Minoritised University Students: “Who Knows How to Get Rid of This?”
TypeJournal article
AuthorsHusbands, D., Yetkili, O. and Linceviciute, S.
Abstract

Less is known about the impostor phenomenon in undergraduate students and, more so, racially minoritised students in the UK. Impostorism has a constraining effect on constructing an authentic identity, leading to a feeling of phoniness. When impostorism intersects with a gendered and racially minoritised identity, individuals may face specific challenges, such as managing compound identity labels or struggling to achieve in their academic environment. This paper reports experiences of the phenomenon in Black female undergraduate students. Semi-structured focus group interviews with ten students were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Four themes were generated: contextual experiences of impostorism, finding a sense of belonging, struggling to maintain and value an authentic self, and taming my impostor. The findings point to university environments as both barriers and enablers for taming the effect of the impostor phenomenon on academic and cultural identities and provide novel insights into an underrepresented student population.

KeywordsImpostor phenomenon
impostor syndrome
students
sense of belonging
higher education
JournalRace Ethnicity and Education
ISSN1361-3324
1470-109X
Year2024
PublisherTaylor & Francis
Publisher's version
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access Level
Open (open metadata and files)
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2024.2386949
Web address (URL)https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13613324.2024.2386949
Publication dates
Published online07 Aug 2024

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