Art and Heart to counter the one-hour-zoom-diversity event: Counterspaces as a response to diversity regimes in academia

This text explores our work as Women of Color (WoC) nurturing spaces and practices in response to the mirage of support, the inadequacy of resources, and the tepid responses to systemic oppression within the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts of our university, a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) in the Midwest. Via reflective vignettes, we discuss developing a community art collaboration as a counterspace, defined by various scholars as “social spaces ... which offer support and enhance feelings of belonging” (Ong, Smith, and Ko 2018, 207) for minoritized students. Throughout this text, we discuss the potential of art-based projects shaped by an anti-racist praxis as a resistance to the “check the box” institutional diversity efforts and as transformative spaces to imagine alternative academic futures for Women of Color staff, faculty, and students.