Homegrown Scholars: A Collaborative Autoethnography on Entering the Professoriate, Giving Back, and Coming Home

In this collaborative autoethnography, 3 scholars of color, who were enrolled in the same doctoral program at a Hispanic Serving Institution located in South Texas between 2012 and 2017, engaged in systematic self-reflection through writing and dialogue to coconstruct meaning regarding the ways in which their interests in giving back through the professoriate intersected with their decisions to live and work in their hometowns. Conceptualizing giving back as an act of critical agency, transformational resistance, and active engagement in reciprocity, the authors identified five salient themes useful in understanding how their pathways to the professoriate also led them home. The author/participants began their academic careers in their home communities so that they could give back through broadly contributing to communal well-being, doing research responsibly, connecting with students who look like them, pushing back against the norms of the academy, and feeling grounded and supported. Findings provide valuable insight for institutions and administrators committed to recruiting, hiring, and supporting faculty of color. Author/participants also discuss useful strategies for graduate students of color to consider in their pursuit of a career in the academy.