Straddling Class in the Academy

Straddling Class in the Academy, edited by Jamie Washington and published by Stylus Publishing in 2019, emerged from the critical need to address socioeconomic disparities within higher education institutions. The collection serves as an anthology of personal narratives and scholarly reflections from academics who navigate the often-conflicting worlds of their working-class roots and the middle-to-upper-class expectations inherent in academic career paths.

The volume was curated to provide a platform for voices that are frequently marginalized in traditional faculty and administrative structures. By emphasizing the 'straddling' experience—the psychological and social strain of moving between different class cultures—Washington and the contributing authors aimed to foster more inclusive campus climates. The work has been received as a foundational text in critical pedagogy, valued for its blend of vulnerable storytelling and structural analysis of institutional class bias.