Nine years into my research and academic career, one of the most common questions I hear from family and friends is, "uzoqedanini ukufunda?" ("Will she ever finish studying?")
They're not the only ones who struggle to understand what it is that I do. My experience is that most black women "fall into" research and academia, rather than deliberately choosing it as a career direction from the start. That would explain why black women undergraduates often ask me "What is research?" and "Is reading all you do?"
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