This research examines the persistent threats of racism and sexism in higher education, particularly as they impact Asian immigrant women scholars in the U.S. The Trump era and its resurgence have intensified structural inequalities, reinforcing xenophobic and misogynistic narratives that marginalize women of color and immigrant faculty. Our positionality—as women in male-dominated spaces, as racial minorities in predominantly White academic fields, and as immigrants negotiating transnational identities—complicates our legitimacy in scholarly spaces.
By centering our lived experiences, we challenge the ontological negation that reduces our expertise to our identities and reframe our presence as a performative force of disruption and resistance. This research interrogates systemic barriers, intersectional stereotypes, and pedagogical constraints, offering critical insights into how academic spaces can be transformed to embrace vulnerability, equity, and solidarity.