In 1978, psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Ament Imes coined the term “imposter phenomenon” to describe the internal experience that high achieving women experience in professional settings. Now known as “Imposter Syndrome,” this phenomenon has been widely discussed and disproportionately identified with among BIPOC women.

Imposter syndrome can be defined as the persistent inability to believe that one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved because of one’s own efforts or skills. A person who struggles with this syndrome may experience an intense fear of failure, unrealistic expectations of themselves, perfectionism, limited beliefs, self-deprecation, and self-doubt as it relates to their professional work or chosen career path.

Due to this country’s history of colonization and capitalism, it serves as no surprise that there are more BIPOC people, most specifically BIPOC women who are high achievers, who resonate with the symptoms of imposter syndrome. But what if feeling like an imposter has nothing to do with your true capabilities? What if you feel like an imposter because you are literally trying to force an identity on yourself that is not in alignment with your inner spirit which is synonymous with who you truly are at your core?

I have read tons of research and suggestions regarding healing approaches and therapeutic interventions to eradicate imposter syndrome. Yet, no one seems to question the origin of this phenomenon or how society has contributed to BIPOC women feeling excluded in all aspects of their lives, not just with their work identity.

To understand what I am implying here, you must understand how colonization, racism, and patriarchy has affected the identities of BIPOC women.

The Consequences of Colonization

The history of colonization involved Europe’s invasion and domination of land and territory already inhabited by the Indigenous people of that land. As you can imagine, the Indigenous did not just happily hand themselves over to the ownership of the Europeans. The act of colonization involved destroying and conquering the Indigenous people through violence and the diseases brought by the Europeans, exploiting the land of its resources, oppressing who was left of the Indigenous populations, and eradicating their identity and forcing the assimilation of European beliefs and values.

With the control and seizure of the people and their land, the colonizers transported African bodies to the Americas and forced them into slavery. African bodies were beaten, broken, raped, and forced to build and establish the system of capitalism to which they would never truly benefit from. As a result of the European’s sadistic, narcissistic, malicious, and inhumane behavior, Black and Brown lives were left with trauma wounds that we have still yet to fully grasp and understand.

Deeply Rooted Racial Trauma and Survival Behavior

Although I have read more books than I can count and attended more seminars than I can remember on the subject matter, I still have no ability to wrap my mind around the experience of my ancestors who endured the horrors of antebellum slavery. Yet, they survived.

How could they have survived such atrocities? Unfortunately, I do not fully have the answer to that question. What I do know is that they had to alter their entire being to adapt and survive. The body’s adaptation to the trauma of our enslaved ancestors consequently created alterations to their genetic sequences and DNA. Those altered genes were then biologically passed to their offspring and ultimately to us.

Therefore, the Black community has lived in an unconscious state of survival for the past 400 years as a result of our unhealed and unprocessed deeply rooted systemic trauma. We have historically survived by assimilating to the identity of the oppressor and continuing to strive to live up to his expectations.

Eradication of BIPOC Identity and Forced Assimilation

To understand how devastating the eradication of our ancestor’s identity has been to our present identity and culture, you must know the beliefs and values of the colonizers. They are as follows:

1. There will always be a group of people who are superior to another group of people

2. Only the superior group has the capability to lead the inferior group of people.

3. Everything that is objective is fact and there is no room for subjectivity. Except, of course, when the superior group deems their subjective beliefs as objective.

4. The superior group is right and everyone else is wrong.

5. The superior group has ownership of everything, and the inferior group is only to utilize resources when given permission.

6. Only the lives of the superior group matters and everyone else's lives are expendable.

7. Fear must be instilled in the inferior group so that they will remain under the control and indoctrination of the superior group.

8. We (White, Able-Bodied, Heteroexual, Christian Men) are the superior group and everyone else is inferior to us.

You must understand that in the colonizer’s narrative, BIPOC women are a part of the inferior group.

The True Definition of An Imposter

An imposter can be defined as person who pretends to be someone else in order to deceive others, especially for fraudulent gain. Anyone who does not fit the very small box of expectations of this colonized society would be considered an imposter in the eyes of the oppressor.

When we attempt to force ourselves to live up to the expectations of the colonizer, we become our own oppressor. We oppress our true inner identity, desires, brilliant minds, and beliefs. We silence our inner liberator and allow our inner oppressor to dictate our thoughts, feelings, and decisions. We force ourselves to wear a mask and hide who we truly are, thus becoming an imposter. However, not out of fraudulent gain, but to merely survive.

Our ancestors who were enslaved had one important understanding: to survive we must live up to the expectations of the enslaver. By any means necessary. Unfortunately, we are still living with that same survival mentality.

How To Cure Imposter Syndrome as a BIPOC woman

1. To eradicate the symptoms of imposter syndrome, you must begin question everything that you have ever been taught to believe in regards to work, finances, and your chosen career. Ask yourself the following questions and journal your responses:

2. Why did you choose the career field/industry that you work in? What led you to it? Was it chosen for you?

3. What did your parents teach you about work while growing up? What values did they instill in you regarding work?

4. Do you truly love the work that you do?

5. Do you find peace, joy, and inner fulfillment in the work that you do? Would you do it for free?

6. Are you happy?

7. Do you find yourself spending entirely too much time trying to seek the approval of others in your field?

8. Have you become enslaved to your job/career, while neglecting your own needs?

9. Is the fear of the unknown the only reason you stay in your job or chosen career field?

10. Why do you work?

You may discover, after asking yourselves these questions, that you are truly working in your passion and purpose and your career is in alignment with your true identity. If this is the case, and you are still presenting with symptoms of imposter syndrome, you may need to do some more reflection work.

For example, would your work life's purpose include upholding the very same ideologies and Eurocentric beliefs that were built into the framework of your chosen field which excludes the well-being of your people? Of course not. You are a change maker; therefore the way you work will look nothing like those before you or around you. You will establish a new system and protocol that is inclusive of the needs of those who do not fit the identity of the dominant norm.

On the other hand, the answers to those questions may have lead you to discover that you have indeed been living the life of a lie. A lie that you have been forced to believe about yourself and your people. The lie that the colonizer created to keep you under his control and power. The lie that makes you believe that you have to assimilate to an identity that is not your own in efforts to feel included and valuable.

Regardless, you must rediscover who you are and awaken to your true identity. When you have surrendered the fear that was placed inside of you by the oppressor and boldly walk in your authenticity and your calling, you will never experience imposter syndrome again.

References:

Clance, P. R., & Imes, S. A. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention.Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 15 (3), 241–247.

Burey A., Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome., Retrieved from "https://hbr.org/2021/02/stop-telling-women-they-have-imposter-syndrome"