Owning Black Hair

2019 ◽  
pp. 73-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saran Donahoo
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Black Hair ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
White Space

Concentrating on Black women, this chapter examines microaggressions directed at members of this population through and because of their hair. Recognizing higher education as White space, this chapter considers the treatment, instructions, and even backlash that Black women receive as they assert their individual and cultural identities through their hairstyles. This chapter draws upon data collected from 30 Black women affiliated with higher education as students and/or professionals to illustrate how hair microaggressions affect their experiences on campus. The responses provided by these Black women illustrate how their hair attracts attention, has the potential to challenge or conform to White appearance norms, and illuminates higher education continuing to function as White space.

“Where is Our Space Within this Ivory Tower?” The Teaching Experiences of Black Women Faculty in Education Programs

2021 ◽  
pp. 194277512110022
Author(s):  
Tomika L. Ferguson ◽  
Risha R. Berry ◽  
Jasmine D. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Culturally Relevant ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Women Faculty ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Culturally Relevant Practices ◽  
Black Women Faculty

Black women faculty represent a small percentage of full-time faculty in higher education and are often invisible, marginalized, and expected to perform duties beyond teaching, research, and service. Yet, their success in higher education positions them as possibility models for change on their campuses. The purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences of three Black women faculty who teach in graduate education programs. Specifically, we examined how teaching using culturally relevant practices may cause Black women faculty to negotiate their identity within higher education organizational structures. Using a theoretical framework informed by Black feminism and the Culturally Relevant Leadership Learning Model, three salient themes were identified: roles and responsibilities, resistance, and limitations within the academy. Implications for practice include the creation of identity specific support for Black women faculty and attention be given to faculty and student readiness prior to engaging in culturally relevant practices beyond critical self-reflection.

scholarly journals Give Yourself Permission to Rest

Genealogy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Kareema J. Gray ◽  
Latoya B. Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Historically Black ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Women Faculty ◽  
Women In Higher Education ◽  
Emotional Needs ◽  
Social Unrest ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Black Women Faculty

Black women in higher education have always been under pressure to prove that they belong in their positions, and often have taken on more work to prove this. The events of 2020—the COVID-19 global pandemic and the racial and social unrest that swept through the country increased this pressure on Black women in higher education. Historically, Black women have taken on the roles of mother, professional, and caretaker of all who were around them. The events of 2020 added to those roles for Black women faculty, working from home, homeschooling online, checking on the welfare of students, and addressing the emotional needs of their families who have been stuck indoors for months. Self-care is more important now more than before for Black women faculty. To employ these self-care strategies, Black women faculty must first give themselves permission to need them.

A phenomenological inquiry into the influence of crucible experiences on the leadership development of Black women in higher education senior leadership

2021 ◽  
pp. 174114322110194
Author(s):  
Nuchelle L Chance
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Leadership Development ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Black People ◽  
Senior Leadership ◽  
Women In Higher Education ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Phenomenological Inquiry ◽  
Adverse Experiences ◽  
Verbal Assault

Supported by the Crucibles of Leadership theory, this article explores how adverse experiences influence the leadership development of Black women in higher education senior leadership. I use phenomenology to explore how these leaders’ adverse lived experiences manifested as transformative crucible experiences with resilience, thus promoting leadership development. Black people have been continuously subject to adversity, while Black women have overcome the compounded adversities resulting from their intersectional identities. Reported lived adversities included physical, sexual, and verbal assault and abuse, adverse childhood experiences such as growing up in poverty, being raised by single parents, being subject to bullying, losing loved ones, discrimination, and health issues. Black women are resilient, and education has proven to be a lifeline regarding adversity, thus promoting leadership capabilities. They use adversity as fuel to overcome adverse crucible experiences, thus developing the necessary skills to prepare them for leadership. The results further reveal that Black women in higher education senior leadership experienced significant adverse experiences that manifested as crucible experiences by overcoming adversity. The findings reveal an association between their ability to develop the necessary leadership skills to advance their career and their lived adverse experiences.

Resilient Leadership: A Phenomenological Exploration Into How Black Women in Higher Education Leadership Navigate Cultural Adversity

2021 ◽  
pp. 002216782110030
Author(s):  
Nuchelle L. Chance
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Stereotype Threat ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Education Leadership ◽  
Higher Education Leadership ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
Women In Higher Education ◽  
Motivation Factors ◽  
Resilient Leadership

This article explores adversity and the lived experiences of Black women in higher education leadership. Using phenomenology, this study specifically explores how Black women in higher education leadership navigate the adverse challenges of intersectionality, stereotype threat, and tokenism. Black women in leadership undergo adversity including limited role models, the concrete ceiling, and the intersectionality of racism, sexism, and ageism, as well as tokenism. The current findings validate that Black women in higher education leadership experience adversity. Some of the more salient codes that emerged were discrimination such as racism, sexism, ageism, and the intersection of these challenges with identity, cultural diversity and belonging, resilience, and leadership callings. Referred to as “superwomen,” Black women are resilient and strong. The results of this study reveal that Black women use adversity as fuel, thus helping them develop the necessary skills to prepare them for leadership. Their strength through adversity is driven by the resilience that has manifested as motivation factors such as family and relationships, mentorship and sponsorship, as well as the support of cultural identity and diversity. The current findings support the notion that adversity shapes Black women into leaders with an emphasis on higher education leadership.

Mentoring and Supervision for Women of Color Leaders in North American Higher Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-45
Author(s):  
Elena Sandoval-Lucero ◽  
Tamara D. White ◽  
Judi Diaz Bonacquisti
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Women Leaders ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Professional Lives ◽  
Supervisor Training ◽  
Cultural Wealth ◽  
Black Women Leaders ◽  
Mutual Empowerment

Reflecting on their mentoring and supervision experiences as Latina and Black women leaders in higher education, this article proposes that Women of Color employees are more effective when supervisors give them space to draw upon their own rich histories and cultural wealth in their professional lives. Viewed through the lens of Relational Cultural Theory, which grew out of the work of Jean Baker Miller and colleagues providing culturally relevant, affirmative supervision is a growth-fostering experience for both employee and supervisor. The tenants of RCT include authenticity, growth-fostering relationships, mutual empathy, and mutual empowerment as aspects of supervision that are particularly effective for employees with multiple intersected identities working in higher education spaces. The authors make recommendations for supervisor training that would allow supervisors to draw upon the cultural capital of their diverse employees to provide healing from oppression and build resilience through validation of cultural assets and approaches to leadership.

ABSTRACTS: 16th Biennial Conference of the Association of Black Women in Higher Education

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 69-73
Author(s):  
Charley B. Flint ◽  
Sarah Susannah Willie ◽  
Ann Carter-Obayuwana
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Women In Higher Education ◽  
Biennial Conference
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