Education Commons^™

In My Softest & Most Liberatory Dreams: Reflections On Holding Complexity & Decentering Whiteness, Richard C. Clark

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As the world contends with a global pandemic, climate catastrophes, white supremacy, coloniality, and concurrent genocides my attention splinters. In an act of futurity, or future making, I ask myself: What is needed to move from this place toward softer, more liberatory futures? This body of work finds its answer in exploring two interrelated concepts: Decentering Whiteness and Holding Complexity. Decentering Whiteness is the process of working toward a future where all the personal, spiritual, educational, epistemological, social, structural, psychological, financial, and systemic ties to white supremacy are unraveled. Holding Complexity weaves together knowledges of care, accountability, intersectionality, and …

Navigating Whiteness: A Critical Autoethnography Of The Lived Experience Of A Black Female Administrator In The Predominantly White Spaces Of Higher Education, Sheila Miranda Russell

Theses & Dissertations

This critical autoethnographic study explored my multifaceted journey of being Black and female in administration within a predominantly white higher education institution. I drew upon personal narratives and reflections from 25 years of experience in higher education. This study explored the intricate intersections of race, gender, and power dynamics that have shaped my navigation of self and belonging. Furthermore, the study is framed in a Black feminist theoretical approach, acknowledging how the interconnectedness of being Black and female can intersect to shape individual experiences within systems of power and privilege. I used a six-step thematic analysis combined with a systematic …

“Come Think With Me”: Finding Communion In The Liberatory Textual Practices Of Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Jehan L. Roberson

Criticism

Defining text as anything that can be read, self-identified learner and artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed explores reading as radical communion within her multifaceted textual practice. A 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, Rasheed’s work spans vast bodies of knowledge and temporalities to interrogate both the aesthetic and the limits of the text. At times producing collages with letters cut out from books in her own expansive library, and at other times posting scans from various books that are marked up with her rigorous note-taking, Rasheed approaches the text as an invitation to commune with the author in order to collectively arrive at new …

Intersections Of Environmentalism, Chemistry, And Racism: An Experimental Study Of Halobenzene Hydrogenolysis And Critical Communication Studies Of Equitable Learning Practices Rooted In Black Feminism, Lauren O. Babb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasing concentrations of fluorinated aromatic compounds in surface water, groundwater, and soil pose threats to the environment. Fundamental studies that elucidate mechanisms of dehalogenation for C-X compounds (where X represents a halide) are required to develop effective remediation strategies. For halogenated benzenes, previously published research has suggested that the strength of the C-X bond is not rate-determining in the overall rate of dehalogenation. Instead, the rate-determining step has been hypothesized to be adsorption of the C-X compound onto the surface of a catalyst. Building on this hypothesis, in this work, we examine the reaction kinetics of fluorobenzene conversion to benzene, …

Black Feminism And Me/Maine Webinar, University Of Maine Alumni Association

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Video of the University of Maine Alumni Association's Black Feminism and Me/Maine Webinar.

The conversation was facilitated by Laren Babb who pursued a graduate degree in chemistry from the University of Maine. Around the table will be: Dr. Samaa Abdurraqib, Associate Director, Maine Humanities Council; Dr. Lori Banks, Assistant Professor of Biology, Bates College; Dr. Leslie Hill, Professor Emerita of Politics, Bates College; Amara Ifeji, Director of Youth Engagement and Policy, Maine Environmental Association and National Geographic Young Explorer; and Kosi Ifeji, Bangor High School student and Youth Hub Coordinator, Maine Environmental Education Association.

The event was made possible with …

The Black Feminist Mixtape: A Collective Black Feminist Autoethnography Of Black Women's Existence In The Academy, Erica R. Wallace, J'Nai D. Adams, Carla Cadet Fullwood, Erica-Brittany Horhn, Camaron Loritts, Brandy S. Propst, Coretta Roseboro Walker

Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs

Seven Black women graduate students from across different functional areas of higher education work in solidarity to write a collective Black Feminist Autoethnography (BFA) (Griffin, 2012) about our experiences at our respective colleges and universities. BFA is a "theoretical and methodological means for Black female academics to critically narrate the pride and pain of Black womanhood" (Griffin, 2012, p. 1). This article centers Black feminist scholarship as a framework to reflexively interpret how we as seven Black women navigate within, against, and beyond the academy to address dominant narratives that affect our professional and personal experiences. We use contemporary music …

Deverne Calloway: “I Am A Teacher---I Will Teach”, Holly Hick

Dissertations

In 1962, DeVerne Calloway was the first Black woman elected to the Missouri General Assembly and the first Black woman elected to any public office in the state of Missouri. A political activist and educator by nature, a legislator by trade, DeVerne has decades of historically documented critical work within the intersections of race, gender, and class. Her work, though well documented, remains undertheorized. This study seeks to explore DeVerne’s life and work through Black feminist theory and Critical Race Theory’s tenets of intersectionality and interest convergence, ultimately tracing her actions as a public intellectual. Written as an educational biography, …

Black Women And The Struggle For Education As The Practice Of Freedom: Embodying An Ethic And Pedagogy Of Liberation, Camilla J. Bell

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation explores the ways in which Black women across the Syracuse community embody an ethic and pedagogy of liberation for Black youth and their families within and beyond the school setting. The purpose is to understand in more nuanced ways Black women’s activation of their own lived experiences to dismantle systems of oppression and realize education as the practice of freedom for Black youth. Informed by Black feminist and womanist theories, this study employs narrative analysis, and sister circles—two methods which testify to the power of Black women’s her-stories and its impact on Black youth and their families. Knitting …

Cruising, Crossings & Care: Sounds Of Collective Black Girlhood, Blair Ebony Smith

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation is an autoethnography of my three-year and ongoing participation in Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truths (SOLHOT), a creative organizing collective that focuses on envisioning and creating spaces within the local community that celebrates the complex lived experiences of Black girls with Black girls. In this project, I argue sounds of collective Black girlhood, created in SOLHOT, reveal the importance of collective music-making practices in Black girlhood studies and girl programming. Cruising, Crossings and care, as sounds of collective Black girlhood created in SOLHOT, resound us towards 1) being with Black girls and women across difference in deep …

I, Too, Am A Woman: An Emancipatory Text On The Intersections Of Race, Gender, And Sexuality, Michelle M. Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This inquiry builds upon Black Feminism and Critical Race Feminist frameworks by exploring the juxtaposition between Black Women and Queer Black Women. It is also an exploration of the similarities between Queer Black Women and Black Women and how they interact with femininity and masculinity, patriarchy, and heteronormativity. Claiming digital space through podcasting, it honors the power of counter narratives by employing autoethnographical story telling. It examines the multivalent ways in which critical geographies, safe spaces, and homeplaces nurture or alienate Black Women on the basis of sexual orientation, gender performance, race, and social class. Employing tenets of Black Feminist …

How Far Have We Really Come? Black Women Faculty And Graduate Students' Experiences In Higher Education, Lori Walkington

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

This paper presents a critical overview of the sociological research on Black women's experiences as graduate students and faculty in higher education, with a focus on research since 1995. In interaction with the social inequalities of race and class, how are Black women faculty and graduate student’s experiences with sexism, racism, and classism reproduced within the institution of higher education? What kinds of policies have been implemented to address these problems? What changes, if any, have there been in the experiences of black women faculty and graduate students over time? How do Black women scholars fare in relation to their …

Black Lives Matter: Why Black Feminism?, Analexicis T. Bridewell

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

In this essay, the author explores the inclusive nature and focal range of the Black Lives Matter movement in an effort to demonstrate how the goals of the movement are grounded in Black feminism. Ultimately, Bridewell concludes that creating inclusive spaces for the exploration of intersectional identities can help bring justice and equality not only to the Black community, but to all lives that have be oppressed or marginalized.

And Our Feelings, Just Don’T Feel It Anymore”: Re- Feeling Whiteness, Resistance, And Emotionality, Cheryl E. Matias

Cheryl Matias

To effectively deliver racially just projects, we must theoretically understand from where emotional resistance to them stems, why this resistance is regularly expressed, and what role they play in stifling antiracism. This theoretical paper examines how emotional investment in whiteness recycles normative behaviors of white resistance and unveils how they painfully reinforce the supremacy of whiteness. Using a black feminist approach to emotionality and an interdisciplinary approach to critical whiteness studies and critical race theory, this paper begins with positing how the emotions of white resistance are rooted in the shame of revealing a repressed childhood racial abuse. The concern …

Fall 2015 Visiting Researchers And Artists Series, Intermedia Mfa Program

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

The New Media Department and Intermedia MFA Program are requesting funding to help support a fall lecture series. The following visiting researchers and artists will share their expertise in the following areas: an evening lecture with a question and answer period to follow, classroom visits, direct one-on-one student meetings and/or critiques and performances or other public presentations. The artists have been selected because of the quality and engaging nature of their work. The artists' desire to interact with the students in a learning environment and to engender excitement about the arts on campus was another qualifying factor in their selection.

Sankofa: Traditions Of Mentoring Among Black Women Educators, Aza Baylor

Theses and Dissertations

The importance of the standpoint of Black women educators is rarely understood and even more infrequently recognized as a position of exceptional knowledge in regard to the field of education. Research highlights maternal relationships grounded in traditional practices of community uplift and connectedness as a common factor in the effectiveness of Black women educators. This project frames Black women educators within Black women's culture of Sisterhood and Motherhood as defined by Patricia Hill Collins (2009). This study explored the influence of sisterhood and motherhood in the experiences of Black women educators and the impact of those experiences on their work …