Redefining the Black superwoman: Racial and gender microaggressions at predominantly white institutions

King, Tanisha

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/104844 Copy

Description

Title

Redefining the Black superwoman: Racial and gender microaggressions at predominantly white institutions

Author(s)

King, Tanisha

Issue Date

2019-04-17

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Brown, Ruth N.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Brown, Ruth N.

Committee Member(s)

• Zerai, Assata
• Mendenhall, Ruby
• Dixson, Adrienne

Department of Study

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Discipline

Educational Policy Studies

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

strong Black woman, Black superwoman, gendered racism, microaggressions

Abstract

Using auto-ethnography, this dissertation shares personal experiences through self-reflection of the use of the Strong Black Woman and Black Superwoman archetypes. This dissertation also uses focus groups to obtain a representative of voices of Black women’s experiences at a large Midwestern predominantly white institution. The work explores the relevance of racial and gender microaggressions to the phenomena of the Strong Black Woman (SBW) or Black Superwoman (BSW) archetypes. Within traditional literature, unique experiences of Black women have been lacking, specifically in terms of microaggressions. Moreover, Black women’s experiences at predominantly white institutions (PWI) have been documented as being unwelcoming, where Black women don’t feel a sense of belonging. In turn, the archetypes of SBW or BSW have become a response to cope and/or resist instances of subtle racism. As such, the primary goal of this dissertation is to explore the experiences Black female students have at one particular predominately white campus in order to enhance our understanding of the use of SBW and BSW. Findings indicate that the archetypes SBW and BSW are not interchangeable, contrary to previous literature.

Graduation Semester

2019-05

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/104844

Copyright and License Information

© 2019 Tanisha King-Taylor

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