Black girls radically hope: an exploration of how Black girls practice radical hope in their everyday lives

Clarke, Whitney Fern

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129351 Copy

Description

Title

Black girls radically hope: an exploration of how Black girls practice radical hope in their everyday lives

Author(s)

Clarke, Whitney Fern

Issue Date

2025-05-09

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

• Neville, Helen A
• Lewis, Jarrett T

Committee Member(s)

Mendenhall, Ruby

Department of Study

Educational Psychology

Discipline

Educational Psychology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• radical hope
• hope
• Black girls
• Black adolescents
• Black girlhood
• intersectionality
• reflexive thematic analysis
• abductive analytic approach
• Black educational studies

Abstract

Black girls’ experiences of oppression are uniquely shaped by the intersection of racism and sexism, often leading to emotional distress and barriers to envisioning or pursuing future possibilities. Research shows that the middle school years are a critical developmental period in which identity is shaped by family, peer, and school messages (Mims & Williams, 2020; Umana-Taylor et al., 2014). While previous scholarship has highlighted the protective benefits of affirming Black girls’ identities and the positive impacts of hope on health outcomes (Butler-Barnes, 2017; Chang et al., 2019), little is known about how Black girls specifically enact radical hope—the steadfast belief in the collective power to create liberatory futures in the face of oppression (Mosley et al., 2020). This study addresses this gap by exploring the central questions: a) How do Black girls conceptualize radical hope? b) How do Black girls practice radical hope in their everyday lives? I used reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) alongside an abductive analytic approach to gather and interpret the data. RTA, as outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006, 2019), is an iterative, flexible method that requires the researcher to continually reflect on their assumptions, values, and positionality throughout the research process. As a Black woman and former Black girl, my lived experience shaped how I engaged with and interpreted the data, particularly as I was welcomed into the participants’ school community. To complement RTA, I employed abductive analysis (Timmermans & Tavory, 2012; Thomas, 2006), which blends inductive openness with deductive structure—allowing me to identify emergent patterns while remaining anchored in conceptual frameworks. This dual approach ensured that both participant meaning and theoretical insight were honored in the analysis. Findings revealed that Black girls’ conceptualizations of radical hope are multidimensional, deeply relational, and grounded in community, identity, and resistance. They defined three dimensions of hope: myself, us, and my people. Their practices of radical hope emerged through three central themes: engaging in safe spaces, helping others, and navigating barriers to hope. Hope, as defined and embodied by the girls, is not just a mindset but an active, political, and cultural expression—rooted in the self, in solidarity with others, and in defiance of oppressive structures. By building sisterhood, resisting dehumanization, and envisioning futures beyond societal limitations, the girls constructed a new pathway toward hope that centers connection and collective empowerment. This study extends existing frameworks of hope (Bernardo, 2010; Callina et al., 2015; Ginwright, 2010; Snyder, 1995) and contributes to calls for youth-centered, asset-based research (Agger et al., 2024; Young, 2021). It also offers developmental insight into the radical hope framework—previously applied only to adults—and informs educational practices, future therapeutic practices, intervention development, and community programming for Black girls. Ultimately, this work positions Black girls not only as knowledge holders, but as architects of liberatory futures.

Graduation Semester

2025-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129351

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2025 Whitney F. Clarke

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