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"I'm not your Mammy": Unearthing the Racially Gendered Experiences of Undergraduate Black Women Resident Assistants at Predominantly White Institutions
Tyler Hardaway, Ayana
Tyler Hardaway, Ayana
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2019
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Urban Education
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http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/3967
Abstract
This critical qualitative research study describes and explores undergraduate Black women Resident Assistant (RA) experiences in the context of Predominantly White Institutions (PWI). While serving in the capacities of both student and student affairs professional, this study explored how women navigate the responsibilities of their role and the intersections of race and gender. Given the influx of campus hate crimes motivated by race across the United States, and to ensure the success and support of Black women students serving in these roles, it is imperative that we understand their racially gendered experiences within predominantly White contexts. Phenomenological research methods and a series of semi-structured interviews were used to examine the lived experiences of nineteen Black undergraduate women. Critical Race Theory, Black Feminist Thought, and Intersectionality were used as frameworks to examine how participants navigate their social identities and associated experiences as an employee and student. Findings from the study indicate that the intersection of Blackness (e.g. race), being a woman (e.g. gender), and serving in the leadership role as an RA, is influenced by oppressive conditions which presented themselves in the following seven themes: Institutional Oppression; Racism; Physical, Emotional, and Psychological Stress; Fear; The Outsider Within; Controlling Images; and Care through Counterspaces. This study’s findings and future recommendations have the potential to support and inspire Black and other minoritized undergraduate student RAs, illuminate the diverse experiences of undergraduate Black women, and to enhance professional leadership development of residential life practitioners at PWIs.
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