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

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.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Policy Studies

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2019

Author dc:creator

• King, Tanisha

Contributors dc:contributor

• Brown, Ruth N.
• Zerai, Assata
• Mendenhall, Ruby
• Dixson, Adrienne

• strong Black woman, Black superwoman, gendered racism, microaggressions

Statement dc:rights

• © 2019 Tanisha King-Taylor

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

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

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/104844