RARE spaces for strong stories and healing justice: A critical genealogy of resilience among Blackwomen in a U.S. context

The current study conducts a critical genealogy of resilience, tracing its colonial, racialized, and gendered origins while reimagining it through the lived experiences and epistemologies of Blackwomen. Resilience, as traditionally constructed in Eurocentric and individualistic frameworks, has been codified in the current study as a demand rather than a choice, valorizing unyielding strength and adaptability while obscuring its systemic roots. Guided by Black Feminist Thought, Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR), and the Healing Justice Framework, this study critically interrogates the historical construction of resilience and amplifies Blackwomen’s narratives to uncover relational, cultural, and liberatory dimensions of the concept. Through critical qualitative methodologies, including testimonios and arts-informed story circles, this study explores how six Blackwomen articulate resilience within contexts of systemic oppression, intergenerational trauma, and collective care. The findings reveal resilience as a paradox: while it reflects Blackwomen’s cultural strength, intergenerational wisdom, and practices of care, it also operates as a form of psychical violence, perpetuated by societal expectations like the StrongBlackWoman race-gender archetype. These narratives challenge dominant resilience frameworks, exposing their limitations and critiquing the coloniality of resilience as a social construct. A key contribution of this study is the development of Endarkened Adaptive Systems Theory (EAST), a theoretical framework that reframes resilience as a dynamic and relational concept shaped by race, gender, culture, and history. By situating resilience within broader systems of power and amplifying subjugated knowledge systems, EAST critiques resilience as an imposed societal demand and reclaims it as a practice of liberation and collective healing. This study also introduces RARE Spaces (Radical, Authentic, Rigorous, and Environmentally Brave Spaces) as transformative environments where Blackwomen can define resilience on their own terms, emphasizing relational care and justice-oriented praxis. As a critical genealogy, this research advances resilience science by interrogating its historical and systemic dimensions, amplifying marginalized voices, and offering decolonial alternatives. It calls for systemic changes that address the conditions necessitating resilience and for the development of culturally grounded, justice-centered frameworks that prioritize collective thriving over individual survival. By reimagining resilience as a decolonial praxis, this study provides a roadmap for more equitable, inclusive, and transformative approaches to resilience science.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Social Work

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Watkins, Dora Nicole

Contributors dc:contributor

• Garthe, Rachel C
• Fine, Michelle
• Liechty, Janet
• Neville, Helen
• Velez, Emma

• resilience
• Black women
• Black feminist thought
• CPAR
• narrative

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Dora Watkins

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129694

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F129694