Critical Race Feminism: Black Faculty Mentoring White Students

• In Event: Roundtable Session 39
  In Roundtable Session: Mentoring College and Graduate Students

Abstract

A mentoring relationship involving two individuals from two different cultures is often formally identified as “cross-cultural mentoring.” Literature on mentoring, specifically that of cross-cultural mentoring as well as progressive mentoring models that use both a multicultural and feminist lens provide some insight into the intricate role race plays in mentoring. However, much of this literature focuses on the mentoring relationship of an individual from a dominant group mentoring an individual from a non-dominant group. Centering race and gender, this inquiry critically explores the experiences of black female faculty who mentor white female graduate students in higher education programs, focusing on the complexity of power within this relationship.

Authors

• Kathleen E. Gillon, Iowa State University

• Lissa Place, Iowa State University