Black Feminist Ethnography as a Transformative Site for Innovative Research Methodology

• In Event: A Space of Our Own: Transforming Education, Innovating Pedagogy, and Upgrading Literacy With Black and Brown Girls in Mind

Abstract

This paper investigates how Black feminist ethnography was utilized in a study on the influence of rites of passage classes on adolescent Black and Latina girls’ identity development in an urban Freedom School. As an innovative methodological tool, Black feminist ethnography helped to address how rites of passage classes influenced female students’ capacities to formulate counter-narratives to “controlling stereotypes” and internalized oppression (Collins, 2000).
The research findings revealed how these classes used “transgressive” and culturally relevant pedagogies to help the girls cultivate a critical consciousness about the existence of racism, sexism, and internalized oppression. The study evidenced how these classes provided an emotionally safe space for the girls to embrace themselves and each other in critical dialogue. Ethnographic observations revealed the ways in which girls embraced their journeys to womanhood through self-love, sisterhood, and girlhood celebrations. While the girls experienced challenges in rites of passage, they also found the courage in sisterhood to “wear their womanhood” with pride (Clark, 2006). In this way, Black feminist ethnography identified the transformative qualities of rites of passage in education, and located the keys to unlocking sources of inspiration, healing, and achievement for adolescent girls of color in urban schools.

Author

• Angela N. Campbell, Cabrini College