Healing Through the Divine: Extraordinary Literacies of Black Girls and Women in Endarkened Third Spaces

• In Event: Our Stories, Our Spaces: Black Women and Girls' Experiences as Students and Teachers

Abstract

The concept of “spirit-murder” (Love, 2019) reminds us that the violence Black girls and women suffer in academic spaces manifests somatically and spiritually. Consequently, Black girls and women must prioritize healing to traverse the world whole and worthy. This paper theorizes endarkened third spaces, transient sites fashioned to heal through the Divine and resist White supremacy. We explore extraordinary literacies - cleansing, language making, and sister circles - that unlock endarkened third spaces. Enacting a joint self-study using educational journey mapping, unstructured interviews, and archeology of the self, we elicit insights from our histories and present. This paper concludes with what these endarkened third spaces and extraordinary literacies offer Black girls and women attempting to thrive in various academic spaces.

Authors

• Oluwaseun Animashaun, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Jacobē Bell, Teachers College, Columbia University