"She's a Friend of My Mind": A Reflection of Black Sisterhood in Academia

• In Event: My Voice, My Liberation: Critical Methodological Approaches and Frameworks

Abstract

The authors draw upon their lived experiences as Black women in the academy to conceptualize a framework for Black women's peer mentorship, or “sister scholarship,” within academia. Through auto-ethnographic “sister talks,” the sister scholar relationship is conceptualized as a sanctum from gendered and racialized trauma, an impetus for the co-generation of knowledge, an approbation of intersectionality, and a gathering of the whole self. This work is grounded in Black feminist understandings of resiliency, resistance, and grace within academia. In discussion, the authors call for the abolition of oppressive policies and systems that aim to marginalize and disenfranchise Black women and other Women of Color in the academy.

Authors

• Crystasany R. Turner, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
  Presenting Author

• Kelly R. Allen, Augusta University
  Presenting Author