Complicating Narratives: Black Queer Youth's Complex Experiences Regarding School Safety

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Eighteen
  In Roundtable Session: Complicated Turf: Exploring and Expanding Borders and Boundaries of Being and Belonging (Table 1)

Abstract

This project explores the various factors that affect school safety for Black queer youth. Centering intersectionality and decentering trauma-centered narratives, this work seeks to develop a comprehensive understanding of the factors that both positively and negatively affect safety for this population of students. Findings indicate that 1) Black queer youth put in a lot of labor to carve out often small safe spaces for themselves; 2) students feel safest in spaces where they can authentically be their full selves; and 3) factors that contribute to harm are systemic and endemic, while factors that contribute to safety are sparse and not always available to all students.

Author

• LaShanda Harbin, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author