Black Girlhoods and Discerning (Un)Safe Spaces in School

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research in Progress Roundtable Session Two
  In Roundtable Session: Educational Opportunities of Girls: Transnational Perspectives on Identity, Policy, Mobility, and Safe Spaces (Table 4)

Abstract

Black girls continue to navigate or enter into institutional spaces that operate from the residual oppression of historically rooted Black girl mappings. This study highlights school and education as microcosms of such spaces. Through a socio-cultural perspective and the understanding of safe space as defined by Black feminist theory (Collins, 1990), I ask the following questions: How do Black girls identify a safe or unsafe space in school? What experiences contribute to these notions of safe or unsafe? How do Black girls create safe spaces for themselves in school?
Through the layered frameworks of Black feminists thought, womanism, and perspectives from Black girlhood studies (Brown, 2013) I anticipate learning how Black girls discern safe and unsafe spaces.

Author

• Alissa G. Irvin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Presenting Author