Ancestral Storytelling and Spirituality: (Re)membering Our Way Back to Ourselves Even in the Midst of the Academy

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

Spirituality in higher education has been an emerging body of research (Dillard et al.). In this panel discussion, four Black women scholars will focus on the interconnections between spirituality and pedagogical practices for well-being in the academy (Baker-Bell, 2017; Lindholm & Astin, 2008; Shahjahan, 2010). Nevertheless, for many Black women in the field, spirituality plays a key role in their overall sustenance and resistance to dehumanizing practices in the academy (Agosto & Karanxha, 2011). The panel members will each offer their own story and the intersections of how their spirituality and ancestral story-telling have offered them a space to survive, thrive, grow, and mentor themselves and other women of color in the academy.

Sub Unit

• Graduate Student Council

Chair

• Honey Walrond, University of California - Berkeley

Panelists

• Marcelle Mentor, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Makini Z. Beck, Rochester Institute of Technology

• Valdijah Q. Ambrose Brown, Thaddeus Stevens College