The Power of Sisterhood: Graduate Students’ Dialogic Exploration of Racial Spirit Injuries and Repair

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Cultivating Bridges of Restoration for Healing Within Marginalized Communities (Table 2)

Abstract

In this session, a Latina and Filipina utilize duoethnography to explore stories centered on experiences of racism as graduate students in a PWI Midwestern university. Duoethnography is a collaborative research method used to juxtapose life histories to understand a social phenomenon. In October 2020, we recorded ourselves discussing graduate student life during physical isolation due to COVID-19. We used this video to identify themes to discover what makes the marginal space of a Midwestern university unique and transformative. Common themes of spirit injury and healing emerged as we analyzed our experiences, as Women of Color graduate students in a PWI. We shared cautionary tales and stories of resilience to combat the taxing space of higher education on our Brown bodies.

Authors

• Tasha Adrienne Lindo, University of Iowa

• Raquel Wood, Amherst College