“She’s a Safe Place to Land”: Exploring Friendship Between Black and Latinx Women Doctoral Students

• In Event: Creating Inclusive Spaces: Diversity, Equity, and Belonging in Graduate Education

Abstract

Doctoral students with multiple marginalized identities often face unique social, emotional, and academic challenges. As two Black and Latinx women doctoral students, our friendship has been crucial in providing support, affirmation, and care necessary to successfully navigate and decode the doctoral journey. Using Testimonio and Critical Race Feminism, this study explores how our friendship buffers against challenges in a predominantly white academic environment and influences our future pedagogy as higher education scholars. Our preliminary findings reveal the critical role of emotional support and peer mentorship in helping Black and Latinx women doctoral students in the South navigate self-doubt, epistemic erasure, and the hidden curriculum of academia, contributing to existing literature on their experiences and challenges.

Authors

• Symone A. McCollum, N/A

• Cristina Nader, Texas A&M University