Healing Within and Beyond the Institution: How Black Women Staff Exist on Campus

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Women of Color Surviving to Thriving Higher Education Work (Table 6)

Abstract

This paper centers the experiences of Black women staff in entry to mid-level salaried positions working at PWIs through the theoretical application of Womanism (Walker, 1983). When looking to the experiences of staff and more directly, staff of color, they are typically seen as an afterthought (Cho & Brassfield, 2022) while still being required to navigate toxic environments (Steele, 2018) all while being expected to be nice (Liera, 2020). Through thematic narratives with a transformative worldview (Creswell & Creswell, 2018) this study examines the experiences of 16 Black women. As a way to counter the systems of misogynoir that are upheld in higher education, through a Quilted Analysis, the findings contribute to and further research about and for Black women.

Author

• Lauren Brassfield, University of Denver