In This Room, We Were Seen: Autoethnographic Reflections of Doctoral Women of Color

• In Event: Disrupted Belonging: Graduate Students Confront Equity and Exclusion

Abstract

This collaborative autoethnography explores the experiences of three female, doctoral students of color, within a graduate course for incoming doctoral students at a predominantly white university in the southeastern U.S. We examine how intersecting identities shaped our engagement in a temporary counterspace where dominant norms were disrupted but still present. Through personal narratives and collective reflection, we explore how race, gender, class, and ethnicity informed our experiences of belonging, voice, and care. Centering relationality and critical reflexivity, we offer insights into how women of color navigate institutional spaces while working to co-create liberatory, inclusive learning environments in graduate education and contribute to broader conversations about equity and transformation in higher education.

Authors

• Sherell A. McArthur, University of Georgia

• Mya Lynn Seay Milner, University of Georgia

• Rosangela Araujo Silva, University of Georgia

• Gyu Lim Choi, University of Georgia