The Lab: A Collaborative Autoethnography on Building a Peer Support System for Black Women Scholars

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Saturday 9:45 am
  In Poster Session: Learning Together: Collaboration, Teaching Strategies, and Identity in Classroom and Community Contexts

Abstract

Despite the centrality of belonging and motivation in educational psychology, few studies examine how these constructs operate for Black women scholars beyond institutional settings. This study addresses that gap by investigating a peer support network that emerged in response to epistemic injustice. Guided by womanism (Phillips, 2006) and the Black and Belonging framework (Gray et al., 2018), five members conducted a collaborative Blackgirl Autoethnography (Boylorn, 2016). Data sources included 212 open-ended survey responses and co-working session artifacts. Using daughtering (Evans-Winters, 2019) as an analytic tool, three themes emerged: (1) radical belonging and spiritual kinship, (2) redefining productivity and motivation, and (3) healing from epistemic violence. This study offers a practical model that expands how educational psychology understands motivation and belonging.

Authors

• Taylor Cummings, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• British Reynolds, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Stacy Seward, University of Massachusetts - Lowell

• Doretha Lewis, Capella University

• Kendra Seraphine, Wake Forest University