Resting While They Retaliate: A Black Feminist Reflection on Joy, Survival, and Institutional Betrayal in Mid-Level Management at a Predominantly White Institution

• In Event: Interrogating the Social Contexts of Higher Education

Abstract

This critical autoethnography examines my experience as a mid-level Black woman professional navigating institutional betrayal, retaliation, and retaliation at a predominantly white institution (PWI) in the Midwest. Grounded in Institutional Betrayal Theory (IB), Endarkened Feminist Sankofa (EFS), and Black feminist thought, this work names systemic harm while centering rest, joy, and liberation as acts of resistance. Drawing from Black feminist traditions, I offer a counter-narrative that challenges dominant discourses which marginalize Black women in higher education. Through storytelling and reflection, this study serves not as confession, but as theory, resistance, and institutional accountability. EFS deepens this praxis, rooting it in ancestral knowledge, collective care, and a liberatory framework that honors Black women’s ways of knowing.

Author

• Anglesia Brown, Wayne State University