Affirming and Understanding Black Women's Intersectional Experiences: A Small-Group Learning Communities Possibility Model

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: Black Women, Intersectionality, and Affirmation of Identities

Abstract

Undergirded by intersectionality, we advance a possibility model for affirming and understanding the experiences of Black women and girls through Small Group Learning Communities (SGLC) developed at an elite predominately White institution in the U.S. South. Through consensual qualitative analysis, we uncover how SGLCs served two distinct purposes as either 1) developing a praxis of Black women’s self-exploration of identity and value, or 2) encouraging a praxis of due diligence among Whites that affirm Black women and girls. We posit that SGLCs can be leveraged to advance broader social justice and liberation agendas, fulfilling intersectionality’s goal to dismantle structural inequality via theory and praxis.

Authors

• Christy L Erving, Vanderbilt University

• Nicole Michelle Joseph, Vanderbilt University

• Renã A. S. Robinson, Vanderbilt University

• Riana Smith, Vanderbilt University

• Jacqueline L. Boone, Vanderbilt University