Grieving Black Girlhoods: Centering the Intergenerational Lived Experiences of Black Girls Who've Experienced Loss

• In Event: Thinking Spatially About Black Schoolgirls' Geographies

Abstract

Purpose
In the legacy of Black womanhood, surviving the loss of a loved one has often been etched into the blood memory of our experiences. Amidst some of the most unfathomable grief, we, daughters of the dust, are often expected to move forward as quickly as possible because it is within us to know how (Beauboeuf-Lafontant, 2009; Romero, 2000). Black women and girls, more specifically, have historically had to overcome insurmountable losses at intersections of identity. Losses, which in many forms become masked by the resiliency that is central in Black survival (Collins, 2000; Evans-Winters, 2019). In this paper, to grieve is to navigate the process of adapting to life after loss has transpired (Umberson, 2017). This process can be fraught with challenges and perceptions of what grieving “should” look or feel like; further convoluted in intersectional lived experiences. This paper acknowledges these enduring tensions and creates space for looking back, remaining present, and moving forward to highlight current and (re)membered geographies of grieving Black girlhoods.

Theoretical Framework
Utilizing a Black feminist epistemology (Collins, 2000; Walker, 1984) to center Black girls as agents of knowledge, coupled with principles of Womanism (Phillips & McCaskill, 2006) to understand systems of oppression and tenets of the multidimensional and internalized construct of the strong Black woman schema (Beauboeuf-Lafontant, 2009) this paper will highlight experiences within identity development and Black girlhood. Specifically, this work draws on Black feminist/womanist storytelling (Evans-Winters, 2019), the power of memories and remembering (Ohito, 2021), and the strength of dialogic exchange for Black girls.

Methodology & Data Sources
Data were collected through duoethnographic inquiry and sista circle methodology with three young women participants in a Teen Parent Success program. Grounded in transformative practice for creating meaning, duoethnography brings two or more participants together around a shared phenomenon (Monzó & SooHoo, 2014). Parallel to duoethnography, Sista circle methodology is a qualitative research method designed to be conducted in a supportive— “sister to sister” context (Johnson, 2015).

Conclusions
Participants shared experiences of loss as they navigated their Black girlhoods as teenage mothers. In authentically engaging in intimate discourse, the girls of this study highlighted the power and salience of intergenerational relationships in their emerging and evolving Black girlhood and motherhood identities. Reflecting on these memories reaffirmed their feelings in navigating the loss of their loved one, and further validated the need for creating space to acknowledge the realities of grieving Black girlhoods; particularly within complex intersections of identity.

Scholarly Significance of the Study
While the fact of grief is universal, the way people experience it is not. The experiences of Black girls are often underreported, and even more so in experiences often masked in strong Black girl schema. Centering the herstorical and contemporary lives of Black girls within realities of grief and loss gives space for disrupting narratives void of considering the salient moments in the past, present, and future possibilities of Black girls.

(References removed due to word count.)

Author

• Taryrn T.C. Brown, University of Florida