When Sistahs Support Sistahs: A Process of Supportive Communication About Racial Microaggressions Among Black Women

• In Event: Race, Solidarities and Resistances

Abstract

Black women in the United States frequently encounter subtle instances of discrimination in their
daily lives known as racial microaggressions. Prior research in psychology states that some Black women cope with racial microaggressions by seeking support from their Black women support networks (e.g., Holder, Jackson, & Ponterotto, 2015); but, more research is necessary to explore how this process transpires. This study extends a rich line of psychological research on racial microaggressions (see Sue, 2010) by examining the way friendship networks of Black women communicate support to a targeted individual. Naturally formed groups of Black women friends engaged in supportive discussions about racial microaggressions by white women perpetrators (n = 52 groups), and a research team of Black women inductively coded the videotaped discussions. The findings indicated that groups engaged in a two-phase process of supportive communication that began with the Individual Orientation Phase, which describes person-centered messages that solely supported the woman, and continued to the Collective Orientation Phrase, which describes group- centered discussions about the prevalence and effects of racial injustice on all Black women. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Author

• Sharde Marie Davis, Department of Communication, U of Connecticut