The Road Is Paved in Sapphire: Discovering Multiple Forms of Black Women’s Intellectual Resistance

• In Event: Roundtable Session 109
  In Roundtable Session: Curriculum of Resistance: Learning From the Others

Abstract

This paper extends Regina Austin's (1995) foundational text "Sapphire Bound!" to analyze the methods of resistance employed by two Black women intellectuals. Further, throughout the paper I problematize the ways individuals’ lived-experiences and locatedness influence the methods by which they address academic marginalization. I posit that often many Black women’s efforts at resistance are not acknowledged because they do not follow the acceptable model constructed within academe. However a more robust reading of canonized Black female text may allow more space for multiple forms of negotiation and help to build broader levels of community among Black women intellectuals.

Author

• Kirsten T. Edwards, University of Oklahoma