Diasporic Black Identities and the Engagement of Black Female Students in U.S. and Canadian Higher Education

• In Event: 49.059 - Upsetting the Myths of Blackness: (Re)claiming When and Where We Enter Womanhood

Abstract

Diasporic Black Identities and the Engagement of Black Female Students in U.S. and Canadian Higher Education is a paper that presents the findings of a larger qualitative research study on Black student engagement at predominantly white institutions. This paper addresses how the diasporic identities of Black women in Canada and the U.S. were linked to their academic and social engagement at two predominantly White universities. A cross-sectional sample of 27 Black female undergraduates were selected for in-depth interviews between the two universities. This paper draws on UK cultural theorist Stuart Hall's (1990) work on diasporic Black identity
and racial identity formation. Hall (1990) contended that diasporic Black identities often tend to be marginalized within a societal racial and ethnic hierarchy. The student narratives were also considered in relation to critical theories of intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991; Dei, 2000; Hill Collins, 2000). Intersectionality theorists contend that race is one of several interlocking oppressions and that gender, class, and sexuality cannot be separated from one's identity (Collins, 2000; Crenshaw, 1991). The students identified 11 different diasporic Black identities of which African-American represented only one third of the studied sample. The women identified with a range of racial self-identifications that challenged essentialized notions of Black identities in higher education. Their identities influenced their academic engagement with mentors and teaching faculty, as well as their social engagement with Black males and female peers. This study illuminates some of the complexities about the Black student experience in higher education.

Author

• Alana C. Butler, Cornell University