The Power of Racial Agency: African American Doctoral Students' Acts of Resistance at a Predominantly White Institution

• In Event: Studies of Minority and Underrepresented Graduate Students

Abstract

Racial agency, an expressed desire to address, pay attention to, or feel a responsibility to tackle racialized issues in public or private discourse is understudied in higher education and particularly graduate education (Bently-Edwards, 2016; Bently-Edwards & Chapman-Hill, 2015). This phenomenological study explores how seven African American doctoral candidates attending one predominantly white institution in the Midwest United States experience racial agency on their campus. This study utilized microaggressions theory to undergird the study and a phenomenological analysis. Findings uncover motivations for exercising racial agency as well as provides public and private examples to address racism inside and outside of learning environments. Implications for African American doctoral students and graduate education are discussed.

Author

• Deniece Dortch, The George Washington University