When a "Blood Debt" Is Owed: The Experiences and Survivance of Doctoral Students of Color

• In Event: 15.061 - MTCC Roundtable Session Two
  In Roundtable Session: 15.061-6 - Centering Race and Marginalized Voices Across Policies and Practices

Abstract

Through this study, the researchers utilized survey research methods to name and describe personal, sociocultural, and institutional factors related to how doctoral Students of Color engaged in resistance and resilience to racism en route to their academic success. Vizenor’s theory of survivance and Critical Race Theory provided a framework that avoided separating the participants’ cultural and academic selves. Findings based on participants’ narratives revealed recurring efforts to leverage their lived and professional experiences within Communities of Color to advance praxes based on equity and social justice. Such findings reiterate the value of recruiting and retaining doctoral Students of Color who seek to engage in socioculturally-based praxes of teaching and research without compromising commitments to their cultural communities and anti-oppressive education.

Authors

• Tuesda Roberts, Missouri State University

• Lorena Gutierrez, University of California Riverside

• Theda Gibbs-Grey, Ohio University

• Raven Jones Stanbrough, Michigan State University