Examining Black Women Doctoral Student Socialization Through a Black Feminist and Hip-Hop Feminist Lens

• In Event: A Critical Exploration of Womxn of Color Feminisms, Theories, and Methodologies in Higher Education

Abstract

Inspired by a personal experience I encountered during my master’s program while teaching white undergraduate women, I decided to use my research as a tool to build community with other Black women with similar experiences, while also fulfilling the requirements for my doctoral program and trusting that I would grow as a critical scholar through the process. Black women faculty represent only three percent of all full-time faculty (NCES, 2016). For tenure track positions, this breaks down as two percent of all Full Professors, three percent of all Associate Professors, and four percent of all Assistant Professors in the U.S. (Croom, 2017; NCES, 2016). Black women are clearly underrepresented in tenure track faculty roles and those who successfully obtain these positions have described the countless microaggressions and discriminatory practices they experience riddled with racism, sexism and other forms of intolerance (Brown et al., 2016; Croom, 2017; Croom & Patton, 2011; Grant & Simmons, 2008; Holmes, Land, & Hinton-Hudson, 2007; Stanley, 2006).
Graduate student and doctoral socialization theories are often used to contextualize the various structures, norms and policies involved in graduate degree programs, especially doctoral degree programs (Austin & McDaniels, 2006; Weidman & Stein, 2003; Weidman, Twale, & Stein, 2001). Through socialization, graduate students begin to incorporate the characteristics, values and norms of their discipline in their development of their professional behavior and identities. However, until recently, little consideration has been given to the experiences of students from marginalized identity groups and evaluating how processes, challenges, and opportunities may differ for members of marginalized communities. Black women make up about 10 percent of doctoral degree recipients, suggesting that there are over three times as many Black women receiving doctorate degrees as there are employed in full-time faculty positions. This leads to questions about where the remaining women are landing their post-doctorate careers if not as tenure-track faculty.
Research indicates that Black women faculty tend to experience resistance and stereotyping from students when teaching courses with content that discussed race, identity, whiteness, power, privilege and other similar topics (Ford, 2011; Perlow, Bethea, Wheeler, 2014; Pittman, 2010). I became interested in exploring these experiences for Black women graduate students by investigating the processes through which they learn to navigate these challenging spaces while being responsible for student learning. In addition, I was interested in how these potentially discouraging experiences impacted Black women’s faculty aspirations as the literature suggests that overall, few Black women receive the adequate support needed to process their experiences in ways that prepare them for faculty roles. Black feminist epistemology paired with narrative inquiry as method, as well as Black feminist and hip-hop feminist theoretical perspectives are used to allow Black women to speak truth to power through counter-storytelling about their experiences. As such, this study seeks to fill a gap in the catalogue of research that amplify Black women’s voices, centralize the intricacies of doctoral socialization processes, and address current and potential issues faced by current doctoral students.

Author

• Megan Covington, United Negro College Fund