Thriving Together: Black Women Higher Education Leaders' Cultivation of Resilience Through Professional Counter-Spaces

• In Event: Committee on Scholars of Color Paper Session 1

Abstract

Black women higher education administrators lead amidst conflicting experiences wherein they are positioned to exercise authority while navigating conditions, socially and institutionally, that uphold racism and sexism. Research is limited regarding how Black women cope with the oppressive conditions they encounter. Professional counterspaces may add to the resilience strategies employed by Black women leaders, by offering inclusionary spaces to resist experiences of marginalization and to persist as leaders. Drawing on frames of Black feminist thought, critical race feminism, and resilient leadership, this phenomenology explores the relationship between a professional counterspace in which Black women leaders at PWIs participate and their resilience. The findings of this study add to higher education literature by evaluating current leadership frameworks and leadership development.

Author

• Chenelle Boatswain, University of Pennsylvania