Triple Outsider: Experiencing Black motherhood in grad school at a PWI.

• In Event: Intersectionality as critical framing: New knowledge about identity, belonging and resistance

Abstract

This critical phenomenological study explores one single Black cisgender woman mother and her sense of belonging in doctoral studies at a PWI in the Midwest. Authors utilized Black feminist thought, and sense of belonging to frame the study. Data was drawn from three 90-minute semi-structured interviews over one academic year. Findings suggest that Assata’s experiences were shaped by triple consciousness, as well as respectability politics from faculty and peers and how she negotiated the complexities of her multiple identities while pursuing a doctorate. Implications for faculty considerations, graduate programs, and higher education are discussed.

Presenter

• Deniece Dortch, George Washington University