#phdness

[nascentthoughts2]

Identity in Formation

Today I read a piece on the ways in which Black girls form identity in independent schools. I have been thinking a lot about the ways in which the experiences of Black girls differ across K12 settings. Independent schools are different from urban public schools are different from rural public schools are different from catholic/private schools. Thus, it is important to keep in mind that Black girls identity formation in independent schools are different than Black girls in other K12 settings. When thinking deeply about this and how we approach solutions to support Black girls in the ways they need to be supported we must always consider context. Context provides nuance and forces researchers, practitioners, and teacher educators to think about the ways in which Black girls intersecting identities are the same in some situations, yet different in others. This researcher examined Black girl critical literacies in independent schools. Her first study spanned over a significant amount of time, allowing her to get to know the Black girls (who she refers to as experts) of their own experiences. Grounded in the work of Collins, hooks, and Brown, the researcher has gleaned that the experiences of Black girls in predominantly white independent schools are different than that of other Black girls in other contexts. Her Black girl critical literacy framework focuses on Black girls’ emotional literacy, agency, activism, and development of critical consciousness. In her conversations with Black girls she suggests that these are for themes that are the precipice for understanding how to create space and place for Black girls to thrive in independent school settings. In addition, she also grounds her assertions and understandings of how Black girls epistemologies and ontologies are taken up by Brown (2013), who suggests that Black girls have a vision, are inventive, have expansive vision beyond their identity, have a sense of radical courage and interdependence, and a praxis that manifest as a result of their action and reflection. It must be said that Black girls are always vigilant and that they are always reading the world, as the world is always reading them. I think this researchers perspective and attention to Black girl critical literacies is an important take. Though Black women and girls are often on the periphery of the conversation, placing their experiences in the center of the conversation helps us to support difference in difference amongst Black girls. We are not a monolith.  

[nascentthoughts2]

“I Can Only Do Me” in Black Girl Magic Beyond the Hashtag: Twenty-First-Century Century Acts of Self-Definition (2019)

Today I read, “I Can Do Me”. In the book chapter the researchers examined the ways in which African American, Caribbean American and West African young adult girls navigate and name themselves in Brooklyn, New York. This piece was particularly close to me because I am from New York and spent my first four years of teaching in Brooklyn. In so many ways the Black girls that I taught are represented in this study. Thinking more recently about which Black girls I would like to engage and work with during my doctoral journey, I recognize the importance of being able to consider “which” Black girls I intend to name because Black girls are not a monolith. Our interlocking oppressions may be similar, but our standpoints are different based on how we see and name ourselves and what our lived experiences are. This is why conversations around intersectionality are so very important. 

Further, I think this study did a really amazing job at recognizing this. The more I read about Black girlhood studies, I recognize that the issues that Black girls face in and out of schools are mainly taken up by Black women. I find this particularly important because I value the work that can be done in affinity spaces. Thus, the research study examines Black girl experiences at KAVI, a violence prevention program, that serves Black girls. It is clear that within the study the Black girls that participate in KAVI have a rapport with the researchers, they speak freely and name themselves for themselves. The researchers are also keenly aware of the language that is often placed on youth, language like “at risk” (has always made me upset”, often in school spaces, I would ask “at risk for what?” The authors instead take up the term “in risk” and also point out that in many ways the very institutions that should be empowering Black girls are same institutions that push them out. Grounded in Black feminists epistemologies, the research conducted by these women came up with four common practices of Black girls, the first is that Black girls are always resisting, the second is that their transnational identities are unique and complicate the narrative of Black girls and how they know and be. Third, Black girls are deeply immersed and loyal to their friends and family (sometimes to a fault, I know this all too well) and last, Black girls are embody Black feminisms centering and naming themselves for themselves. 

All and all, Black girls are not a monolith and in order to support Black girls in and out of schools we must commit to “seeing” them as individuals. Black girls are worthy and sacred!