Black Women Acting Against the Extremes of Visibility in the Academy.pdf

Vonzell Agosto, LaSonja Roberts, Tarah Nkrumah, Maria Migueliz Valcarlos

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Black women faculty building their academic lives can be treated as or made to feel invisible (i.e., ignored) or hypervisible (i.e., overly scrutinized). Subsequent harms can follow, such as stress, insecurity, power/voicelessness, and job attrition. Through the fusing of sister circle focus groups with the Theatre of the Oppressed and Forum Theatre, we explored how five Black women faculty confronted issues related to visibility utilizing this culturally informed critical arts-based methodology. Through introspection and performance, they brought in elder wisdom, and through rehearsal and performance, they left with shared knowledge on how to mediate at the extremes of visibility to improve their academic lives. We discuss the findings and their implications for academic healing via culturally responsive arts-based interventions and methodologies. 
Original languageAmerican English
JournalJournal of African American Women and Girls in Education
Volume22
DOIs
StatePublished - 2022

Keywords

  • Black women faculty
  • hyper-in/visibility
  • healing arts methodologies
  • culturally informed interventions
  • Forum Theatre

Disciplines

  • Other Arts and Humanities
  • Educational Leadership
  • Higher Education
  • Social Justice

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