The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how African American female band directors create and utilize counterspaces for African American female musicians to share collective and individual experiences, maintain involvement, form positive self-definitions about themselves, and to counter intersecting forms of oppression in bands. In this study, I also examined the African American female band directors’ perceptions about counterspaces in bands. To illuminate the experiences of the 17 African American female band directors who participated in this study and their use of counterspaces as an activist response to resist intersecting forms of oppression perpetuated within the band world, Black feminist thought (BFT) as a framework was employed. The following research questions guided this study: (1) What are the African American female band directors’ perceptions and knowledge about counterspaces, and how do they utilize counterspaces to counter intersecting forms of oppression that African American female musicians face in bands?; (2) How do the African American female band directors utilize counterspaces to help the African American female band students form positive self-definitions about themselves, and to share their individual and collective experiences of involvement in bands?; and (3) How do counterspaces help African American female band directors understand common themes in the lives of African American female musicians that contribute to their sustained involvement in bands? The findings of this study revealed that counterspaces are essential for countering the perpetuation of intersecting forms of oppression and negative stereotypical images of African American females. This study further revealed that counterspaces functions as a mechanism where African American female band directors are able to foster the interconnected dimensions of self-definitions, collective and self-empowerment, and oppositional consciousness among their respective African American female band students. This study also provided insight into the current status of African American females within the field of instrumental music education in the U.S and dimensions of power structures that are continuously perpetuated to negate African American female’s equal stance within the field.

The Black community within the foster care system has received minimal empirical attention as it pertains to the impact of media intake, caregiver navigation and levels of self-perceptions. A quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the correlations between these variables. The nonrandom snowball sampling method was used to recruit 18 Black women, who were eighteen years old or older and former foster youth, to participate in a self-administered online survey. The nonparametric test, Spearman's Rho, was chosen to analyze both research questions due to the sample size violating a Pearson's Correlation assumption. The relationship between media intake and levels of self-perceptions had a p value of .394, whereas, the relationship between caregiver navigation and levels of self-perceptions had a p value of .109. Therefore, the findings for research question one revealed that there were no correlations between levels of self-perceptions and media intake. Similarly, research question two identified no significant relationships among the levels of self-perceptions and caregiver navigation. This study highlights the importance for additional research, as Black foster care youth are an underserved population with many unidentified needs; this includes that of parental guidance to heighten self-perceptions and buffer the potentially negative impact of the media.

Thesis advisor: Janet E. Helms / Black women are often confronted with social-systemic barriers and differential treatment based on the shade of their skin color. Colorism, a derivative of racism, is the use of skin-color shade as the basis for interactions with and evaluations of Black women. Some theoretical and empirical literature suggests that Black women may encounter and respond to colorism in various social contexts. Nevertheless, without an adequate measure to assess these contextually based experiences, it is difficult to explore the complex dynamics of the colorism that Black women face. In the present study, socioecological theory (Brenner, Zimmerman, Bauermeister, & Caldwell, 2013) was adapted to frame a contextual model of colorism in order to develop a measure that assesses Black women’s perceptions of and responses to colorism across social contexts, including in their families, within and outside of their racial community, and in society. Black women (N = 299) responded to 98 contextual items derived from personal accounts of colorism, focus groups, and theoretical literature. Various scale development techniques including item analysis, exploratory factor analyses, and parallel analyses yielded four dimensions of perceived colorism experiences (i.e., racial out-group, family, racial in-group, society) and seven dimensions of perceived colorism responses (i.e., racial out-group/society, family and racial in-group cognitive-emotional reactions, family and non-family positive colorism, negative self-concept, attractiveness). To investigate validity evidence, multivariate multiple regression analyses (MMRAs) and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine relationships between the factor-derived subscales of the Perceived Colorism Scale and internalized colorism, racial identity, and self-esteem. Overall, results of the analyses supported the importance of four contexts for colorism experiences (racial out-group, family, racial in-group, and society). However, context-related responses to colorism were more complex than initially hypothesized. The factor-derived PCS subscales were predictive of internalized colorism, racial identity and self-esteem. Nonetheless, the subscales varied in the extent to which they were related to the validity measures and some of the significant relationships were not in hypothesized directions. Methodological limitations, along with implications for future theory, research, and practice are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

This research report examines the period of 1950s Sophiatown and its socio-­‐cultural legacy pertaining to race and gender. Though the establishment of a cosmopolitan black identity was significant in its undermining of Nationalist Party segregationist ideology, the struggle for equality was predicated on a racial struggle that subsumed a gendered agenda. The work of Can Themba and Drum magazine, which have become mythologized in the contemporary South African imaginary, are interrogated with particular emphasis on one of Themba’s iconic pieces, The Suit. Through engagement with Themba’s text, this research report foregrounds the processes through which black women have been subjected to multiple, compounded subjugation. In response to the representations of black femininity in The Suit, the film component of this report, The Tailored Suit, privileges the black woman, Matilda’s, articulations. It thus functions to foreground the agency of marginalised subjects. In articulating from the periphery, the subjugated destabilise the hierarchical social structures that would subordinate and objectify them. By engaging the representations in The Suit, part of an iconic historic moment prefiguring the contemporary socio-­‐cultural milieu, the reimagining in The Tailored Suit offers a fragmented frame of reference, positing an alternative to a homogenising masculine discourse on history.

Abstract Women globally are faced with many challenges and obstacles which include poverty, disease, violence and inequality. Over the years, women through their own initiative, have organised themselves nationally and internationally to have their agendas taken seriously by governments. Donor agencies did not come to supporting women due to their own conscientiousness – rather it was because of the concerted will and commitment of the international women’s movement that brought attention to the need for assistance for women. In South Africa there are many donor agencies that provide funding for programmes and initiatives that address the challenges faced by women of lower socio-economic groupings. The arising question is how effective these initiatives have been in addressing poverty and inequality of women. This pilot study attempted to investigate how select donors and non-governmental organisations have fared in relation to their target group – ‘poor black women’. The study addressed the issues of empowerment and sustainable development of ‘poor black women’ through an analysis of the work of non-governmental organisations supported by donor agencies. The findings were that donors do attempt to address the empowerment and sustainable development of ‘poor black women’ through the funding that they provide.

Anchored in analysis of in-depth and semi-structured interviews with 23 Black women in Britain, this research explores how media and online content-sharing is implicated in the development of Black women’s diasporic identities. Such matters are unpacked via an interpretive analytic lens, with Black feminist and social constructionist underpinnings. Shaped by critical studies of marketing, media, race, and gender, this research addresses issues concerning identity, ideology and inclusion, amidst media and digital culture. This thesis analyses media-based coping mechanisms concerning experiences of marginalisation and searches for a sense of belonging, related to intersecting issues of race, ethnicity and gender. There is analysis of how content generated by Black online users is entangled in processes of cultural transmission, counter-cultural resistance, and the construction of a digitally-mediated collective Black consciousness. As such, there is discussion of the notion of Black digital diaspora, in relation to analysis of the online media experiences of Black women in Britain. As part of this thesis, the concept of Black British diasporic literacy is also outlined, to further understand the particularities of Black identity development in Britain and how it is influenced by media content. Whilst the narratives of interview participants are emphasised in this thesis, it expands upon research that embraces a self-reflexive quality, by including reflections on the author’s own experiences as a Black and mixed-race woman.

The myth and image of Southern Appalachia spun by local color writers of the early nineteenth century and, later, by local elites in privileged positions of power have long cast the historiography of the region in tones of Caucasian lineage and remediation. The production of culture, contribution to community, and service to church and, family long considered to be the domain of women has predominantly been viewed from the privilege of a white perspective. Prescriptive definitions of a monochromatic culture in the Uplands of Southern Appalachia has written out the cultural contribution of diverse ethnicities who continue to call the region home. The purpose of this study is to illuminate the ways in which women of color and diversity contribute to the production of culture through service to their communities, volunteer outreach, and service in the church and, as models of core Appalachian values for their families.

This study examines the youtube series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl and how it challenges representations of Black women in media, television and film. I argue that the director of the series, Issa Rae challenges predominant images of Black womanhood through her character "J". Through a historical framework I examine the mammie, jezebel, sapphire and the tragic mulatta as predominant images of Black women. I argue that these images function within oppressive institutions to maintain a social heirarchy in which Black women are inferior. Moreover, my content analysis examines how the character "J" negates these predominant images of Black womanhood through her use of rap as a coping mechanism, sexual agency and the ability to negotiate racism in the workplace

This dissertation begins with the finding that in the United States Black women are four times as likely to die due to pregnancy related complications than their white counterparts as well as the finding that Black children are 2 to 2.5 times as likely to die before their first birthday. Given this, the project examines the intersections between Black women’s reproductive experiences and the condition of reproductive health and access in the state of Texas. In order to accomplish this, the research situates the grassroots organizing work of a collective of mothers of color alongside national and state level legislation and data about maternal and infant health disparities. The work not only situates ethnographic experiences within the larger repertoire of quantitative health literature on disparities but it also historicizes the work alongside Black Feminist theories of the body, history, and Black women’s reproduction. Drawing from extended participant observations, interviews, focus groups, policy research, statistics, and archival work, this project unpacks the large disparity that exists in maternal and infant health outcomes for African-American women and the ways in which policy, community organizing, and other geo-political factors contribute to, mediate, or remedy this phenomenon. Given the data presented, this projects suggests that (re)creating supportive communities and support networks may be an effective way of mediating stress caused by long-term exposures to racism and ultimately healing the negative maternal health outcomes for black women. / text

The black-white suicide paradox explored in the current study explores black women's notions of suicide. In its most basic form, a fundamental question of this project is why have black women's suicide rates remained consistently low? This project seeks to explore specific internal and external adaptations that black women have come to rely on for long term survival. A great deal of attention will be given to black women's perspectives of suicide inside and outside of the black community. This qualitative study by way of narratives provides insight into the entities that black women perceive to contribute to their virtually non-existent suicide rates. This approach is particularly appropriate for this study because black women's accounts on suicide will provide rich detailed data typically unseen in current suicide literature. In my work, I assume that black women's multifaceted oppressive conditions have compelled them to use subtle forms of resistance, i.e. coping mechanisms that act as protective barriers against suicide. This study also re-examines notions of social integration and religious beliefs in lessening chances of suicide among black women. Research findings were presented by way of four themes that emerged from the dominant narratives of twenty-two in-depth interviews. Respondents perceived family and communal obligations, faith based beliefs, a sense of long suffering, and declaration of strength to be the primary grounds for black women's low rates of suicide. Recurring themes were consistent despite the women's income or education levels. The study concludes that black women employ and perceive these strategies to be significant in coping or resisting trivial and significant stressors of life. Additionally, black women's perception of suicide as a weakness played a significant role in the way they defined themselves as well as the act. For literature on suicide, I engaged the works of Durkheim, Prudomme, Hendin, and Lester among others as a theoretical framework for this study.