Despite there being enormous amounts of research on disability, and how disability is experienced, when parameters such as higher education, race and gender are considered alongside disability, the research documented becomes limited; and even more so when each of these parameters are in combination with each other. The aim of this study is to use Critical Disability Theory, Feminist Theory, and Intersectionality to better understand how I have experienced accommodation as a Black woman with a disability within an academic environment. I use Autoethnography to detail my own lived experience to investigate if the institutional response (of providing accommodations and its practices along with it) aligns with my lived experience as the student on the receiving end. The findings from this study suggest that there is misalignment between the institutional response and the student experience thus causing a struggle of identity outside of the medicalized identity recognized by Accessibility Services. It is my hope that those who read this thesis adopt a ‘nothing about us, without us’ attitude towards Accessibility Services. I hope readers will see that students with disabilities need to be included in the conversation of accommodations with Accessibility Services offices in post-secondary institutions because stories like mine (as a Black woman with a disability and a life-long service user of this school provided service) demand to be acknowledged and be felt as the “supposed” benefactors of this service. Because without us, this service would not exist. And yet, without our voices heard this service continues to exist as it does. Our voices, bodies and lived experiences should be validated as appropriate “measures” to determine accessibility, accommodation and learning needs. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

This study investigates the nature of social reproduction in single-black-womanheaded families in post-apartheid South Africa, through an ethnographic case study in Bophelong Township in Gauteng. The study focuses on the two coterminous aspects of social reproduction: the physical reproduction of labour power and the reproduction of social relations of the mode of production as such, in this case capitalism. The study included a socio-economic survey, participatory observation and in-depth interviews with woman-heads over a period of four years. After a preliminary analysis, the data concerning the woman-headed family form was organised into three generations, the Grandmothers, the Mothers and the Daughters. The conclusions are however tentative given that this was a qualitative study based on a particular type of woman-headed family, one sample in one township in South Africa. The internal variations within this family form expressed the woman-heads’ concrete lived experience, biography and social agency; and are moments of a single totality. While black women’s location is informed by many social determinations that intersect and deepen their oppression as woman-heads, they are cast into leadership roles and directly mediate relations within their families, with males, with family kin, with communities and society. The woman-heads find themselves in contradictory positions within patriarchal society, given their own socialization, the daily struggle to reproduce children physically and the need to transcend traditional patriarchal social relations, including the challenge to appropriate egalitarian forms of leadership and avoid becoming proxies for patriarchy. Despite daily struggles for survival, woman-headed families are important social spaces for struggles for egalitarian family arrangements, including those concerning sons and traditional culture, historically the domain of men. However, it is necessary that the struggles within the family are anchored and supported by the struggles for egalitarianism within society as a whole. In particular this means struggles anchored and supported by a radical, grassroots and dynamic women’s movement.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of Strong Black Woman attitudes on how African American women perceive and cope with stress. The study included 100 Black female faculty, staff, and students from five universities in the eastern region of the United States including a large, public, research university; a small, private, religious-affiliated university; and three public, historically Black universities. The following research questions guided the study: a) What are the respondents’ levels of Strong Black Woman attitudes, perceived stress, and culture-specific coping? b) How does perception of stress predict Strong Black Woman attitudes? c) How does perception of stress predict the use of culture-specific forms of coping? d) How do Strong Black Woman attitudes mediate the relationship between perception of stress and culture-specific coping? These questions were explored through quantitative research analysis using an Information Questionnaire to collect data regarding demographic background, the Strong Black Woman Cultural Construct Scale (Hamin, 2003), the Perceived Stress Scale – 10 item (Cohen, Kamarck, Mermelstein,1983; Cohen & Williamson,1988), and the Africultural Coping Systems Inventory (Utsey, Adams, and Bolden, 2000). Simple linear regression revealed that Strong Black Woman attitudes of Caretaking, and Affect Regulation, as well as the Cognitive-Emotional Debriefing form of culture-specific coping were associated with higher levels of stress. Finally, multiple regression analysis revealed that Strong Black Woman attitudes did not have a mediating effect on participants’ level of perceived stress and their coping behaviors used in response to stress. Implications of the findings suggest a need to develop an empirical, theoretical, and clinical understanding of the impact of Strong Black Woman attitudes on women’s wellness. / Ph. D.

The purpose of our study is to investigate the afroswedish women and their experiences with racism within the media industry. Through previous research, theories and real life stories that afroswedish women, who worked or works within this branch, have attempted to acquire insight of the phenomenon (everyday) racism and how it comes to expression according to the perspective of black women in Sweden. The documented experiences have shown to be a process that constantly occurs, consciously and subconsciously, in the life of black people in Sweden based on privileges. These privileges derive from postcolonialism and have their origin in the white superiority performed against others. This study has demonstrated the afroswedish women working place and its environment, where both positive and negative experiences, always indicated a basis in racism. The result has been discussed with support from previous research and our carefully chosen theories - intersectionality and anti black racism. In our final discussion, we have gathered all data to subsequently highlight our participants' experiences which has shown that the influential media industry needs to continue working against racism.

Black mothers socialize their daughters to embody the strong Black woman (SBW) schema to help them navigate gendered racist oppression. While research indicates that ascribing to the SBW schema offers Black women psychosocial benefits (e.g., increased self-esteem), identifying with the SBW schema has been linked to several negative psychological outcomes (e.g., anxiety, depression, and stress). Considering the evidenced negative implications associated with identifying with the SBW schema on Black women's mental health, the current study had three aims: (1) investigate the socialization messages Black women received about strong Black womanhood, (2) explore the extent to which they identified with these messages, and (3) assess the implications of this socialization on Black women's functioning. To address these aims researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 Black college women (Mage = 20.09; SD = 1.04). For this manuscript, we extracted data pertaining to aim one and analyzed this data using a consensual qualitative research (CQR) data approach. Findings revealed messages Black women were given about strong Black womanhood (i.e., know your worth, depend on yourself, overcome societal barriers, little to no messages about strong Black womanhood, and additional responses) and illuminated behaviors mothers modeled that exemplified strength (i.e., self-sufficient, preserving, caretaking, and additional responses). Findings derived from this study have the potential to inform clinical intervention with Black women and, more specifically, provide insight as to how clinicians may work with Black women to mitigate the impact of the SBW schema on their mental health.

No description available.

L'autonomisation de la culture noire dans les arts et médias contemporains, avec cas de figures proéminentes, entend réfléchir sur les procédés de visibilisations au travers des médias et de l'art contemporain. Un choix de femmes ciblé afin de comprendre comment l'on devient une personnalité réputée, au fil du temps, ou par des créations populaires d'envergure.La couleur noire, souvent entendue selon des lectures limitatrices, opère ici un changement de paradigme. Cette fois, ce sont des femmes noires qui donnent le ton et donc inversent les représentations sur leur compte. En nous aidant des Cultural Studies et des Black Feminist, nous allons analyser des produits populaires disparates. Nous avons choisi des éléments divers et somme toute non canoniques pour comprendre l'autonomie supposée. Celle-ci est certes perceptible, mais demande à être questionnée.Questionner cette autonomie c'est entreprendre une lecture valorisante sur des types discursifs souvent décriés. Analyser leur popularité revient à décentrer le sens, remettre en valeur les créations produites hors des circuits de pouvoirs. / The empowerment of the black culture in the contemporary arts and media, with prominent figures, intends to reflect on the processes of visibilization through the media and contemporary art. A choice of women targeted to understand how one becomes a reputed personality, over time, or by popular creations of scale.The color black, often heard according to limiting readings, here operates a paradigm shift. This time, they are black women who set the tone and therefore reverse the representations on their account. By helping us with the Cultural Studies and the Black Feminist, we will analyze disparate popular products. We have chosen various and, in any case, non-canonical elements to understand the supposed autonomy. This is certainly perceptible, but asks to be questioned.To question this autonomy is to undertake a rewarding reading on discursive types often decried. To analyze their popularity is to decenter the meaning, to re-emphasize the creations produced outside the circuits of powers.

Tendo como objeto de estudo a construção e as leituras das Xicas da Silva representadas no filme de 1976, de Cacá Diegues, e no livro homônimo de João Felício dos Santos, do mesmo ano, esta pesquisa investiga quem teria sido a personagem Chica da Silva histórica real e suas formas de tradução por meio de diferentes sistemas de linguagem desde o século XIX. O trabalho faz uma análise aprofundada dos conceitos de representação, real, realidade, construto e fato históricos, tradução intersemiótica e imaginário para entender o que constitui, ou, segundo alguns críticos de 1976, deveria constituir as representações ficcionais de Chica da Silva, e como foi/é produzido um imaginário a seu respeito. Afinal, existe realmente algo que possa ser inequivocamente entendido como Chica da Silva, a verdadeira? Nesse percurso, são feitas análises imanentes das obras de 1976 e análises do contexto dos enunciados no qual seus autores estavam inseridos e com o qual a forma-conteúdo do filme e livro Xica da Silva dialoga. As análises buscam o que está entre o que as obras mostram e o que os autores e críticos disseram que elas mostram, para entender tais obras não só como conteúdos intradiegéticos, mas também como enunciados resultados de mediações históricas, culturais e sociais, e como mobilizadoras, ou mesmo catalizadoras, de debates sociais, raciais e de gênero em um período histórico específico da cultura e política nacionais. Mais do que questionar a legitimidade das reinvindicações que apontam para a exigência de uma acuidade mimética para a representação de personagens históricas como Chica da Silva (mulher e negra), a preocupação da pesquisa é entender por que e como tais exigências ocorrem. Afinal, o que está em jogo nas formas de dar a ver e de ver personagens mulheres e negras nas ficções cinematográficas, nas literárias brasileiras e, consequentemente, na realidade vivida por nós? / By studying the construction and the possible readings of the Xicas da Silva characters represented in the 1976\'s film by Cacá Diegues and in the 1976\'s book by João Felício dos Santos, this research investigates who would have been the historical/real Chica da Silva and her translations through different language systems since the 19th century. This research tries to understand what constitutes, or, according to some 1976\'s critics, should constitute Chica da Silva\'s fictional representations. There are also immanent analysis of the referred artistic productions and recovers the context in which their authors dialogically stated the form-content of the 1976\'s film and book. In that sense, this research looks at what is in-between the very productions and sayings of the authors and critics. The objective is to understand the Xicas da Silva not only as intradiegetical content, but as statements resulting from mediations and mobilizing, or even catalyzing, social, racial and gender debates in a specific historical period of our national culture and politics, which still resonates today. More than questioning negative critiques claiming for the legitimacy of mimetic acuity for the representation of historical personages like Chica da Silva (woman and black) in fictional productions, this research regards why and how such complaints emerge. Moreover, it questions what is at stake in the ways of presenting and seeing black women characters in Brazilian cinematographic and literary fictions. Why do critics identified with particular social groups challenge and claim for the positive (re)creation of fictional representations of historical black characters/bodies and, specifically, of historical black women? How is it related to the construction of an imaginary (the myth) in Chica da Silva and, consequently, with the way to represent, imagine and currently see the bodies of black women?

Os batuques manifestam-se em cidades brasileiras como práticas de terreiro. Sob a guarda de mulheres negras e homens negros mais velhos, o tambu (tambor) é o meio de comunicação entre os vivos e os mortos, seguindo os fundamentos africanos banto, na região que ficou conhecida como Oeste Paulista. Neste estudo, tratamos como a mulher negra no batuque de umbigada paulista relaciona sua experiência de vida à cultura negra. Em tempos midiáticos da sociedade de consumo, partimos da visão folclórica acerca da batuqueira para refletir de que forma em seu repertório pessoal ela desconstrói essas e outras imagens controladoras. Entre as mais antigas e emblemáticas herdeiras da tradição, três mulheres negras com mais de 65 anos dispõem-se a testemunhar suas histórias, traçando elementos de enfretamento ao racismo e ao sexismo e revelando aspectos de superação da violência simbólica infringida pelos papéis sociais padronizados. Paralelamente às narrativas de desconstrução de estereótipos, voltamo-nos às teorias que tratam da produção e reprodução social na modernidade e da pós-modernidade e o lugar da mulher negra desde o século XIX, no pós-abolição, até o contexto atual da globalização neoliberal, bem como do feminismo negro, visando identificar estratégias de resistência cotidianas que podem ser vistas como ação política na luta contra o racismo e o sexismo / The Paulista Umbigada Batuque is set in the city as a cultural practice related to the terreiro, or sacred land. It has been kept under the care of elder black women and men, wherein the tambu (a kind of drum) is the tool of communication between the living and the dead, following the African-Bantu teachings that manifests in this region known by Oeste Paulista (Western of Sao Paulo State). In this study, we are concern about how the black women from batuque reflect on the relation between their life experiences and the black culture. In the context of a mass media consume society, and by criticizing the folkloric perspective about the batuqueira (the batuque women), we reflect on how these women deconstruct the controlling images that surround and curtail them. Among the eldest and most representative women of this tradition, three black women commit themselves to narrate their stories for this research, laying out elements of their experience in confronting racism and sexism, and in disclosing the symbolic violence infringed against them by the standardized and socially imposed roles. Besides the narratives concerned the deconstruction of stereotypes, our analysis also looks for theories about social production and reproduction in modernity, the post-modernism debate, and the role fulfilled by the black women since the XIX century, after the abolition of slavery, until nowadays in a neoliberal and globalized world context, as well as in the context of the black feminist thinking.Through the analysis of these narratives and contexts, our work aims to identify the daily strategies of resistance in batuque, which can be considered as well a political action against racism and sexism

A presente dissertação examina as condições de vida de dois grupos de mulheres negras, um na cidade de Quibdó na Colômbia e outro em São Paulo Brasil, que se atuam no âmbito da economia solidária como artesãs e no ramo de design e confecção de roupas afro. Especificamente este estudo buscou identificar as transformações que surgiram na vida das mulheres a partir da sua atuação nesse espaço. Esta pesquisa é de caráter exploratório, descritivo e qualitativo, desenvolvida principalmente a partir das definições elaboradas pelas participantes. Daí que para a obtenção da informação o insumo principal foram entrevistas etnográficas. Além desse método, foram feitos: observação participante e diários de campo. Os resultados da pesquisa estiveram analisados à luz dos postulados da Colonialidade do Poder proposta por Aníbal Quijano e da análise interseccional de Kimberly Crenshaw concretamente entre as categorias de classe, raça e gênero. Os resultados foram contrastados a partir de analises categorial, levando em conta os contextos particulares de cada grupo. Esta dissertação contribui para evidenciar que se bem as estratégias de economia solidaria constituem projetos a pequena escala, podem tornar-se transformadores para grupos específicos de população e ter um alcance maior ao ser transgressores de uma ordem estabelecida que se esforça por mantêlas em subordinação. Nesse sentido, conclui-se que constituem propostas decoloniais de resistência e transformação. / The following project analyses life conditions from two black women groups. One of them is from at Quibdo City in Colombia and the other comes from São Paulo - Brazil. Both work with support economy as artisans on the field of afro clothes designing and manufacturing. This research specifically tried to figure out the life changes these women have experienced since the beginning of their participation on it. This investigation has been exploratory, descriptive and qualitative. It was mainly developed through the participant experiences and definitions. To get information the most important evidences were ethnographic interviews. Plus analysis and journals. The research results were based on Anibal Quijanos postulates of Power of Coloniality and intersectional analysis from Kimberly Crenshaw. In particular, class, race and genre items. The results were based on thematic analysis, taking into account specific situations for each group. This research helps to highlight that strategies of Support Economy are projects in development, and they could reach specific groups to get better conditions different from the establishment, which tries to subordinate these kinds of populations. As a conclusion, these strategies constitute descolonial projects of resistance and transformation.