Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Kakali Bhattacharya / The purpose of this narrative case study was to explore the lived experiences of four Black undergraduate collegiate women leaders in higher education in their third and fourth years of study in a predominantly White Midwestern institution. This qualitative study was conducted with purposeful and criterion-based sampling. The participants selected needed to be at least a student leader in a registered student organization at one time during their collegiate career. Narrative inquiry was used to explore the participants’ racialized, gendered, and leadership identity development prior to college and throughout the course of their collegiate careers. The participants’ narratives were organized using Bildungsroman format, or as a coming of age story. Findings indicate that although the participants identified as Black women and Black women student leaders, their racialized identity was much more salient than their gendered identity. Therefore, outside of biological markers like menstruating and becoming mothers, they were not able to articulate the development of their intersectional identity. Findings also show the participants had a certain amount of self-confidence and critical self-awareness that allowed them to succeed even when faced with racialized and gendered discrimination as individuals and within their roles as student leaders. Such obstacles contributed to their ability to just do when faced with challenges regardless of the difficulty level of the challenge. The study raises implications about the multitude of support systems that Black women and girls have upon entering college. Another implication is the amount of invisible labor that Black women as collegiate leaders do in order to support their fellow peers. Finally, this study raises implications about the deficit narratives that depict Black women’s and girls’ stories within education. Thus, this study presented a counternarrative to the traditional, negative, and stereotypical narratives that are untrue and detrimental to the racialized, gendered, and leadership development of Black women and girls within and beyond the education system.

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how diversity discourse inscribes oppressive institutional structures (slavery, racism, and whiteness), specifically, institutional power, and offer possibilities for making sustainable change. This dissertation is an institutional critique (Porter et al. 2000) that includes Black women's experiences in diversity leadership roles at Virginia Tech, an analysis of the institution's bureaucratic structure, an analysis of diversity discourse published by Virginia Tech's Office for Inclusion and Diversity (OID), and climate surveys. By following diversity discourse, I explore how the discourse and modalities inscribe institutional power, the "outsider-within" construct of Black women, and obstructions to institutional change through discursive practices. In general, change happens at institutions but does not connote equitable, sustainable change. I argue that mapping the discursive and material construction of institutional power can reveal discursive methods/methodologies for remapping the institution toward inscribing structures of resistance. / Doctor of Philosophy / The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how diversity discourse inscribes oppressive institutional structures (slavery, racism, and whiteness), specifically, institutional power, and offer possibilities for making sustainable change. This dissertation is an institutional critique (Porter et al. 2000) that includes Black women's experiences in diversity leadership roles at Virginia Tech, an analysis of the institution's bureaucratic structure, an analysis of diversity discourse published by Virginia Tech's Office for Inclusion and Diversity (OID), and climate surveys. By following diversity discourse, I explore how the discourse and modalities inscribe institutional power, the "outsider-within" construct of Black women, and obstructions to institutional change through discursive practices. The "outsider-within" positionality is "a marginality that stimulated a distinctive Black women's perspective on a variety of themes" (Collins, 2022) from a dual existence as an outsider within oppressive white spaces. Change happens at institutions but does not demonstrate equitable and sustainable change. I argue that investigating the discursive and material construction of institutional power (following the discourse) can reveal discursive methods/methodologies for implementing acts of resistance.

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African American women (AAW) have the highest incidence and prevalence of obesity among all cultural groups in the United States. Understanding cultural factors which influence perception of body size and ultimately impact decisions by obese AAW to lose or manage their weight is essential in ultimately designing culturally appropriate interventions. Gaining insight into the core cultural perceptions and factors that influence acceptable body size is imperative to furthering scientific knowledge with obese AAW. Larger body sizes for women are often culturally accepted and perceived as attractive and desirable within the African American community. Self-definition and self-worth, concepts found in Black Feminist Theory, play a pivotal role in the perceptions that obese AAW have about weight loss and weight management. The interconnectedness of the two concepts provided a strong basis for this qualitative research design to examine how these concepts may influence perceptions of acceptable body size among AAW. The purpose of this study was to describe the cultural perceptions of weight and ideal body size with obese AAW from an emic or insider's perspective. A focused ethnographic perspective was used to describe obese AAW's cultural norms about perceived body size and describe obese AAW's self-definition and self-worth that relate to perceived body size. A sample of eight obese AAW was recruited for the study. Data collection included: (a) individual interviews; (b) participant observation; and (c) field notes. The overarching theme derived from the data was "I'm Ok with Me." There were four subthemes that supported the overarching theme. They included: (a) acceptance of heavier body size by others; (b) acceptance of heavier body size by self; (c) cultural foods that impact heavier body size; and (d) sedentary lifestyles that impact heavier body size. The overarching theme lays a foundation for nursing towards cultural competency with obese AAW. Future studies are needed to further evaluate perception of body size and how obese AAW culturally define themselves and define their self-worth in relation to perception of body size.

This qualitative multiple case study focused on how three African American women social studies teachers conceptualized and taught notions of citizenship. By using a Black feminist conceptual framework, the author explored how the multiple intersections of the teachers’ identities impacted how they understood and taught notions of citizenship. As a result of their lived experiences and situated knowledge, the participants rejected the dominant narrative of citizenship because it was not inclusive of diverse perspectives or histories. Instead, the participants taught a notion of citizenship that centered on valuing notions of community and working towards racial and community uplift. This study hopes to shed light on how African American women teachers’ alternative notions of citizenship may provide a framework by which reconceptualized views of American citizenship may be presented. / text

Ripples of Hope is a transdisciplinary project combining the social and political history of leisure, Black feminist/womanist thought, and performance and youth development theories. This project investigates the perception, portrayal, and performance of hope from a cultural lens using narrative and performance analysis. Interview and photovoice data were collected from 12 young women in their early 20’s, emerging into adulthood. Each of the participants was born in the United States, identify as Black or African American and participated in an exploratory qualitative study in 2007-2008 entitled The HerDentity Project. Entering into the second decade of the prolific use of Hope Theory, this study illuminates the complexity and intersectionality of race, gender, age, and nationality in understanding five defining dimensions, performative spaces, and portrayals of hope. This project adds to the current body of literature on hope by exploring hope from a cultural context. In addition this project utilizes ethnodrama to highlight the important use of cultural products of performance in youth development and leisure practice.

Living and working abroad is one of the best ways to grow and learn about who you are and who you can become. The purpose of the project is to develop and articulate a radical reflexive praxis within the paradigm of the lived experiences of a Black female expatriate Christian mathematics educator. Grounded in the epistemological tradition of Black feminist thought, this study defines the intersectionality of my identity as a Black woman mathematics educator and explores ways it informs my interaction with students, parents and colleagues and inspires the quality of my instruction delivered in and out of the classroom setting. Through the qualitative practice of autoethnography, the use of personal narratives and field notes tell the story because storytelling adds context and allows the reader to both comprehend and participate in the experience. These narratives of re-reflection are used to explain how each of these identities were parlayed from a place of knowing and being known. Teaching is largely a white female Christian dominated profession and the tendency of the profession to propagate the traditional white male leader prototype confirms the need for more research for and by Black women educators. The rate of Black women yielding a productive gap between living in a culture but not being fully of that culture further confirms the need for more research. Ours is an experience that offers a refreshing sense of agency and opportunity, the characteristics of sound pedagogy and the expected outcomes of robust, dynamic classroom experiences.

The goal of this study was to understand black women’s perspectives on stay-at-home mothering and examine the ways in which Mocha Moms, Inc. provides support. Twelve African American mothers from three chapters of Mocha Moms, Inc. were interviewed and data were analyzed and coded for themes. Findings indicate that participants did not aspire to stay home with their children. Additionally, participants reject stereotypical ideas of at-home mothering. They also see themselves as the primary educators of their children. Finally, they do not feel respected in the black community or in society.

Controlling images and negative stereotypes have had damaging effects on black men and women. The entertainment industry continues to play a vital role in perpetuating these historically damaging images to people all over the world. Early representations of black men and women within entertainment were performed by white men under the guise of blackface. These representations were offensive and inaccurate portrayals of black life. Early blackface minstrel performances of black women were performed by white men in blackface who were also cross-dressing. Their performances presented black women in stereotypical roles which have become a norm. Recently, there has been a phenomenon of black men cross-dressing as black women portraying negative stereotypes. These depictions done under the guise of comedy further perpetuate controlling images of black women to the world. This research examines how current and former displays of gender minstrelsy manipulate the image of Black womanhood.

The purpose of this study was designed to gain an understanding of how young African American women principals experience the principalship. Three research questions were explored in this study: (a.) What are the pathways to the principalship for young African American women? (b.) How do African American women experience the principalship? (c.) What are the barriers that young African American women experience and what are their strategies for success? The researcher examined the day-to-day experiences faced by these women as they related to race, gender, and age challenges within the field of education. Using qualitative research with Black Feminist Standpoint theory as the theoretical framework, the study allowed these young female principals from Virginia to share their personal stories and struggles related to their experiences as principals. They participated in depth one-on-one, semistructured interviews and, as a follow-up, some participated in focus groups that contained open-ended questions. The findings indicated that these women rely on God, faith and family in their day-to-day work. Some of the women discussed the challenges that they face dealing with ageism, sexism and racism in the work place. Probing the reflections and experiences of these women will inform both research and practice, given their professional rise to principalship positions and their experiences once they attained the positions. It was crucial to add the voices of these women to existing literature because they bring a unique perspective to the practice of school leadership. Implications for this research include: college-bound students interested in school administration; university professors and school divisions interested in ways to support and provide professional development to these young leaders; feminist researchers; those interested in studying leadership theory and research, and aspiring and practicing principals interested in how African American principals support school improvement.