Facilitating queer of color feminist co-mentorship: reflections on an online archive of scholar-activism

Abstract

We reflect on our relationship to the Feminist Freedom Warriors (FFW) online archive of transnational scholar-activist genealogies. From our respective locations at a PWI and an HBCU, we explore what it might mean to conceive of these new media narratives as archives of mentorship. For us, the archive is a significant resource of useful feminism–those modes of feminist thought, action, and history that meet our mentorship needs, stitching together practices of self-mentorship and co-mentorship. Our engagement with the narratives sharpen an understanding of how intertwined structures of gender, race, sexuality, caste and class operate at both the local and global level, and are facilitated by and through US academia. Moreover, the larger constellation of FFW inspire our own practice of ‘queer of color feminist co-mentorship’. We generate a collaborative analysis detailing our expanding perspectives on identity, difference, and the US graduate school experience. Our collective journey informs us that innovative conceptions and practices of feminist mentorship can radically challenge and enhance traditional mentorship, creating novel possibilities for learning and connection.

Keywords:

• Black feminism
• graduate school
• mentoring
• Neoliberal University
• queer of color critique
• transnational feminism

Acknowledgements

We thank all the Feminist Freedom Warriors for their wisdom, integrity, commitments, and love. We owe a special thank you to Margo Okazawa-Rey for engaging with Taveeshi’s reflections at the 2016 NWSA roundtable. From Margo’s comment about ‘listening as pedagogy’, we developed the notion of ‘listening as a geo-pedagogical’ praxis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Taveeshi Singh

Taveeshi Singh is a PhD candidate in the interdisciplinary social science doctoral program at Syracuse University. Her current research engages themes of gender, military, and labor in India.

Tayler J. Mathews

Tayler J. Mathews is a PhD candidate in political science at Clark Atlanta University. Her dissertation explores Black Queer Feminism as a framework for expanding the study of womxn, gender, and sexuality within political science.