Hermandad: Sista’ Scholar Bonds for Black and Chicana Women in Doctoral Study

Abstract

The doctoral process presents several challenges and rewards to those pursuing an advanced degree. For women of color attending predominantly white institutions, addressing social and academic challenges can feel unsurmountable. Grounded in Black feminist thought and Chicana feminist epistemology, this narrative explores how two women of color operationalized sisterhood pedagogy and illuminated the importance of peer mentorship in the academy. This article uncovers how their reliance on sister-based relationships propelled them through their programs, while also highlighting the ways the lived experiences of underrepresented populations can inform research design.

Notes

1 Like Fierros and Delgado Bernal (2016), we engage in a conscious political movement to legitimize the tongue of Brown folx, rather than accommodating monolingual English speakers (Anzaldúa, 1987). We therefore choose not to translate or italicize Spanish-derived terms throughout this text.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shawna Patterson-Stephens

Shawna Patterson-Stephens is the Director of the Davis Intercultural Center at Williams College. Her research interests include Black and Latinx issues in higher education, media influences in the postsecondary sector, and critical theory in higher educational contexts. She also experiments with various modes of knowledge dissemination, evidenced through projects like her podcast, Scholar Tea. Dr. Patterson-Stephens is also coeditor of the forthcoming volume, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Higher Education.

Estee Hernández

Estee Hernández is a doctoral candidate in Higher Education at Florida State University, where she also serves as a Graduate Assistant for the Center for the Advancement of Teaching. Her research uses Chicana feminist pedagogies to uncover the ways in which white supremacist cisheteropatriarchy is entrenched in the academy. Her dissertation seeks to understand how Chicana doctoral students develop a scholar-activist identity and the ways in which this is embodied on social media.