“She’s a friend of my mind”: a reflection of Black sisterhood in academia

ABSTRACT

The authors draw upon their lived experiences as Black women in the academy to conceptualize a framework for Black women’s peer mentorship, or ‘sister scholarship,’ within academia. Through auto-ethnographic ‘sister talks,’ the sister scholar relationship is conceptualized as a sanctum from gendered and racialized trauma, an impetus for the co-generation of knowledge, an approbation of intersectionality, and a gathering of the whole self. This work is grounded in Black feminist understandings of resiliency, resistance, and grace within academia. In discussion, the authors call for the abolition of oppressive policies and systems that aim to marginalize and disenfranchise Black women and other Women of Color in the academy.

KEYWORDS:

• Black women in academia
• black women doctoral students
• black feminist thought
• black feminist epistemologies
• autoethnography
• sister talk

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Throughout this reflection, we include ourselves in the collective “we/our” when referring to Black women and their experience in academic institutions. We position ourselves in solidarity and sisterhood with Black women academics and therefore reject the use of “their” or other distancing language when acknowledging Black womens’ experiences.

2. Ten percent of full-time faculty in degree-granting postsecondary institutions identify as Asian/Pacific Islander, 5% identify as Hispanic, less than 1% identified as American Indian or Alaskan Native, and less than 1% identified as multiracial in these institutions (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) 2018).