A Seat At The Table: Womanist Narratives of Black Mothers in Doctoral Programs

Often the monolithic notion of being a Black woman silences how diverse groups of Black women experience the academy and dissertation process, especially those who are pursuing the doctorate while mothering. This paper focuses on the narratives of three Black women, who share how their racial, gender and mothering identities, and roles associated with these identities, affected their journey to the doctorate. This work is shaped by Womanist Theory, and the researchers use methodological tools centered on Black women, such as Sister-to-Sister talks (Few, Stephens, and Rouse-Arnett, 2003). Participants share how the intersection of their identities informs their research agenda, and why their commitment to completing the doctoral journey was fueled despite the challenges each experienced. Overview and Background Few, Stephens, and Rouse-Arnett (2003) define Sister-to-Sister talks as an Afrocentric slang to describe congenial conversations or constructive exchange about life lessons shared between Black women. This study was prompted by SisterJuhanna Rogers Alexis McLean Marcelle Mentor Taboo,Winter 2019 Juhanna Rogers is an independent scholar. Alexis McLean is an assistant professor and Dean of Student Affairs at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York, New York City, New York. Marcelle Mentor is an assistant professor at The College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, New York. Their email addresses are JuhannaScholar@gmail.com, AMcLean@mec.cuny.edu, & MMentor@cnr.edu © 2019 by Caddo Gap Press. A Seat at the Table 88 to-Sister talks amongst the authors and their peers who were also Black women. In the midst of these exchanges we came to the realization that motherhood bound us to one another. As a result, we forged a unique collective focused on navigating the doctoral socialization process, and ultimately surviving and thriving as Black women in the academy. The insight gained during these conversations prompted us to examine the experiences of Black mothers in doctoral programs. Black women who opt to pursue a doctorate must often decide whether we will be true to our nature, our spirits, and our community or if will we pick up the master’s tools, and wear a mask (hooks, 1993). Many do not discuss the trauma that Black women engaged in the doctoral and dissertation process endure. However, as we address the trauma that is happening to us at the hands of agents of the state it is equally important for Black women to shed light on the trauma experienced in the academy. Each of the participants pursued doctorates at different institutions and had unique experiences and challenges. The degrees or the pursuit of the degrees were steeped in overcoming various barriers. It is through highlighting these barriers that we aim to identify systematic injustice and oppression that few discuss in the public sphere. The super-myth that Black women are excelling at higher rates than their male counter-parts reproduces hegemonic and sexist ideals about the Black woman. Several scholars argue that Black women in the academy have unique experiences, and despite higher numbers of Black women enrolled in degree programs, social attitudes create (and recreate) racist and gendered microaggressions (Collins 2000; Rollock, 2011; Rogers 2014; Sealey-Ruiz; 2007; Yosso, Smith, Ceja, Solorzano, 2009). However, research regarding Black women in higher education largely examines the undergraduate experience. Literature concerning the experiences of Black women in graduate school is sparse, and research pertaining to the experience(s) of Black mothers in graduate school and doctoral programs is relatively non-existent. There is an overwhelming need to address the invisibility of Black mothers in doctoral programs. The role of Black mothers is compounded with intersections of sexual orientation, relationship status, ethnic identity, and class. Such a multi-layered existence demands a more unique approach to inquiries regarding socialization in academic spaces, and how it continues to marginalize and foster racist ideologies about Black women. An examination of the Black mother’s experience in doctoral programs highlights the ways in which Black women disrupt the status quo. This work illuminates the sexist, gendered, and racist attitudes embedded in the doctoral socialization process, specifically at predominantly white institutions. We have vowed to dismantle these ideologies as we frame and develop our research agendas. Scholarly Significance During the past several decades, a number of demographic shifts have resulted in more women and people of color enrolling in and completing doctoral programs Juhanna Rogers, Alexis McLean, & Marcelle Mentor 89 (Offerman, 2011). Women now receive nearly half of all doctorates, and within group data indicates that Black women acquire almost 70% of the doctorates conferred to Black students (National Center for Education Statistics, 2013). While there is an increase in women pursuing and obtaining doctoral degrees, they have lower retention rates in comparison to their male colleagues (Nettles & Millett, 2006). Attrition research has found that many women leave for personal reasons like marriage and children (Gardner, 2008). Further, in examining time to degree completion in a doctoral program, family issues like childcare and marriage prevent women from finishing early (Maher, Ford, & Thompson, 2004). Other challenges include a lack of mentoring and socialization and little or no access to research opportunities (Ellis, 2001; Patton & Harper, 2003). Not surprisingly, women, and Black women in particular report lower levels of satisfaction with and commitment to their doctoral programs than their male and white counterparts (Ellis, 2001). Collins (2000) asserts that women of the African Diaspora can be defined or categorized in two ways: as individuals who have unique lived experiences, and as a subgroup within a marginalized population. Due to the historical objectification and exploitation of Black women, non-Black individuals tend to make damaging stereotypical assumptions about us. This informs behaviors and judgments, which then informs the lived experiences of Black women. All of the aforementioned serve as the impetus for this work, which centers Black women in the academy, and Black mothers in particular. Points of Reflection This work aims to shed light on how: • Black women make sense of the socialization that takes place in doctoral programs. • Black mothers navigate the complexities of being both a mother and an academic. • Black mothers create and sustain mechanisms of support during their doctoral journey. • The sharing of narratives transform/influence the experiences of Black mothers in doctoral programs. Theoretical Inspiration: Womanism Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender. —Alice Walker Alice Walker’s multiple definitions of the term “womanism” in In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, sheds light on why many Black women prefer the term womanism to Black feminism. Walker offers two contradictory meanings of A Seat at the Table 90 womanism. On the one hand, Walker clearly sees womanism as rooted in Black women’s concrete history in racial and gender oppression. On the other hand, this term, taken from the Southern Black folk expression of mothers to girl children “you acting womanish,” suggests a womanist worldview accessible primarily and perhaps exclusively by Black women. Womanish girls acted in outrageous, courageous, and willful ways, attributes that freed them from conventions that had been long limiting white women. However, womanish girls wanted to know more and in greater depth what was considered good for them. They were responsible, in charge, and serious. Despite her disclaimer that womanists are “traditionally universalist,” a philosophy invoked by her metaphor of the garden where room exists for all flowers to bloom equally and differently, Walker simultaneously implies that Black women are somehow superior to white women because of the Black folk tradition. Defining “womanish” as the opposite of “frivolous, irresponsible, not serious,” Walker constructs Black women’s experiences in opposition to those of white women. This meaning of womanism sees it as being different from and superior to feminism—a difference allegedly stemming from Black and white women’s different histories with American racism. Walker’s much cited phrase, “womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender” (1983, p. 12) clearly seems designed to set up a comparison where Black women are “womanist” while white women remain merely “feminist.” As womanists, we intentionally approach this work with courage and seriousness, as it provides a much-needed focus on the intricacies of the academic and psychosocial experiences of Black mothers in doctoral programs. Like womanish girl children, we want to know more and in greater depth what is considered good for these women, and for us. Our identification as womanish allows and encourages us to be accountable for ourselves, and the women with whom we have ancestral bonds. Building on the groundbreaking works by Toni Cade Bambara, Ntozake Shange, Angela Davis, Toni Morrison, June Jordan, Alice Walker, Audre Lorde and other Black women who “broke silence” in the 1970s, Black women in the 1980s and 1990s developed a “voice,” a self-defined, collective Black women’s standpoint about Black womanhood (Collins, 1990). We are committed to sustaining this tradition. In this paper all three participants offer themselves as a Black woman in a predominantly white arena. Their stories are unique but blend at intersections and then spread out into individual tributaries, which mimic the experiences of Black women and Black mothers in the academy. There are spaces of togetherness and spaces of utter aloneness. The purpose is to highlight these stories and offer possibilities to create more spaces of togetherness and support.