Keywords
grief
Black mothers
COVID-19 pandemic
Racial experiences in academia
anti-Black sexism
How to Cite
Abstract
Academia remains a patriarchal system, in which womxn’s work is undervalued, and the intersection of race and gender positions Black womxn uniquely. Some research has begun to explore how the dual pandemics compounded challenges for Black womxn in the academy. This is further complicated when considering Black womxn as M(other)Scholars. Through the dual pandemics of highly visible police brutality against Black bodies and the disproportionate toll of COVID-19 on Black communities, we offer our stories, as four Black M(other)Scholars, who experienced, mourned, and made room for ourselves and others to thrive during the dual pandemics. We share our stories knowing Black and white womxn have experienced and continue to experience life on different terms. This is also reflected in scholarship around MotherScholars and the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on our previous work rooted in endarkened feminist epistemology, we use autoethnographic sista circle methodology to capture how the dual pandemics provided both a reprieve from the antiblackness of academia and the opportunity to build community amongst other Black womxn scholars and our children. We center music in our storytelling, as music has served as both a balm and an expression of our spirit of resistance.
References
Baldwin, A. N. (2021). Presumed nonhuman: Black women intellectuals and the struggle for humanity in the academy. Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women’s & Gender Studies, 22, 11–37.
Batram-Zantvoort, S., Wandschneider, L., Niehues, V., Razum,O. & Miani, C. (2022). Maternal self-conception and mental wellbeing during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative interview study through the lens of “intensive mothering” and “ideal
worker” ideology. Frontiers in Global Women’s Health, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2022.878723
Beyoncé (2022). BREAK MY SOUL [Song]. On Renaissance. Parkwood/Columbia.
Brown, K. N. (2022). Black Women and the Pandemic Imagination : Pedagogy as a Rehearsal of Hope During Covid-19. The Radical Teacher, 122, 42–51.
Brown, T. T. C. (2022). When you see us, see us: Black girl futurity and liberation. Girlhood Studies, 15(3), 133. https://doi.org/10.3167/ghs.2022.150312
Brown, L. C., Williams, B. M., & Williams, Q. S. (2021). Melanin messages: Black college women’s experiences and reflections on navigating colorism. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000347
Cantey, N. I., Smith, L. W., Sorrells, S. F., Kelly, D., Jones, C., & Burrus, D. (2022). Navigating racism in the child welfare system: The impact on Black children, families, and practitioners. Child Welfare, 100(2), 163–184.
Carter Andrews, D. J., & Cosby, M. D. (2021). Eradicating Anti-Black Logics in Schools: Transgressive Teaching as a Way Forward. Multicultural Perspectives, 23(3), 135–142.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15210960.2021.1982356
Chronixx (2017). Black Is Beautiful [Song]. On Chronology. Virgin EMI.
Coleman-King, C., Brown, T. C., Haynes-Thoby, L., & Dowie-Chin, T. (2022a). Dreaming beyond boundaries: Reimagining the role of Black mothers in culturally sustaining pedagogy. Voices in Urban Education, 50(2), 118–127. https://doi.org/10.33682/evdz-29sn
Coleman-King, C., Brown, T. C., Haynes-Thoby, L., & Dowie-Chin, T. (2022b). ‘“Reclaiming our time”’: Black mothers cultivating the homeplace during times of crisis. Journal of Social Issues, 1. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12570
Collier J. (2017). Using sista circle methodology to examine sense of belonging of Black women in doctoral programs at a historically White institution [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Georgia].
Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge.
Collins, P.H. (2004). Shifting the center: Race, class, and feminist theorizing about motherhood.
In E. N. Glenn, G. Chang, & L. R. Forcey (Eds.), Mothering: Ideology, Experience, and Agency (pp. 45–66). Routledge.
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039
Dillard, C. B. (2000). The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen: Examining an endarkened feminist epistemology in educational research and leadership. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), 13(6), 661–681.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09518390050211565
Dillard, C. B. (2022). The Spirit of Our Work : Black Women Teachers (Re)Member. Beacon Press.
Gumbs, A.P. (2016a). Introduction. In. A.P. Gumbs, C. Martens & M. Williams (Eds.), Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines (pp. 9-10). PM Press.
Gumbs, A.P. (2016b). M/other ourselves: A Black queer feminist genealogy for radical mothering. In. A.P. Gumbs, C. Martens & M. Williams (Eds.), Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines (pp.19-31). PM Press.
Hartman, S. (2007). Lose your Mother: A journey along the Atlantic slave route. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
hooks, b. (1984). Feminist Theory from Margin to Center. South End Press.
hooks, b. (1990). Yearning: Race, gender, and cultural politics. South End Press.
Johnson L. S. (2015). Using sista circles to examine the professional experience of contemporary Black women teachers in schools: A collective story about school culture
Kendi, I. (2020, April 14). Black people are not to blame people for dying of the Coronavirus. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/race-and-blame/609946/
Koffee (2022). Lockdown [Song]. On Gifted. Song Music UK.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2021). I’m Here for the Hard Re-Set: Post Pandemic Pedagogy to Preserve Our Culture. Equity & Excellence in Education, 54(1), 68–78.
LaBrenz, C. A., Robinson, E. D., Chakravarty, S., Vasquez-Schut, G., Mitschke, D. B., & Oh, S. (2022). When “time is not your own”: Experiences of mothering students during the covid-19 pandemic. Affilia-Feminist Inquiry In Social Work.
https://doi.org/10.1177/08861099221115721
LeBlanc, S. S., Spradley, E., Olson Beal, H., Burrow, L., & Cross, C. (2022). Toward a communication theory of coping: COVID-19 and the MotherScholar. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/15456870.2022.2123919
Lil Boosie & Webbie (2007). Wipe me down [Song]. On Trill Entertainment Presents: Survival of the Fittest. Trill Entertainment.
Mawhinney, L. (2011). Othermothering: A personal narrative exploring relationships between Black female faculty and students. Negro Educational Review, 62/63(1–4), 213–232.
Matias, C. E. (2022). Birthing the motherscholar and motherscholarship. Peabody Journal of Education, 97(2), 246–250.
Matias, C. E., Tintiangco-Cubales, A., Jocson, K., Sacramento, J., Buenavista, T. L.,
Daus-Magbual, A. S., & Halagao, P. E. (2022). Raising love in a time of lovelessness: Kuwentos of Pinayist Motherscholars resisting COVID-19’s Anti-Asian Racism. Peabody Journal of Education, 97(2), 179–198.
McClain, D. (2019). We Live For The We: The Political Power Of Black Motherhood (First edition.). Bold Type Books.
McCray, E.D., Dowie-Chin, T. & Harvey, A. (2022). ‘Engaging in (de)liberate dialogue: An endarkened feminist trioethnography among Black teacher educators. In Kelly, B.T. & Fries-Britt, S. (Eds.). Building Mentorship Networks to Support Black Women: A Guide
to Succeeding in the Academy (1st edition). Routledge (pp. 34–48).
McCormack, M. B. (2021). “Breonna Taylor could have been me”: Bearing witness to faith in Black (Feminist) futurity at the speed art museum’s promise, witness, remembrance exhibit. Religions, 12(11), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12110980
McIntyre-McCullough, K., Reid-Brown, C., Edwards, A. G., & Olukolu, R. M. (2022). Black women in academia: Of what then did you die? Researcher: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 30(2), 125–140.
Njoku, A., & Evans, M. (2022). Black women faculty and administrators navigating COVID-19,
social unrest, and academia: Challenges and strategies. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(4), 2220.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042220
Overstreet, M. (2019). My first year in academia or the mythical Black woman superhero takes on the ivory tower. Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education, 12(1), 18-34.
Owens, L., Edwards, E. B., & McArthur, S. A. (2018). Black women researchers’ path to breaking silence: Three scholars reflect on voicing oppression, self-reflexive speech, and Talking Back to Elite Discourses. Western Journal of Black Studies, 42(3/4), 125–135.
Pennant, A.-L. (2022). Who’s checkin’ for Black girls and women in the “pandemic within a pandemic”? COVID-19, Black Lives Matter and educational implications. Educational Review, 74(3), 534–557. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2021.2023102
Peters, N. R. (2019). The right to be and become: Black home-educators as child privacy protectors. Michigan Journal of Race & Law, 25(1), 21–60.
Porter, N. B. (2021). Working while mothering during the pandemic and beyond. Washington and Lee Law Review Online, 78(1), 1–30.
Qiu, T., Resman, J., & Zheng, J. (2023). Interrogating (proximity to) whiteness: Asian(American) women in Autoethnographic Sister Circles. Qualitative Inquiry, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/10778004221150010
Ruggs, E. N., Hebl, M., & Shockley, K. M. (2022). Fighting the 400-Year pandemic: Racism against Black people in organizations. Journal of Psychology and Business. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-022-09855-7
Scott, K. A., Britton, L., & McLemore, M. R. (2019). The ethics of perinatal care for Black women: Dismantling the structural racism in “mother blame” narratives. Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing, 33(2), 108. https://doi.org/10.1097/JPN.0000000000000394
Sharpe, C. E. (2016). In the Wake : On Blackness and Being. Duke University Press.
Spradley, E. L., LeBlanc, S. S., Olson Beal, H. K., Burrow, L., & Cross, C. (2022). Crystalizing layered approaches to motherscholar expressions in covid-19: A photovoice and autoethnographic study. Peabody Journal of Education, 97(2), 228–245.
Staniscuaski, F., Kmetzsch, L., Soletti, R. C., Reichert, F., Zandonà, E., Ludwig, Z. M. C., Lima, E. F., Neumann, A., Schwartz, I. V. D., Mello-Carpes, P. B., Tamajusuku, A. S. K., Werneck, F. P., Ricachenevsky, F. K., Infanger, C., Seixas, A., Staats, C. C., & de Oliveira, L. (2021). Gender, race and parenthood impact academic productivity during the covid-19 pandemic: From survey to action. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, N.PAG. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.663252
Warren-Gordon, K., & Jackson-Brown, A. (2022). Critical co-constructed autoethnography: Reflections of a collaborative teaching experience of two Black women in higher education. Journal of Black Studies, 53(2), 115–132. https://doi.org/10.1177/00219347211057445
Williams, M. G. (2002). “They never told us that black is beautiful”: Fostering Black joy and pro-blackness pedagogies in early childhood classrooms. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 0(0), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687984221121163
Willis, D. E., & McElfish, P. A. (2021). Racial disparities in the COVID-19 response affecting the Marshall Islands diaspora, United States of America. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 99(9), 680–681. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.20.277855
Woodson, C.G. ( 2010/1933). The Mis-Education of the Negro. Seven Treasures Publication.
Wynn, G. T. (2019). The impact of racism on maternal health outcomes for Black women. University of Miami Race and Social Justice Law Review, 10(1), 85–108.
Yu, M., Edwards, E. B., Gonzales, S. M., Robert, S. A., & DeNicolo, C. P. (2022). Remember. (re)member. Re-member: Theorizing the Process of Healing, Sustaining, and Transforming as MotherScholars. Peabody Journal of Education, 97(2), 199–211.
Authors retain copyright control of articles published in the journal. Reprints cannot be granted for articles in new issues. Except in these cases, those who wish to reprint articles, large excerpts, figures, graphs, tables, or images should contact authors directly. When referencing any published articles from this online journal, JAAWGE is to be credited as the publication outlet. We suggest including the URL link to JAAWGE. Permission to copy an article is provided to all subscribers, but cannot be sold, except by its author(s). Authors are free to disseminate and post their articles.