Present day prophets: defining Black girlhood spirituality in saving our lives hear our truths (SOLHOT)

Garner, Porshe Renee

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/101384 Copy

Description

Title

Present day prophets: defining Black girlhood spirituality in saving our lives hear our truths (SOLHOT)

Author(s)

Garner, Porshe Renee

Issue Date

2018-04-20

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Brown, Ruth Nicole

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Brown, Ruth Nicole

Committee Member(s)

• Anderson, James D.
• Dyson, Anne H.
• Kwon, Soo Ah
• Noble, Safiya U.

Department of Study

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Discipline

Educational Policy Studies

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Black girlhood
• Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truths (SOLHOT)
• Spirituality
• Womanism
• Black feminism
• Futurity

Abstract

Present Day Prophets: Defining Black Girlhood Spirituality in Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truths (SOLHOT) and Beyond is based on nine years of participant observation in the collective, Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truths (SOLHOT). SOLHOT is a praxis that centers and celebrates Black girlhood through artistic and radical imagination for the purpose of otherworld making. Through the sharing of personal narrative, critically engaging scholarship at the intersection of Black feminism, Womanism, and Black Girlhood Studies, and theorizing from field experiences, this dissertation offers a definition of Black girlhood spirituality that demonstrates the necessity of studying spirituality as a site of inquiry into the knowledge production and experiences of Black girls in community with Black women. I argue Black girlhood spirituality is a way of knowing how to mobilize ideas to transform circumstance. Ultimately, I learned that it is our connection to Black girlhood that makes possible our relationship and connection to the metaphysical/divine/invisible realm. My methods included implementing a qualitative thematic and arts based research methodology to analyze our actions, conversations, events, and music which illumined Black girls’ prophetic identity and allowed me to hear Black girls differently, consequently, extending the repertoire of Black girlhood sounds. Ethnographic fieldwork revealed that SOLHOT as a collective transforms our relationship to knowledge which then transforms our relationship to one another by enacting rituals that bring forth the manifestation of Black girlhood spirituality. While spirituality is often taken up as a solitary event, it is only through collectively organizing with Black girlhood at the center that Black girlhood spirituality is able to manifest. Revealed through ethnographic feedback, Black girlhood spirituality points to the ways collectivity activates power in an effort to challenge institutionalized control and dominance. This power then allows for Black girlhood subjectivity to be theorized as holy as shown through their everyday practices.

Graduation Semester

2018-05

Type of Resource

text

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Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2018 Porshé R. Garner

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