A letter to a black girl: reflections on being born black and female

Linear, Taylor-Imani

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Description

Title

A letter to a black girl: reflections on being born black and female

Author(s)

Linear, Taylor-Imani

Issue Date

2012-06-27T21:31:11Z

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

Brown, Ruth N.

Department of Study

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrsh

Discipline

Educational Policy Studies

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.A.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Black Feminism
• Narrative
• Methodology
• Lived Experience

Abstract

This thesis serves as an exploration of my personal lived experiences and contextualizes them within broader discourses of Black Feminist Thought. The purpose of this paper is to interrogate what my lived experiences say about the culture of being marked in a body that is Black and female (Brown, 2009). Supported by literature on meaning making based off of lived experience, this paper outlines specific life events and situates them within Black Feminist Theory, and standpoint theory. Patricia Collins, a contemporary scholar of Black Feminist Thought theorizes that “ Black feminist literary criticism, Black women’s history, and Black cultural studies all remain centered on Black women’s subjectivity or “voice”, [which] contain space for Black women intellectuals to draw upon their own experiences as touchstones for developing race, class, an gender intersectionality”—which are often exemplified in personal narrative, stories and critical social theory (Collins, 1998, pp. 119). What is significant about this research is the connection that is made between lived experience and theory—thus establishing a methodology for culturally and personally relevant scholarship.

Graduation Semester

2012-05

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Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2012 Taylor-Imani Linear

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