Women of Color With Critical Worldviews Constructing Spaces of Resistance in Education Doctoral Programs

• Published in: Journal of college student development 2018-07, Vol.59 (4), p.404-420
• Main Authors: Squire, Dian D, McCann, Kristin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Advisors; Asian Americans; College Faculty; Critical Theory; Doctoral Programs; Doctoral Students; Education; Educational programs; Ethnicity; Females; Feminism; Gender; Graduate Students; Graduate studies; Higher education; Hispanic Americans; Mentors; Minority & ethnic groups; Minority Group Students; Minority Group Teachers; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Oppression; Pacific Islander people; Peer Relationship; Peer relationships; Qualitative research; Race; Racial identity; Racism; Resistance; Resistance (Psychology); Role models; Sexism; Student Development; Student Experience; Success; Teacher Student Relationship; Women Faculty; World Views
• ISSN: 0897-5264; 1543-3382; 1543-3382
• DOI: 10.1353/csd.2018.0039

We examined the experiences of women of color (WoC) with critical worldviews in education doctoral programs. How students experience doctoral programs in relation to forwarding a critical perspective is integral to positive student development and academic success. A critical race feminist (CRF) approach framed the voices and experiences of 14 WoC from education doctoral programs and revealed 3 central spaces of resistance to develop this paradigm for the WoC: Faculty relationships, peer relationships, and opportunities outside of their programs. In using a CRF framework, we also centered the voices of WoC by citing only WoC scholars. Termed by Ahmed (2017), this approach recalls a "feminist memory." Implications for supporting WoC for not only surviving but also thriving in education doctoral programs are discussed.