It is no secret that Black women graduate students are severely underrepresented at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). As a result, counterspaces that serve Black women specifically are needed now more than ever.
Counterspaces are safe spaces that lie outside of mainstream educational spaces and its members are comprised of individuals that possess marginalized identities. Counterspaces are needed due to the normalization of White identity and culture, resulting in curricula, pedagogies, and campus norms that “other” and isolate Black women.
Counterspaces can provide empowerment, love, and support to Black women that is absent from spaces that center White identities. Further, Black women’s writing groups can serve as a counterspace where students can mentor, discuss relevant issues, and critique each other’s work. Unfortunately, Black women’s research interests are often seen as too controversial, unimportant, or lacking rigor. Writing groups as counterspaces for Black women scholars can uplift Black women, help us become better scholars and mentors, and encourage and reinforce the importance of Black women’s research.
Writing group counterspaces can serve as a form of peer mentoring, which can increase Black women graduate students’ retention, persistence, sense of belonging, and socialization. Peer mentoring is when a more experienced student assists a less experienced student, and it has proven itself as a strategy that helps to improve the mentee’s academic performance. The peer mentor provides the mentee with advice, support, and information. Additionally, peer mentoring has been found to be more influential than faculty advisors and professors. Further, graduate student persistence is heavily influenced by disciplinary and departmental socialization. Unfortunately, Black women graduate students often struggle to find peers in their department that they identify with, resulting in isolation and being left to navigate challenges and unwritten rules on their own.
For Black women with career aspirations in academia, departmental and discipline-specific socialization must occur at the faculty and peer levels. As such, Black women doctoral students need access to faculty members and peers willing to mentor them, analyze their writing, and collaborate with them on research projects. However, many Black women at PWIs find themselves the only Black woman in a department, and are often excluded by their White peers from departmental socials, study groups, and writing groups, which contributes to feelings of isolation. Black women have also reported receiving less help and mentoring from White faculty and peers regarding publishing.
So, who can Black women graduate students turn to for support and guidance concerning writing? We can turn to our sister circles. By surrounding ourselves with other Black women working towards a common goal such as dissertation/thesis completion, publication, or grant proposal submission, we can encourage and support each other. A writing group can provide feelings of hope, emotional support, increased confidence, and enhanced sense of belonging.
Furthermore, Black women have reported that writing groups have helped them to set and complete goals regarding dissertation/thesis completion and graduation. Black women’s writing groups can combat these feelings of loneliness by providing opportunities to work alongside other women that will validate them and their work, as well as provide a sense of safety.
