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ERIC Number: EJ1084443
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 22
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1085-4568
EISSN: N/A
"And Still We Rise…": Microaggressions and Intersectionality in the Study Abroad Experiences of Black Women
Willis, Tasha Y.
Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, v26 p209-230 Fall 2015
Racial microaggressions are racial slights and subtle insults aimed at people of color. These may be verbal, nonverbal, and/or visual, and may be automatic or unconscious. The term microaggression is also applied to women or other groups in society who experience oppression. While it has been established that students of color often face racial microaggressions on their home campuses, what happens when African American students study abroad? How is this experience complicated by the intersection of their gender, race, and socioeconomic class identities? This article centers on the experiences of Black women who studied abroad through community colleges. Adding to findings of rich outcomes and positive experiences reported by students in the author's larger study (Willis, 2012), this study yields insight into participants' encounters with microaggressions related to their race and gender while abroad. Overall, participant outcomes were favorable and similar to those previously documented for White students at four-year colleges, however sojourners also faced racial and gender microaggressions from their host cultures and/or their U.S. travel peers in each of the three regions studied: the British Isles; the Mediterranean; and West Africa. Findings shed light on the complex interplay of race, ethnicity, gender, age, and other areas of social diversity for Black women abroad and underscore that campus climate extends beyond U.S. campus borders. Study abroad practitioners face an urgent call to action to address these issues both for Black women and for other students who face microaggressions based on different aspects of their identities, as well. [For the author's larger study, "Rare but There: An Intersectional Exploration of the Experiences and Outcomes of Black Women Who Studied Abroad through Community College Programs" (2012), see ED550342.]
Frontiers Journal. Dickinson College P.O. Box 1773, Carlisle, PA 17013. Tel: 717-254-8858; Fax: 717-245-1677; Web site: http://www.frontiersjournal.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Two Year Colleges; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Africa; Arizona; California; New York
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A