College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Term of Award

Summer 2026

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Curriculum Studies (Ed.D.)

Document Type and Release Option

Dissertation (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Digital Commons@Georgia Southern License

Department

College of Education

Committee Chair

Ming Fang He

Committee Member 1

Peggy Shannon-Baker

Committee Member 2

John Weaver

Committee Member 3

Denise Taliaferro Baszile

Abstract

Drawing on Black Feminist Intellectual Traditions (Grant, Brown, & Brown, 2015; Waters & Conaway, 2007), particularly Black Feminist Thought (e.g., Hull, Scott, & Smith, 1982; Lorde, 1984; Guy-Sheftall, 1995; Collins, 2000) and Black feminist critiques on the intersectionality (e.g., Crenshaw, 1989, 1991) of race, gender, class, and power, I examine my lived experience as a Black woman growing up and living in the U. S. South. Using memoir as a Black feminist form of inquiry and mode of expression and representation, I transgress traditional memoir boundaries by combining memory, rememory, reflection, imagination, and theory to create space to express what is reclaimed, interrupted, or re-understood as a result of oppression (Hartman, 2019; Morrison, 1987; Sharpe, 2023). Inspired by the memoirs of Black women such as Maya Angelou (1971) (2008), Dorothy Height (2003), Angela Davis (1975), Audre Lorde (1984) (2007), Tracy K. Smith (2015), Michelle Obama (2019), Natasha Trethewey (2020), Bevy Smith (2021) and bell hooks (1997, 2009), I use fiction (He, 1999, 2003; Nunez, 2014), counter-storytelling (Bell, 1992; Delgado, 1989; He, Ross, & Seay, 2005; Solórzano & Yosso, 2002), poetry (Corley, 2020; Lorde, 1984/2007; Wakeman, 2015), and Hip hop (Hill, 2009; Ladson-Billings, 2009; Love, 2012) as modes of expression and representation in my memoir, that captures the emotional textures of lived experience, allowing me to speak on my own terms and reclaim subjectivity to counter the presumed objectivity of academic writing (hooks, 1989; Lorde, 1984). Six major wonderings/speculative petals have emerged from my inquiry: (1) Black women, especially in educational institutions, should foster self-definition by examining lived experience as legitimate sources of knowledge to resist imposed silence, historicize struggles, invigorate collective healing, and build solidarities to empower Black women’s existence. (2) Engaging in writing as a self-care practice helps challenge stereotypical expectations and cultural norms imposed on Black women to liberate themselves from racialized and gendered trauma. (3) To highlight, uplift, and empower Black women’s voices, which have been historically silenced, marginalized, othered, and erased, Black women need to cultivate their sisterhood of resilience to resist historical patterns of silencing and marginalization and fight against all forms of oppression. (4) By sharing personal stories and counterstories, Black women are able to create space for themselves to continuously build their collective knowledge that counters isolation and invisibility, defies historically intersected racism, sexism, marginalization, and silencing, and fosters self-empowerment, collective resilience, and community building. (5) Engaging in memoir as methodology transgresses traditional dissertation boundaries and creates space to cultivate healing without suppressing intense emotions (e.g., anger, fear, grief), rather, allowing deep emotions to serve as fuel to counter the dehumanization of self, others, and the Black woman’s existence. (6) The inside and outside school curriculum for Black children must center on historically neglected voices (Watkins, 2005) and lived experiences of Black women and other Black people to address the lack of their visibility and representation in curriculum, and engender culturally inspiring spaces and places where all the Black children and other people’s children could have equal opportunities to thrive in education and life in spite of all challenges. Overall, this dissertation presents speculative memoir as a liberatory Black feminist practice where Black women and girls can reclaim their voices, restore interiority, and reimagine possibilities for healing, survival, and self-definition within oppressive systems.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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