From Survival to Imagination: A Black Feminist Blueprint for Liberation | HackerNoon

Table of Links

Abstract and 1 Introduction

2. Early Life

3. Whiteness as an Institution

4. The Triple Threat

5. The Academic Plantation Field

6. The Future Is Black Women

7. Imagination as a Tool

8. Imagination through Research

9. Imagination through Play

10. Collaboration as Imagination

11. Conclusions and References

Whiteness operates as a diversion, serving as a dehumanizing strategy. Gendered antiblack racism is a form of psychological terrorism. One way to disrupt both whiteness and gendered anti-black racism without being manipulated is by exercising our imagination. We can be creators of new epistemologies that center our own experiences and aspirations. Our collective consciousness and imagination are necessary tools to build a free world. Our purpose as Black women scholars should not be confined to solely deconstructing and discrediting white epistemologies. We must situate our purpose and career by envisioning our own ontological futures. Below are three examples of how I plan to use imagination in my work within academia moving forward.

8. Imagination through Research

As I enter my role as an early career researcher, I enter ready to center Black women’s lived experiences in all my work. I believe Black women’s narrative is essential information for pushing toward liberation and overall economic justice. Black women are unique; they make up 70% of primary/sole heads of households in the United States (Price et al. 2020). Yet, most of our work on economic disparities and health disparities is studied through a race lens. These race-centered methods center on a cis-hetero patriarchal approach and perspective in research and interventions. This approach lacks substance and true centering on the lived experiences and needs of Black households and communities. A true racial justice approach includes gender at the center. I plan to use my time as a scholar working with Black women across the country to build a data bank of our lived experiences and desires. I plan to use my imagination to create new research methodologies that center joy, imagination, and creativity. Too often, Black women are overly researched in what we call “trauma porn” for the sake of data which results in more money for the institution. Furthermore, they are rarely compensated for their worth and value in participating and are left with a USD 25 gift card and a broken heart. My desire is for my research to be a space of refuge for Black women to come and just BE.

9. Imagination through Play

Somehow, in the United States, an individual’s career becomes their identity. I know this because I have traveled and worked in other parts of the world, such as South Africa, Brazil, Ghana, Kenya, and the Dominican Republic, and work rarely comes up outside of the work environment. Gray et al. (2023) note, “Black women are more than mules of white supremacy”. It is essential to have hobbies and passions that spiritually sustain you and can be poured into you outside of work. I have recently been intentional about defining myself and exploring who I am outside of academia and my career as a research scientist and professor, as Black women have been conditioned to labor and serve through capitalism. Laboring and serving are not natural, despite what we may think. This is the conditioning we inherited from our ancestors, who were conditioned by white colonizers to labor excessively without rest or payment, which is another tenet in the savagery of whiteness. We must disrupt this conditioning and engage in nonpayment/production hobbies. Our imagination can be activated by drawing, playing mystery games with friends, singing karaoke, and playing solo solitaire. This summer, I plan to teach my daughter and niece how to jump double Dutch and hopscotch to reclaim my inner child. It was through play and engaging in joy that my imagination allowed me to BE.

10. Collaboration as Imagination

I always carry an “ideas” notebook with me to write down ideas, and on the first page, there is a quote by Tricia Hershey that reads, “I do nothing alone, my whole life is a collaboration”. This quote grounds me and calls me to collaborate instead of isolate, which is my natural tendency. Collaboration is key in the work that we conduct; finding “our people” is necessary to keep us grounded and sane. Gems 2 and 4, outlined above in the critical reflection, expose the need for having people whom you can call when your vision is cloudy and your ability to imagine has been eclipsed by whiteness. Gem #2 Black women are my barometer, which has forced me to redefine my ideas of what success looks like. Just given the fact that Black women’s ideas are often viewed as DEI, it is already setting us back. I realized that if I remained true to myself, my community, and Black women-centered research, then I would risk not being successful in academia by getting awards, grants, or even tenure. I had a mentor, who is a Black woman, tell me, “Tenure can’t be the goal. It can’t define you”. She was telling me that I was more than a label of tenured professor and that is a white-centered standard that does not center my desires and the people I serve. So, I made Black women and other women of color my barometer. Anytime I am challenged institutionally, I collaborate with my circle on how to address the issues. Before any major hearing, or if someone “tells” on me and I am summoned by university administration and lawyers, I strategize with at least two other Black women, from adjunct faculty to Vice Provost, on how to deal with an issue. When I address my challenge, I repeat something my wise healing coach told me, “There is nothing for me to protect and defend”. I always feel armed and ready when I enter these complicated, treacherous institutional issues because at least two brilliant Black women have helped prepare me for the matter, and good luck trying to outsmart all of us.

11. Conclusions

Black women, although to these institutions we are deemed a broken policy, we are not illegal or broken. Academic and social service institutions are a manifestation of power through the creation of ideologies of dominance such as whiteness, cis-heteropatriarchy, and coloniality. Our mere existence and being is a manifestation of liberation our ancestors got free; therefore, in every instance, there is hope. This manifesto is a call to create and not to advocate for the abandonment of resistance. We can challenge systems and structures of power and confront whiteness while simultaneously using imagination to shape our identities and desires. This manifesto is a call to center our humanity in our endeavors, recognizing that embracing our own ontology and epistemology is affirming our humanity

Funding: This research received no external funding.

Conflicts of Interest: The author declares no conflict of interest.

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