Dialoguing with the “Communication Chorus”: Mapping the Contours of “the Morass”

I AM an Angry Black Woman: Black Feminist Autoethnography, Voice, and Resistance

“…Not only have Black women been taught and told via dominant discourses that our lived experiences are insignificant but we have also learned hard lessons around the consequences of speaking our truths to power. Furthermore, many Black female scholars struggle to achieve ''real'' scholar status as academics whose work is widely published, read, respected, and celebrated (Davis, 1999;Hendrix, 2002Hendrix, , 2005Hendrix, , 2010. Always already concerned with the struggles of publishing race-related research, which is often received with accusations of self-interest, narcissism, and vendetta (Calafell & Moreman, 2009;Hendrix, 2005Hendrix, , 2010Orbe et al, 2010), choosing a contested and subjective method such as autoethnography (Ellis, 2009;Shields, 2000) runs the risk of providing more ammunition for those with a vested interest in silencing our voices.…”

“…Black women have much to be angry about in the academy, including the poor representation of Black female scholars (Gregory, 2002;''The Profession,'' 2011) 2 and the difficulty of getting race-related research published (Hendrix, 2002(Hendrix, , 2005(Hendrix, , 2010Orbe, Smith, Groscurth, & Crawley, 2010), both of which fuel the absence of emancipatory scholarship by and about Black women. Looking back to move forward, the anger that I feel is not inventive, since Black women have furiously contested injustice in education and elsewhere for centuries (Allen, 1998;Cooper, 1995;Davis, 1998;hooks, 1981;Houston, 1992;Jones, 2003;Lorde, 1984;Madison, 1994Madison, , 2009Patton, 2004;Shange, 1975;Stewart, 1992;Truth, 1992).…”

Still flies in buttermilk: black male faculty, critical race theory, and composite counterstorytelling

“…Although cognizant of scholarly arguments against narrative methods as unreliable, especially when researchers of color identify with the communities they write about (Farber & Sherry, 1997;Hendrix, 2010;Orbe, Smith, Groscurth, & Crawley, 2010), we locate the benefits of composite counterstories in their ability to: vocalize perspectives from the margins; reveal struggles for equitable treatment and opportunity; validate and build community among those who suffer similarly; expose barriers that inhibit success and derail social consciousness; creatively position quotidian experiences as critical cultural commentary; teach those unfamiliar about marginalization; and challenge and transform the imposition of domination (Baszile, 2008;Solórzano & Yosso, 2002a, 2002bSmith, Yosso, et al, 2007). With corresponding commitments, we use composite counterstorytelling to render black misandry at traditionally white institutions visible.…”

Editors’ Notes

“…Gathering such data through autoethnographies allows the voice of these international faculty into the chorus (Hendrix ). With autoethnographic research, the investigator is the epistemological and ontological nexus upon which the process turns (Spry ) with performative autoethnography being “critically reflexive” and, as such, providing scaffolding for contemplating “the ways in which our personal lives intersect, collide, and commune with others in the body politic” (Spry , 217).…”