The Perpetual Outsider: Voices of Black Women Pursuing Doctoral Degrees at Predominantly White Institutions

Abstract

This qualitative study explored the perceptions and experiences of Black female doctoral students at predominantly White institutions and their impact on academic persistence and overall well-being. Fifteen Black female doctoral students participated in semistructured interviews, and each one was administered a demographic questionnaire and was extended an opportunity to participate in member checking. All data collected from the semistructured interviews, demographic questionnaires, and member-checking exercises were analyzed using Black feminist thought as an interpretive lens. Whereas several themes emerged and are discussed in previous articles (Shavers & Moore, 2014a, 2014b, this article focused on the "Perpetual Outsider" theme, comprising the following subthemes: (a) unwelcoming spaces, (b) tokenism, and (c) outsiders at home. Implications are offered based on identity, support systems, and group counseling.

Minoritized Professionals' Experiences in Counselor Education: A Review of Research

“…Environmental heteronormativity (e.g., lack of gender‐neutral restrooms, demographic forms with only heterosexual, cisgender options) invalidated their identities. For doctoral students of color, instances of silencing, lack of support, and absence of attention to issues pertinent to the lives of persons of color within the graduate counseling curriculum evoked a sense of erasure (Haskins et al, 2013; Henfield et al, 2011; Hinojosa & Carney, 2016; Shavers & Moore, 2019). International doctoral students noted their unique practices, values, and identities outside of the European American norms within counselor education were minimized, which contributed to assimilation pressure (Interiano & Lim, 2018).…”

“…At the same time, underrepresentation perpetuates experiences of erasure and tokenism. People of color and LGBTQ+ individuals are often the only one or one of few of their identity group in a given program (Bryan, 2018; Haskins et al, 2013; Shillingford et al, 2013; Storlie et al, 2015), and their identities and unique experiences are simultaneously hypervisible and devalued (Interiano & Lim, 2018; Shavers & Moore, 2019).…”

“…Minoritized professionals discussed tokenism as fostering both hypervisibility and invisibility of identity (Casado Pérez & Carney, 2018;Paone et al, 2019;Shavers & Moore, 2019). Identity was often clearly visible when stakeholders were the only or one of few people of color in a given setting and others commonly sought them out only for contributions to diversity-related issues (Haskins et al, 2013;Shavers & Moore, 2019).…”

“…These experiences went beyond stereotyping when individuals were expected to educate others on LGBTQ+ issues and community (Bryan, 2018;Pollock & Meek, 2016). Students of color also often report feeling burdened to educate others on issues related to their minoritized identity (Haskins et al, 2013;Paone et al, 2019;Shavers & Moore, 2019).…”

Counselor Education and Supervision: 2019 Annual Review

“…Alvarado et al (2019) sought to better understand the experiences of students providing counseling services in Spanish as they completed an English‐language counselor education programs. Other research focused on Black male counselor educators who had received tenure, to learn more about how personal dispositions and institutional supports contributed to promotion (Hannon et al, 2019), whereas Shavers and Moore (2019) addressed Black female doctoral student experience at predominantly White institutions and their perceptions related to being a “perpetual outsider” in unwelcoming spaces, experiences of tokenism, and other issues influencing their education and identity. Finally, two qualitative studies focused on spiritual dimensions of quality of life attended to by rehabilitation and other counselor educators to raise awareness and understanding of the importance of addressing spiritual well‐being in training (Lu et al, 2019) and wellness‐focused supervision inclusion of wellness principles to assist supervisees in understanding experiences of military service members whom trainees may work with, so as to create responsive supervision environments that foster growth and development (Briggs & Hayden, 2019).…”