SHOW US WE MATTER: Black college women nursing students’ experiences of mattering on a majority-Black campus

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been a growing body of education literature that looks more critically at institutions and institutional practices that perpetuate the marginalization of various groups. Specifically, work centering Black women and using Black feminist perspectives to understand Black women’s standpoint and experiences has been a highly valuable developing area with deep roots in Black feminist activism. There is much still to be gained by examining various institutional contexts from Black feminist perspectives that draw on the unique positioning and strengths of Black women to gain insights into how interlocking systems of power and domination operate in everyday settings (Collins, 2022). In this study, I examine a unique context in which many Black women study, and yet little research has been conducted: a private, nonprofit institution in a large US metro area that serves primarily Black women nursing students. I utilized Sista circle methodology in this study to hold safe, validating spaces for Black women nursing students to share their experiences within the institution and the messages they received regarding how they mattered – or didn’t matter – to the institution. Throughout the study I looked critically at how the institution, not the students, is responsible for the experiences and messages it sends to students, the implications of those messages, and what the institution can and should do to better support Black women students. As a Black woman myself, I have experienced a lack of institutional mattering in many higher education and societal settings throughout my life. Framed by Black Feminist Thought, Black Feminist Epistemology, Black college women’s success frameworks, and mattering, I center Black women and Black women’s perspectives throughout this study to better understand Black women’s lived experiences around mattering in a specific higher education context.