BGM: “Black Girl Magic”

ABOUT

In the face of institutional racism, Black youth must navigate the daunting task of cultivating a positive identity within the context of stereotypes and oppression. Black adolescent girls occupy intersecting marginalized identities, encountering overlapping oppressions on both racialized and gendered axes. In opposition to pervasive racist and sexist stereotypes, the growing cultural narrative of #Black Girl Magic centers and highlights accomplishments and positive discourse surrounding the excellence of Black women. How do growing cultural narratives such as “Black Girl Magic” affect the ways in which Black girls cultivate a sense of agency and humanity in the context of such stereotypes?

The Black Girl Magic study aims to understand the ways in which Black adolescent girls resist and engage with conflicting narratives surrounding Black girlhood and womanhood. In a school predominantly serving Black girls, the DICE lab uses a mixed-method approach in order to understand how this particular educational space empowers Black girls to build integrative understandings of their identities, and how the cultural narrative of #Black Girl Magic may offer a counternarrarive to support their social and academic lives.

If you are interested in learning more, please contact us at thedicelab@gmail.com

Readings

  1. Anderson, Melinda D. (2016). The black girl pushout. The Atlantic. Retrieved from: [LINK]
  2. Crenshaw, K., Ocen, P., & Nanda, J. (2015). Black girls matter: Pushed out, overpoliced, and underprotected. New York: African American Policy Forum and the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies. [LINK]
  3. Morris, M. (2016). Pushout: The criminalization of black girls in schools. New York: New York Press. [LINK]