ERIC Number: EJ1191289
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0897-5264
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From Self-Authorship to Self-Definition: Remapping Theoretical Assumptions through Black Feminism
Okello, Wilson Kwamogi
Journal of College Student Development, v59 n5 p528-544 Sep-Oct 2018
The nuances that surface for minoritized bodies as a consequence of living in a Western, United States context requires reimagining theory, which does more than emphasize the psychological or the sociological. It necessitates a cross-disciplinary and historical analysis that deeply considers the affective and political. In this article, I borrow Black girlhood scholar Dominique Hill's language to frame the body (bodies) as a dynamic entity with personal and collective manifestations; it is interlaced as a mental, emotional, spiritual, and spatial construct that is always mediated through history (D. Hill, February 7, 2018, personal communication). Operating from what I term the "sociopolitical," this analytic autoethnographic account employs Black feminism as a theoretical intervention in the deconstruction of holistic student development theory, namely self-authorship. Placing my critique on the subject-object principle, I discuss the potential of theories in the flesh and offer alternative meaning-making possibilities for minoritized bodies by introducing the concept of "self-definition" to the student development theoretical canon.
Descriptors: Individual Development, Feminism, Self Concept, African American Attitudes, Personal Narratives, African American Students, College Students
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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