Black face-brown space: Narratives of black graduate women attending Hispanic-serving institutions

Bannerji (2000), hooks (2003), and Razack (1998) maintain that universities generally are premised on an ideology of whiteness, patriarchy, and classism as the dominant culture, which functions to colonize, marginalize, and silence racialized students..." Black women doctoral experiences matter particularly in this case, because despite pursuing enrollment within the context of a minority serving institutional model, the historical underpinnings of an HSI may be continuing to perpetrate a system of hegemony and patriarchy that serve to reinforce white supremacy in an institution that may publically adhere to a minority serving ideology and moniker. This critical narrative inquiry study highlights both voices and experiences of Black women doctoral scholars through a critical race feminist theoretical lens and offers a critique to the larger body of literature that addresses minority serving educational spaces and assumptions of diversity and equity made within the confines of federally designated MSIs.

The findings reveal that the historical and structural allegiances to white patriarchy in university systems and structures may perpetually work against Black women, specifically in the context of higher education and degree attainment and imply that a 'masked' or 'misidentified' academic space of safety may inadvertently operate in ways that are reflective of "Historically White" or "Predominantly White" institutions. By challenging standard norms and protocol by creating spaces that are responsive to the needs of Black women scholars, institutions could simultaneously create spaces that are inclusive of other underrepresented students as well.