Work should not be killing us: Understanding the racial battle fatigue minefield for black women in higher education

Abstract

Racial Battle Fatigue (RBF) has been operationalized as the cumulative psychological, physiological, and behavioral effects of racial aggressions on individuals from marginalized groups. These micro-level and macro-level aggressions have been the focus of discussion and debate at historically white colleges and universities since the 1960s when equity in higher education became a national priority because of the civil rights movement and the introduction of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Faculty teaching in Library and Information Science (LIS) programs are not exempt from RBF. In fact, there have been several testimonials of bias and racism by LIS faculty who represent marginalized populations in recent years. Research on RBF, particularly during this current politically charged climate of hate and bias adds to our understanding of the ways in which racism, in various forms, affects Black women faculty. Applying CRT, RBF, and Black feminist theoretical frameworks, the purpose of this paper is to provide a follow up to “Racial Battle Fatigue: The unspoken burden of Black women faculty in LIS” which was published in the Journal of Education for Library and Information Science in 2019. It helps us to further understand the experiences of Black women faculty in higher education.

Keywords

racial battle fatigue black feminism critical race theory LIS higher education black women faculty

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