Research Questions

I created 26 interview questions that asked participants to reflect upon various aspects of their Dartmouth career. I wanted to start before Dartmouth and understand why participants had decided to attend the College. I asked about their schooling experience prior to arriving on campus. I also asked them to think about the ways in which their socioeconomic status impacted their time at Dartmouth, if at all. I created questions that focused on various components of a “Dartmouth experience” including academics, social life, extracurricular activities, and support networks.

I wanted to ensure that I was taking into account the ways in which the various aspects of these women’s identities interact and impact their overall experience. I placed intersectionality at the center of my project. In “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics,” Kimberle Crenshaw describes the way in which a “single axis framework” does not fully capture the experience of Black women. She states, “With Black women as the starting point, it becomes more apparent how dominant conceptions of discrimination condition us to think about subordination as disadvantage occurring along a single categorical axis. I want to suggest further that this single axis framework erases Black women in the conceptualization, identification and remediation of race and sex discrimination…” (140). In order to understand these women’s narratives, one has to take into account that they are experiencing race and gender simultaneously. When other aspects of their identities such as class are also accounted for, a more nuanced, complex picture of their experiences begins to surface.

In order to make sense of the information I received from the 14 participants, I utilized thematic analysis to identify common threads or themes throughout their experiences. In Transforming Qualitative Information: Thematic Analysis and Code Development, Richard E. Boyatzis defines and describes thematic analysis. He states,

Thematic analysis is a process for encoding qualitative information. The encoding requires an explicit ‘code.’ This may be a list of themes; a complex model with themes, indicators, and qualifications that are casually related; or something in between these two forms. A theme is a pattern in the information that at minimum describes and organizes possible observations or at the maximum interprets aspects of the phenomenon. A theme may be identified at the manifest level (directly observable in the information) or at the latent level (underlying the phenomenon) (vi-vii).

For the purposes of my study, I will be exploring three themes: self-worth, socioeconomic status, and resilience. This analytic approach was useful as I worked to identify similarities and differences across participants’ experiences. Though generations separate some of the women, I recognized continuities throughout various aspects of their Dartmouth careers. There is a danger, however, in focusing solely on the similarities. One could easily begin constructing a singular image of what Black womanhood looks like on Dartmouth’s campus by piecing together these similarities alone. It is important to also acknowledge differences and discontinuities, highlighting the ways in which Black womanhood can take many forms.

As a Black woman who is researching the experiences of other Black women, I have a unique perspective. In some regards, I can understand, make sense of, and relate to these women’s experiences in a way that an outside researcher would be incapable of doing. Yet, this leaves room for bias when the researcher could also be a participant in the study. In Sweetwater: Black Women and Narratives of Resilience, Robin M. Boylorn describes the “potential challenges” that may arise when black women study their own lives or the lives of other black women. She states,

First, black women have inevitable bias that may influence their interpretations. While black women spend a good part of their lives taking outsider views into account, a black woman’s situated knowledge is intentionally and rightfully subjective. Second, black women may dismiss or ignore significant information or findings they consider taken-for-granted or common knowledge. Because of the shared experiences and histories many black women have, they may not always pay attention to the details (3).

Throughout this process, I have tried to remain cognizant of my position and connection to this work. However, it is important to note that my analysis and understanding of these oral histories may be impacted by what Boylorn calls the “inevitable bias.”