Shardé M Davis
Biographic Data
| ID | 163272 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Shardé M Davis |
| GIVEN NAMES | Shardé M |
| FAMILY NAME | Davis |
| SIGNATURE | DAVIS S M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Connecticut |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9132-2352 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 166 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Navigating Healthcare as a Woman of Color With Autoimmune Disease: Intersectional Dilemmas in Patient–Provider Interactions
Women of color with autoimmune disease experience communicative dilemmas at the intersection of their triply minoritized (i.e., ethnic-racial, gender, and illness) identities during interactions with their healthcare providers (HCPs), which shape their care. Sensitized by intersectionality and normative rhetorical theory (NRT), the present study interrogates taken-for-granted assumptions reflected in HCPs’ communication, as recalled by 150 Black …
Sistah Scholars-hip: A Black Feminist Epistemology Praxis for Black Women Researching Black Women
Building upon Black feminist epistemology (BFE), we present “Sistah Scholars-hip,” which is a praxis-based derivative of BFE that aims to promote the study of Black women by shifting BFE from theory to practice for Black women scholars (referred to as “Sistah Scholars”). In the current paper, we detail the four relational domains in which Sistah Scholars can exemplify key tenets of BFE; these relational domains include self and ideas, participant…
Dialogue on difference: Greater regard for academic freedom
Considering Social Identity Threat Alongside the Health Belief Model to Examine Mask-Wearing Intentions of Black, Latinx, and Asian Individuals in the U.S. During Covid-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. public health officials have recommended various safety protocols to "stop the spread", and atop the list is wearing a mask. Individuals from particular racial groups have also contended with a surge of racial profiling and race-based discrimination that has positioned mask-wearing as a risky yet health-promoting behavior. Using the health belief model (HBM), this study considers how racism and health intersect …
Talking with My Sistahs: Examining Discussions About HIV Risk and Prevention Outcomes Within Black Women Sistah Circles
Black women's health is in a state of crisis. Though Black women make up roughly 12% of the US population, they account for 66% of new HIV cases. One understudied barrier to Black women's sexual health is their communication about the topic of HIV with others and proclivity to dismiss HIV-related information based on self-exemption. Using a group-centered approach called the "sistah circle," this study examines group gatherings of Black women to …
An Integrative Review of Sistah Circles in Empirical Research
Sistah circles are spaces shared by Black women who share similar goals, exchange resources (e.g., support), and invest in developing strong relational bonds over time. Considering the significance of sistah circles for Black women's wellness and survival, in this study we examined how this phenomenon has been researched in the social sciences literature and, in turn, offered a more refined conceptual definition and framework that will direct fut…
Marital Status, Gender, and Race in The U.S: Perceptions of Middle-Aged Men and Women
A handful of studies conducted in the 1980s and 1990s find that undergraduate students perceive unmarried people less favorably than married people. The present research describes two experimental studies that revisit and extend this work by examining the extent to which perceptions of singles depend on marital history, gender, and race, both of which employ a more diverse sample of Americans via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Black Americans …
Transfiguring Theaters for Disrespectable Leisure: An Ethnography on Black Womxn’s Ratchet Performances in Movie Showings of Girls Trip
This ethnographic study considers how Black womxn audiences collectively negotiated the politics of respectability in the movie theater, anecdotally referred to as cinema etiquette, in showings of the film Girls Trip. Data were collected in two local theaters in a Northeastern city using field interviews, follow-up telephone interviews, and participant observation. Findings revealed that Black womxn audiences (from various age groups) embodied an…
Writing Ourselves into Existence
Academia can be a hostile environment for Black women. Our research team leveraged Black feminist research praxis to produce new knowledge countering conceptions of Black women students and faculty as people who are unintelligent, produce superfluous work, and worthy of being ignored. In order to locate spaces for healing, mentorship, and validation, we engaged in a collaborative autoethnography to co-narrate our experiences while conducting a st…
Revisiting Attribution Theory: Toward a Critical Feminist Approach for Understanding Attributions of Blame
Heeding the necessary call for interpersonal communication research to be theorized and conducted from a more critical perspective, we employ feminist standpoint theory as a critical tool for reading attribution theory. Specifically, we examine social positionality as an essential aspect of the attribution process and identify how oppressive power structures (macro-level) and a critical consciousness of one’s social positionality (micro-level) im…
Black Women at War: A Comprehensive Framework for Research on the Strong Black Woman
The “strong Black woman” image has historically served as a justification for Black women’s oppression. While the image persists as a measure of control, it also serves as a powerful agent for Black women’s survival in an oppressive world. The seemingly contradictory nature of this image has put scholars in a position to shift the framing of strength to consider its functionality. As a point of intervention, this conceptual review advances a comp…
The Strong Black Woman Collective Theory: Determining the Prosocial Functions of Strength Regulation in Groups of Black Women Friends†
The “strong Black woman” is a controlling image that pressures Black women to maintain a façade of strength. The Strong Black Woman Collective Theory (Davis, 2015) posits that Black women reappropriate the image and regulate strength in each other to promote solidarity within the group and confront external hostilities collectively. This study tests the theory by examining how 52 Black women’s friendship groups communicate support about a racial …
Transformation or Assimilation? Examining Identity and Organizational Tensions at Full Figured Fashion Week
Full Figured Fashion Week (FFFWeek) is a week-long event envisioned to be a countervailing force that challenges traditional body standards in the US fashion industry, showcasing plus-sized models and offering a safe space for fat bodies to commune and patronize plus size vendors. However, two years of participant observations with a critical lens has revealed how FFFWeek employed organizational decisions that demonstrate the complicated context …
Widening the gap: Support gaps in same race versus different race female friendship dyads
Women frequently turn to other women for support to cope with stressors. The support they receive, however, is often not what they need or even expect from a friend. Based upon differences in racial backgrounds, this study tests whether the racial composition of female friendship dyads influences the experience of support gaps, or discrepancies among the types and amount of support women need, expect, and receive, as well as the outcomes associat…
The Aftermath of #BlackGirlsRock vs. #WhiteGirlsRock: Considering the DisRespectability of a Black Women’s Counterpublic
This study considers the failed attempts at unifying Black women with Black men and white women after the #BlackGirlsRock mantra was criticized on social media in 2013. I examine the discursive labor of a Black women’s counterpublic in an online comments section and argue that its constituents rejected the behavioral expectations of harmony and decorum in favor of agitation, disrespectability, and ratchetness (Cooper, 2012a Cooper, B. (2012a, Jan…
When sistahs support sistahs: A process of supportive communication about racial microaggressions among Black women
This study extends a rich line of research on racial microaggressions (Sue, 2010) by examining the way friendship networks of Black women communicate support to a targeted individual. Groups of Black women friends (n = 52) engaged in supportive discussions about racial microaggressions by white women perpetrators, and a research team of Black women inductively analyzed the supportive encounters. The findings indicated that groups engaged in a two…
Testing the Ideology of Openness: The Comparative Effects of Talking, Writing, and Avoiding a Stressor on Rumination and Health
A persistent assumption across the psychological literature is that talking and writing about one's stress is inherently more beneficial than avoiding it. This study compared the effects of these stress management strategies on personal and relational health. Two hundred and fifty-one dating individuals focused on a stressor that was a current source of rumination. Writing about one's stressor for 5 consecutive days (without talking about it) dec…
The theory of resilience and relational load
Resilience is one of the most profound constructs across disciplines. Yet, the largely atheoretical nature of the research on resilience continues to make it elusive. A new theory of stress and resilience in close relationships—the theory of resilience and relational load ( TRRL )—is advanced to fill this void in the literature. The theory bridges communicative, perceptual, and physiological aspects of stress within the context of social relation…
The United States of wealth: The communicative construction of master and counter narratives of prosperity in the aftermath of the Great Recession
During the Great Recession, discourses of what constituted prosperity flooded the global landscape. The concept of prosperity became a prominent master narrative that dictated the ways families operated and made decisions. The goal of this study was to examine how 82 married couples experiencing economic uncertainty in California (re)negotiated their family narratives of wealth and prosperity in the wake of the Great Recession. The findings revea…
The “Strong Black Woman Collective”: A Developing Theoretical Framework for Understanding Collective Communication Practices of Black Women
The “Strong Black Woman” ideal is a long-established image in U.S. society placing pressures on Black American women to maintain a façade of strength, self-sufficiency, and resilience. This article advances the Strong Black Woman Collective (SBWC) as a developing standpoint framework for analyzing the complexities associated with embodiment, communication, and regulation of strength among groups of Black women. While reinforcing such behaviors as…
In the Wake of the Great Recession: Economic Uncertainty, Communication, and Biological Stress Responses in Families
Journal Article In the Wake of the Great Recession: Economic Uncertainty, Communication, and Biological Stress Responses in Families Get access Tamara Afifi, Tamara Afifi 1Department of Communication Studies, University of Iowa, IA 52240, USA, 1Corresponding author: Tamara Afifi; Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Sharde Davis, Sharde Davis 1Department of Communication Studies, University of Iowa, IA 52240, U…
Analyzing Divorce from Cultural and Network Approaches
Analyzing divorce from cultural and network approaches
Because of the high divorce rate and subsequent outpouring of research on divorce in the United States and other Westernized countries, divorce is often framed from an individualistic perspective as a process that is negotiated between two individuals - as 'his and her divorce. 'A primary assumption is that the spouses negotiate what is best for them and their children, seemingly irrespective of extended kin or culture. This study provides a more…
"You Need to Stop Talking About This!": Verbal Rumination and the Costs of Social Support
This study examined whether the type of support individuals receive when they are verbally ruminating affects their cognitive rumination (brooding), anxiety, and relationship satisfaction; 233 young adults were randomly assigned to be the subject, 233 others the confederate. The confederate was trained to provide “good support” or “poor support” to the subject who talked about a topic he/she had been verbally ruminating about recently. When indiv…
The “Strong Black Woman Collective”: A Developing Theoretical Framework for Understanding Collective Communication Practices of Black Women
The “Strong Black Woman” ideal is a long-established image in U.S. society placing pressures on Black American women to maintain a façade of strength, self-sufficiency, and resilience. This article advances the Strong Black Woman Collective (SBWC) as a developing standpoint framework for analyzing the complexities associated with embodiment, communication, and regulation of strength among groups of Black women. While reinforcing such behaviors as…
Widening the gap: Support gaps in same race versus different race female friendship dyads
Women frequently turn to other women for support to cope with stressors. The support they receive, however, is often not what they need or even expect from a friend. Based upon differences in racial backgrounds, this study tests whether the racial composition of female friendship dyads influences the experience of support gaps, or discrepancies among the types and amount of support women need, expect, and receive, as well as the outcomes associat…
"You Need to Stop Talking About This!": Verbal Rumination and the Costs of Social Support
This study examined whether the type of support individuals receive when they are verbally ruminating affects their cognitive rumination (brooding), anxiety, and relationship satisfaction; 233 young adults were randomly assigned to be the subject, 233 others the confederate. The confederate was trained to provide “good support” or “poor support” to the subject who talked about a topic he/she had been verbally ruminating about recently. When indiv…
When sistahs support sistahs: A process of supportive communication about racial microaggressions among Black women
This study extends a rich line of research on racial microaggressions (Sue, 2010) by examining the way friendship networks of Black women communicate support to a targeted individual. Groups of Black women friends (n = 52) engaged in supportive discussions about racial microaggressions by white women perpetrators, and a research team of Black women inductively analyzed the supportive encounters. The findings indicated that groups engaged in a two…
In the Wake of the Great Recession: Economic Uncertainty, Communication, and Biological Stress Responses in Families
Journal Article In the Wake of the Great Recession: Economic Uncertainty, Communication, and Biological Stress Responses in Families Get access Tamara Afifi, Tamara Afifi 1Department of Communication Studies, University of Iowa, IA 52240, USA, 1Corresponding author: Tamara Afifi; Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Sharde Davis, Sharde Davis 1Department of Communication Studies, University of Iowa, IA 52240, U…
Analyzing divorce from cultural and network approaches
Because of the high divorce rate and subsequent outpouring of research on divorce in the United States and other Westernized countries, divorce is often framed from an individualistic perspective as a process that is negotiated between two individuals - as 'his and her divorce. 'A primary assumption is that the spouses negotiate what is best for them and their children, seemingly irrespective of extended kin or culture. This study provides a more…
Black Women at War: A Comprehensive Framework for Research on the Strong Black Woman
The “strong Black woman” image has historically served as a justification for Black women’s oppression. While the image persists as a measure of control, it also serves as a powerful agent for Black women’s survival in an oppressive world. The seemingly contradictory nature of this image has put scholars in a position to shift the framing of strength to consider its functionality. As a point of intervention, this conceptual review advances a comp…
An Integrative Review of Sistah Circles in Empirical Research
Sistah circles are spaces shared by Black women who share similar goals, exchange resources (e.g., support), and invest in developing strong relational bonds over time. Considering the significance of sistah circles for Black women's wellness and survival, in this study we examined how this phenomenon has been researched in the social sciences literature and, in turn, offered a more refined conceptual definition and framework that will direct fut…
Testing the Ideology of Openness: The Comparative Effects of Talking, Writing, and Avoiding a Stressor on Rumination and Health
A persistent assumption across the psychological literature is that talking and writing about one's stress is inherently more beneficial than avoiding it. This study compared the effects of these stress management strategies on personal and relational health. Two hundred and fifty-one dating individuals focused on a stressor that was a current source of rumination. Writing about one's stressor for 5 consecutive days (without talking about it) dec…
The Aftermath of #BlackGirlsRock vs. #WhiteGirlsRock: Considering the DisRespectability of a Black Women’s Counterpublic
This study considers the failed attempts at unifying Black women with Black men and white women after the #BlackGirlsRock mantra was criticized on social media in 2013. I examine the discursive labor of a Black women’s counterpublic in an online comments section and argue that its constituents rejected the behavioral expectations of harmony and decorum in favor of agitation, disrespectability, and ratchetness (Cooper, 2012a Cooper, B. (2012a, Jan…
Revisiting Attribution Theory: Toward a Critical Feminist Approach for Understanding Attributions of Blame
Heeding the necessary call for interpersonal communication research to be theorized and conducted from a more critical perspective, we employ feminist standpoint theory as a critical tool for reading attribution theory. Specifically, we examine social positionality as an essential aspect of the attribution process and identify how oppressive power structures (macro-level) and a critical consciousness of one’s social positionality (micro-level) im…
Analyzing Divorce from Cultural and Network Approaches
Analyzing divorce from cultural and network approaches
Because of the high divorce rate and subsequent outpouring of research on divorce in the United States and other Westernized countries, divorce is often framed from an individualistic perspective as a process that is negotiated between two individuals - as 'his and her divorce. 'A primary assumption is that the spouses negotiate what is best for them and their children, seemingly irrespective of extended kin or culture. This study provides a more…
"You Need to Stop Talking About This!": Verbal Rumination and the Costs of Social Support
This study examined whether the type of support individuals receive when they are verbally ruminating affects their cognitive rumination (brooding), anxiety, and relationship satisfaction; 233 young adults were randomly assigned to be the subject, 233 others the confederate. The confederate was trained to provide “good support” or “poor support” to the subject who talked about a topic he/she had been verbally ruminating about recently. When indiv…
The “Strong Black Woman Collective”: A Developing Theoretical Framework for Understanding Collective Communication Practices of Black Women
The “Strong Black Woman” ideal is a long-established image in U.S. society placing pressures on Black American women to maintain a façade of strength, self-sufficiency, and resilience. This article advances the Strong Black Woman Collective (SBWC) as a developing standpoint framework for analyzing the complexities associated with embodiment, communication, and regulation of strength among groups of Black women. While reinforcing such behaviors as…
In the Wake of the Great Recession: Economic Uncertainty, Communication, and Biological Stress Responses in Families
Journal Article In the Wake of the Great Recession: Economic Uncertainty, Communication, and Biological Stress Responses in Families Get access Tamara Afifi, Tamara Afifi 1Department of Communication Studies, University of Iowa, IA 52240, USA, 1Corresponding author: Tamara Afifi; Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Sharde Davis, Sharde Davis 1Department of Communication Studies, University of Iowa, IA 52240, U…
The theory of resilience and relational load
Resilience is one of the most profound constructs across disciplines. Yet, the largely atheoretical nature of the research on resilience continues to make it elusive. A new theory of stress and resilience in close relationships—the theory of resilience and relational load ( TRRL )—is advanced to fill this void in the literature. The theory bridges communicative, perceptual, and physiological aspects of stress within the context of social relation…
The United States of wealth: The communicative construction of master and counter narratives of prosperity in the aftermath of the Great Recession
During the Great Recession, discourses of what constituted prosperity flooded the global landscape. The concept of prosperity became a prominent master narrative that dictated the ways families operated and made decisions. The goal of this study was to examine how 82 married couples experiencing economic uncertainty in California (re)negotiated their family narratives of wealth and prosperity in the wake of the Great Recession. The findings revea…
Testing the Ideology of Openness: The Comparative Effects of Talking, Writing, and Avoiding a Stressor on Rumination and Health
A persistent assumption across the psychological literature is that talking and writing about one's stress is inherently more beneficial than avoiding it. This study compared the effects of these stress management strategies on personal and relational health. Two hundred and fifty-one dating individuals focused on a stressor that was a current source of rumination. Writing about one's stressor for 5 consecutive days (without talking about it) dec…
The Aftermath of #BlackGirlsRock vs. #WhiteGirlsRock: Considering the DisRespectability of a Black Women’s Counterpublic
This study considers the failed attempts at unifying Black women with Black men and white women after the #BlackGirlsRock mantra was criticized on social media in 2013. I examine the discursive labor of a Black women’s counterpublic in an online comments section and argue that its constituents rejected the behavioral expectations of harmony and decorum in favor of agitation, disrespectability, and ratchetness (Cooper, 2012a Cooper, B. (2012a, Jan…
When sistahs support sistahs: A process of supportive communication about racial microaggressions among Black women
This study extends a rich line of research on racial microaggressions (Sue, 2010) by examining the way friendship networks of Black women communicate support to a targeted individual. Groups of Black women friends (n = 52) engaged in supportive discussions about racial microaggressions by white women perpetrators, and a research team of Black women inductively analyzed the supportive encounters. The findings indicated that groups engaged in a two…
The Strong Black Woman Collective Theory: Determining the Prosocial Functions of Strength Regulation in Groups of Black Women Friends†
The “strong Black woman” is a controlling image that pressures Black women to maintain a façade of strength. The Strong Black Woman Collective Theory (Davis, 2015) posits that Black women reappropriate the image and regulate strength in each other to promote solidarity within the group and confront external hostilities collectively. This study tests the theory by examining how 52 Black women’s friendship groups communicate support about a racial …
Transformation or Assimilation? Examining Identity and Organizational Tensions at Full Figured Fashion Week
Full Figured Fashion Week (FFFWeek) is a week-long event envisioned to be a countervailing force that challenges traditional body standards in the US fashion industry, showcasing plus-sized models and offering a safe space for fat bodies to commune and patronize plus size vendors. However, two years of participant observations with a critical lens has revealed how FFFWeek employed organizational decisions that demonstrate the complicated context …
Widening the gap: Support gaps in same race versus different race female friendship dyads
Women frequently turn to other women for support to cope with stressors. The support they receive, however, is often not what they need or even expect from a friend. Based upon differences in racial backgrounds, this study tests whether the racial composition of female friendship dyads influences the experience of support gaps, or discrepancies among the types and amount of support women need, expect, and receive, as well as the outcomes associat…
Transfiguring Theaters for Disrespectable Leisure: An Ethnography on Black Womxn’s Ratchet Performances in Movie Showings of Girls Trip
This ethnographic study considers how Black womxn audiences collectively negotiated the politics of respectability in the movie theater, anecdotally referred to as cinema etiquette, in showings of the film Girls Trip. Data were collected in two local theaters in a Northeastern city using field interviews, follow-up telephone interviews, and participant observation. Findings revealed that Black womxn audiences (from various age groups) embodied an…
Writing Ourselves into Existence
Academia can be a hostile environment for Black women. Our research team leveraged Black feminist research praxis to produce new knowledge countering conceptions of Black women students and faculty as people who are unintelligent, produce superfluous work, and worthy of being ignored. In order to locate spaces for healing, mentorship, and validation, we engaged in a collaborative autoethnography to co-narrate our experiences while conducting a st…
Revisiting Attribution Theory: Toward a Critical Feminist Approach for Understanding Attributions of Blame
Heeding the necessary call for interpersonal communication research to be theorized and conducted from a more critical perspective, we employ feminist standpoint theory as a critical tool for reading attribution theory. Specifically, we examine social positionality as an essential aspect of the attribution process and identify how oppressive power structures (macro-level) and a critical consciousness of one’s social positionality (micro-level) im…
Black Women at War: A Comprehensive Framework for Research on the Strong Black Woman
The “strong Black woman” image has historically served as a justification for Black women’s oppression. While the image persists as a measure of control, it also serves as a powerful agent for Black women’s survival in an oppressive world. The seemingly contradictory nature of this image has put scholars in a position to shift the framing of strength to consider its functionality. As a point of intervention, this conceptual review advances a comp…
Marital Status, Gender, and Race in The U.S: Perceptions of Middle-Aged Men and Women
A handful of studies conducted in the 1980s and 1990s find that undergraduate students perceive unmarried people less favorably than married people. The present research describes two experimental studies that revisit and extend this work by examining the extent to which perceptions of singles depend on marital history, gender, and race, both of which employ a more diverse sample of Americans via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Black Americans …
Considering Social Identity Threat Alongside the Health Belief Model to Examine Mask-Wearing Intentions of Black, Latinx, and Asian Individuals in the U.S. During Covid-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. public health officials have recommended various safety protocols to "stop the spread", and atop the list is wearing a mask. Individuals from particular racial groups have also contended with a surge of racial profiling and race-based discrimination that has positioned mask-wearing as a risky yet health-promoting behavior. Using the health belief model (HBM), this study considers how racism and health intersect …
Talking with My Sistahs: Examining Discussions About HIV Risk and Prevention Outcomes Within Black Women Sistah Circles
Black women's health is in a state of crisis. Though Black women make up roughly 12% of the US population, they account for 66% of new HIV cases. One understudied barrier to Black women's sexual health is their communication about the topic of HIV with others and proclivity to dismiss HIV-related information based on self-exemption. Using a group-centered approach called the "sistah circle," this study examines group gatherings of Black women to …
An Integrative Review of Sistah Circles in Empirical Research
Sistah circles are spaces shared by Black women who share similar goals, exchange resources (e.g., support), and invest in developing strong relational bonds over time. Considering the significance of sistah circles for Black women's wellness and survival, in this study we examined how this phenomenon has been researched in the social sciences literature and, in turn, offered a more refined conceptual definition and framework that will direct fut…
Dialogue on difference: Greater regard for academic freedom
Navigating Healthcare as a Woman of Color With Autoimmune Disease: Intersectional Dilemmas in Patient–Provider Interactions
Women of color with autoimmune disease experience communicative dilemmas at the intersection of their triply minoritized (i.e., ethnic-racial, gender, and illness) identities during interactions with their healthcare providers (HCPs), which shape their care. Sensitized by intersectionality and normative rhetorical theory (NRT), the present study interrogates taken-for-granted assumptions reflected in HCPs’ communication, as recalled by 150 Black …
Sistah Scholars-hip: A Black Feminist Epistemology Praxis for Black Women Researching Black Women
Building upon Black feminist epistemology (BFE), we present “Sistah Scholars-hip,” which is a praxis-based derivative of BFE that aims to promote the study of Black women by shifting BFE from theory to practice for Black women scholars (referred to as “Sistah Scholars”). In the current paper, we detail the four relational domains in which Sistah Scholars can exemplify key tenets of BFE; these relational domains include self and ideas, participant…
Psychology (15 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Political science (10 works) · Gender Studies (9 works) · Social Psychology (7 works) · Black women (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Art (5 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (5 works)