Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

The Emergence of Racialized Labor and Racial Battle Fatigue in the African American Student Network (Afam)

Bibliographic Data

ID8070832
AuthorsTabitha Grier-Reed, Tabitha Grier‐Reed (0000-0002-1374-0089, corresponding author), Alyssa E Maples (0009-0004-0445-1690), Alyssa Maples, Anne Williams-Wengerd (0000-0001-9850-5186), Demitri McGee
Year2020
Volume6
Issue2
Pages94-135
Publication date2020-11-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJCSCORE (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2642-2387
PublisherUniversity of Oklahoma Libraries (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.15763/issn.2642-2387.2020.6.2.95-135
OpenAlexW3102072968
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited41

Although little may be new with respect to the lived experience of racialized labor for People of Color navigating whiteness and white spaces, this study is the first to identify racialized labor in everyday life. Adapting consensual qualitative research methods to a phenomenological frame, we examined 277 notes summarizing weekly discussions in the African American Student Network (AFAM) over a 13-year time period. Co-facilitated by Black faculty and graduate students, AFAM was a space for Black undergraduates to make meaning of their experiences and find community on campus. We defined racialized labor as the ongoing process of navigating hostile environments steeped in a white racial frame and identified six categories: (1) self-monitoring/self-policing; (2) flexing/making adjustments; (3) questioning; (4) affirming; (5) avoiding; and, (6) being the change or standing up for justice. Racial battle fatigue was one outcome of all the racialized labor—primarily anger, stress, frustration, hypervigilance, pressure, and exhaustion along with numbness, shock, sadness and disappointment. Both racialized labor and racial battle fatigue also occurred at the intersections of students’ lives in structural, political, and representational ways. Future studies that capture the ways in which racialized labor in everyday life is enacted by People of Color are needed. The ability to name racialized labor provides an important analytical tool for distinguishing the ongoing process of navigating racism from negative consequences such as racial battle fatigue. This line of research also has implications for creating spaces that facilitate racialized labor and wellbeing for Black people and People of Color

Anger · Battle · Racism · Sociology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Higher Education Research Studies · Psychology · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research · Gender Studies · History · Social Psychology

  • Investigating Racial Battle Fatigue Among Black College Students Using Photo-Elicitation Methodology

    Open Access•K J Mills, Stephen John Quaye et al.•Journal of Student Affairs…•2025

  • Person–Environment Fit and Retention of Racially Minoritized College Students

    Open Access•Alex A Ajayi, Lauren Mitchell et al.•Education Sciences•2021

  • Passing Down the Mic Signals Trustworthy Intersectional Allyship and Promotes Organizational Identity-Safety

    Open Access•Minh Duc Pham, Kimberly E Chaney•Social Psychological and…•2025

  • Structural Racism, Workforce Diversity, and Mental Health Disparities

    Open Access•Eric Kyere, Sadaaki Fukui•Journal of Racial and Ethnic…•2023

  • Taking Back the Narrative

    Open Access•Kelly F Jackson, Felicia M Mitchell et al.•Affilia•2022

  • Carrying the Weight of Campus Change

    Open Access•Eric R Felix, Carlos Galán et al.•The Journal of Higher Education•2024

  • Racial Battle Fatigue Among Black Undergraduates

    Open Access•K J Mills, Hannah L Reyes et al.•The Journal of Higher Education•2026

  • From Antiblackness to Cultural Health in Higher Education

    Open Access•Tabitha Grier‐Reed, Roun Said et al.•Education Sciences•2021

  • Emerging into adulthood in the face of racial discrimination

    Open Access•Elan C Hope, Lori S Hoggard et al.•Translational Issues in…•2015

  • “Am I going crazy?!”

    Ryan Evely Gildersleeve, Natasha N Croom et al.•Equity & Excellence in Education•2011

  • Emotional Labor and Burnout

    Open Access•Da-Yee Jeung, Changsoo Kim et al.•Yonsei Medical Journal•2018

  • Target Article

    Richard G Tedeschi, Lawrence G Calhoun•Psychological Inquiry•2004

  • Racial microaggressions in everyday life

    Derald Wing Sue, Christina M Capodilupo et al.•American Psychologist•2007

  • Consensual qualitative research

    Clara E Hill, Sarah Knox et al.•Journal of Counseling Psychology•2005

  • The White Racial Frame

    Joe R Feagin, Kimberley Ducey•The white racial frame•2013

  • “Assume the Position . . . You Fit the Description”

    Open Access•W Alan Smith, William A Smith et al.•American Behavioral Scientist•2007

  • Black Feminist Thought

    Patricia Hill Collins•Black Feminist Thought•2013

  • Racial discrimination stress, coping, and depressive symptoms among Asian Americans

    Meifen Wei, P Paul Heppner et al.•Asian American Journal of…•2010

  • Uncompensated emotional labor, racial battle fatigue, and (in)civility in digital spaces

    Open Access•Apryl Williams, Z Lois Bryant et al.•Sociology Compass•2019

  • The Burden of Proof

    Open Access•Terrell L Strayhorn•Journal of African American Studies•2008

  • Organized anxiety

    W K Okello•Race Ethnicity and Education•2020

  • My strong, Black daughter

    Open Access•Linda A Oshin, Stephanie Milan•Cultural Diversity & Ethnic…•2018

  • There’s no place like home? African American women in the residence halls of a predominantly white Midwestern University

    Christina S Haynes•Gender and Education•2018

  • Race‐ing through the school day

    Michelle Jay•International Journal of…•2009

  • Trapped between justified anger and being the strong Black woman

    Nicola A Corbin, W Alan Smith et al.•International Journal of…•2018

  • I Stopped Sleeping”

    Open Access•Marcos Pizarro, Rita Kohli•Urban Education•2020

  • Un/Doing Intersectionality through Higher Education Research

    Jessica C Harris, Lori D Patton•The Journal of Higher Education•2018

  • A Guide to Conducting Consensual Qualitative Research

    Open Access•Clara E Hill, B J Thompson et al.•The Counseling Psychologist•1997

  • (En)Countering a White Racial Frame at a Predominantly White Institution

    Open Access•Tabitha Grier-Reed, Tabitha Grier‐Reed et al.•JCSCORE•2019

  • Mapping the Margins

    Kimberlé Crenshaw, Kimberlé W Crenshaw•Stanford Law Review•1991

  • Counterspaces

    Open Access•Andrew D Case, Carla D Hunter•American Journal of Community…•2012

  • Bicultural Socialization Experiences of Black Immigrant Students at a Predominantly White Institution

    Eunyoung Kim, Eunyoung Kim Eunyoung Kim•The Journal of Negro Education•2014

  • Critical Race Methodology

    Open Access•Daniel G Solorzano, Tara J Yosso•Qualitative Inquiry•2002

  • Racist Events and Individual Coping Styles as Predictors of African American Activism

    Open Access•Dawn M Szymanski•Journal of Black Psychology•2012

  • Racialized Equity Labor, University Appropriation and Student Resistance

    Open Access•Veronica Lerma, L T Hamilton et al.•Social Problems•2020

Unique citing works8
Citations per year1,6
Citation span2021 - 2026 (6)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 8
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae