Broome Library's March Black Scholars on Black Lives lecture features Dr. Shardé M. Davis. The ‘‘strong Black woman’’ ideal is a controlling image in U.S. society that places pressure on Black American women to maintain a facade of self-sufficiency, independence, and stoicism at all times and across their lifespan. Strength has historically been an insidious determinant of Black women’s degenerative well-being. However, it may also serve as a powerful agent for their survival in an oppressive world.  

In this guest lecture, Dr. Shardé M. Davis will discuss her communication theory, the Strong Black Woman Collective Theory (SBWC), which is one of the first frameworks to consider strength as an adaptive resource that helps Black women navigate discriminatory spaces, thereby shifting scholarly discussions about strength from good/bad to functional. She will discuss how Black women re-appropriate the dominant “strong Black woman” cultural image and employ certain communication behaviors to affirm “strength” in each other. By exhibiting these behaviors, Black women delineate a safe space to promote solidarity and pride within the group and confront oppressive forces from outside the group as a collective. While reinforcing such behaviors as a collective enables resistance against external hostilities and validates Black womanhood, it may also impede sharing vulnerability and emotionality. Implications and future directions for the SBWC theory will be discussed at the end, as well as connections to some of her other research on Black women’s communication and her work on the viral Twitter hashtag, #BlackintheIvory. 

Bio: Dr. Shardé M. Davis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Faculty Affiliate of various research institutes at the University of Connecticut. Her research examines the way Black women leverage communication in the sistah circle to invoke collective identity, erect and fortify the boundaries around their homeplace, and backfill the necessary resources to return to white/male dominant spaces in American society. These ideas have been published in over 40 peer-refereed articles and invited book chapters, and are best represented in her theory, The Strong Black Woman Collective. Her research was formally recognized with the 2018 American Postdoctoral Fellowship from the American Association of University Women and the 2019 Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. In addition to her program of research, Dr. Davis created the viral Twitter Hashtag #BlackintheIvory, which extended a timely opportunity for Blackademic TRUTHtellers to share personal instances (and engage in necessary conversations) about anti-Black racism in academia. She is also the inaugural recipient of the 2021-2022 Faculty of Color Working Group Fellowship funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to edit a new book for #BlackintheIvory that is set to publish in 2023 by the University of North Carolina Press. 

Book Giveaway: Book giveaway: 10 students will win copies ofDr. Davis's book choice, Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections of Race and Class for Women in Academia 

The University encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation, or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Disability Accommodations and Support Services at (805) 437-3331 or accommodations@csuci.edu as soon as possible, but no later than 7 business days prior to the event.