THE POLITICALIZATION OF BLACK HAIR
This research paper "unpacks the process by which black hair is entangled in a distinctly American conflict around power and status. For many blacks, their hair is an access point to a culture that is endemic to blackness. In some ways, it is the only thing that a group of people who were stripped of their identity, have left to grasp onto.
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research + revision and redrafting
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NAVIGATING THE RESPECTABILITY POLITICS OF HAIR SCARVES AND DURGAS
ULWR: In the bedrooms of black Americans across the US, men and women engage in the cultural ritual of wearing a hair scarf to bed. For men, this is usually a nylon durag or skull cap. For women, it’s a silk or satin scarf. This ritual takes place to preserve the naturally curly, artificially straight or styled, nature of their hair. While this practice happens behind closed doors, many black Americans wear these hair coverings publicly, deconstructing the line between private and public. The meaning of this form of self-presentation intersects with the social, political, and economic status of African Americans operating within a predominately white society.
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research
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GENDERED AND RACIALIZED BODY IMAGE CONCEPTUALIZATION AMONG BLACK FEMALE COLLEGE STUDENTS
ULWR: This article seeks to further understand how black women make meaning of the black female body in light of their understanding of dominant ideologies about body image. Black women have multidimensional understandings of their own body as agentic individuals existing within a legacy of racial and sexist oppression. My research relies on qualitative interviews of African American women attending a predominately white, liberal arts university. GSI feedback fueled the revision process. Redrafting was a form of active learning, as students sought to emulate, and consequently comprehend the generic conventions of a research article. 

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revision / redrafting
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CATHARSIS
An evolution of my collegiate writing.
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reflective
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