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Author Bio

Stacey Chimimba Ault (she, her, dr.) is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Social Work at Sacramento State University. A community engaged scholar, Dr. Ault has over 25 years of experience working with children, youth and families; especially those most marginalized through exploitation and incarceration. Dr. Ault is a community leader, certified professional coach, and national speaker. Her research focuses on Critical Post Traumatic Growth and the intersections of Blackness, resistance, joy and healing. Dr. Ault is also founder/CEO of the Race and Gender Equity (RAGE) Project, uplifting individual and collective transformation through healing, education, advocacy and research. stacey.ault@csus.edu

Abstract

Both educational research and practices pay little attention to the experiences of girls related to trauma within the school-to-prison pipeline. Educators typically take a deficit approach toward youth experiencing trauma and often reinforce trauma through discriminatory and exclusionary disciplinary practices. Using a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) methodology centered in the authentic experiences of Black girls, with an intentional focus on their agency and growth, I conducted a research study that educated, coached, and supported a research team collectively known as Queens Speak. This research explored the emerging, explanatory conceptual framework of Critical Post-Traumatic Growth. This framework combines Critical Race Theory and Post-Traumatic Growth, highlighting eight tenets that can be used as a lens to both explore and increase the growth among Black girls. These tenets are: context, identity, struggle, resistance, navigation, community, voice and hope. Drawing from this framework, this article examines educational justice through the eyes of Black high school femmes: cis, trans and gender fluid girls who developed a research team to explore and share their lived experiences. It focuses specifically on the growth exhibited by Queens Speak during and after the YPAR project.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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