A Research Project, Not a Program: Culture of Care in Photovoice Research with Black Girls

Thais Council; LeAnna T.  Luney; Amica  Snow; Haley  Brents; Tiffany  Clark

doi:10.29333/ejecs/2135

Authors

Thais Council University of Kentucky https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6198-6841
LeAnna T. Luney https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9903-1135
Amica Snow https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3437-8470
Haley Brents https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8425-7182
Tiffany Clark https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3066-1734

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/2135

Keywords:

Black girls, Photovoice, Care, American South, Talking back

Abstract

Black girls in Kentucky are hyper-minoritized. This marker gives others the notion that Black girls are abnormal, in need of programming, and incapable of narrating their own existence. The D.O.P.E. Black Girl Research Collective—an intergenerational, interdisciplinary research collective comprised of community-centered researchers at the University of Kentucky, Berea College, and the Lexington Housing Authority – conducted an 18-month Photovoice research study alongside Black girls in central Kentucky to examine how and in what ways Black girls define their lives in a post-2020 climate—that is, after the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery amidst the explosion of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using bell hooks’ “talking back” framing, this paper outlines a Photovoice methodological approach to conducting research by, for, and with Black girls pushed to the margins in a Southern locale. Our collective research revealed the distinct ways in which Black girls “talk back” while sustaining a culture of collective care.

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Author Biographies

Thais Council, University of Kentucky

Thais Council is an interdisciplinary, critical, community-engaged scholar in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky. Her scholarship concerns race, place, and power as linchpins in literacy policy and instruction.

LeAnna T. Luney

LeAnna Luney is an assistant professor of African and African American Studies at Berea College, and Project Director of The FREE Zion Project (Freedom-Dreaming Rural Education Empowerment in Zion). Her scholarship centralizes Black girls’, womxn’s, and femmes’ lived experiences in educational institutions using theoretical and praxis-driven frameworks of Black feminism and decolonization.

Amica Snow

Amica Snow is a native of Lexington, Kentucky and a graduate of Tates Creek High School where she graduated with an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, a 4.9 GPA, and at the top 10 percent of her class. As a research assistant at the University of Kentucky, her research interests are diversity, inclusion, and educational equity.

Haley Brents

Haley Brents graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2022 and is currently a Special Education teacher in Fayette County Public Schools. As she continues to plant roots, she plans to continue her advocacy and scholarship in community-based research, outreach, and special education.

Tiffany Clark

Tiffany Clark is a Manager Specialist for the Lexington Housing Authority. She recently joined the community fight against gun violence after her son, Zion, was murdered in 2022. Her involvement with the survivor's group led by Chief Kathy Witt of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department has given her a voice in the Lexington community. She chooses not to call herself a community leader, but a dedicated survivor, a mother determined to be the voice of her son.

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