"Preserve Your Energy!": Women of Color Undergraduates Navigating Activism and Emotional Labor.
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| Title: | "Preserve Your Energy!": Women of Color Undergraduates Navigating Activism and Emotional Labor. |
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| Authors: | Hernandez Rivera, Stephanie (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Journal of Higher Education. 2026, Vol. 97 Issue 3, p431-459. 29p. |
| Subjects: | Women of color, Emotional labor, Racialization, Higher education, Critical race theory, Identity politics, Student activism |
| Abstract: | Existing empirical works on student activists/advocates highlight a myriad of challenges students face. These challenges are further complicated for Women of Color (WoC) who navigate institutional contexts that are dismissive and outright hostile to racially marginalized women. Existing scholarship directly examining the experiences of WoC student activists/advocates provides insight into the barriers WoC students face in creating more equitable and inclusive environments. These vary from navigating peers and administrators that are resistant, to spaces and organizations that approach inclusion through a single-identity approach. Woven into these narratives is the emotional impact of WoC activist/advocate engagement; however, the emotions that WoC navigate are largely under-explored. This critical race feminist study then explores the experiences of WoC undergraduate students engaged in activism/advocacy at a predominantly White institution. Using critical cultural methodologies/methods, such as plática (Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016) and sista circles (L. S. Johnson, 2015), I examine how oppressive power dynamics are reinforced in these interactions through participants' employment of emotional labor (Hochschild, 1983). Deductive analysis of data pieces yield three themes across participants' experiences: Pressured to Engage in Emotional Labor, Pressured to Sacrifice Authenticity, and Resisting Exploitation, which are further explained and interpreted through the lens of emotional labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
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| Abstract: | Existing empirical works on student activists/advocates highlight a myriad of challenges students face. These challenges are further complicated for Women of Color (WoC) who navigate institutional contexts that are dismissive and outright hostile to racially marginalized women. Existing scholarship directly examining the experiences of WoC student activists/advocates provides insight into the barriers WoC students face in creating more equitable and inclusive environments. These vary from navigating peers and administrators that are resistant, to spaces and organizations that approach inclusion through a single-identity approach. Woven into these narratives is the emotional impact of WoC activist/advocate engagement; however, the emotions that WoC navigate are largely under-explored. This critical race feminist study then explores the experiences of WoC undergraduate students engaged in activism/advocacy at a predominantly White institution. Using critical cultural methodologies/methods, such as plática (Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016) and sista circles (L. S. Johnson, 2015), I examine how oppressive power dynamics are reinforced in these interactions through participants' employment of emotional labor (Hochschild, 1983). Deductive analysis of data pieces yield three themes across participants' experiences: Pressured to Engage in Emotional Labor, Pressured to Sacrifice Authenticity, and Resisting Exploitation, which are further explained and interpreted through the lens of emotional labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 00221546 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/00221546.2025.2488718 |
