Contesting the Terrain of the Ivory Tower: Spiritual Leadership of African American Women in the Academy

by Garner; Rochelle

• ISBN13: 9780415947985
• ISBN10: 0415947987
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-02-25
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This study examines the leadership of three African-American women administrators in higher education, and how they have used their spirituality as a lens to lead in the academy. The central questions in this case study include: How do African-American women make meaning of their spiritual selves in their everyday leadership practices? How does their spirituality influence their work and the type of relationships they develop with others in the academy? What are the ways in which these three women have used their spirituality as a lens to lean, and how dies this leadership impact the social, cultural and political construct of a male-dominated arena?

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	ix
SETTING THE CONTEXT	xi
CHAPTER 1 When and Where We Enter the Academy: Telling (Her)Story	3	(20)
Research Purpose	4	(1)
Definition of Spirituality	4	(1)
Socio-Historical Framework of African-American Women	5	(3)
Empowering Resistance in the Academy	8	(2)
Stony the Road We Trod: A Brief History of Higher Education for African Americans and the Experiences of African-American Women	10	(2)
We'll Let Nobody Turn Us around: Three Women Exemplars from Our Past	12	(9)
Looking toward the Future	21	(2)
CHAPTER 2 Surveying the Literature	23	(14)
Leadership Theory	25	(3)
Feminist/Womanist Theory	28	(3)
Spiritual Theories	31	(6)
CHAPTER 3 Methodology	37	(10)
Data and Analysis	42	(1)
Selection of Participants	43	(1)
Interview Process	43	(1)
Research Design	44	(1)
Analysis	45	(2)
CHAPTER 4 Flat-Footed Truths: Telling Black Women's Lives	47	(16)
Adjuoa	48	(4)
Jewel	52	(5)
Chaka	57	(6)
CHAPTER 5 The Soul of My Sisters: Talkin' and Testifyin'	63	(16)
Theme One: Spiritually Guided Leadership through Servanthood	64	(3)
Theme Two: A Call to Consciousness in Everyday Practice: Exercising an Ethic of Care	67	(5)
Theme Three: Spiritually Guided Leadership for Social Justice	72	(4)
Theme Four: Leading beyond the Borders of Academe	76	(3)
CHAPTER 6 Still Lifting as We Climb	79	(16)
Theme One: Spiritually Guided Leadership through Servanthood	80	(2)
Theme Two: A Call to Consciousness in Everyday Practice: Exercising an Ethic of Care	82	(5)
Theme Three: Spiritually Guided Leadership for Social Justice	87	(3)
Theme Four: Leading beyond the Borders of Academe	90	(2)
Summary	92	(3)
CHAPTER 7 Our Spiritual Strivings	95	(8)
APPENDIX A: LETTER	103	(4)
NOTES	107	(10)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	117	(6)
INDEX	123