Black Women’s Co-Mentoring Relationships as Resistance to Marginalization at a PWI

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In this chapter Baldwin and Johnson argue that co-mentoring, which they define as a type of non-hierarchal partnership, is a successful strategy that black women at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) can utilize to resist marginalization. As they recount their own personal experiences in and outside of the academy dealing with microaggressions and exclusion, they underscore the influence of critical race theory, and black and transnational feminist theorizing in their journey toward this more egalitarian style of mentorship. In sharing their experiences and approaches to co-mentoring, Baldwin and Johnson provide methods for how black women at PWIs can benefit by developing similar relationships through authentic conversations. One of the main benefits, they posit, is the creation of counterspaces that lead to mutual empowerment.