Factores de riesgo asociados al ambiente:

To this point, I addressed each research question that revealed themes from the interviews and autoethnography. Conducting the final zoom-in on the themes, two exceptional occurrences surface. As Chang (2008) contends, exceptional occurrences are points of data not expected by the researcher that “change a course of life and make major impacts” (p. 133). Two themes of

non-Black allies and stated significance emerged that changed my perspective of sister circles and how I approached the study.

Non-Black Allies. Six of the fifteen participants explicitly mentioned how BWA must not only carve out a space for their Blackness with other Black women, but must be open to the usefulness and positive benefits of non-Black allies. Clara expressed amazement at how a White male teacher helped her in graduate school. She said:

I failed the first test and I cried because I never scored that low on a test and this was a Caucasian teacher. And so I went to him and I talked to him and I told him I have never scored that low on test before. So this is my first semester. He told me, he said, ‘I see that you're trying to constantly come to my office and say I'm going to throw that first test out and see how you’re doing on the rest of the test.’ So you know, I was just amazed, you know, normally you wouldn't think that from another race. I was so amazed you know, a lot of that was very helpful to me (July 17, 2018).

White male allies were named more frequently as gatekeepers of information and acquisition of resources. Nubia stated, “I had a White male chair who was very supportive of me. He was a really decent person that really cared. He made a point to show me the ropes of the institution.” Whereas Storm offered a deeper explanation of how a White male helped her advance her career:

The most beneficial it's going to be the White male allies as far as career advantages. However, if I didn't have my informal network, I don't know if I could, I could be as good as I am doing the, you know, doing my job and I say that because I'm not going to the White male allies venting or complaining about my journal article being Whitewashed by an editor. I'm going to my Black folks, felony disenfranchisement is racist and they don't mean to like the article and I don't want to change it, but I need it published you know, I think like I said, the White male allies were the most beneficial to, to catapult me (July 20, 2018). White allies proved to be beneficial within sister circles, and these resources and benefits are just as substantial. Denise and Ramanda both noted that they had White females as part of

their sister circles. The idea of mistrust resurfaced as Ramanda stated, “I think we must do a cross cultural collaboration. My dean and fellow faculty member are both White women. Do I trust them? And are they in my circle, absolutely. I trust them in my circle. But they had to earn that trust.” Denise expanded on the idea of supportive trust that members of her sister circle offered during a difficult period of her career:

As I said, all skin folk ain’t kinfolk and they really can make it difficult for you. The administrative assistant in my department took me under her wing and she was very, very supportive of me. And I'll be honest with you, the people that were in my department were so supportive. Again I was the only Black person there. One of my White female friends let me stay in her house for nine months due to the hurricane. She was like, ‘you can stay here.’ I don't want you to pay anything. She offered me a place to stay when I had no other options for my family.

Because of this she and my former student came to my wedding, the two White folks there. Yes, you have to have Black women to have a strong sister circle, but also be open to getting some advice from others that may not look like you. Do not assume they aren't supportive of you, like don't automatically shut them out because they're, you know, you all don't see or share the same race for me. They helped me in more ways that I could ever imagine (August 15, 2018).

Stated Significance. Seven of the fifteen women offered unsolicited comments of

encouragement and statements about their perception of the significance of my study. Ramanda stated at the beginning of the interview, “Well, what you're doing is so important and we talk about it and we come around it, but we're not attending to it in a collective way. And so you're creating this and I'm just so excited.” The sentiments of appreciation were echoed by Thunda, Lightening, and Felicity. Nubia interjected early in her interview stating, “I've been thinking about your study and I know it's going to be good and I can't wait to read it. I am proud of you.” The most encouraging occurrence came from River. Her remarks she personified my intended significance of the study by saying “I do think that this is a viable research that you are doing because it is something that doesn't necessarily outright said. It is information we need to know

and don’t know we need to know. You are giving us a space to create the information that really helps us out.”