Kimya P. Barden is an Assistant Professor of Inner City Studies Education at Chicago’s Northeastern Illinois University. Trained as a social worker, her research focuses on collective trauma and its impact on the African American community. In addition, she is committed to launching innovative community-based programs which focus on cultivating positive ethnic identity development for Chicago youth. Her most recent publication explores critical consciousness among marginalized students.
Abstract: I am a 30-something year old African American woman who recently gave birth to her fourth child. I have a PhD in Social Work, work as an assistant professor at a state university in Chicago, and am preparing for tenure during the Fall 2018 semester. Accordingly, as I embark upon motherhood the fourth time around, I am filled with both happiness and deep reflection on Black mothers broadly, and “academic” Black mothers in particular. Thus, this is an introspective paper which both interrogates the historical archetypes of Black womanhood and celebrates my journey as a mother of four.
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