Black Gaze

Dr. Porcher and Dr. Bertrand invite co-host, Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz to discuss radical Black Self Love and Healing.  She discusses the way her new book, Love from the Vortex and Other Poems, is the manifestation of her radical Black Self Love and Healing. We have a critical conversation about how we must love ourselves deeply and become critically conscious about the trauma we have experienced in learning to love ourselves and others.  This work has to begin with self and Dr. Sealey-Ruiz provides the blueprint about how we begin the journey. To learn more about her work and to purchase her new book, please visit: https://www.yolandasealeyruiz.com

Dr. Bertrand and Dr. Porcher invite their very first co-host, Dr. Betina Hsieh to discuss the solidarity needed between Blacks and Asians. We have a critical conversation about anti-Blackness in the Asian community.  Dr. Hsieh provides historical information about the experiences of Asian Americans and their similarities with Black Americans in the fight for freedom. Dr. Hsieh provides practical steps that Asian Americans can engage in to stand in solidarity with Black Americans. We are stronger together. None of us are free until all of us are free.  

In this episode, Dr. Porcher and Dr. Bertrand invite Black preservice teachers to share their reasons for entering the teaching profession, their experiences in white-dominated teacher preparation programs, and the Impact of COVID-19 as they prepare to enter the classroom.  This episode elevates their narratives and pushes us all into action to ensure that we understand the history of Black teachers and make changes in our teacher preparation programs to ensure that they are welcomed, supported, and cultivated. 

In this episode, Dr. Bertrand and Dr. Porcher discuss the history of the Black Teacher Shortage. The Black Lives Matter at School movement is demanding that we increase the number of Black teachers in our schools, which we totally agree with. However, it is important that we understand what happened to Black teachers after desegregation, and what we must do in teacher preparation programs and K-12 classrooms, to welcome, support, and retain them. 

In this episode, Dr. Porcher and Dr. Bertrand utilize the O.G.'s Fannie Lou Hamer (Ti-Ti Fannie Lou),  Dr. Martin Luther King (Brother King), Toni Morrison (Ti-Ti Toni) and James Baldwin (Uncle Jimmie), to make sense of the current state of the United States during the uprisings. Most importantly, we create space to demonstrate that Black Lives Matter Periodt! We created this episode for the healing and liberation of folks! Let's get free! 

Fannie Lou Hamer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhu_uxRR2og

Dr. Martin Luther King: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ph5g0jb8cE

Toni Morrison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EQcy361vB8

James Baldwin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO2kwzJ_Zg4

In this episode, discover how Dr. Bertrand and Dr. Porcher conceptualize Surviving vs. Thriving in the Black community. They make connections to the work of Dr. Dena Simmons and Dr. Bettina Love, by exploring the connections between post-traumatic stress disorder, Black respectability politics, and anti-Blackness. They provide preaching points about how Black people shift from surviving to thriving, by supporting ALL Black people at every stage and level. 

In this episode, discover the meaning of Imposter Syndrome. Dr. Bertrand and Dr. Porcher share their personal experiences with imposter syndrome, its impact upon the Black community, and how to address it. The term “imposter syndrome” was coined by psychologists Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes in 1978 to describe an “internal experience of intellectual phoniness in people who believe that they are not intelligent, capable or creative despite evidence of high achievement.”

In this episode, discover how Dr. Porcher and Dr. Bertrand developed their personal sister circle, the history of sister circles in the Black community, and advice for developing your own sister circle. [Sister circles are support groups that build upon existing friendships, fictive kin networks, and the sense of community found among African Americans females. Originally embedded in the Black club movement (Giddings 1984), sister circles have been a vital part of Black female life for the last 150 years.