Date of Award
12-31-2025
Document Type
Campus Access Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Global Inclusion and Social Development
First Advisor
Shirley S. Tang
Second Advisor
Aminah Pilgrim
Third Advisor
Nada Ali
Abstract
The global representation of Black women in media has historically centered trauma and has been shaped by controlling images and harmful stereotypes. With the emergence of Instagram over a decade ago, however, Black women have increasingly used digital platforms as sites of self-definition, healing, and resistance. Within this digital landscape, hashtags such as #InMyHealingEra have been widely adopted and repurposed by Black women to articulate narratives of self-transformation and healing. Social media has thus become a space where marginalized communities share vulnerable stories that address embodied and generational trauma. For Black women, these narratives are grounded in an intersectional framework that recognizes how race, gender, culture, immigration, sexuality, and spirituality shape experiences of both oppression and healing. This study centers intersectional and embodied understandings of trauma by examining how Black women content creators engage holistic healing practices that attend to mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. The research draws on digital narratives curated by African American and Haitian women creators, acknowledging cultural and national differences while recognizing their shared racialization and exposure to the burdens of Black womanhood. Through intentional digital storytelling practices, including photos, videos, text, and audio, these content creators create new narratives of identity and womanhood that challenge dominant stereotypes such as the strong Black woman and poto mitan archetypes. Their stories operate as decolonial interventions, emphasizing that Black women are not monolithic and can be vulnerable, joyful, soft, and deserving of support and care. Grounded in digital Black feminist theory and praxis, this research explores how Black women use digital storytelling to disrupt stereotypes, address embodied and generational trauma, and mobilize collective healing. It argues that Black women’s vulnerability on social media is not merely a personal act of self-care but a political practice that reclaims narrative power and reshapes dominant understandings of Black womanhood.
Recommended Citation
Lazarre, Ashley, "#Inmyhealingera: Black Women Creating New Narratives and Representations of Their Identities and Womanhood on Instagram" (2025). Graduate Doctoral Dissertations. 1126.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/doctoral_dissertations/1126
Comments
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