Deconstructing Racial Battle Fatigue
Submission Type
Event
Faculty Advisor
Marie Nebel-Schwalm
Expected Graduation Date
2020
Location
Center for Natural Sciences
Start Date
4-4-2020 2:00 PM
End Date
4-4-2020 3:00 PM
Disciplines
Education | Psychiatry and Psychology
Abstract
Racial battle fatigue has been defined as “the psychological, emotional, physiological, energy, and time related cost of fighting against racism,” (p. 298; Smith, 2008); however, its implications have been difficult to measure. Originating from research on African-Americans in predominantly white institutions (Smith, 2004), it has since been expanded to all genders and other racial and ethnic minorities (Smith, 2008). The features and impact of this construct have been described in some other sources without the term “racial battle fatigue,” such as “racial minority stress,” the impact of “racial micro-aggressions,” and “race-based social stress,” (Levy et al., 2016), making it difficult to synthesize relevant information. The present review attempts to address what is currently known about racial battle fatigue and its related concepts, specifically with a focus on Black women.
Deconstructing Racial Battle Fatigue
Center for Natural Sciences
Racial battle fatigue has been defined as “the psychological, emotional, physiological, energy, and time related cost of fighting against racism,” (p. 298; Smith, 2008); however, its implications have been difficult to measure. Originating from research on African-Americans in predominantly white institutions (Smith, 2004), it has since been expanded to all genders and other racial and ethnic minorities (Smith, 2008). The features and impact of this construct have been described in some other sources without the term “racial battle fatigue,” such as “racial minority stress,” the impact of “racial micro-aggressions,” and “race-based social stress,” (Levy et al., 2016), making it difficult to synthesize relevant information. The present review attempts to address what is currently known about racial battle fatigue and its related concepts, specifically with a focus on Black women.