Women of Color and Rest

Jasmine Abukar, PhD, Multicultural and Equity Studies

Jasmine Abukar earned a PhD in the Multicultural and Equity Studies program in the College of Education at Ohio State. Jessica Rivera interviewed Jasmine to learn more about her research on women of color graduate students and rest.

Jessica: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey to OSU?

Jasmine: I’m originally from the Hartford, Connecticut area and I went to college at Fairfield University. That was a really big culture shock for me because I came from a working-class community that was mostly made up of Black families from the Caribbean. My high school was about 95% Black students, so going to a predominantly white, religious private college in a very wealthy area was a huge shift. That experience helped me understand marginalization and how wealth, whiteness and religion are all intertwined. It motivated me to want to create a change in educational systems. So, I decided to get into higher education and student affairs.

How did you become interested in research on rest?

Academia is exhausting and there's many reasons for that. In the US, we live in a productivity culture. Our culture around work, efficiency, and production is very different from other places in the world, especially in academia. When you add the education field on top of that, a helping field, there’s an inherent guilt when you’re unavailable to help others. This especially affects women of color, who are often socialized to care and must work twice as hard as their white and male counterparts to be successful. Additionally, culture also adds another component, especially those from Latinx communities. Many narratives in our culture center women sacrificing to make things possible. Looking at women around me makes me realize this isn't sustainable for any of us. We’re all miserable in our programs and completely burnt out. And when we're not, many of us go back home to support our families. Experiencing this motivated my research. I couldn't stop thinking about what happens when we make our work, whether it's for school or for our family, the center of our lives. What happens when we make space for ourselves?

What are some of the key findings from your study?

I focused on Black and Latina women in PhD programs, and some of the findings indicate that nobody has an awesome time. This is unfortunate because many people are optimistic when they enter PhD programs. But it can be difficult, since the academic environment is often hostile in overt and hidden ways. Another major finding is that there’s a paradox of how women feel about rest. There’s desire to want to rest, but then there’s also guilt and shame: “what if my family doesn't feel cared for?” and “What if I'm missing out on an opportunity that could elevate my career?” So, there's this duality and there's a lot of shame around it. One of the promising findings is that when women do rest it means different things. Sometimes rest is going for a walk or shutting off work and watching Netflix. When we do rest, we feel rejuvenated, refreshed, and empowered to continue. We feel more readily available to say no to things that don't serve us. To share that message with other women is a beautiful thing.

Do you have any insights or resources on rest that you can share with our readers?

To prioritize yourself is selfish but isn’t necessarily bad. Thinking about the Puerto Rican culture I grew up in, a lot of Latinx cultures think similarly: individualization isn’t common, you’re a part of your community, you're a part of your ancestors, you’re part of your family, and your role is a part of something bigger. I do think that that's an important value. But something we can learn from US culture is that it’s also important to focus on yourself. Especially as women, because we’ve been taught to put our needs second or third or fourth. So, an insight is that selfishness isn’t always a bad thing. It's all about finding balance. In terms of resources, there are many rest advocates on social media. The Nap Ministry is a big one that's rooted in Black American theology, but there are many self-care advocates under #rest. Another insight is that there isn’t one way to rest. Whatever puts your mind and heart at ease is something you should be doing to cultivate peace. If that means painting, traveling or just sitting quietly by yourself, there's no shame because it's a part of an exploration process.

Headshot Jasmine Abukar