About Me

About Patrice Berry

advocate. artist. believer. dancer. educator. feminist. lover. mentor. poet. scholar. student. vocalist. womanist. writer.

i am a ph.d student of urban education.

in a context where we have suffered both race and gender oppression, literature (and really art, in all its forms) has offered many black women a space through which we can write our own histories, explore our experiences, and create our own names and definitions. our creative productions attempt to humanize the images prevalent in popular texts so while personal, our art also has huge socio-political implications.  that art and expression are both personal and political is evidenced through what we communicate and how, but also in the way our narratives are treated by our audiences.

to be transparent, i am frustrated that so few spaces exist where black females can display the range of our experiences and emotions – rage and loss, love, desire and even aspiration – without our being reduced to some misguided interpretation of who we are, and/or what we want as black women.  no single narrative or group of representations should speak for an entire population, yet within popular (and dominant) discourses some experiences count for naming “me,” and others don’t. there exists a hierarchy of experiences and artistic performances, that guides “the black female narrative.” this blog is my attempt to narrate my experiences, name myself, and define it in a way that represents all of me.

i want freedom and justice for everyone. and this is a part of that war that is especially personal to me. part of my fight against oppression and injustice involves my commitment to building critical consciousness. to helping young people intervene in (and disrupt) conversations about them, which they are often alienated from. and to interrogating the ways people talk about and represent young people, and other marginalized groups.

i’d love to hear from you! comment or to connect with me via email:  patrice.berry@gmail.com.