InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies

This study bridges scholarship on the topic of racial microaggressions and conceptions of body size in relation to gender by focusing on the lived experiences of Black fat women as they navigate academic settings. Previous literature on body size rarely accounts for how other social identities such as race, class, ability, and sexuality impact the particular manifestations of discrimination that is experienced. Further, literature on the experiences of marginalization due to body size primarily focuses on perceptions of health and beauty. Informed by Critical Race Theory, Black Feminism, and Fat Studies the narratives of three Black women who have completed their bachelor’s degree were captured through counterstorytelling, a methodology born out of Critical Race Theory to purposefully center the experiences of People of Color and directly challenge dominant and oppressive ideologies. This study presents the possibilities of how this reality represents a necessary facet of marginalization that should be further examined to deepen our awareness of the heterogeneity of Black people.