Abstract: Mothering In the Margins: Othermothering, Institutional Extraction, and Mental Health Among Black Women Faculty (Society for Social Work and Research 31st Annual Conference)

Schedule:

Sunday, January 24, 2027

Golden Gate 6 (Hilton San Francisco Union Square)

* noted as presenting author

Sharlene Allen-Milton, PhD, Associate Professor, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD

Clarissa Madison, MSW, Doctoral Student, Walden University, Minneapolis, MN

Jocelyn Taliaferro, PhD, Professor & Interim Department Chair, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD

Background and Purpose:
This study examines how Black women faculty navigate othermothering, institutional expectations, and mental health within higher education, advancing the concept of care as both cultural practice and institutional infrastructure.

Methods:
In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 Black women faculty across institutional contexts. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis grounded in intersectionality, womanism, and Black feminist thought, with an inductive approach to theme development.

Results:
Three interrelated themes emerged: (1) mental health strain and boundary erosion; (2) othermothering as both a cultural ethic and institutional expectation; and (3) institutional extraction, where emotional and relational labor is relied upon but not formally recognized. Participants described the cumulative impact of sustaining both familial and institutional communities.

Conclusions and Implications:
Findings reconceptualize care work as a structural component of institutional functioning rather than an informal expectation. Implications include the need for policy and workload reforms that formally recognize and redistribute relational labor.