Dimensions of Thriving: Learning from Black LGBTQ+/SGL Moments, Spaces, and Practices

Dr. Kia Darling‐Hammond

In order for me to thrive as a person I need to be doing something that I love and be surrounded by people that I love and have a community that I can call my own.

—Lara1

Thriving means having your identity supported, your identity affirmed … being in a situation where you can learn, fail, make mistakes, and still understand yourself as someone who will be capable of greatness and is worth greatness.

—Dante2

Humans have imagined thriving across our entire history, from Iwa (living virtuously) to eudaemonia (good spirit) to contemporary theories of flourishing.3 Models abound. They often reflect the voices of those empowered to articulate and record such ideas (scholars, philosophers, politicians), who, in turn, reflect the power structures of the societies in which they reside.

There is no single accepted model of thriving. Some people approach it with a physiological focus, or a psychological one. Sometimes, people use resilience and thriving interchangeably; some call it flourishing.4 My research focuses on intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, and ability. And in doing so, I have been able to advance an inclusive, intersectional, and developmentally grounded model. However, within the minuscule pool of scholarship that centers Black LGBTQ+/SGL youth and young adults, for example, there is almost none attending to their lives beyond ...

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