This qualitative research study illuminates the lived experiences of Black graduate student women who study abroad. I provide insights on how these students made meaning of themselves through study abroad. I utilized sista circle methodology, a culturally responsive methodology, to examine the study abroad experiences of 23 Black graduate student women. A critical lens was used to analyze and examine how relationships and interactions influenced participants' meaning making of themselves through study abroad. Drawing on Black Feminist Epistemology (Collins, 2009), Endarkened Feminist Epistemology (Dillard, 2000), experiential learning, (Michelson, 1998), and participants' narratives, I created a heuristic representation of meaning making through study abroad. I focused my analysis of participants' narratives through three braided areas of inquiry: (a) influences of relationships and interactions with faculty, trip leaders, and peers; (b) interactions with Blackness in study abroad contexts; and (c) healing through relationships and interactions during study abroad. Findings revealed the importance of returning to one's body as a site of knowledge production. Relationships and interactions during study abroad triggered emotional and physical responses experienced in their bodies. As adult learners, "trigger events" are necessary for learning and re-negotiating new identities (Biniecki & Conceição, 2014, p. 39). These events challenged former knowledge and prompted the Black women in this study to expand their knowledge of self. Thus, participants' narratives challenge the Western notion of meaning making that emphasizes cognitive learning. Instead, the Black women in this study utilized their bodies as sites of cultural knowledge production. Triggering events prompted physical and emotional responses during study abroad and influenced participants (re)membering of Black womanhood. These findings contribute to the academic dialogue on Black graduate student women's study abroad experiences (as one aspect of higher education). This study can inform future inquiry into examining intersecting identities in transnational contexts, embodied nature of knowledge, and transformative learning in study abroad. I expand on these notions, and others, as I conclude this dissertation with recommendations for practice, and implications for research and theory.
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