Challenging the common narrative: The multifaceted transformation of a Black woman studying nursing

Abstract

This work presents an account of the experience of a Black woman studying Nursing at the Federal University of Uberlândia. Using a descriptive approach and autobiographical methodology, she describes her educational journey, highlighting the challenges that marked her academic, personal, and professional trajectory. The experience unfolds in daily life, marked by the demands of family care imposed by social structures, conditioning women to juggle multiple roles, often invisible and socially normalized. The undergraduate program broadened her understanding and articulation of theory, practice, care, and education, contributing to empowerment, resilience, and a reinterpretation of her own history. The experience demonstrates the transformative potential of the undergraduate degree in nursing education, articulating technical, human, and educational knowledge, and reaffirming education as a path to female emancipation and resistance, a tool for inclusion and equity in a male-dominated and oppressive market. This formative journey contributed to the development of a critical and committed approach to care that goes beyond the technical-assistance dimension, capable of understanding educational processes as inseparable from healthcare and practice within the context of the Unified Health System (SUS). The writing was based on the author's memoir-like style, analyzed from a reflective and interpretative perspective. Based on this reflection, I present below personal reflections on the motivations, challenges, and lessons that permeated my academic trajectory, affirming the transformative power of education, which not only trains professionals but also reconstructs identities, broadens horizons, and gives new meaning to existence itself.