Counter-narratives of African American Academic Persistence

Counter-narratives of African American Academic Persistence PDF Author: Stacey Vicario Freeman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Academic achievement
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
Over 150 years since the abolition of slavery, African Americans still lack equal access to education and other quality of life markers. However, a slow increase in African American students pursuing and obtaining higher education demonstrates the progress of African American academic success. Although still not at an equitable level, this progress, and the voices of success are often muted by the majoritarian narrative of African American student failure. This research focuses on African American student success and examines the specific socio-cultural characteristics and processes that shape the ways in which African American students develop their own counter-narratives to persist and gain access to higher education. This study utilizes narrative inquiry in the form of interviews, artifacts collection and student-drawn identity maps to understand the factors that influence the development of counter-narratives. The primary research questions included: What narratives did African American students tell themselves to help them persist in school, attain a high school diploma and pursue higher education? How did they develop their narratives? How did their narratives influence their educational experiences? Five African American students who attended an elite public university in the southwest United States participated in four to five interviews ranging from six to ten hours in total. Through the analysis of their stories, the importance of culture and context were clear. Specifically their social support systems including their parents, siblings, teachers and mentors, significantly influenced their identity development and human agency. The findings also point to a critical path forward: if society commits to supporting African American student success, then shine a light on stories of persistence and potential rather than shortcomings and failures.

Counter-narratives of African American Academic Persistence

Counter-narratives of African American Academic Persistence PDF Author: Stacey Vicario Freeman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Academic achievement
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
Over 150 years since the abolition of slavery, African Americans still lack equal access to education and other quality of life markers. However, a slow increase in African American students pursuing and obtaining higher education demonstrates the progress of African American academic success. Although still not at an equitable level, this progress, and the voices of success are often muted by the majoritarian narrative of African American student failure. This research focuses on African American student success and examines the specific socio-cultural characteristics and processes that shape the ways in which African American students develop their own counter-narratives to persist and gain access to higher education. This study utilizes narrative inquiry in the form of interviews, artifacts collection and student-drawn identity maps to understand the factors that influence the development of counter-narratives. The primary research questions included: What narratives did African American students tell themselves to help them persist in school, attain a high school diploma and pursue higher education? How did they develop their narratives? How did their narratives influence their educational experiences? Five African American students who attended an elite public university in the southwest United States participated in four to five interviews ranging from six to ten hours in total. Through the analysis of their stories, the importance of culture and context were clear. Specifically their social support systems including their parents, siblings, teachers and mentors, significantly influenced their identity development and human agency. The findings also point to a critical path forward: if society commits to supporting African American student success, then shine a light on stories of persistence and potential rather than shortcomings and failures.

Counter-narratives of African-American Male Doctoral Students at Predominantly White Institutions

Counter-narratives of African-American Male Doctoral Students at Predominantly White Institutions PDF Author: Cedric Glenn Sanders
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to understand the narratives of African-American male doctoral students at predominately White Institutions (PWIs). The research questions guiding this study were: 1. How do African-American male doctoral students describe their doctoral journeys at predominately White Institutions (PWIs)? 2. In what ways do the narratives of African-American male doctoral students support or refute the literature on African-American males in college? Narrative interviews were conducted with seven African-American/Black men who earned doctoral degrees from predominantly White institutions representing multiple disciplines, including educational psychology, higher education and leadership, adult education, and engineering science. The data revealed three major themes. First, it was found that all of the participants were the only or one of few African-American men in their doctoral programs and classes and carried that knowledge as part of their daily academic consciousness. Given their status as being the "only one" in their doctoral programs and classes, the majority of the participants said they experienced feelings of isolation, alienation, and invisibility. The second theme revealed that the participants survived the doctoral process by drawing on cultural wisdom and the advice of family members and other graduate students, African-American men and women. The third theme found in the data was that participants possessed a notion that they were earning a doctoral degree not only for themselves, but others0́4their community. There were two major conclusions from this study: 1.) African-American male doctoral students at predominately White institutions (PWIs) approached their doctoral experiences guided by a racial consciousness that informed their identities and helped them to navigate their educational experiences using a culturally grounded schema and; 2.) The narratives of African-American male doctoral students at predominately White institutions (PWIs) provided a multi-dimensional profile that both supported and refuted the literature, revealing stories of stress from underrepresentation, isolation and racial stereotyping, while also relating accounts of high performance, persistence, and strength.

Untold Narratives

Untold Narratives PDF Author: Shawn Anthony Robinson
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1641131861
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
This edited book reflects a much needed area of scholarship as the voices of African American (AA) or Black students defined by various labels such as learning disability, blindness/visual impairment, cognitive development, speech or language impairment, and hearing impairment are rare within the scholarly literature. Students tagged with those identifiers within the Pk-20 academic system have not only been ignored, and discounted, but have also had their learning framed from a deficit perspective rather than a strength-based perspective. Moreover, it was uncommon to hear first person narratives about how AA students have understood their positions within the general education and special education systems. Therefore, with a pervasive lack of knowledge when it comes to understanding the experiences of AA with disabilities, this book describes personal experiences, and challenges the idea that AA students with disabilities are substandard. While this book will emphasize successful narratives, it will also provide counter-narratives to demystify the myth that those with disabilities cannot succeed or obtain terminal degrees. Overall, this edited book is a much needed contribution to the scholarly literature and may help teachers across a wide array of academic disciplines in meeting the academic and social needs of AA students with disabilities. ENDORSEMENTS: Dr. Shawn Robinson’s collection of personal narratives raises critical questions about the U. S. public education system. Written by African Americans compartmentalized in special education programs because of actual or perceived disabilities, these stories will impel readers even tangentially affiliated with educational institutions to consider testing, placement, mainstreaming, retention and promotion, and other assessment policies that determine grade-level readiness. Thanks to Robinson, the perspectives of these graduates who surmounted barriers to more positive and accommodating learning environments now receive proper attention. ~ John Pruitt, University of Wisconsin-Rock County With a bold vision, Dr. Shawn Anthony Robinson enters the discussion of Special Education with a collection of narratives that highlight the struggles and triumphs of marginalized students. In America, we have a long, contested history of “inclusion” of students of color and difference in our public, mainstream institutions. When these students are invited to the education table, they still must overcome persistent and pernicious barriers to true and equal educational opportunities. Consequently, students are left to “sink or swim” in oceans disparity and inequity. This collection of narratives and counter-narratives, confront the absence of adequate research and other empirical evidence of pedagogy and practice that would be essential to 21st Century progress in educational praxis. This volume represents one, important step towards adding new voices to the continuing struggle of meaningful inclusion. How might students of color and difference succeed in an education system that provides “no room to bloom? The authors address this challenge by exploring topics such as Aspirational Capital, Linguistic Capital, Familial Capital, Social Capital, Navigational Capital and Resistance Capital. The reader will be exposed to ideas that will help students “make a way out of no way” by working both within and against educational systems full of barriers and opportunities. Congratulations to Dr. Robinson and his colleagues as the content of this volume represents an important contribution to the extant literature. ~ Gregory A. Diggs , Denver, Colorado

Post-oppositional Culture Theory

Post-oppositional Culture Theory PDF Author: Sonya Victoria Scott
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Academic achievement
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
This study seeks to counter the social narrative that African Americans resist schooling by examining African American post baccalaureate college students that have developed a passion for learning as demonstrated in their persistence and motivations to enter the teaching profession. Racially correlated disparities prevalent in standardized test scores, high school dropout rates and college eligibility remain one of the most pervasive educational dilemmas facing public schools across the nation. African Americans are identified as significantly under performing when compared to the average performance of white students.

Never Caught

Never Caught PDF Author: Erica Armstrong Dunbar
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501126431
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
A startling and eye-opening look into America’s First Family, Never Caught is the powerful story about a daring woman of “extraordinary grit” (The Philadelphia Inquirer). When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left behind his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in Philadelphia, the temporary seat of the nation’s capital. In setting up his household he brought along nine slaves, including Ona Judge. As the President grew accustomed to Northern ways, there was one change he couldn’t abide: Pennsylvania law required enslaved people be set free after six months of residency in the state. Rather than comply, Washington decided to circumvent the law. Every six months he sent the slaves back down south just as the clock was about to expire. Though Ona Judge lived a life of relative comfort, she was denied freedom. So, when the opportunity presented itself one clear and pleasant spring day in Philadelphia, Judge left everything she knew to escape to New England. Yet freedom would not come without its costs. At just twenty-two-years-old, Ona became the subject of an intense manhunt led by George Washington, who used his political and personal contacts to recapture his property. “A crisp and compulsively readable feat of research and storytelling” (USA TODAY), historian and National Book Award finalist Erica Armstrong Dunbar weaves a powerful tale and offers fascinating new scholarship on how one young woman risked everything to gain freedom from the famous founding father and most powerful man in the United States at the time.

Campus En-counter

Campus En-counter PDF Author: Jonathan A. McElderry
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
Given the low retention and completion rates, research on Black men typically focuses on the problems or barriers they face, even when successful. Rather than focusing on the problems Black men are experiencing, it is important that scholars give attention to those Black men who are succeeding to create a counter narrative to the stereotypical misandry of Black men in our society. These counter narratives remind us that Black men can and do succeed, which is a truth not often heard. The current research identifies concepts in this literature that serve as hermeneutics to examine counter narratives of student departure. The theoretical frameworks used throughout this study are theories of masculinity and Tinto's (1993) theory of student departure, which were used to examine the experiences of Black, male, third and fourth year undergraduate students who entered college without declaring a major and have persisted at a large, public, predominately White institution in the Midwest (The University of Missouri or Mizzou). Seven students were recruited through purposeful sampling and participated in a three interview sequence model (Seidman, 1998). From this, five overarching themes developed. (1) Peer pressure, external influences, and institutional support; (2) Finding an academic path; (3) Black Mizzou; and (4) Establishing identity. Within the context of the study, a conclusion, recommendations for research, and implications for practice were discussed.

Exploring Counternarratives

Exploring Counternarratives PDF Author: Danielle Christi Hayes
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 472

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Book Description
This dissertation explored the perspectives of African American youth aspirations for college, their support systems, and their academic and social development towards college. The narratives of 7 student participants were used to gather perspectives of their supports and school circumstances in order to understand how some youth overcome or navigate the path towards higher education. This exploratory study was situated around two primary research questions: (a) In what ways do student aspirations intersect with capacity building systems (supports and interventions) for college, and (b) how does that intersection impact the academic and social development of students aspiring towards college? This study contributed to two areas. The first area had to do with providing an outlet for African American youth's perspectives, particularly on the role that their aspirations and support systems play in their ability to access college. In the liberating tradition of critical race framework, accessing the experiences and perspectives "of the people" is the defining element of this study. We often hear about the pitfalls of minority students; their families and the communities from which they hail. There is general emphasis on this deficit perspective as the public education system strains under a multitude of contending factors. This dissertation, through the narratives of students, explored what students believed to work, what they perceived to fail, and the direction that their perspectives might contribute towards improved policy and practice. Thus, a second potential contribution of this study is its application for policy studies in that a participant-centered perspective is articulated. This multiframed approach demonstrated a more informed space from which to shape policy.

Narratives of Identity

Narratives of Identity PDF Author: Maureen Millane
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Academic achievement
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
Persistence by minority students is recognized as critical in increasing the number of college graduates. Little research has been conducted on the select, but not elite, universities where the majority of students matriculate. This study provided the voices of 25 urban low SES African American college students who have successfully persisted at a select predominantly White college. Ethnographic observations, focus groups and individual interviews were conducted over a 21 month period. Pre-college experiences were found to contribute differently than previously identified in Tinto's student departure theory. When first arriving on campus students described themselves as underprivileged and filled with anomie. Programmatic interventions led by the Directors embraced a new concept of Iuxtā parentem, as they engaged the biological parents while also serving as surrogate parents. The cohort ethos emphasized the importance of securing leadership roles and involvement in activities on and off campus that contributed to the overarching goal of future success upon graduation. The students identified the pre-college immersion program, the number of required team learning courses, the imbrications of social and academic collaborative experiences, the role of the Directors as faculty and advisors and living in the residence halls as increasing their self-efficacy. The development of a fictive kinship with the upperclassmen and the modeling of successful cohort alumni who participated in educational field trips and social events exposed the students to valued cultural and social capital. These interventions led to the internalization of preferences, attitudes and behaviors which manifested itself in an individual and collective cohort habitus as defined by Bourdieu. The students recognized that race was fore grounded in their interactions with White students and faculty but did not feel that the valued social and cultural capital they obtained was marked as White.

Counternarratives

Counternarratives PDF Author: John Keene
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
ISBN: 081122435X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Now in paperback, a bewitching collection of stories and novellas that are “suspenseful, thought-provoking, mystical, and haunting” (Publishers Weekly) Ranging from the seventeenth century to the present, and crossing multiple continents, Counternarratives draws upon memoirs, newspaper accounts, detective stories, and interrogation transcripts to create new and strange perspectives on our past and present. “An Outtake” chronicles an escaped slave’s take on liberty and the American Revolution; “The Strange History of Our Lady of the Sorrows” presents a bizarre series of events that unfold in Haiti and a nineteenth-century Kentucky convent; “The Aeronauts” soars between bustling Philadelphia, still-rustic Washington, and the theater of the U. S. Civil War; “Rivers” portrays a free Jim meeting up decades later with his former raftmate Huckleberry Finn; and in “Acrobatique,” the subject of a famous Edgar Degas painting talks back.

Confronting Racism in Higher Education

Confronting Racism in Higher Education PDF Author: Jeffrey S. Brooks
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1623961580
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Racism and ignorance churn on college campuses as surely as they do in society at large. Over the past fifteen years there have been many discussions regarding racism and higher education. Some of these focus on formal policies and dynamics such as Affirmative Action or The Dream Act, while many more discussions are happening in classrooms, dorm rooms and in campus communities. Of course, corollary to these conversations, some of which are generative and some of which are degenerative, is a deafening silence around how individuals and institutions can actually understand, engage and change issues related to racism in higher education. This lack of dialogue and action speaks volumes about individuals and organizations, and suggests a complicit acceptance, tolerance or even support for institutional and individual racism. There is much work to be done if we are to improve the situation around race and race relation in institutions of higher education. There is still much work to be done in unpacking and addressing the educational realities of those who are economically, socially, and politically underserved and oppressed by implicit and overt racism. These realities manifest in ways such as lack of access to and within higher education, in equitable outcomes and in a disparity of the quality of education as a student matriculates through the system. While there are occasional diversity and inclusion efforts made in higher education, institutions still largely address them as quotas, and not as paradigmatic changes. This focus on “counting toward equity rather” than “creating a culture of equity” is basically a form of white privilege that allows administrators and policymakers to show incremental “progress” and avoid more substantive action toward real equity that changes the culture(s) of institutions with longstanding racial histories that marginalize some and privilege others. Issues in higher education are still raced from white perspectives and suffer from a view that race and racism occur in a vacuum. Some literature suggests that racism begins very early in the student experience and continues all the way to college (Berlak & Moyenda). This mis-education, mislabeling and mistreatment based on race often develops as early as five to ten years old and “follows” them to postgraduate education and beyond.