A Meta-Ethnographic Review of the Experiences of African American Girls and Young Women in K–12 Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 508-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alaina Neal-Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
African American Girls ◽  
Public Schooling ◽  
School Officials ◽  
Occupational Success ◽  
School Norms ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Young Black Women ◽  
K 12

There has been a paucity of research on the educational experiences of young Black women in U.S. K–12 education. Although both Black male and female students experience constrained opportunities to learn, the popular and academic conversation has almost unilaterally focused on the plight of Black boys and men. Drawing on critical race theory, this meta-ethnographic literature review synthesizes what is currently known about the advantages and obstacles young Black women encounter within public schooling contexts given their marginalized racial and gender identities. The data were drawn from a careful systematic search of electronic databases, key journals, books, and the reference lists of key articles, which yielded 37 sources for review. The analysis revealed that school officials positioned young Black women to be undisciplined in their academic habits and unequivocally misaligned with school norms. As such, they were viewed as unapproachable, unteachable, and ultimately fully responsible for the limited academic opportunities they experienced. On the other hand, young Black women spoke of themselves as highly ambitious and driven learners. They felt unfairly handicapped in their pursuit of educational and occupational success at the hands of school officials who misconstrued their identities, and given institutional policies that targeted them and failed to meet their needs. The review discusses implications of these varied perspectives in viewing the school experiences of young Black women and offers future directions for study and practice.

Black Women Superintendents

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonya Douglass Horsford ◽  
Dessynie D. Edwards ◽  
Judy A. Alston
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Educational Administration ◽  
Education Leadership ◽  
Leadership Preparation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Women Superintendents ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
And Gender ◽  
K 12

Research on Black women superintendents has focused largely on their racial and gendered identities and the challenges associated with negotiating the politics of race and gender while leading complex school systems. Regarding the underrepresentation of Black female superintendents, an examination of Black women’s experiences of preparing for, pursuing, attaining, and serving in the superintendency may provide insights regarding their unique ways of knowing and, leading that, inform their leadership praxis. Informed by research on K-12 school superintendency, race and gender in education leadership, and the lived experiences and knowledge claims of Black women superintendents, important implications for future research on the superintendency will be hold. There exists a small but growing body of scholarly research on Black women education leaders, even less on the Black woman school superintendent, who remains largely underrepresented in education leadership research and the field. Although key studies have played an important role in establishing historical records documenting the service and contributions of Black women educational leaders in the United States, the bulk of the research on Black women superintendents can be found in dissertation studies grounded largely in the works of Black women education leadership scholars and practitioners. As a growing number of aspiring and practicing leaders who identify as Black women enter graduate-level leadership preparation programs and join the ranks of educational administration, questions concerning race and gender in leadership are almost always present as the theories presented in leadership preparation programs often conflict with or represent set of perspectives, realities, and strategies that may not align with those experienced by leaders who identify as Black women. For these reasons, their leadership perspectives, epistemologies, and contributions are essential to our understanding of the superintendency and field of educational leadership.

Race and Gender Intersectionality and Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venus E. Evans-Winters
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Black Girls ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Personal Community

When recognizing the cultural political agency of Black women and girls from diverse racial and ethnic, gender, sexual, and socioeconomic backgrounds and geographical locations, it is argued that intersectionality is a contributing factor in the mitigation of educational inequality. Intersectionality as an analytical framework helps education researchers, policymakers, and practitioners better understand how race and gender intersect to derive varying amounts of penalty and privilege. Race, class, and gender are emblematic of the three systems of oppression that most profoundly shape Black girls at the personal, community, and social structural levels of institutions. These three systems interlock to penalize some students in schools while privileging other students. The intent of theoretically framing and analyzing educational problems and issues from an intersectional perspective is to better comprehend how race and gender overlap to shape (a) educational policy and discourse, (b) relationships in schools, and (c) students’ identities and experiences in educational contexts. With Black girls at the center of analysis, educational theorists and activists may be able to better understand how politics of domination are organized along other axes such as ethnicity, language, sexuality, age, citizenship status, and religion within and across school sites. Intersectionality as a theoretical framework is informed by a variety of standpoint theories and emancipatory projects, including Afrocentrism, Black feminism and womanism, critical race theory, queer theory, radical Marxism, critical pedagogy, and grassroots’ organizing efforts led by Black, Indigenous, and other women of color throughout US history and across the diaspora.

“Tuck in that Shirt!” Race, Class, Gender, and Discipline in an Urban School

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward W. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Asian American ◽  
Urban School ◽  
African American Girls ◽  
School Officials ◽  
Asian American Students ◽  
Punitive Discipline ◽  
Latino Boys ◽  
American Students ◽  
Students First ◽  
And Gender

This article explores how schools reproduce race, class, and gender inequality through the regulation of students' bodies. Using ethnographic data from an urban school, I examine how assumptions guiding bodily discipline differed for different groups of students. First, adults at the school tended to view the behaviors of African American girls as not “ladylike” and attempted to discipline them into dress and manners considered more gender appropriate. Second, school officials tended to view the behaviors of Latino boys as especially threatening, and members of this group often received strict, punitive discipline. Third, school officials tended to view the behaviors of white and Asian American students as nonthreatening and gender appropriate and disciplined these students less strictly. To conclude, I discuss the importance of viewing race, class, and gender in schools simultaneously and the problems associated with disciplinary reform in education.

Exploring Black Girls’ Subversive Literacies as Acts of Freedom

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 456-481
Author(s):  
Lauren Leigh Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Girls ◽  
Racial Equity ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Consciousness Development ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Young Black Women

Research on Black girls’ and women’s literacies reveals how they utilize literacy practices to resist oppression and define their identities. Yet, these practices are frequently absent from or marginalized in formalized schooling spaces. In addition, Black girlhood is rarely placed at the center of equity interventions in schools. As the history of activism in the United States is tied to Black women’s struggles for freedom, research and practice involving racial equity must be attentive to the literacies and activism of Black girls. Grounded in Black feminist theory, this article describes a longitudinal study of the critical consciousness development of two young Black women as they engaged in distinct literacy practices to navigate and resist racial oppression in high school. The author analyzes interviews as well as literacy artifacts to explore how these girls enacted critical, digital, and subversive literacies to challenge intersecting oppressions of race and gender in a predominantly White, suburban school.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Cat M. Ariail
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Black Women ◽  
The United States ◽  
Track And Field ◽  
Sporting Events ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Young Black Women ◽  
Track Athletes

This introductory chapter considers the symbolic significance of the baton pass in a track and field relay, using this moment of possibility and precarity to encapsulate the experiences and influence of black women track athletes in the postwar United States. Despite the perpetual precarity of the marginalized sport of women’s track and field, young black women who competed in the sport navigated barriers of race and gender to find possibilities. As they repeatedly represented the United States in international sporting events, they would contest, challenge, and confirm the racial and gender conceptions of American identity. On and off the track, young black women track and field athletes were active agents in the remaking of Americanness.

Passing the Baton toward Belonging

2020 ◽  
pp. 81-114
Author(s):  
Cat M. Ariail
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Double Burden ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Sport Culture ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Young Black Women ◽  
Track Athletes ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter analyzes how the colliding demands of the Cold War and civil rights movement began to endow black women track athletes with propagandistic purpose, as demonstrated by the interpretations of their presences and performances at the 1955 Pan-American Games and 1956 Olympic Games. The “double burden” of race and gender now made them powerful symbols of the promise of American democracy. Black American sport culture also more enthusiastically embraced black track women as race women, recognizing them as active contributors to the effort for black rights. Yet, these altered understandings of black women athletes were not possible without the athletes themselves, especially Mae Faggs, who modeled the often-overlooked agency of young black women.

Research on the Leadership of Black Women Principals: Implications for Black Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 336-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kofi Lomotey
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Women Principals ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Aspiring Principals ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Black Women Principals

In this exploratory review, I consider research on Black women principals for the period 1993 to 2017, using 57 research reports obtained from dissertations, journal articles, and a book chapter. This exploration is of particular significance given the continuous disenfranchisement and subsequent underachievement of Black children in U.S. schools and the importance of black women principals in addressing this quagmire. I highlight the methodological and theoretical traits of these studies, single out overstressed approaches, and highlight the most significant gaps in research on Black women principals. Major findings are (1) the large majority of studies on Black women principals appear in dissertations; (2) researchers studying Black women principals explore the lived experiences of Black women principals (e.g., race, gender) and aspects of the leadership of these women (e.g., transformational leadership); (3) the most common theoretical framework in these studies is Black Feminist Thought, followed by Critical Race Theory and Standpoint Theory; (4) all of the studies employed qualitative methods, while a few also included quantitative methods; (5) the principals who were studied served in elementary, middle, and high schools; and (6) spirituality, race, and gender are important to these leaders. Following a discussion of the findings, I conclude with implications for (1) future research, (2) the preparation of aspiring principals, and (3) the professional development of practicing principals.

Novel Relations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia Mireles Christoff
Keyword(s):  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Object Relations ◽  
George Eliot ◽  
Literary Form ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Victorian Novels ◽  
Victorian Fiction ◽  
Gender And Sexuality Studies ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Impact

This book engages twentieth-century post-Freudian British psychoanalysis in an unprecedented way: as literary theory. Placing the writing of figures like D. W. Winnicott, W. R. Bion, Michael and Enid Balint, Joan Riviere, Paula Heimann, and Betty Joseph in conversation with canonical Victorian fiction, the book reveals just how much object relations can teach us about how and why we read. These thinkers illustrate the ever-shifting impact our relations with others have on the psyche, and help us see how literary figures—characters, narrators, authors, and other readers—shape and structure us too. In the book, novels are charged relational fields. Closely reading novels by George Eliot and Thomas Hardy, the book shows that traditional understandings of Victorian fiction change when we fully recognize the object relations of reading. It is not by chance that British psychoanalysis illuminates underappreciated aspects of Victorian fiction so vibrantly: Victorian novels shaped modern psychoanalytic theories of psyche and relationality—including the eclipsing of empire and race in the construction of subject. Relational reading opens up both Victorian fiction and psychoanalysis to wider political and postcolonial dimensions, while prompting a closer engagement with work in such areas as critical race theory and gender and sexuality studies. The book describes the impact of literary form on readers and on twentieth- and twenty-first-century theories of the subject.

THE SINS OF THE FATHER: GENDER- BASED VIOLENCE IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyn Snodgrass
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Black Women ◽  
South African ◽  
African Women ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
South African Women

This article explores the complexities of gender-based violence in post-apartheid South Africa and interrogates the socio-political issues at the intersection of class, ‘race’ and gender, which impact South African women. Gender equality is up against a powerful enemy in societies with strong patriarchal traditions such as South Africa, where women of all ‘races’ and cultures have been oppressed, exploited and kept in positions of subservience for generations. In South Africa, where sexism and racism intersect, black women as a group have suffered the major brunt of this discrimination and are at the receiving end of extreme violence. South Africa’s gender-based violence is fuelled historically by the ideologies of apartheid (racism) and patriarchy (sexism), which are symbiotically premised on systemic humiliation that devalues and debases whole groups of people and renders them inferior. It is further argued that the current neo-patriarchal backlash in South Africa foments and sustains the subjugation of women and casts them as both victims and perpetuators of pervasive patriarchal values.

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