Cultivating Inclusion: Belonging and Agency in Young Black Men through Civic Action Research

This paper examines how community-based civic action research can cultivate civic engagement, civic belonging, and shifts in civic stakeholders’ perceptions of racially and economically minoritized youth’s civic agency. Specifically, this paper examines the implementation of Youth, Research and Plan (YRP) – a community-based research methodology that cultivates equitable relationships between schools, cities, and communities by situating disenfranchised youth and their schools at the center of civic and urban planning – in a unique academic program focused on the development of Black manhood and achievement in a public high school. Using a Critical Race Theoretical application of Communities of Practice and drawing on qualitative data gathered over the course of two years, we show how YRP was instrumental in the development of three interrelated communities of practice that supported the youth’s academic endeavors and civic agency and yielded important shifts in civic stakeholders’ perceptions of and relations with Black urban youth.

Imagining the desirable homeland: Nation-related belonging and social media use of young Kazakhstani Russians

Recent events, such as the Ukrainian crisis, political protests in Belarus, and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s escalation, have clearly demonstrated that the so-called ‘national question’ has remained an acute issue in the post-Soviet space. Being surrounded by Russia’s neo-imperial calls, but also by the dominating titular culture in the country of their current residence, ethnic Russians, and their national belonging arouse the interest of academia. Simultaneously, the tremendous expansion of information and communication technologies (ICTs), as well as the popularity of social media in the ex-Soviet republics, opens new opportunities for the conception of a national image, especially for young people. Hence, the studying of ethnic and civic belonging in the post-Soviet context requires an additional technological viewpoint. While Cyberspace in Kazakhstan remains state-controlled, Russia employs social media to unite its compatriots around the Russian national idea. However, the Internet may also support alternative identity constructions, grassroots movements, and the search for new national belongingness among ethnic minorities. How do young Kazakhstani Russians define their national belonging in the light of their social media usage? Which homeland do they imagine, and which role does Instagram play in this process? To answer these questions, I conducted explorative research, which was based upon a qualitative content analysis of 22 semi-structured interviews with young Kazakhstani Russians and a quantitative content analysis of local Instagram accounts. Interviewing ethnic Russians from big Kazakhstani cities demonstrated that these young people avoid formal national categories and creatively combine their multiple nation-related identities and belongings. Although social media content from Russia is present in their social media feeds, Ka-zakhstani Russians did not express any particular attachment to their historical “homeland.” Instead, they defined themselves as Kazakhstanis and advocated for ethnocultural pluralism and innovation inside and beyond Kazakhstan’s national borders. Their openness towards global cooperation is also reflected in their use of social media. At the same time, a close connection to a local space was widely relevant among Kazakhstani Russians. Posting Instagram stories from their everyday life, communicating with local friends, and consuming local news and event announcements, immersed young Kazakhstani Russians into the local city-related environment. Among the whole geographical and thematic content variety, following one or another urban account was an essential part of Kazakh-stani Russians’ social media use. As the Instagram analysis proved, textual and visual content on city-related accounts has blurred the boundaries between different discursive paradigms of national identity existing in Kazakhstan and presented the country in a positive light. In addition to other usage patterns, this provides an opportunity for these young people to construct a particular image of Kazakhstan, which helps them to find their social identity gratification and maintain positive self-esteem. As a result, their sense of belonging to Kazakhstan grows, allowing them to manage their multiple nation-related memberships while creating new categories beyond any formal definitions.

White Christian Nationalism and Relative Political Tolerance for Racists

Recent studies demonstrate that white Americans who adhere to “Christian nationalism”―an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity and American civic life―tend to hold authoritarian, exclusionary, and overtly prejudicial attitudes, particularly regarding ethno-racial minorities. We use data from the 1996 and 2014 General Social Surveys and consider relative political tolerance toward old-fashioned racists (i.e., persons who believe black Americans are genetically inferior) compared to other historically stigmatized groups, including anti-religionists, communists, militarists, and homosexuals. Viewing Christian identity as essential to American civic belonging is among the strongest predictors of whites’ being politically intolerant of all stigmatized groups, racists included. However, when we examine relative tolerance toward racists compared to other stigmatized groups, white Christian nationalists show greater tolerance than other whites. This effect is distinct from personal religiosity which is associated with lower relative tolerance toward racists. Additionally, we find both time and gender moderate the association between white Christian nationalism and relative tolerance toward racists. Findings ultimately demonstrate that white Americans who adhere to Christian nationalism exhibit authoritarian tendencies―expressing lower tolerance for all groups considered―while making greater relative allowance for old-fashioned racists, who may be allies in the task of social control and coercion.

White Christian Nationalism and Relative Political Tolerance for Racists

Recent studies demonstrate that white Americans who adhere to “Christian nationalism”―an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity and American civic life―tend to hold authoritarian, exclusionary, and overtly prejudicial attitudes, particularly regarding ethno-racial minorities. In light of the public resurgence of white nationalist sentiment coinciding with the Trump presidency, the current study shifts the focus from attitudes toward a target minority as the outcome to Christian nationalism’s association with whites’ attitudes toward “racists” themselves. We use data from the 1996 and 2014 General Social Surveys and consider relative political tolerance toward old-fashioned racists (i.e., persons who believe black Americans are genetically inferior) compared to other historically stigmatized groups, including anti-religionists, communists, militarists, and homosexuals. Viewing Christian identity as essential to American civic belonging is among the strongest predictors of whites’ being politically intolerant of all stigmatized groups, racists included. However, when we examine relative tolerance toward racists compared to other stigmatized groups, white Christian nationalists show greater tolerance than other whites. This effect is distinct from personal religiosity which is associated with lower relative tolerance toward racists. Additionally, we find both survey year and gender moderate the association between white Christian nationalism and relative tolerance toward racists. Findings ultimately demonstrate that white Americans who adhere to Christian nationalism exhibit authoritarian tendencies―expressing lower tolerance for all groups considered―while making greater relative allowance for old-fashioned racists, who may be allies in the task of social control and coercion.

De-Policing America’s Youth: Disrupting Criminal Justice Policy Feedbacks That Distort Power and Derail Prospects

The standard account of policy feedback holds that social policy can be self-reinforcing: policies provide resources that promote economic security and well-being, and they also encourage beneficiaries to engage with government. Criminal justice policies have typically had the opposite effect: they embolden those with interests in a punitive policy agenda, while disempowering those most affected by the policies. This is of particular concern for children and adolescents in race-class subjugated communities (RCS), whose first encounters with government beyond public schooling often come through police contact and carry adverse social and political consequences at a critical developmental stage. In this article, we reimagine youth engagement with the state, arguing for substantial reductions in police surveillance of young people and for the promotion of youth attachment to civic life. We call for an investment in institutions, both state-based and community-based, that reinforce political inclusion and civic belonging.