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Roberta L. Coles

Bio: Roberta L. Coles is an academic researcher from Marquette University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Extended family & Narrative inquiry. The author has an hindex of 15, co-authored 20 publications receiving 511 citations.

Papers
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01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: The authors explored the meaning and practice of black fatherhood in its many manifestations, exploring two-parent families, cohabitation, single custodial fathering, stepfathering, non-custodial visitation, and parenting by extended family members and friends.
Abstract: Common stereotypes portray black fathers as being largely absent from their families. Yet while black fathers are less likely than white and Hispanic fathers to marry their child's mother, many continue to parent through cohabitation and visitation, providing caretaking, financial, and other in-kind support. This volume captures the meaning and practice of black fatherhood in its many manifestations, exploring two-parent families, cohabitation, single custodial fathering, stepfathering, noncustodial visitation, and parenting by extended family members and friends. Contributors examine ways that black men perceive and decipher their parenting responsibilities, paying careful attention to psychosocial, economic, and political factors that affect the ability to parent. Chapters compare the diversity of African American fatherhood with negative portrayals in politics, academia, and literature and, through qualitative analysis and original profiles, illustrate the struggle and intent of many black fathers to be responsible caregivers. This collection also includes interviews with daughters of absent fathers and concludes with the effects of certain policy decisions on responsible parenting.

60 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the discourses of presidents during the Persian Gulf War and the Kosovo conflict to identify the themes of mission by example and mission by intervention and argue that these forms of mission are intertwined.
Abstract: Civil religious themes have long been integral to public discourse in America. Specifically the themes of mission and destiny, best known in the form of Manifest Destiny, still carry the country through periods of foreign conflict. This paper analyzes the discourses of President George Bush during the Persian Gulf War and President Bill Clinton during the Kosovo conflict. I identify the themes of mission by example and mission by intervention and argue that these forms of mission are intertwined. The use of these themes by presidents of different political parties indicates that while they remain useful, they are adapting for a changing political and economic world system

47 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of the research on single fathers and their families from the 1970s until recently, focusing on modifications in methodology and theoretical underpinnings, is presented in this paper.
Abstract: The number of children residing in single-father families in the United States quadrupled as a proportion of children's living arrangements during the past few decades of the 20th century. Research on single fathers also increased and changed in nature. This article is a review of the research on single fathers and their families from the 1970s until recently, focusing on modifications in methodology and theoretical underpinnings. In general, research on single-father families evolved from qualitative studies focused on the well-being of single fathers to quantitative studies focusing on child outcomes and within-group variation among single fathers. Research also moved from descriptive studies to those testing gender and microstructural theories. This article also summarizes the main findings on single fathers and concludes with directions for future research.

47 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For single African American custodial fathers, parenting stress is exacerbated by the cultural expectation that Black fathers are “normally” absent and by the clustering of stresses that Black men are more likely to encounter as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: For single African American custodial fathers, parenting stress is exacerbated by the cultural expectation that Black fathers are “normally” absent and by the clustering of stresses that Black men are more likely to encounter. This sample of African American fathers have used a repertoire of problem-focused and cognitive coping strategies, including some that are frequently considered “culturally specific.” Twenty Black single custodial fathers are interviewed and their narratives are analyzed for concepts and thematic categories related to stress and coping. Their narratives indicate that certain strategies are avoided because (a) these strategies are not available to them and (b) they desire to present themselves as independent and competent, thus resisting stereotypes and building a sense of efficacy.

45 citations

Book
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: This article explored the meaning and practice of black fatherhood in its many manifestations, exploring two-parent families, cohabitation, single custodial fathering, stepfathering, non-custodial visitation, and parenting by extended family members and friends.
Abstract: Common stereotypes portray black fathers as being largely absent from their families. Yet while black fathers are less likely than white and Hispanic fathers to marry their child's mother, many continue to parent through cohabitation and visitation, providing caretaking, financial, and other in-kind support. This volume captures the meaning and practice of black fatherhood in its many manifestations, exploring two-parent families, cohabitation, single custodial fathering, stepfathering, noncustodial visitation, and parenting by extended family members and friends. Contributors examine ways that black men perceive and decipher their parenting responsibilities, paying careful attention to psychosocial, economic, and political factors that affect the ability to parent. Chapters compare the diversity of African American fatherhood with negative portrayals in politics, academia, and literature and, through qualitative analysis and original profiles, illustrate the struggle and intent of many black fathers to be responsible caregivers. This collection also includes interviews with daughters of absent fathers and concludes with the effects of certain policy decisions on responsible parenting.

44 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism are discussed. And the history of European ideas: Vol. 21, No. 5, pp. 721-722.

13,842 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The recent proliferation of research on collective action frames and framing processes in relation to social movements indicates that framing processes have come to be regarded, alongside resource mobilization and political opportunity processes, as a central dynamic in understanding the character and course of social movements.
Abstract: ■ Abstract The recent proliferation of scholarship on collective action frames and framing processes in relation to social movements indicates that framing processes have come to be regarded, alongside resource mobilization and political opportunity processes, as a central dynamic in understanding the character and course of social movements. This review examines the analytic utility of the framing literature for un- derstanding social movement dynamics. We first review how collective action frames have been conceptualized, including their characteristic and variable features. We then examine the literature related to framing dynamics and processes. Next we review the literature regarding various contextual factors that constrain and facilitate framing processes. We conclude with an elaboration of the consequences of framing processes for other movement processes and outcomes. We seek throughout to provide clarifi- cation of the linkages between framing concepts/processes and other conceptual and theoretical formulations relevant to social movements, such as schemas and ideology.

7,717 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The theme of the volume is that it is human to have a long childhood which will leave a lifelong residue of emotional immaturity in man.
Abstract: Erik Eriksen is a remarkable individual. He has no college degrees yet is Professor of Human Development at Harvard University. He came to psychology via art, which explains why the reader will find him painting contexts and backgrounds rather than stating dull facts and concepts. He has been a training psychoanalyst for many years as well as a perceptive observer of cultural and social settings and their effect on growing up. This is not just a book on childhood. It is a panorama of our society. Anxiety in young children, apathy in American Indians, confusion in veterans of war, and arrogance in young Nazis are scrutinized under the psychoanalytic magnifying glass. The material is well written and devoid of technical jargon. The theme of the volume is that it is human to have a long childhood which will leave a lifelong residue of emotional immaturity in man. Primitive groups and

4,595 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In their new Introduction, the authors relate the argument of their book both to the current realities of American society and to the growing debate about the country's future as mentioned in this paper, which is a new immediacy.
Abstract: Meanwhile, the authors' antidote to the American sicknessa quest for democratic community that draws on our diverse civic and religious traditionshas contributed to a vigorous scholarly and popular debate. Attention has been focused on forms of social organization, be it civil society, democratic communitarianism, or associative democracy, that can humanize the market and the administrative state. In their new Introduction the authors relate the argument of their book both to the current realities of American society and to the growing debate about the country's future. With this new edition one of the most influential books of recent times takes on a new immediacy.\

2,940 citations