Showing papers in "Journal of Black Studies in 2003"
TL;DR: The authors explored whether the strategies used by African American adolescents to cope with perceived discriminatory experiences were related to their racial identity and racial social identity and found that the strategies were associated with their race identity and race social status.
Abstract: This study purposed to explore whether the strategies used by African American adolescents to cope with perceived discriminatory experiences were related to their racial identity and racial sociali...
240 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that efforts to implement diversity are bound to fail in the absence of an institutional commitment to incorporating strategies for diversity into their research, teaching, and service missions, relying heavily on interviews with African American, American Indian, Asian, and Latino faculty members, of junior status, in predominantly white colleges and universities.
Abstract: Across America, colleges and universities have appropriated the language of diversity as a way of signaling their commitment to faculty and students of color. This article argues that language of diversity and efforts to implement diversity are bound to fail in the absence of an institutional commitment to incorporating strategies for diversity into their research, teaching, and service missions. The research for this article relies heavily on interviews with African American, American Indian, Asian, and Latino faculty members, of junior status, in predominantly White colleges and universities.
160 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the concepts of incorporation and marginalization are discussed and positive and negative aspects of marginalization and incorporation are discussed, which are very often overlooked in the discussion of these concepts.
Abstract: Faculty of color entering the academy describe factors leading toward their incorporation as well as factors keeping them at the margins. Relying on educational research, the concepts of incorporation and marginalization are discussed in this article. There are positive and negative aspects to incorporation and marginalization, which are very often overlooked.
148 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined adolescents' attitudes toward rap music, specifically racial differences in Black and White adolescents' perceptions of rap, and found that African American youth are more committed to rap music and are more likely to see rap music as life affirming.
Abstract: This article examines adolescents' attitudes toward rap music, specifically racial differences in Black and White adolescents' perceptions of rap. Rap critics have long touted the allegedly deleterious effects of rap, but few researchers have asked fans themselves how rap has affected them. This study uses a survey of 51 adolescents in a Midwestern city to examine racial differences in preferences for and interpretations of rap music. Survey results indicate that racial differences in the popularity of rap music are limited. However, further questions reveal that African American youth are more committed to rap music and are more likely to see rap music as life affirming. Although both groups appear to have favorable opinions of rap, their commitment to it and its significance in their lives varies by race.
119 citations
TL;DR: The self-hatred thesis was tested by comparing the self-esteem scores of a small convenience sample of skin bleachers with the scores of the control group in this article, which indicated that skin bleaching did not occur because of low selfesteem, and there is a range of Black identities as each person constructs his or her identity in a multicultural society.
Abstract: The Afrocentric view concerning Jamaicans who bleach their skins is that they suffer from self-hate, a result of the lingering psychological scars of slavery. The self-hatred thesis is tested by comparing the self-esteem scores of a small convenience sample of skin bleachers with the scores of a control group. The two groups have almost the same average scores above the median, which indicates that skin bleaching did not occur because of low self-esteem. The preliminary results suggest that there are varied reasons for skin bleaching and there is a range of Black identities as each person constructs his or her identity in a multicultural society.
116 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored the mentoring experiences of recently graduated, African American doctorates (PhD.s) in the field of sociology and demonstrated how mentoring can enhance the opportunities of faculty of color and facilitate advancement through the ranks.
Abstract: Consistently, the academic and anecdotal research on mentoring has demonstrated that it is important in enhancing opportunities for success and achievement. Whereas many would agree that mentoring is important for females and scholars of color, there is very little research to confirm this conventional wisdom. In an effort to fill the gap of knowledge about how mentoring affects the success of African American junior faculty, this article explores the mentoring experiences of recently graduated, African American doctorates (Ph.D.s) in the field of sociology. This research demonstrates how mentoring can enhance the opportunities of faculty of color and facilitate advancement through the ranks.
95 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw on the literature on the power of race to demonstrate how some universities use tenure and promotion committees, as well as other resources, to demonstrate that private universities are more susceptible to the interests of alumni and, as a result, are sometimes less interested in safeguarding the interest of faculty of color, who are involved in controversial research on racial issues.
Abstract: Conventional wisdom suggests that colleges and universities act in objective ways that are guided, in large measure, by an unrelenting quest for the truth. This article, however, draws on the literature on the power of race to demonstrate how some universities use tenure and promotion committees, as well as other resources, to show that private universities are more susceptible to the interests of alumni and, as a result, are sometimes less interested in safeguarding the interests of faculty of color, who are involved in controversial research on racial issues. This suggests that institutions vary in their willingness or ability to facilitate incorporation among faculty of color in academia.
85 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the relationships among continental African, African American, and African Caribbean persons were explored in terms of contact and friendshipping in a survey based on a survey examining the relationship among continental Africans, African Americans and African Caribbeans.
Abstract: This study is based on a survey examining the relationships among continental African, African American, and African Caribbean persons. Relationships were explored in terms of contact and friendshi...
76 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that rather than a rejection of academic success, cultural agency is at the heart of Black students' resistance to acting white, and that at a fundamental level, Black students are seeking liberation from the destructive grips of White supremacy and a culturally affirming way of being human.
Abstract: Informed by the Afrocentric quest to "abandon ethnocentric and racist systems of logic and to place the un-discussed in the center of discourse" (Asante, 1990, p. 6), this article challenges oppositional culture theory and the idea of "acting White." More specifically, this article first reveals how oppositional culture theory, at its core, is a culture-of-poverty theory of Black academic underperformance. Second, this article examines the notion of acting White and ties it to the critical literature on Whiteness, in the process demonstrating how it fosters White supremacy by making Whiteness an invisible category. Finally, it is argued that rather than a rejection of academic success, cultural agency is at the heart of Black students' resistance to acting White. It is asserted that at a fundamental level, Black students are seeking liberation from the destructive grips of White supremacy and a culturally affirming way of being human.
71 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze W.E.B. Du Bois's educational thought for its key contributions to contemporary Africana philosophy of education, and succinctly explore DuBois's philosophy of...
Abstract: The aim of this article is to analyze W.E.B. Du Bois's educational thought for its key contributions to contemporary Africana philosophy of education. To succinctly explore Du Bois's philosophy of ...
70 citations
TL;DR: This paper used a series of focus groups to examine the experiences of African American female adult learners in higher education (N = 10) and highlighted three categories that women experienced in their higher education.
Abstract: This qualitative study used a series of focus groups to examine the experiences of African American female adult learners in higher education (N = 10). This article highlights three categories that...
TL;DR: This article assessed the extent to which African American students enrolled at a predominantly white educational institution may or may not experiencing unique, racially exclusive social situational circumstances that could potentially affect academic performance. But, they found that both Black and white students expressed similar attitudes about the university setting and had experienced similar personal and social issues related and nonrelated to college.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which African American students enrolled at a predominantly White educational institution may or may not be experiencing unique, racially exclusive social situational circumstances that could potentially affect academic performance. The findings indicate that general attitudes concerning the college experience, adverse situations or circumstances unrelated to the university, perceptions of self, perceptions of the campus's social climate, and perceptions of the campus police are not racially exclusive, as both Black and White students expressed similar attitudes about the university setting and had experienced similar personal and social issues related and nonrelated to college.
TL;DR: This paper pointed out that the defining works of White racial attitudes fail to grapple with the complexities of African American political dialogue. But they did not address the role of race relations in the development of race politics.
Abstract: This piece confronts a serious deficiency in the literature on racial politics. The defining works of White racial attitudes fail to grapple with the complexities of African American political thou...
TL;DR: Despite efforts to diversify faculty in predominantly White institutions, most law schools remain predominantly male and Caucasian as discussed by the authors, despite the efforts of diversifying faculty in majority white institutions, such as Harvard and Yale.
Abstract: Despite efforts to diversify faculty in predominantly White institutions, most law schools remain predominantly male and Caucasian. Based heavily on aspects of Law Professor Derrick Bell's work and...
TL;DR: According to the most recent reports, only 5% of the full-time faculty happened to be African American and Asian, although 2% is Hispanic and less than 1% is American Indian.
Abstract: Despite efforts to diversify the racial and ethnic ranks of acade mia, the percentage of Black, Latino, American Indian, and Asian faculty members remains pitifully low. According to the most recent reports, only 5% of the full-time faculty happened to be African American and Asian, although 2% is Hispanic and less than 1% is American Indian. At predominantly White institutions, which are renowned for their resources, profitable social networks, large endowments, and high levels of prestige, faculty of color are noticeably either absent or limited in their presence. That is because Black, Latino, and Asian faculty are more likely to hold positions at community colleges and historically Black colleges and universities. In addition, research shows that Black faculty as well as their Latino, Asian, and American Indian counterparts tend to be heavily represented among faculty at the lower ranks of lecturers and assis tant professors as well as reporting lower levels of success and job satisfaction. Taken together, these statistics portray a sad story about the status and success of faculty of color in academe. Although much of the research on faculty of color has focused on issues of diversity and retention, there is very limited research that critiques implementation of traditional diversity initiatives in light of the limited presence and success of faculty of color in predomi nantly White institutions. This special issue of Journal of Black
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the influences associated with sexual risk-taking among African American college women, and study participants included 15 African American women with a history of substance abuse.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to understand and describe the influences associated with sexual risk-taking among African American college women. The study participants included 15 African American w...
TL;DR: The Supreme Court regularly makes decisions with profound policy implications, but it largely leaves it to others to shape public opinion regarding those policies as discussed by the authors, and the media play an important role in this process.
Abstract: The Supreme Court regularly makes decisions with profound policy implications, but it largely leaves it to others to shape public opinion regarding those policies. The media play an important role ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the cultural, institutional, and individual factors explaining how Chicanas fare in academia are discussed. And the authors provide compelling answers to these important but unanswered questions based on research with 30 Chicana faculty.
Abstract: Undergirded by a theoretical framework, which focuses on the important role of social context, this article focuses primarily on the cultural, institutional, and individual factors explaining how Chicanas fare in academia. To what extent are the experiences of Chicanas exemplary in suggesting similar issues for African-American, Asian, and American Indian women? What strategies have Chicanas employed to help them negotiate the new and ever-changing aspects of academic life? Based on research with 30 Chicana faculty, this article provides compelling answers to these important but unanswered questions.
TL;DR: This paper examined the association between political efficacy and individual-level variables, consisting of objective sociodemographic and subjective cognitive variables, and found that an individual's evaluation of government responsiveness exerts an important influence on one's sense of efficacy to affect the political world.
Abstract: The sense of political efficacy is a primary orientation and an important component in studies of individual attitude sets, and it has been regarded almost exclusively as an explaining variable, rather than an explained variable. By using panel survey data of the 1994 New Orleans mayoral election, this study examined the association between political efficacy and individual-level variables, consisting of objective sociodemographic and subjective cognitive variables. The findings reveal that an individual's evaluation of government responsiveness exerts an important influence on one's sense of efficacy to affect the political world. As was true of the socio-economic status indexes, increases of education level and income are positively associated with the increasing level of political efficacy. Contrary to expectations, the findings demonstrate that race just keeps a conditional connection with feelings of efficacy.
TL;DR: This article investigated the role of policing in both the genesis and development of racial rioting in two cities, Boston and San Francisco, which experienced different overall levels of rioting during the peak period of racial violence in thelate 1960s.
Abstract: This article investigates the role of policing in both the genesis and development of racial rioting. In particular, the authors focus on several riots that occurred in two cities, Boston and San Francisco, which experienced different overall levels of rioting during the peak period of racial violence in thelate1960s. The amount and type of rioting that occurred in each city is consistent with the paradoxical yet frequent pattern in which direct repression, particularly when characterized by excessive or selective use of force, fails to subdue rioting and often escalates conflict. Despite this consistency, however, there are substantial differences between the two cities concerning the amount and severity of rioting that occurred. These differences are connected to variation in three primary characteristics of the civil authorities in the two cities: (a) police preparedness and training, (b) racial polarization in attitudes toward the police, and (c) underlying police-community relations. Implications are...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the various ways in which scholars and politicians have framed the historical debate on reparations and then introduce a possible approach that would take into consideration something more than slavery.
Abstract: This article seeks to establish the necessary theoretical and political grounds for reparations. It is the aim of the article to examine the various ways in which scholars and politicians have framed the historical debate on reparations and then to introduce a possible approach that would take into consideration something more than slavery. In fact, the article concludes that slavery was just one aspect of the dispossession of the African in the United States. Thus, it will be necessary to consider the entire history of African Americans as constituting a warrant for reparations.
TL;DR: The authors examined the relationship between political change and university students' sense of identity in South Africa during a 10-year period and found that the new government has not only forced people to face changes in political issues but also changes in identification issues.
Abstract: This article examines the relationship between political change and university students' sense of identity in South Africa during a 10-year period. Prior to 1994, identity in South Africa was largely based on ethnicity and language; is this still the case today? The new government has not only forced people to face changes in political issues but also changes in identification issues. Nowhere are these issues more striking than in an institution of higher learning, where students from diverse ethnic backgrounds are unified by a similar goal—an education. In an attempt to address the issue of identification, a survey was conducted at Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg, South Africa, to determine if the change in government is causing a change in how people perceive themselves.
TL;DR: The authors provides a historical analysis of the incorporation experiences of the members of African American faculty at the University of Missouri's Columbia campus, and demonstrates how these experiences were incorporated into the curriculum.
Abstract: This article provides a historical analysis of the incorporation experiences of the members of African American faculty at University of Missouri's Columbia campus. This article demonstrates how su...
TL;DR: This paper analyzed how contemporary U.S. social institutions continue to produce racial differentials despite considerable pressures for institutional changes to reduce or eliminate those differentials, and argued that the post-Civil War industrial revolution brought economic imperatives that shaped the labor pool and created occupational segregation by race.
Abstract: Drawing on secondary sources, the authors analyze how contemporary U.S. social institutions continue to produce racial differentials despite considerable pressures for institutional changes to reduce or eliminate those differentials. They argue that the post-Civil War industrial revolution brought economic imperatives that shaped the labor pool and created occupational segregation by race. The principle of racial segregation subsequently permeated other social institutions, most notably the political, educational, and residential institutions, to form the American apartheid system by 1918. Between the world wars, the United States strove for global economic dominance by a state collaboration with corporate interests to maintain the apartheid system. The apartheid system was the basis for the 1945 achievement of U.S. economic dominance. During the phase of unchallenged economic dominance, Black resistance combined with global criticisms of racism to dismantle the apartheid system. When U.S. global economic...
TL;DR: The role that culture potentially plays in health-related physical activity participation is examined, and the kinesiology profession, which teaches the science of human movement, is discussed, and results from a health- related physical activity study are reported.
Abstract: Two separate government documents have established a link between physical activity and health, and both documents provided bleak statistics for African Americans. Although the health statistics are not questionable, the physical activity data are debatable because the role of culture in physical activity has not been adequately explored. This article examines the role that culture potentially plays in health-related physical activity participation. In so doing, the kinesiology profession, which teaches the science of human movement, is discussed, and results from a health-related physical activity study are reported. A recommendation is made for the inclusion of an Afrocentric paradigm in the kinesiology curriculum, and Schiele's Afrocentric paradigm for the human services is employed.
TL;DR: This article investigated the case of the removal of African people from the Lake Bhangazi area within Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park in South Africa from 1956 through 1974, and provided a better understanding of the rural phase of forced removals during apartheid.
Abstract: >> Clearly, the forced removal of Africans from White-designated areas during apartheid in South Africa is not unique to world history. So, what can be learned from studying a group of rural Africans living in a communal arrangement for 1,000 years or more? By investigating the case of the removal of African people from the Lake Bhangazi area within Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park in South Africa from 1956 through 1974, light can be shed on one aspect of forced migration. This may lead to an understanding of other forced movements of people throughout world history. It may also provide a better understanding of the rural phase of forced removals during apartheid. Most South African studies have focused on urban removals. The following article is the story of the people from Lake Bhangazi in KwaZulu-Natal set within the broad context of South African apartheid and “black spot” removal.
TL;DR: In this paper, a sociodemographic profile of a small 19th and 20th-century African American community in the rural Midwest was reconstructed using cemetery and burial records data.
Abstract: Sociohistorical reconstructions of African American communities in the Midwest are often dependent on diaries and letters that provide a wealth of detail but may not represent the collective pattern. Cemetery and burial records data are used to reconstruct a sociodemographic profile of a small 19th- and 20th-century African American community in the rural Midwest. Surnames of African Americans (and their ancestors) were disproportionately British, suggesting association with or ownership by those of British heritage. Although the mean age of the Black community was significantly younger than that of the White community, childhood mortality was no greater. Rather, Blacks generally did not live as long as Whites in adulthood. However, racial crossover was present. The Black community was disproportionately male, suggesting a frontier phenomenon and instability, and disproportionately experienced violent mortality. Seasonal death patterns among Blacks typified a younger population. Finally, familial measures...
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the formation of national/cultural identity as well as historiography and history education in Turkey, the latter elements being fundamental to a sound understanding of identity formation in any society.
Abstract: This article analyzes the formation of national/cultural identity as well as historiography and history education in Turkey, the latter elements being fundamental to a sound understanding of identity formation in any society. African Turks, whose ancestors were brought to the Ottoman Empire at that time and of whose presence many in Turkish society today are not informed at all, are taken as an example of the elements of Turkish society that have been neglected.
TL;DR: This paper argued that the spread of Christianity among enslaved Africans hastened the development of a common ethnic identity among ethnically diverse peoples who were the first generations of enslaved Africans on American shores.
Abstract: This article posits that the spread of Christianity among enslaved Africans hastened the development of a common ethnic identity among ethnically diverse peoples who were the first generations of enslaved Africans on American shores. The article focuses on this notion of Black religion as a primary source of the logic of Black resistant/resilience and as the spiritual source for the development of a collective Black consciousness. It is further argued that resistant/resilience organically developed in the process of the construction of an authentically African theology as exemplified in the document that has come to be known as "Nat Turner's confession." The author assumes that the African-Christian hybrid cosmology seen in the confession is an example of the worldview of enslaved Africans generally in the 19th century. This Africanized Christianity forms the basis for the common ethnic identity, with its motivating cultural value (self-determination) and central organizing theme (resistant/resilience) se...
TL;DR: In this article, the appropriateness of applying college student development theories that are based on European/European American psychology to the development of African American college students was considered and discussed.
Abstract: This article considers the appropriateness of applying college student development theories that are based on European/European American psychology to the development of African American college students. It suggests that theories for the development of African American college students should be Afrocentric in nature, that is, they should be based on African psychology.