"Thèse de l'Université de Lausanne"--T.p. verso. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [315]-326).

ABSTRACT This research is an investigation into the relationship between the resegregation of American public schools and the social creation of race. This research is based on the popular notion that American public schools are failing to produce students capable of competing in today's global society. The proof most often used to assert the failure of American public schools is the Black/White Test Score Gap. For the purposes of this research the Black/White Test Score Gap is defined as the gap between the scores on academic standardized tests between Black public school students and White public school students regardless of which government agency administered the test. Also within this research the Black/White Test score gap will be used synonymously with the term achievement gap. The most widely accepted hypothesis for the existence of the Black/White Test Score Gap is the segregation of public schools based on race. The United States has had a long history of the racial domination of Black people and public schools have been a widely used tool in that domination. The segregation of Black people into public schools that are incapable of producing a quality of education sufficient enough to enable its students to compete in the global marketplace has been a problem for the American government. My research will demonstrate that this problem exists because many public schools contain high levels of individuals experiencing extreme levels of poverty, this fact is in contrast to the widely held notion that segregation based on race is the most significant factor in predicting the achievement gap in American schools. In this research I will investigate the social construction of race in the United States. This investigation is done to demonstrate why race is not the best predictor of the achievement gap in the United States. My hypothesis, in this research, is that once the social construction of race is exposed the premise that race is the best predictor of the Black/White Test Score Gap wills diminish because that social construction is unreliable for use in policy formation and scientific research. More specifically I propose that the best predictor for the aforementioned relationship is not race but class. The segregation of Black public school students into school districts which contain significant levels of students that are poor is much more significantly associated with the Black/White Test Score Gap than the fact that these students attend schools that are predominately Black in the United States.

This study attempts to analyze Mormon justifications for the religion’s policy of denying priesthood authority to black men from both before and after the policy’s removal in 1978. Through a close reading of primary sources released by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, this study attempts to understand how this paradigm shift is understood in the context of Mormon faith traditions. It is revealed that many official statements from the Church contradict one another to such a degree that a simple or coherent explanation is practically impossible.

Thesis advisor: Lauri Johnson / Even before working in school as a teacher or administrator, many factors were influential in the preparation process. Given that the vast majority of teachers in the workforce come from traditional university education programs, the role that schools of education play in graduating people of color to enter the teaching force is important to examine. This qualitative case study sought to answer the following research question: What are the perceptions of educators of color with respect to their pre-service education preparation? This study falls within a broader study on the overall perceptions of educators of color with respect to the racial disproportionality and its impact on the educator pipeline and schools. Both from literature and the counter narratives of these educators of color, these topics emerged as salient: the racial diversity of universities and schools of education, the impact of barrier exams, the curriculum of schools of education, and the sense of belonging of people of color in universities and their schools of education. Semi-structured interviews with 12 educators of color in the Cityside Public Schools were examined through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Findings supported what was found in the literature regarding demographics in schools of education not favoring people of color, exams required to get into school of education being barriers, and people of color feeling disconnected from their universities in a number of ways. Further, participant interviews revealed the additional barrier posed by exams needed to gain teaching certification, the substantial value of connections at various points throughout the pre-service experience, and how important practicum and internship experiences are to aspiring educators. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

The contemporary experience of race in America demands that blacks become astute observers of their surroundings, required to read subtle social, interactional and environmental cues to determine how to appropriately engage others in order to gain respect and social acceptance. Consumption objects, whether physical or material goods or services and experiences, are symbolic tools that blacks mobilize in order to define and assert themselves wherever they may be. Market research reveals that divergent patterns of consumption exist along racial lines. Blacks outspend whites in three central categories: apparel, personal care, and electronics and technology. Sociological research on consumption, however, has inadequately addressed how race influences blacks' consumption. Claims that blacks are conspicuous consumers are pervasive in both popular and academic works, and research indicates that blacks' consumption is, at least partially explained by status considerations, yet no comprehensive, empirically grounded theory exists to account for the contextually determined, symbolic and strategic use of goods by middle and working-class blacks. In my dissertation entitled “Race, Social Context, and Consumption: How Race Structures the Consumption Preferences and Practices of Middle and Working-class Blacks,” I offer an account of blacks' consumption that addresses this gap in the literature. I analyze qualitative interview data collected from 55 blacks residing in the New York City area, focusing on blacks' consumption preferences and practices in three social arenas: where they live, where they work, and where they play. Through examining middle and working-class blacks' consumption I show the ways that race remains salient in blacks' everyday lives; affecting their routine practices and marketplace interactions. Blacks differ as consumers as a consequence of a history of racial alienation, segregation, and discrimination in public settings, which has resulted in their use of goods to mitigate racial stigma, but distinct patterns of consumption emerge as blacks mobilize consumption objects to express and affirm their racial identities. This dissertation demonstrates that whether consumption goods are used to contest racial stigma or to express feelings of racial affinity, in both instances blacks' consumption preferences and practices reflect their reactions to the settings in which their consumption is enacted.

This thesis is a retheorization of Omi's and Winant's (1986) racial formation theory,which addresses the implications, inconsistencies and limitations of the initial theory. It is argued that Omi's and Winant's theory is problematic insofar as it supports the notion of ‘race’ permanency despite being a social constructionist theory. Omi and Winant also largely ignore the naturalization of ‘race’ and ignore the role of ‘nature’ and science in knowledge production and the reproduction of ‘race’. This thesis proposes a radical extension of the theory that addresses these problems, calling itself a radical racial formation theory. In this extension, the debate over the ‘race’ concept and the conundrum that the ‘race’ theorist finds him/herself in is discussed. The role of sociologists in maintaining ‘race’ is considered. ‘Race’ is argued to be an emergent and formative feature of modernity supported by liberalism. It is argued that ‘race’ is often tied to ‘nature’ and made to seem as though both precede history. It is argued that both ‘nature’ and science need to be contested. The notion that all scientific aims are altruistic is challenged given the embeddedness of science in the social. The doctrine of essentialism is confronted along with the belief that essences present themselves as secure ‘knowledge’. The production of racial knowledge is central to this thesis as it is seen as one of the least critiqued arenas in which ‘race’ is reproduced. A radical racial formation theory is situated theoretically in the camps of the Frankfurt school's critical theory and Foucault's poststructuralism and a rapprochement between the two is called for. There is a discussion of the ‘present’ in Foucault's genealogical use, where it is argued that the present exists as a powerful moment where there can be a discontinuity with the present social formation and a break with the racial past. Finally, the Gramscian use of ‘hegemony’ is used to understand racial dominance. It is argued that whiteness presents itself as hegemonic in racial formation and counter-hegemonic possibilities are entertained. / Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2007-09-14 09:51:37.71

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2008. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-150). Also available online in Scholars' Bank; and in ProQuest, free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-95).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 2005. / Uses The color of fear, a film. Oakland, Ca. : Stir-Fry Productions, 1994-1997. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-145).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-106).