In an effort to accentuate the need for Black Psychological theory, research and methodology within the field of Africology, Africana professor Dr. DeReef Jamison argues that in order to gain a full understanding of the African American experience, Africana scholars must consider the importance of Black Psychology as it relates to their work. In his article entitled, Through the Prism of Black Psychology: A Critical review of Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Africology as seen through the Paradigmatic Lens of Black Psychology he notes that while Black Psychology is identified as a core component of Black Studies, few programs include such courses within their curricula. He further suggests that the goal within Black Psychology of examining the impact of African Americans historical experiences on their psyche speaks to the primary goal of Black Studies. Thus the empirical nature of Black Psychology utilized to understand the African American psychological experience can have tremendous implications for the field of Black studies. Through an overview of the field of Black Studies, its core curriculum, select graduate programs, and the field of Black Psychology, this paper will extend Dr. Jamison’s arguments by suggesting that African-Centered psychology specifically, needs to be central in the field of Black studies. While Black Psychology empirically addresses the African American psyche considering African-American historical experiences, it is the African Worldview analytical approach, which is central to African-Centered psychological theory and methodology and provides a culturally specific analysis, which is critical to the Black Studies intellectual pursuit. / text

The proposed study will investigate the dimensions of the relationship between three conceptualizations of African-centered worldview (ACWV) and racial identity (RI) attitudes in a sample of African American college students. A canonical correlation analysis will be conducted to explain the relationship between the ACWV variable set and the RI attitudes variable set. It is hypothesized there will be several significant correlations and multiple linear correlations (i.e., dimensions) between the variable sets. Specifically, it is hypothesized that endorsement of each conceptualization of ACWV will be negatively related to Pre-encounter RI attitudes. It is also hypothesized that each conceptualization of ACWV will differentially predict identity salient RI attitudes. Implications and limitations of this study will be discussed. / text

Recognizing African American students still perform academically at lower levels than their White counterparts, they maintain lower grades in school, and perform lower on standardized tests; educators and policy makers continue attempts at addressing these disparities. One remedy is implementing culturally specific material into curriculum to be reflective of the cultural diversity of students in the classroom. Although research indicates the use of material related to the student’s cultural origin can create a learning environment conducive to greater academic achievement particularly with minority children, few studies investigate the inclusion of culturally specific material in the classroom in relation to its effect on teachers. This study investigates the relationship between teacher’s view of culture’s role in the educational process and teacher efficacy and how this may be related to academic achievement. ANOVA’s and Correlation statistics were used to analyze the data. Results show statistically significant academic achievement differences but no significant differences in teacher attitudes towards multiculturalism and the teacher self efficacy variable.

For many minority children, the classroom is a space in which language and culture often awkwardly and harmfully collides. Schools often maintain a culture that is misaligned with the culture of their students, which is seen as an incompatibility between home and school, and is often used by educators to justify this mismatch within the classroom. This incompatibility is clearly displayed by the misinterpreted interactions that often occur within the classroom between teachers and students, often surrounding the differing assumptions about appropriate ways of using language within the classroom (Villegas, 1988, p.4). The purpose of this paper is to explore the intersections of language and culture for African-American children within education. I begin by outlining what we currently know about language development and how it manifests itself in the classroom setting. Secondly I provide a short overview of the history of language in education and its relationship to cultural perceptions of standard versus non-standard English and identity formation. Lastly, I offer African-Centered and Culturally Relevant education as responses to the current challenges that surround language and culture within many traditional classrooms and as a means of reform. / Urban Education

By taking an introspective look into my beliefs, perceptions, and life experiences this study will use an autoethnographical approach to examine the researcher’s evolution from street life, to prison life, to academic life. This study will examine the urban life experiences of the author, tracing a forty-six year span of Black male urban life to examine the potential value of America’s Urban youth. Critical pedagogy will be used as the theoretical framework for this narrative. This research is important because it will explore how Urban and African-centered literature was pivotal in inspiring the researcher to move from a criminal mentality to one of resilience, self-determination, and community uplift.

The purpose of this study is to examine how members of the community, educators, legislators, and members of the academy organized and mobilized to bring Florida Statute 1003.42(h) into being. This Afrocentric case study policy analysis centers African people, educators, and policymakers as agents, actors, and subjects with agency who determined that such legislation was needed and necessary for the education of African American students and all students. Data, in the form of document analysis, websites in the states of New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and South Carolina with similar laws, and Florida’s Commissioner’s Task Force on African American History, newspaper accounts, and interviews with key people involved in the creation of the Florida legislation, were analyzed using an Africological methodology. Findings include several major themes that emerged about educational curriculum content, intent, needs, and analysis relative to why this legislation was sponsored and passed including: (a) inaccuracy and omission, (b) correction and inclusion, (c) consciousness and competence, (d) policy and priority, (e) power and precedence. The final product includes a theory of Selective Memory Manipulation and a Paradigm for Afrocentric Educational Policy Production and Analysis.

As a culturally relevant alternative to traditional public school environments, Independent African Centered schools feature a particular type of culturally relevant pedagogy. This study explored the teachers’ and administrator’s perceptions and applications of African Centered pedagogy in an African Centered school. Interviews, observations and a document review served as the source of data for this study. This basic interpretive study utilized a qualitative research design to explore the perceptions and application of African Centeredness among the participants. An analysis of the data revealed categories and themes related to the school’s mission and the participants’ perceptions and performance of African-centered pedagogy. Three general conclusions were drawn from the findings. Implications for theory, study limitations and recommendations for future research are provided.

Since the emergence of RastafarI communities within 1930's Jamaica following the coronation of Ras Tafari Makonnen as Haile Selassie I, Negus (king) of Ethiopia, RastafarI continuously articulate his divinity within their discourse. While the specific nomenclature for and significance of Haile Selassie I may vary in accordance to time and affiliation, it is unquestionable that Selassie I remains central to the RastafarI way of life for more than 70 years. What scholars and thinkers on RastafarI question, and very fervently so during the past 10 years, is the authenticity of the divinity of Selassie I within RastafarI thought. The few scholars who attempt to solve what for them is the "problem of authenticity," claim, through christological and apologistic approaches, that RastafarI need to reconsider the possibility of his status, as it is conjecture and blasphemy. Adhering to African epistemological assumptions that everything in existence comprises the whole of existence, we rely on an African symbolic approach to examine RastafarI conceptualizations of Selassie I within pre-coronation, coronation and post-coronation RastafarI writings. Given that the material reality seemingly degenerates the collective body and consciousness in accordance with the cycles of time as expressed within the most ancient of Kemetic cosmologies, our aim is to suggest that Haile Selassie I emerges as a ba, the soul template, of Asar, a force manifesting as the human ability and potential to exist within the material realm in accordance with the unseen realm of existence. We conclude, unlike previous academic thinkers who examine RastafarI thought, that RastafarI thinking about Haile Selassie I is therefore an authentic perspective, one that undoubtedly occurs in accordance with the structure and origin of the universe and the cyclical journey of Africana reclamation of a primordial consciousness. / African American Studies

In educational research, a prevalent topic of discussion is African-centered pedagogy. This phenomenological study records the unique perspectives of adults who specifically grew up in African-centered learning environments from a young age. The sample includes 10 African American adults, aged 18-45, from various cities in the United States. Mixed methods are applied in this study: group concept mapping strategies are implemented to yield both qualitative and quantitative results for analysis. Data is further supplemented with one-on-one interviews, and a review of themes from interview transcripts using multiple coding processes. Findings from this particular demographic can add another dimension to the current literature on the relevancy and need for culturally relevant pedagogical practice for African-American children. The ultimate goal of this generative study is to serve as a resource for educators, parents and students – which includes documented practices and methods for further consideration and application.

abstract: Collective self-esteem is defined as the aspect of identity that relates to how one evaluates the value or worth of the social group to which they belong (Luttanen and Croker, 1992). For African American youth, little research has been conducted to understand how they assess the value or worth they place on their ethnic social grouping as opposed to their racial identity (Hecht, Jackson, & Ribeau, 2003). Moreover, African American scholars for decades have theorized about the importance of applying African centered frameworks to ground community solutions for these youth. Drawing from both the African centered and collective self-esteem literature, the purpose of the present study is to develop a measure of collective self-esteem derived from an African framework to examine its relationship with African American youths’ ethnic identity perceptions. The first phase of the study consisted of a content analysis to generate a pool of items derived from Bantu philosophical text. The second phase consisted of cognitive interviewing to understand the mental processing of African American youth answering the developed items. In the final phase, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to identify the factor structure of the tested items. A single factor was identified, which was strongly correlated with African American youth perceptions of ethnic belonging further supporting that self-perceptions amongst African American youth is associated with how they positively or negatively perceive their ethnic identity. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Social Work 2019