Thesis advisor: Ana M. Martínez-Alemán / Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree (BSN) programs need to increase the retention and graduation rates of students of color to create a diverse nursing workforce that meets the needs of the United States. Living and learning communities (LLCs) are an emerging method for residential colleges to improve the experiences and retention of undergraduate students. This dissertation used a critical race theory lens to investigate the impact of a nursing-focused living and learning community on the first-year experiences of women of color. A qualitative comparative case study methodology was appropriate to explore the differences of sense of belonging of women of color in the LLC compared to women of color not enrolled in the LLC. The research questions that guided this study were, How does a nursing living and learning community impact the sense of belonging for first-year women of color who attend a BSN program within a predominantly White institution? and How different is the sense of belonging of the women of color who participated in the nursing-focused LLC compared to the first-year BSN women of color who did not participate in the nursing-focused LLC? Thirteen women of color from a predominantly White BSN program, River Stone University, participated in a survey, journal entries, individual interviews, and focus groups. The findings suggest that the nursing-focused LLC positively impacted the sense of belonging of women of color in the BSN program. The nursing-focused LLC was an institutional counterspace for women of color, which mitigated the adverse effects of the BSN program’s hostile racial climate and competitive culture. The women of color who did not participate in the nursing-focused LLC had a lower sense of belonging and perceived the BSN program to be more racially hostile and unwelcoming. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

This study contemplates the development of a South African critical race theory (CRT) with reference to the thought of Steve Biko. From a long view, the aim of this research is to bring the insights of the Black Radical Tradition to bear on the study of law and jurisprudence with particular focus on the problem of “post-­apartheid South Africa”. Working from the scene of the “afterlife” of colonial-­apartheid and situated at the intersection of critical race theory (CRT) and Black Consciousness (BC), this study aims to develop an alternative approach to law and jurisprudence that could respond to the persistence of race and racism as the deep and fundamental fault-­lines of post-­1994 South Africa. The transition to a “new” South Africa, undergirded by the discourses of human rights, nation-­building and reconciliation and underwritten by a liberal and Western constitution followed a path of change and transformation which has resulted in the reproduction of colonial-­apartheid power relations. Settler-­colonial white supremacy as both a structure of power and a symbolic order continues to determine, shape and organise the South African socio-­economic, cultural, political, psychic and juridical landscape. This foregoing problem has remained largely unthought in the South African legal academy and therefore this research takes up the task of recalling the thought, memory and politics of Steve Biko in search of a critical and liberatory perspective that could counter dominant theoretical and jurisprudential accounts of the past and present. The study therefore explores Biko’s historical interpretation of the South African reality and his theorisation of concepts such race, identity and liberation and retrieves these in order to critique and contest both post-­1994 law, society and jurisprudence as well as the faulty epistemological, historical, and ideological terms on which they are based. In the end, the study proposes to read Biko’s thought as standing in the guise of a jurisprudence of liberation or post-­conquest jurisprudence which unsettles the very foundations of “post”-­apartheid law and reason. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Jurisprudence / DPhil / Unrestricted

This case study provides a holistic, qualitative, and ethnographic examination of the Wings Over Jordan Celebration Chorus in its dedication and commitment to preserving the Negro spiritual and the history embedded in these songs. The elements of critical race theory provide an interpretative framework to examine the role of race in the identity of the chorus. This dissertation documents the activities and experiences of members of this historical African American chorus, founded by Maestro Glenn A. Brackens in 1988, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the legacy and history of the original Wings Over Jordan Choir, founded in 1938 by the late Rev. Glenn T. Settle of Gethsemane Baptist Church of Cleveland, Ohio. The purposes of this study are to: 1) examine the reasons why members of the Wings Over Jordan Celebration Chorus have chosen to preserve the Negro spiritual, 2) to investigate the musical activities and experiences in which members of the Wings Over Jordan Celebration Chorus and Wings Over Jordan Alumni and Friends, Inc. have engaged to preserve the Negro spiritual and 3) to examine the critical role racial identity has played in the motivation and valuation for preservation of Negro spirituals by Wings Over Jordan Celebration Chorus. Interviews and focus group meetings conducted with members of the Wings Over Jordan Celebration Chorus and its administrative body, Wings Over Jordan Alumni and Friends, Inc., provided evidence that the preservation of Negro spirituals through this organization takes place through performance, education, and documentation. Interviews conducted with Maestro Glenn A. Brackens revealed his philosophy related to performance practices and vision for the future of this chorus. The debate on how to best perform Negro spirituals was also considered. Findings from the research indicate the critical role racial identity has on the motivation and valuation for preservation of Negro spirituals by members of this chorus. Cultural identity and community identity share both a link and a direct connection to the choir’s collective identity as an African American chorus. The identification of the chorus encompasses its mission to celebrate its musical heritage and inspire future generations to do the same. This dissertation shares the steps the chorus has taken to fulfill this mission. Implications for music education and suggestions for future research include investigation of the activities and experiences of other choral groups that have yet to be documented, to find innovative ways to bridge the gap between generations to preserve the history and meaning of the Negro spirituals and their relevance for today’s world, and to collaborate with scholars in various fields to create culturally relevant music curricula inclusive of Negro spirituals.

This study examines experiences of racial microaggressions as related to an audience through the art of Storytelling. Integrating Performance Ethnography and Critical Race Theory, it examines how storytelling may serve to illuminate the concept of racial microaggressions. After examining the current body of work on Racism, Storytelling and Microaggression, the author moves through the stories of experiences with racial microaggression from four individuals, gathered and performed as a storytelling event, before a live audience. The communicative management methods individuals use when talking about race and racial microaggressions are explored in presentation of the audience discussion which followed the performance. The author concludes storytelling has merit as a tool for the illumination of racial microaggressions, yet the potency with which racism is ingrained in the psyche of white people in U.S. indicates significant structure must be applied to public discussions of race to support the utilization of storytelling in this manner.

This paper explores the experiences of discrimination and racism that Black teachers in Germany face. Moreover, this work sheds light on the strategies those teachers can engage in, in order to navigate through a pre-dominantly white school system. Thereby Critical Race Theory (CRT) offered a theoretical framework for the analysis of four problem-centered interviews with Black educators, which were then analysed with the qualitative content analyse. Findings from the study illuminate that Black people in the educational system in Germany face experiences of discrimination and racism throughout their schooling, from their studies to their own work as teachers. Additionally, the findings showed that the teacher developed multiple strategies in order to negotiate the institutional structures at predominantly white institution. This study adds to the field by centring the voices of Black people.

No description available.

Thesis advisor: Hosffman . Ospino / Catholic theological education in the United States of America in the year 2019 (and beyond) must confront the realities of racism and ethnocentrism, and understand how racist and ethnocentric epistemologies intrude into the classroom. These epistemologies interfere with the ways that theological educators are able to teach about and through an anthropology of the imago Dei that demands an equitable valuation of people of color, both socially and theologically. Yet a history of a “white savior complex” pervades Catholic theological education in the U.S. and stands in the way of cherishing the theological agency and contributions of people of color. Such a complex can be addressed through the use of antiracist and intercultural pedagogies that allows the scholarship and experiences of people of color, both students and academics, to achieve equitable impact in theological education and that leads all students to reflect on the development of their racial, ethnic, and cultural identities. The use of four distinct antiracist and intercultural pedagogical pillars are developed and illustrated through vignettes pulled from the experiences of theological educators teaching about racism and ethnocentrism in Catholic colleges and universities in the U.S. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

While there is ample research theorizing reasons for so-called "achievement gaps" between African American and White students on standardized tests, few studies explore African Americans' perceptions of the impact these tests have on overall education. Through interviews with six current students attending Hillsborough County public high schools, one recent graduate of a Hillsborough County high school, and two parents of students in Hillsborough County public schools, this research study probes participants' perceptions of the impact of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) on their high school experiences. All participants in the study identified as African American or Black. Through archival research and participant observation with the Tampa Bay Academy of Hope (TBAH), a non-profit organization dedicated to developing leadership, behavioral, and academic skills for inner-city middle and high school students, this study also investigates the role of community-based organizations in facilitating the successful navigation of academic and bureaucratic challenges for African American students and parents in the quest for academic success at and beyond the high school level in Hillsborough County. The consequences of standardized testing in the Hillsborough County schools participants have attended reach beyond individuals' successful graduation, affecting course options, academic tracking, school structure, and school climate. Here I argue that standardized testing is another method of academic tracking, and school-wide penalties and rewards associated with disaggregated standardized test scores impact student and parent perceptions of school climate and school-family relationship.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / There is a dearth of literature about post-secondary transition experiences of Black women with dis/abilities (BWD). In this qualitative study, I explore transition experiences of five post-secondary BWD from high school to college in order to privilege her chronicles and narratives as knowledge. In addition, two urban public high school transition coordinators (TC) participated in the study. Three inquiries guided my dissertation: (1) features of educational experiences narrated by BWD, (2) features of transition services provided to students with dis/abilities, including roles of and approaches as described by the TCs, and (3) how BWD narratives may be leveraged to critique and extend transition services as the TCs described them. I engaged in three semi-structured interviews with six of the seven participants (one interview with the seventh). I drew from Disability Studies/Disability Studies in Education (DSE), Critical Race Theory, and Womanist/Black Feminist Theory and their shared tenets of voice and counternarratives and concepts of social construction and falsification of consciousness to analyze the narratives of BWD participants. I drew from the DS/DSE tenet of interlocking systems of oppression, DisCrit tenet three, race and ability, and constructs of Inputs and Outcomes in work on Modeling Transition Education to analyze the TCs’ narratives and in connection to the narratives of the BWD. Across both sets of participants, three themes in the form of Truths emerged; they were terrible and sticky experiences of racial/dis/ability oppression for the BWDs and, imposing of whiteness and normalization within the transition education practices described by the TCs. For the BWD, those terrible and sticky truths took three forms: (a) Pathologization; (b) Disablement; and (c) Exclusion. Another type of truth in the BWD’s narratives, however, was Subverted Truths: (re)defined identities and radical love, (re)placed competence and knowledge, and (revalued sisterhood and community, the ways of pushing back and resisting the Truths and their effects. I discuss implications for BWD post-secondary transition-planning-and-programming theory, research, policy, practice, praxis, and spirituality.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The systemic racism imposed on the lives and education aspiration of six of my elders who stayed in the racist South during the ferociously deleterious era of Jim Crow is the focus of this phenomenological critical race study. These stories centered the voices of my elders as powerful weapons to expose white supremacy and the psychophysiological trauma imposed upon my elders. These stories were about the lives, lived experiences, and educational trials and triumphs of six of my Brown and Black hue American elders whose ancestry was born out of slavery and delivered into the vicious Jim Crow era. My work was grounded in Phenomenological Critical Race Theory. Critical Race Theory validates my elders’ narratives and their narratives fortify the tenets of CRT. For you see, racism was an everyday phenomenon my elders experienced as residents of rural Southern America. My elders came to understand “what” they were, Black, by understanding “who” they were not, White. Furthermore, this qualitative phenomenological critical race study was guided by three inquiries, what experiences have you had with Jim Crow; how or in what ways did your experiences with Jim Crow affect your education; and how or in what ways did your experience with Jim Crow affect your life? These inquiries produced four intersecting themes, 1) the survival of racism as part of everyday life, 2) economic exploitation of Black labor, 3) denial of equitable education, and 4) the sociopolitical construction of racial identity, and three significant findings, racist place, sociopolitical oppression, and inequitable education.