This dissertation is an ethnographic analysis of the ways in which disenfranchised Black communities mobilize cultural legacies of maroonage to empower themselves through the establishment of independent educational institutions. Using Kamali Academy, an African-centered, systematic home school in New Orleans, Louisiana, as a case study and ethnographic site, I examine two primary questions: What does the relationship between maroonage, as a political-cultural praxis, and independent Black educational institutions tell us about the construction of autonomous Black communities in the United States? Specifically, what does Kamali Academy teach us about these communities’ viability as interventions into a failing educational system that marginalizes Black students and families in New Orleans? Building on existing scholarship, I highlight maroonage as a method of community construction within a dominant socio-political structure. I depart from the literature, however, by rearticulating maroonage as a translocal and transhistorical cultural tradition, a process by which individuals and communities disengage from the dominant structure and re-engage in affirming and positive institutions. When considered within the context of both the charter school movement that has taken over New Orleans public schools since Hurricane Katrina as well as the extensive legacy of the struggle for independent Black education in the United States, Kamali Academy provides insight into what I have termed institutional maroonage, or the formation and maintenance of independent Black institutions that serve as spaces for community building and benefit the interests of Black freedom. / text

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This ethnographic analysis of the social and physical effects of Hurricane Ike in Galveston, Texas and the consequent recovery that emerged afterward is based on 20 months of field research conducted immediately before and after the storm’s landfall. The introductory chapter locates the ethnographer just prior to the hurricane as he prepared for an unexpected evacuation. It then presents the conceptual framework for a multi-sited ethnography of “disaster culture” and introduces analytic keywords of “vulnerability,” “resilience,” “dreamworlds,” and “catastrophe.” It concludes by discussing a set of historical and contemporary socio-economic conditions in Galveston. This provides a frame of reference of both the social formations of storm experiences and the public recovery dynamics that attended with Ike’s aftermath that are discussed throughout the text. This is further supplemented with an explanation of Ike’s flooding and the geographic distribution of storm damage. Chapter two begins with an ethnographic vignette of the first townhall meeting held in Galveston after Ike. This introduces several recurrent topics of concern that were formative of disaster-culture dynamics. It then provides a literature review of the anthropology of disaster before segueing into a presentation of storm narratives. It ends with an analysis that further elaborates on the formative dynamics of Galvestonian disaster culture. Chapter three provides an analysis of the public deliberations that emerged over long-term redevelopment initiatives; particularly, the advocacy practices of a faith-based consortium; advocacy on behalf of restoring the University of Texas Medical Branch; the public Long Term Recovery Committee, and a FEMA buyout program that benefited higher income property owners on the western end of the island. The fourth chapter provides an extended case study concerning the rebuilding of 569 units of public housing that were subsequently destroyed after the hurricane. The rebuilding of public housing became the most vitriolic public issue during the course of fieldwork. The concluding chapter invokes the concepts of “dreamworlds” and “catastrophe” used by historian and philosopher Walter Benjamin to show the processual dynamics between the initial hopes for collectively strengthening Galveston through federally funded redevelopment and the increasingly negative assessments of the city’s long-term urban fortunes. / text

These three studies use two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households to investigate the influence of parents’ religious commitment and involvement on children’s internalizing and externalizing problems over time. In addition, the analyses will examine of different forms of family instability and parenting practices mediates this relationship. Furthermore, does parental religiosity moderate the relationship between instability and children’s mental health problems? The first study shows that children whose parents are both religiously unaffiliated, exhibit elevated internalizing problems compared to children from mixed-faith households. Evangelical Protestant affiliation moderated the relationship between parents’ frequent arguments and internalizing problems. In addition, children whose mothers are more theologically conservative than the fathers show elevated levels of internalizing problems. In addition, theological dissimilarity (mothers more conservative) plays a moderating role between frequent arguments and internalizing problems. The second study shows that children from religiously homogamous households, exhibit lower than average externalizing problems. In addition, fathers’ religious involvement protects their children from externalizing problems, even when accounting for various forms of family instability and parenting practices. Furthermore, children whose mothers are more theologically conservative than fathers, show elevated levels of some externalizing problems. Structural equation modeling analyses show that parents’ socioeconomic status is related to parental religious dissimilarity, parental divorce and parental praise of children. When mothers are more theologically conservative than fathers, these couples are at higher likelihood of frequent parental arguments. As a consequence, their children are at an elevated likelihood of difficulty concentrating, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems. Frequency of parental arguments is also positively related to divorce. If high conflict marriages end, children are at a reduced likelihood of externalizing problems. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. / text

This study aimed to document the extent of domestic violence among a community sample of women of South Asian origin in the United States, and to investigate sociocultural factors associated with domestic violence in this population. It also investigated the extent of informal and formal help-seeking among women of South Asian origin who are victims of domestic violence and sociocultural factors associated with their help-seeking. The sociocultural factors of isolation (measured by ties with family, friends, and social and cultural groups, as well as ties with spouse/partner), perceived social support, acculturation, and patriarchy were used to predict abuse and help-seeking. Both paper and Web surveys were used to collect data from a cross section of South Asian women residing in the United States of America. In total, 215 cases were included in the multivariate analyses. Most women in the sample were highly educated. Based on the Conflict Tactics Scale -2, results indicated that 38% of the sample experienced psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and/or injury from abuse in the past year. Psychological abuse was by far the most prevalent form of abuse (52%), but 48% of the women who were abused experienced physical abuse, sexual abuse, or injury. Isolation, as measured by ties with spouse/partner, and perceived social support predicted both abuse and help-seeking. Isolation, as measured by ties with family, friends, and social and cultural groups, also predicted help-seeking. Of the women who reported seeking help, the use of informal help sources (e.g., family, friends) was more prevalent than the use of formal resources (e.g., doctors, counselors, battered women’s shelters). The study contributes to the research by providing empirical data on the extent of abuse and help-seeking behaviors of women of South Asian origin in the United States. Among the study’s practice and policy implications for preventing domestic violence is a need to reach out to South Asian women in the community to insure that they are not isolated and know that support is available. The study also suggests that outreach to men is necessary in order to improve relationships with their spouses/partners that may lead to reduced abuse. The information will contribute to designing culturally appropriate interventions to prevent domestic violence and help South Asian women victimized by domestic violence. / text

In this dissertation project, I examine the experiences of displaced Hurricane Katrina survivors in the context of post-disaster housing policies and practices. This research is based on two years of in-depth interviews with Katrina survivors who were displaced to Austin, Texas. I analyze these interviews to understand the raced, classed, and gendered implications of post-disaster housing policies and to consider what these implications reveal about the relationship between social policies, housing, and social inequality more broadly. This project is informed by an intersectional understanding of social stratification systems and inequalities and a critical analysis of neoliberal social policy. First, I outline the gender, family, and class ideologies embedded in government-run post-Katrina housing policies and practices, and show how they specifically disadvantaged people who did not conform to them. I identify temporal domination as a specific aspect of class oppression evident in respondents’ experiences with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) rental assistance programs. Next, I specifically examine respondents’ experiences settling into their new neighborhoods and searching for jobs. I found that many black survivors ended up in segregated remote areas of the city, far from jobs and public transportation. Their job searching experiences suggest that employers used racist stereotypes about Latino workers to coerce them to work for low wages. This reveals the complex and interrelated racial dynamics of low-wage urban housing and labor markets. Finally, I explore how survivors got by in the face of such difficult and in some cases dire circumstances. One primary way survivors coped with the uncertainty caused by their displacement was relying on their social networks. While women tended to depend on adult child - parent and other familial relationships, men tended to distance themselves from the potential support of their mothers and other relatives. Respondents also constructed fictive kin relationships to provide support to others, sometimes for the explicit purpose of ensuring one or both members of the relationship had access to stable housing. This reveals how both gender and family relationships can shape disaster recovery and everyday experiences of poverty. Overall, this project contributes to the study of race/class/gender inequality, social policy, housing, and disaster recovery. / text

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