This study explores the way that visual culture and identity creates understanding about how the women in my family interact and teach each other. In the study issues of identity, liminality, border culture, are explored. The study examines how underrepresented groups, such as those represented by Latinas, can enter into and add to the discourses of art education because the women who participated have learned to maneuver through the world, passing what they have learned to one another, from one generation to the next. Furthermore, the study investigates ways in which visual cues offer a way for the women in my family to negotiate their identity. In the study the women see themselves in signs, magazines, television, dolls, clothing patterns, advertisements, and use these to find ways in which to negotiate the borderlands of the places in which they live. Although the education that occurred was informal, its importance is in creating a portal through which to self reflect on the cultural work of educating.

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No description available.

The enormous amount of African American children in the foster care system is a concern for many professional social workers, and others who are interested in this issue.

Many studies have shown that an overwhelming number of classroom teachers are encountering increasing diversity issues in both the content of what they teach and among the students they are teaching The purpose of this project is to provide elementary teachers with a resource of multicultural literature that can be integrated into any curriculum, whether it is Language Arts, Social Studies, or story time.

The purpose of this study was to describe the home literacy environments and literacy experiences of a select group of Asian American children, and to recommend an intervention program based on the findings. The target population was the families which sent their children to a Saturday Asian language and culture school while sending them to public schools during the week, because of their expressed interest in literacy and the probability of their being the group to most likely benefit from intervention. The Home Literacy Environment and Literacy Experiences survey was initially sent out and results tallied and quantified. Upon placing the returned surveys into groups of "high," "middle," and "low" home literacy environment and literacy experiences, a sample of five "high" and five "low" families was selected for further study. Home visits, interviews, field notes, collection of artifacts and other methods of data collection provided a clearer picture of the state of the home literacy environment and literacy experiences of the families studied. Families rated as having "high" home literacy environment and experiences were found to have a larger number of literacy-related materials and higher frequency of literacy-related activities. Bilingualism and education were perceived as being important. The families also exhibited a strong interest in music and music lessons. Parents expressed a desire for two two-hour training sessions which would be held at the Saturday school location while their child attended classes there. It would be ideally held in the native language of the parents by a speaker from the native country. The parents preferred workshops with actual practice and examples which could be seen, accompanied by reading materials. Topics in which parents expressed interest include, in descending order: (a) 'selection of books for and with their child, (b) how to encourage their child to read, (c) how to discuss stories with their child, and (d) how to read aloud to their child.

The purpose of this study was to discover the degree to which thirty-nine secondary textbooks used in the united States from 1789 to 1939 covered the significant topics that comprised the immigrant experience. Immigrants from Europe, Japan, and China were studied. Using a topic outline as the basis for discussion, authors' comments that were typical representations of their viewpoints were included. Besides this outline, which formed the heart of this study, several other evaluative measures were used. Bias was determined by using an evaluative coefficient analysis system. A picture identification checklist was utilized to classify designated components of each picture. Also, page coverage was included for the topic of immigration as well as by immigrant group classification. The results of this study indicated that immigration was not a significant topic in the early American history textbooks until after World War I. This investigation also revealed that immigration was treated in an biased light by the 1789-1939 historians. Bias that favored the English immigrants was discovered when page and topic coverage was analyzed. Bias by the omission of immigrant contributions was found. Pictures, too, formed a negative stereotype of the immigrant as a victim of crowded cities and the lines of Ellis Island. / Ed. D.

This Project involves looking at African American culture as it relates to swimming, water safety awareness, and water skills. The paper explores the myths and cultural norms associated with drowning phobias in African Americans to discover the root causes. Through historic accounts of African American culture one begins to uncover reasons why this culture became, in a sense aqua phobic. The paper will show what water sport professionals are up against, when working with a culture that is several generations removed from the water and their water skills. The ultimate goal is to draw attention to the importance of water safety and the ability to swim as a life skill. / by Jon Eric Groover. / Vita. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The purpose of this research study was to identify and define important components that might constitute an ecology of language (Mufwene 2001; Haugen 1972). Focusing on components as varied as social networks, physical ecology, identity and linguistic realities allowed for the construction of such a model, which was then applied to a specific case study addressing the vitality of Haitian Creole among first and second generation Haitian college students in South Florida. The resulting ecology of language model demonstrates that the competition and selection pressures guiding language use among first and second generation Haitian college students hinge on two ecological factors: the survey respondents' level of American acculturation and their desire to be involved in or affiliated with a separate subgroup of Haitians. The study found that (1) the reported language behavior of parents had no correlations with the respondents' interest in affiliating with other Haitians, and (2) Haitia n college students who do identify strongly with Haitian culture do not necessarily equate that cultural identity with the Haitian Creole language. These results suggest, in contrast to the claims of Zephir (2001), that Haitian college students will acculturate quickly into American linguistic society despite their desire to maintain the hyphenated identity of Haitian-American. Additionally, many of the conditions which are noted in the language endangerment literature (Grenoble & Whaley1998; Nettle & Romaine 2000; Crystal 2000) pointing towards language loss are occurring within the Haitian college community in South Florida. Despite the fact Haitian college students in South Florida all have positive attitudes towards Haitian culture and language, the respondents prefer to speak English rather than Haitian Creole. As is the case with other minority languages (Potowski 2010), it can be predicted that Haitian Creole will maintain its integrity and vitality in America continued / immigration. / by Kristyl Williams Kepley. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Due to high profile police shootings, collective action movements addressing racial bias in policing, such as the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, have come to the forefront of societal concern. Though these movements and actions directly address police use of force against Black people, a number of non-Black racial minority individuals and organizations have declared solidarity and joined in protests with BLM. This study takes an intersectional approach to examine racial intraminority attitudes (i.e., racial minorities' attitudes toward other racial minority outgroups) toward support for and participation in protests against police excessive use of force and the BLM movement, through its relationship with modern racist beliefs and racial centrality. Participants completed a survey assessing perspectives on policing, racial protests, and BLM, along with racial identity measures. Results show significant differences in both support for and participation in protests and BLM, with women and Black people reporting higher in both outcomes than men and other racial groups, respectively. Within some racial groups, women show higher overall support for (Latinx, White) and participation in (Black, White) protests and BLM than men in the same racial group, though these differences were not found for other groups. Within each intersecting race and gender group, these effects were mediated by levels of modern racism, highlighting a common factor between all groups and an important point of possible malleability and intervention. Further, the relationship between race and gender identities and modern racism was moderated by racial centrality for some groups (Black and Latina women), though this relationship was again not universally found. By examining within group differences, this study highlights the importance of taking an intersectional approach to understand intraminority attitudes and relations as they pertain to participation in collective action movements towards social change. This study has implications for the generalizability of a number of social psychological theories on minority-minority intergroup race relations (i.e., Black-Latinx), as much of the past literature focuses on majority-minority intergroup relations (i.e., Black-White). Additionally, results from this study may provide useful information for community organizers and social justice activists in promoting intergroup collaboration and coalition building towards more equitable social change that is both more tailored for specific groups and more generalizable across groups.