Hidden curriculum scholars have long since recognized the function of the visual in shaping the educational experiences of youth. Scholars have noted that the hidden curriculum of schooling has functioned as a primary socialization mechanism to reproduce capitalism, the state, gender, racial, and class-based inequalities. Today, urban high school spaces present both invisible and visible curricula that are shaped not only by the many images that comprise a school's visual culture, but also by the wider visual landscape. This is of particular import for working-class young Black women who are often framed and seen as social and economic problems within the discourse on urban schools/urban school failure. This discourse teaches. It is taught in and through the everyday visual texts, spaces, and places young Black women navigate to the point that the discourse linking Black femaleness, poverty, and failure becomes natural/normal. It is normalized to the point that it becomes "hidden in plain sight." The simultaneous transparency and invisibility of knowledge presents urban educators concerned about the Black girl and other youth of color with three intersecting problems. First, the educative role of the visual has been underexplored in the research literature on urban schools/urban schooling. Second, within the context of urban schools, we do not know enough about if and or how the educative role of the visual shapes young Black women's relationship with teaching and learning. Third, we do not know if or how the contentious relationship between visual learning inside and visual learning outside of school shapes young Black women's relationship with education as a formal institution and or a process. Given these three intersecting problems, this dissertation project centers on examining the educative impacts of place, visual culture, and design in an effort to fill the gap in the scholarship regarding this portion of the educational experiences of young Black women. Using visual ethnography and discourse analysis as primary methods, I engage a group of five primary student participants who attend a non-traditional, design-focused science and technology magnet school where they are one of the largest student cohorts. Einstein 2.0 is an instance of a progressive, non-normative, small learning community that is attentive to the power of the visual in shaping the teaching and learning experiences, especially for youth of color. In this way, it is a case that can help us better understand the challenges, opportunities, and complexities of harnessing the visual in the urban school context. In this study I argue that by creating a safe and emotionally engaging environment that rejects using punitive disciplinary frameworks and pseudo-factory/pseudo-prison design, Einstein's visual and school culture gave rise to an increased sense of emotional readiness for both producing and receiving knowledge that stands in sharp contrast to the more traditional ways urban schools often approach managing and controlling its student(s') body(ies). Given the increased role of the visual in shaping teaching and learning for youth in the 21st century urban context and the persistent link between young Black women and urban educational/societal failure, having the emotional readiness to deal with these challenges is crucial to their self-definitions (Collins, 2000) and internal motivation to reject and or exceed societal expectations. Using Einstein's approach to visual and organizational culture as a model, I make specific recommendations for educators tasked with or concerned about creating engaging school spaces for young Black women and other youth of color. These recommendations demand further attention to the ways that the visual, spatial, and emotional interact to contour the educational experiences and consumption practices of youth in urban America today. / Urban Education

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:31:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elcimar Dias Pereira.pdf: 2061219 bytes, checksum: 37a24fd27945253471b18ce933932b8c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-06-20 / Fundação Ford / This research aims to contribute to an understanding of the meaning of sexuality for young black women and is based on constructionism in social psychology within an analysis of discursive practices. A literature review of theses and dissertations was carried out in the first stage, in order to examine the relevant discourse on the area studied. A strategic methodological choice was made to use three focus groups of young women who identified themselves as black and had contact with the Casa da Juventude Pe. Burnier (Father Burnier Youth Center), located in the municipality of Goiânia. During the first focus group the research aims were presented, the participants were introduced to one another, and expectations were raised about participating in a research project on the themes of sexuality and race. During the second focus group, a discussion was first held on various issues identified by the participants about what they had heard about the sexuality of black women, and in order to feed the debate, participants then heard themes taken from various theses and dissertations so that they could express their opinions about them as well. The third focus group discussed themes identified during the second focus group. An analysis was made using dialogue lists that allowed for aggregating various themes discussed under two main areas: a) The black woman as a sexual object: a perspective based on race and b) The black woman and sexuality: a question of race or gender? Through these two areas it was possible to identify the various meanings of sexuality as they intersected with ideas put forth by institutions such as the church, media and family. The participants demonstrated at the same time a desire to fully experience their sexuality without being bound to these institutions and apprehension about not adhering to the rules inherent in these three institutions. It is hoped that this study will contribute to the unfamiliarity of terms that serve to reinforce pejorative ideas about the sexuality of black women, opening the possibility of building new discourses / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo entender os sentidos de sexualidade para jovens mulheres negras, apoiando-se, para tal, na perspectiva construcionista da Psicologia Social voltada à análise de práticas discursivas. Em um primeiro momento, foi realizada a busca de repertórios sobre o tema em Teses e Dissertações, um dos espaços em que circulam os discursos sobre o assunto pesquisado. Como estratégia metodológica foram realizados três grupos focais dos quais participaram jovens que se auto-identificavam como negras e tinham algum tipo de contato com a Casa da Juventude Pe. Burnier, situada no município de Goiânia. O primeiro grupo foi um momento para apresentação da pesquisa, das participantes, bem como do levantamento de expectativas sobre participar de uma pesquisa que abordasse o tema sexualidade e raça. O segundo grupo teve como discussão inicial os elementos trazidos pelas interlocutoras sobre o que ouviram falar acerca da sexualidade da mulher negra e, para instigar o debate, foram acrescentadas frases oriundas das Teses e Dissertações, para que as participantes também expusessem as suas opiniões a respeito. O terceiro grupo consistiu na retomada dos temas levantados no segundo encontro. A análise foi realizada utilizando mapas dialógicos que possibilitaram agregar vários temas abordados em dois conjuntos: a. A mulher negra como objeto sexual: olhar a partir das nomeações relativas à raça e b. Mulher negra e sexualidade: uma questão de raça ou de gênero? Dessa maneira foi possível identificar os diversos sentidos sobre sexualidade que estavam atravessados por noções disseminadas pelas instituições Igreja, Mídia e Família. As interlocutoras demonstraram, ao mesmo tempo, um desejo de vivenciar sua sexualidade sem as amarras de tais instituições e receios de burlar as regras instituídas nesses espaços. Espera-se que este trabalho possa contribuir para a desfamiliarização de termos que contribuem para reificar idéias pejorativas acerca da sexualidade da mulher negra, abrindo a possibilidade da construção de novos discursos