In Defense of Themselves: The Black Student Struggle for Success and Recognition at Predominantly White Colleges and Universities

Williamson, Joy Ann

doi:10.2307/2668212

Cited by 31 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…African American students are still disadvantaged on white campuses compared with their white peers and continue to suffer from isolation, alienation, and lack of support. Moreover, African American students on predominantly white campuses might feel 514 G. Savas alienated, sense hostility and racial discrimination, or notice a lack of interaction between themselves and white students (Williamson 1999). On the one hand, African American students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) report a sense of belonging and experience feelings of engagement, connection, acceptance, support, and encouragement (Allen 1992).…”

Section: Student Experience In Higher Education: Challengesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Understanding critical race theory as a framework in higher educational research

Savaş

2013

British Journal of Sociology of Education

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This paper reviews the existing literature to discuss how critical race theory has been applied as a theoretical framework to higher educational research in the United States and what its contributions are. To provide necessary context, I will discuss race and racism in the United States, the background of US higher education in relation to race, the emergence of critical race theory and its application in US higher education. Race and racism in the United StatesRace has been long studied by social scientists and as a result there is no single theory of race and race relations in the literature. Rather, most scholars have approached race and race relations in a critical way as it differently affects the life-chances of people from different races. Within this context, I have to first acknowledge that this paper does not claim that critical race theory (CRT) is an umbrella theory which covers all influential studies of race and racism in the United States. I have instead intentionally selected studies in educational research that have adopted CRT as the theoretical and methodological framework. Studies on race and racism indicate that, as a social construct, race has real and important consequences in US society and significantly affects the life-chances of people of color. The social structure of American society has been racialized, meaning that the United States is a society 'in which economic, political, social, and ideological levels are partially structured by the placement of actors in racial categories or races' (Bonilla-Silva 1997, 469). Our social relations are affected explicitly or implicitly by this racialized social structure. More importantly, this racialized social structure still seems to favor whites, as it was in the past, and people of color in comparison with whites do not have equal access to better *

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Section: Student Experience In Higher Education: Challengesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Understanding critical race theory as a framework in higher educational research

Savaş

2013

British Journal of Sociology of Education

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“…In 1968 the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) student strike at San Francisco State University catalyzed a movement toward the implementation of ethnic studies curricula, and diversity initiatives in faculty and student recruitment and retention (Rhoads, 2016). A year later, at Cornell University, students organized similar actions to establish a Black Student Union and the first African American Studies program in the U.S. (Williamson, 1999). In effect, the Civil Rights Movement catalyzed the collective political power of youth and student activists within and beyond higher education.…”

Section: Conceptualizing Sociopolitical Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Documenting sociopolitical development via participatory action research (PAR) with women of color student activists in the neoliberal university

Fernández

Gaston

Nguyen

et al. 2018

J. Soc. Polit. Psych.

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Political activism attests to the sociopolitical development and agency of young people. Yet the literature sparingly engages the intersectional subjectivities that inform the sociopolitical development of young people, especially women of color. Important questions remain in the theorizing of sociopolitical development among youth engaged in political activism within higher education settings. Thus, we focus on the following question: What experiences informed or catalyzed the sociopolitical development of women of color student activists within a racialized neoliberal university in the United States? In addressing this question we demonstrate how student-led participatory action research (PAR) within the neoliberal university can facilitate and support sociopolitical development. Of most value, this paper demonstrates how PAR can be used as a tool to support the intersectional sociopolitical development of student activists organizing within racialized neoliberal settings of higher education that threaten the academic thriving and overall wellbeing of students of color, specifically women of color. Sociopolitical development theorizing must engage elements of relational healing as a dimension of wellbeing. Therefore, our work contributes to these conversations by centering the experiences of women of color student activists.

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“…BGLOs therefore continue to exist in order to create a space to combat the social isolation many black students experience at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) (Harper 2008;Little 2002;McClure 2006;Williamson 1999). Regardless of its efficiency their mission has always been for members to use their middle-class privilege to 'uplift the black community' (Gasman 2011;Neumann 2008).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Membership gives black students a sense of belonging at PWIs and they experience a sense of encouragement from other members to become more active on campus, thus gaining access to opportunities that they may not have pursued otherwise (Harper 2008;Little 2002;McClure 2006;Williamson 1999). Members also see their direct connection with black history through their identification with historical figures who are/were members of their organizations (McClure 2006).…”

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confidence: 99%

On and Off the Stage at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging

Smith¹

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This dissertation presents a thick ethnography that engages in the micro-analysis of the situationality of black middle-class collective identification processes through an examination of performances by members of the nine historically black sororities and fraternities at Atlanta Greek Picnic, an annual festival that occurs at the beginning of June in Atlanta, Georgia. It mainly attracts undergraduate and graduate members of these university-based organizations, as they exist all over the United States. This exploration of black Greek-letter organization (BGLO) performances uncovers processes through which young black middle-class individuals attempt to combine two universes that are at first glance in complete opposition to each other: the domain of the traditional black middle-class values with representations and fashions stemming from black popular culture. These constructions also attempt to incorporate-in a contradiction of sortsblack popular cultural elements in the objective to deconstruct the social conservatism that characterizes middle-class values, particularly in relation to sexuality and its representation in social behaviors and performances. This negotiation between prescribed v middle-class values of respectability and black popular culture provides a space wherein black individuals challenge and/or perpetuate those dominant tropes through identity performances that feed into the formation of black sexual politics, which I examine through a variety of BGLO staged and non-staged performances.

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In Defense of Themselves: The Black Student Struggle for Success and Recognition at Predominantly White Colleges and Universities

Cited by 31 publications

References 17 publications

Understanding critical race theory as a framework in higher educational research

Understanding critical race theory as a framework in higher educational research

Documenting sociopolitical development via participatory action research (PAR) with women of color student activists in the neoliberal university

On and Off the Stage at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging

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