Education Commons^™

Positionality Matters: School Choice Decisions Based On Ethnographic Accounts Of African American Parents, Dr. Stacy L. Thomas

Dissertations

This research delves into experiences with reasoning and selected criteria for choosing the right school for their children. Beginning with a series of vignettes that assist with recognition of parental empowerment, this research archives acknowledgement of their own positionality when it comes to making life changing decisions. As selected parents of African American children grapple with the strategic balance and possibilities of educational outlets, family and finances, they offer ethnographic accounts of their successes and failures with school choice. Individual accounts of parental school choice decisions posing as data ascertained from interviews provided research that explored the critical frequencies and …

Critical Praxis: Using My Own Whiteness And Experiences To Challenge Issues Of Racism And White Privilege, Linda Selway

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Autoethnography is a genre of research that alternately focuses its attention outwardly on the social and cultural, and inwardly on the personal life experiences of the researcher in an attempt to raise one’s consciousness and prompt action about the issue under study. This autoethnography explores the transformation I have undergone as I have grappled with the issues of race and academic achievement, and sought to find my place and voice in the struggle for social justice. Along the way, I have had to take a hard, sometimes painful look at myself, peeling away layers of defense to get at …