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Exploring Psychological Invisibility In Formerly Incarcerated Black Men, Dallas Wright

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Psychological invisibility is a condition wherein a person feels that their personal identity, value and ability are devalued as a result of repeated prejudicial slights experienced during interpersonal encounters. Developed by Anderson Franklin, the theory has been used to conceptualize how Black men experience racism and its effects. Mass incarceration has disproportionately impacted Black men, but research has yet to explicitly address how past imprisonment may influence this population’s experiences with invisibility. Seven formerly incarcerated Black men were interviewed to explore their experiences and perceptions of invisibility. Emergent themes were: invisibility is painful, invisibility is pervasive, attunement to power relations, …