Education Commons^™

Giving Voice To African American Women’S Authentic Lived Experiences With Public Assistance, Adrienne C. Smith

Adult Education Research Conference

African American women, welfare, and education and training are the focus of this research. Narrative Inquiry methodology was used to explore this qualitative study and it is grounded in the Africentric paradigm (Colin, III, 2010) utilizing the Womanist Epistemological Perspective (Sheared, 1994, 2010) for the unit of analysis. This study “gives voice” (Sheared 1994) to African American women authentic lived experiences (Colin, III, 2007) who have used the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Their stories highlight marginalization and oppression in access and utilization of the education and training activities in the temporary assistance program, capturing the women’s experiences …