Educational Sociology Commons^™

Matriculating Masculinity: Understanding Undergraduate Men’S Precollege Gender Socialization, Frank Harris Iii, Ed.D., Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Social scientists, educational researchers, postsecondary educators (including student affairs professionals), and others have attempted to understand problematic behavioral trends and developmental outcomes among undergraduate men. Little attention has been devoted to examining the masculine identities and ideals about manhood that these students bring to college contexts, hence the purpose of this study. The sample comprised 68 undergraduate men representing a range of backgrounds and subgroups. Findings indicate that parental influences, interactions with same-sex peers, and involvement in youth sports were socializing factors informing ideas about masculinity that students brought with them to college. Recommendations for supporting the college transitions and …

Examining The Prevalence Of Poor Help-Seeking Behavior Among Black Men At Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Robert T. Palmer

Robert T. Palmer, PhD

Scholars have emphasized the importance of being more intentional about investigating the experiences of Black men at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). This article responds to that call by examining poor help-seeking behavior, which could be symptomatic of an unhealthy masculine identity, among Black men at HBCUs. This study was prompted by a single, institutional study, which found evidence of poor help-seeking behavior among Black men at an HBCU. Using data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), this article seeks to understand the prevalence of poor help-seeking behavior among Black males in HBCUs. This article concludes with …

Interpersonal Relationships And Social Support In Transitioning Narratives Of Black Transgender Women In Detroit, Louis F. Graham, Halley P. Crissman, Jack Tocco, Laura Hughes, Rachel C. Snow, Mark B. Padilla

Louis F Graham

Social support has been shown to play a key role in overcoming adversities associated with marginalized identities, yet there is a dearth of information regarding the role of social networks in the gender transition process, particularly in ethnic minority transgender communities. This study uses life history narratives, and a modified grounded theory analysis, to explore the impact of interpersonal relationships on the gender transition process of Black transgender women in Detroit, Michigan. The following interpersonal interactions were significant: family reactions to self-recognition of femininity, coming out as gay prior to transgender identity disclosure, contact with an out transwoman, emotional and …

(Re)Setting The Agenda For College Men Of Color: Lessons Learned From A 15-Year Movement To Improve Black Male Student Success, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Between 1997 and 2012, much was done on college campuses and elsewhere to improve Black male student achievement. Notwithstanding, their enrollments, academic performance, and rates of baccalaureate degree attainment remain just as troublesome now as they were 15 years ago. But why? And what can be learned as various stakeholders introduce future initiatives in response to issues affecting Black undergraduate men, as well as Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI), Latino, and Native American male collegians? In this chapter, I chronicle the 15-year emphasis on Black male students in U.S. higher education. I first catalogue a range of efforts enacted between 1997 …

In Search Of Progressive Black Masculinities: Critical Self-Reflections On Gender Identity Development Among Black Undergraduate Men, Keon M. Mcguire, Ph.D., Jonathan Berhanu, Charles H.F. Davis Iii, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

During the last several decades, research concerning the developmental trajectories, experiences, and behaviors of college men as ‘‘gendered’’ persons has emerged. In this article, we first critically review literature on Black men’s gender development and expressions within college contexts to highlight certain knowledge gaps. We then conceptualize and discuss progressive Black masculinities by relying on Mutua’s germinal work on the subject. Further, we engage Black feminist scholarship, both to firmly situate our more pressing argument for conceptual innovation and to address knowledge gaps in the literature on Black men’s gender experiences. It is our belief that scholars who study gender …

Women Of African Descent: Persistence In Completing A Doctorate, Vannetta L. Bailey-Iddrisu

Vannetta L. Bailey-Iddrisu

This study examines the educational persistence of women of African descent (WOAD) in pursuit of a doctorate degree at universities in the southeastern United States. WOAD are women of African ancestry born outside the African continent. These women are heirs to an inner dogged determination and spirit to survive despite all odds (Pulliam, 2003, p. 337).This study used Ellis’s (1997) Three Stages for Graduate Student Development as the conceptual framework to examine the persistent strategies used by these women to persist to the completion of their studies.

Family Literacy Practices And Parental Involvement Of Latin American Immigrant Mothers, Lorna Rivera

Lorna Rivera

No abstract provided.

Connecting The Dots: Threat Assessment, Depression And The Troubled Student, Valerie Harwood

Valerie Harwood

On April 18, 2007, a package containing over twenty digital videos arrived at the NBC building in New York city. Within a short time the material had been publicly broadcast, and images of Seung Hui Cho soon appeared on Youtube. Two days earlier the twenty-three year-old university student had been responsible for what has been claimed to be the worst mass shooting in the United States. Just days after the mass shooting, the Governor of Virginia, Timothy M. Kaine convened a review panel that was comprised of nine “nationally recognized individuals” across the disciplines of “law enforcement, security, governmental management, …

Neither Good Nor Useful: Looking Ad Vivum In Children's Assessments Of Fat And Healthy Boides, Valerie Harwood

Valerie Harwood

Fat bodies are not, fait accompli, bad. Yet in our international research we found overwhelmingly that fat functioned as a marker to indicate health or lack of health. A body with fat was simply and conclusively unhealthy. This paper reports on how this unbalanced view of fat was tied to assessments of healthy bodies that were achieved by the act of looking. Despite the efforts of health education in each of the three countries in our study, children and young people cited the act of looking at bodies to assess health and when they did they arrived at the conclusion …

Learning To Labour In Post-Soviet Russia: Vocational Youth In Transition, Charlie Walker

Charlie Walker, Ph.D

No abstract provided.

‘Miss, Are You Bisexual?’ The (Re)Production Of Heteronormativity Within Schools And The Negotiation Of Lesbian, Gay And Bisexual Teachers’ Private And Professional Worlds, Emily M. Gray Dr

Dr Emily M Gray

This research offers an analysis of the experiences of twenty people who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) and who are teachers within their professional lives. It aims to illustrate the ways in which the continuing (re)production of heteronormative discursive practices impacts upon their lives both within the private and the professional realm. The research deploys a two-tier methodological framework in order to gain insights into the lives of LGBT teachers, an often invisible social group. The research is underpinned by a theoretical framework which draws upon poststructuralist feminist/queer theories but which also is data, rather than theory, driven. …

'Are You Married, Sir?': Heteronormativity In British Schools & Its Impact Upon Queer Staff & Pupils - A Generational Prespective, Emily M. Gray Dr

Dr Emily M Gray

No abstract provided.

Sunday Friends: The Working Alternative To Charity, James D. Lee, Yoko Baba, Claudio V. Sanchez, Rebecca Wang, Chelsey White

James D. Lee

Sunday Friends is a non-profit organization in San José, California, that provides multiple activities for families who are in need of financial support. Given the particular location of the program, most families are Latino and bilingual. Participants and program volunteers form a community at an elementary school on a couple of scheduled Sundays each month. When family members participate in activities designed to educate, improve skills, and to give back to the larger community, they earn tickets that they can redeem for items that they need and want from the Sunday Friends store. Activities include healthy cooking projects, “Thank You …

College Males: Keeping Them Engaged On Your Campus, Jason A. Laker

Jason Laker

No abstract available.

Laboring To Learn: Women's Literacy And Poverty In The Post-Welfare Era., Lorna Rivera

Lorna Rivera

The American adult education system has become an alternative for school dropouts, with some state welfare policies requiring teen mothers and women without high school diplomas to participate in adult education programs to receive aid. Currently, low-income women of color are more likely to be enrolled in the lowest levels of adult basic education. Very little has been published about women's experiences in these mandatory programs and whether the programs reproduce the conditions that forced women to drop out in the first place.

Lorna Rivera bridges the gap with this important study, the product of ten years' active ethnographic research …

Masculinity In The Quad, Michael Kaufman, Jason A. Laker

Jason Laker

No abstract available.

Review Of The Book: One Size Does Not Fit All: Traditional And Innovative Models Of Student Affairs Practice, Jason A. Laker

Jason Laker

No abstract available.

Gender And Social Control: The Effects Of Routine-Activities And Bonds To Society On Delinquency, Katherine Novak

Katherine B. Novak

Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society, Minneapolis, MN, March 31-April 3, 2005.

His Story/Her Story: A Dialogue About Including Men And Masculinities In The Women’S Studies Curriculum, Beth Berila, Jean Keller, Camilla Krone, Jason A. Laker, Ozzie Mayers

Jason Laker

Three faculty members and two program directors in Women's/Gender/Men's Studies contend that Men's Studies can provide an important complement to Women's Studies programs. The director of Women's Studies at Saint Cloud State University, Minnesota, discusses the incorporation of gender studies into Women's Studies programs; a program director describes the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University's (CSB/SJU) evolution from a position where many Women's Studies faculty were wary of Men's Studies to support of the incorporation of Men's Studies as an explicit requirement of two required courses for their Gender and Women's Studies minor; two longtime Gender and Women's Studies faculty …

Learning Community: Popular Education And Homeless Women, Lorna Rivera

Lorna Rivera

In this essay, I present the voices of homeless women to illustrate the empowering impact of popular education on their lives. Popular education is a methodology of teaching and learning through dialogue that directly links curriculum content to people's lived experience and that inspires political action (Beder, 1996; Freire, 1985, 1990; Williams, 1996). On the basis of 5 years of ethnographic research in a shelter-based popular-education program, I describe how popular education approaches inspired a sense of community among a group of 50 homeless women of color. I also examine some of the barriers to literacy faced by women who …

Looking At Participatory Planning In Cuba… Through An Art Deco Window, Marie Kennedy, Lorna Rivera, Chris Tilly

Lorna Rivera

Last January we sat with about thirty Cubans in a community arts center in Boyeros, on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba. The group included artists, teachers, social workers, government officials, architects, engineers and health professionals, all working in Boyeros. We were leading a three-day participatory planning workshop to help this group identify ways that the 1930s Art Deco arts center, currently under renovation, could be used to spark broader community development.

As the first day drew to a close, we felt good about the day’s work. We had turned the Cubans loose in a small group exercise that used art …