Curriculum homeplacing as complicated conversation: (re)narrating the mentoring of Black women doctoral students

ABSTRACT

Through personal and dialogical narratives, we explore the ways Black women mentors (do not) reveal to their mentees their lived-experiences and the personal pain associated with the pursuit of careers in higher education; how and why their narratives of pain and pursuit are negotiated, sanctioned, and/or strategically altered; and the impact these decisions have on the development of Black women graduate students. Drawing on hooks’ notions of ‘imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy’ (2015), ‘radical honesty’ (2004), and ‘homeplace’ (1990), we deploy the concept of curriculum homeplacing to more critically examine Black women’s mentoring relationships.     

From Opposition to Engagement: Lessons from High Achieving African American Students

Influential research on African American students has examined their school failure in terms of students’ opposition to school achievement. Only a few studies have explored school engagement and success among these students, and even fewer have examined the experiences of high achieving black students. This study illustrates the school context and school processes that high achieving African American students identify as contributing to their academic success. The findings reveal three main school effects impacting the students’ performance: 1) teacher practices, engaging pedagogy versus disengaging pedagogy; 2) participation in extracurricular activities and; 3) the state scholarship as performance incentive. According to the students, teacher practices were the most instrumental school effect benefiting their outcomes. Recognizing the processes that promote high achievement among African American students can help to improve our understanding of student performance, while promoting success among these students. The author wishes to thank Ron DePeter and Tekla Johnson for their comments on a previous draft of this article     

The Benefits of Being Latino: Differential Interpretations of Student Behavior and the Social Construction of Being Well Behaved

Students of color are overrepresented in school disciplinary records nationally, but little is known about how disciplinary disproportionality varies among groups. Classroom observations in 1 elementary school suggested that when Latino students misbehaved, teachers were less inclined to interpret their behavior as problematic and less inclined to discipline them than their African American peers. Interpretations of behavior developed relationally, as teachers assessed behavior and compared it to that of students whom they considered problematic. Compared to students with “impulse control problems,” Latino students developed a positive reputation and avoided the cycle of disciplinary processes in which their peers found themselves.     

Black doctoral student research participants: A mixed-method systematic literature review

In this study, we use a mixed-method systematic literature review of articles that include African American counselor education doctoral student participants in the research. From this corpus of inquiry, we provide an opportunity for counselor education researchers to lead the way with inclusive scholarship and the use of strengths-based frameworks. We examine how to conceptualize research particularly for African American doctoral student participants and offer suggestions on how to write the discussion and implication sections in a way to promote innovation and excellence.     

法国出兵马里的原因和马里危机的背景

非洲独立半个世纪了,法国仍然视非洲法语国家为其势力范围和后院,经常插手和干预其内部事务。法国出兵马里的"薮猫"行动,已经取得了决定性结果。导致法国出兵的直接原因,是马里政府军在叛乱势力攻势面前的节节败退。导致法国出兵的深层原因,是出于维护法国在法语非洲国家的优先地位。法国非洲政策具有双重性:帮助非洲国家维稳是"面",保护法国利益为"里"。法国此次出兵马里,既有响应马里政府外援呼吁的因素,也有维护法国后院的利益计算,更有彰显法国大国地位的战略考量。     

HIP HOP for HIV awareness: using hip hop culture to promote community-level HIV prevention

The goal of this paper was to determine the effectiveness of the HIP HOP for HIV Awareness intervention, an innovative model utilising an exchange of an HIV test for a hip hop concert ticket, in a metropolitan city among African American youth and young adults. A subset of intervention participants participated in standardised testing, sex education and pre/post test administration. Data were analysed to identify changes in knowledge and attitudes with respect to HIV and sexually transmitted infections pre/post the educational session. An analysis of knowledge revealed variance in the pre- and post-assessment findings among participants receiving the intervention. Level of education and gender significantly influenced the variance in knowledge discerned from the pre- and post-assessment among participants. Two three-level significant interactions emerged from the analysis of variance: knowledge, education and gender; and knowledge, education and race/ethnicity. Programme findings suggest that an increase in knowledge and improved self-perceptions related to attitudes are the result of a brief, HIV-focused community-based intervention among young adults.     

国内对西亚非洲法制研究的现状、意义及展望

西亚非洲法制的研究在西方国家已经形成了稳定的研究体系和研究团体．这确立了西方在西亚非洲法制现代化建设中的主导地位。我国对于西亚非洲的法制主要是从伊斯兰法和非洲法两个路径进行研究,目前还有研究力量薄弱、学术成果匮乏以及存在内在理论冲突等问题。我国开展西亚非洲法制研究对于我国经济发展、法制建设以及提高我国法制在世界上的影响力和认可度等都具有积极意义。结合我国法学家成熟的学科划分或研究方向．未来对于西亚非洲法制的研究将沿着西亚非洲法制的基本法学理论、宪政和人权、国际法、国别法、部门法不断发展和繁荣。     

"Going Beyond the Call of Doula": A Grounded Theory Analysis of the Diverse Roles Community-Based Doulas Play in the Lives of Pregnant and Parenting Adolescent Mothers

This article presents some of the most salient qualitative results from a larger program evaluation of pregnant and parenting adolescents who participated in a community-based doula program. Using grounded theory analysis, seven problem-solving strategies emerged that doulas apply in helping pregnant and parenting adolescents navigate multiple social and health settings that often serve as barriers to positive maternal- and child-health outcomes. The ethnographic findings of this study suggest that the doulas provide valuable assistance to pregnant and parenting adolescents by addressing social-psychological issues and socio-economic disparities. "Diverse role-taking" results in doulas helping pregnant adolescents navigate more successfully through fragmented social and health service systems that are less supportive of low-income adolescents, who are often perceived to be draining scarce resources. The findings have implications for the roles of community-based doulas assigned to low-income adolescents of color seeking to overcome obstacles and attain better educational and economic opportunities.     

Cultural Connections: An Ethnocultural Counseling Intervention for Black Women in College

Counseling interventions that support the exploration of ethnocultural concerns are beneficial to the overall well‐being of Black women in college. The authors describe Cultural Connections, a theoretically based and culturally adapted group counseling intervention for Black women in college. Also presented are a case example demonstrating the intervention's utility and recommendations for implementation in college counseling centers.     

African philosophy for successful integration of technology in higher education

Due partly to the multimodal and multiscalar nature of technology applications, there lacks theories to explain successful technology integration in teaching and learning in higher education. Such multidisciplinary theories developed primarily within Western contexts as behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism, connectivism, collaborationism, TPACK framework and authentic learning theory have been used to underpin technology-enhanced teaching and learning globally. However, their primary focus on basic education and their sensitivity to contextual reality seem to restrict their salience and fecundity to successfully explain technology integration in higher education in the Global South, including Africa. For more contextual relevance and significance, the embodiment in curricula and pedagogy of African knowledge systems and emerging societal needs and challenges is thus critical. Drawing on Asabiyya and Ubuntu humanistic philosophies respectively from Northern and Southern Africa and Yoruba empiricist and Zara Yacob rationalist epistemologies from Western and Eastern Africa, this study proposes African philosophical perspectives to underpin technology integration in higher education. The epistemologies define the nature of student and faculty engagements and strategies, whereas the humanistic philosophies offer values that could guide ethical technology use and engagement. Technologies are conceived alternatively as knowledge banks, communication media and cognitive tools to think through and with. Implications for further research and practice are identified.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• Multidisciplinary theories developed primarily within Western contexts are used to underpin technology-enhanced teaching and learning globally.
• Their primary focus on basic education and their sensitivity to socio-cultural and economic contextual reality restrict their salience and fecundity to successfully explain technology integration in teaching and learning in higher education in the Global South, including Africa.
• African philosophical, theoretical, conceptual and methodological thinking is critical for successful technology integration.

What this paper adds

• This study interrogated how African philosophies of humanity and knowledge could support successful technology integration in teaching and learning in Africa.
• Drawing on Asabiyya and Ubuntu philosophies, respectively, from Northern and Southern Africa, the study proposes strategies for making the oppressive faculty–student relationships rampant in African campuses more humane and emancipatory.
• Drawing on Yoruba empiricist and Zara Yacob rationalist epistemological orientations from Western and Eastern Africa, this study proposes strategies for supporting truly engaging and empowering pedagogies within technology-enhanced spaces.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• The purpose of education in successful technology-enhanced spaces needs to aim at improving student capacities and skills for further learning and to ensure full participation in practice communities within and outside higher education.
• The content of education or curriculum needs to primarily embody African/local philosophical, theoretical, conceptual and methodological thinking, as well as emerging community needs and challenges.
• The method of education and student assessment need to support and promote the cultivation of student skills and capabilities as well as values and ethics highly needed in their communities and beyond.