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- All Subjects: Critical Race Theory
- All Subjects: Identity
Description
In this dissertation I present data gathered from an eleven-month qualitative research study with adolescents living and working on the streets of Lima, Peru. Through the pairing of photovoice with participant observations, this work incorporates distinctive methodological and theoretical viewpoints in order to complicate prevailing understandings of street life. In this dissertation, I examine the identities that children and adolescents on the street develop in context, and the ways in which photography can be a useful tool in understanding identity development among this population. Through a framework integrating theories of identity and identity performance with spatial theories, I outline how identity development among children and adolescents living on the street is directly connected to their relationships with the urban landscape and the outreach organizations that serve them. The organizations and institutions that surround children on the street shape who they are, how they are perceived by society, and how they view and understand themselves in context. It is through the interaction with aid organizations and the urban landscape that a street identity is learned and developed. Furthermore, as organizations, children and adolescents come together within the context of the city, a unique street space is created. I argue that identity and agency are directly tied to this space. I also present the street as a thirdspace of possibility, where children and adolescents are able to act out various aspects of the self that they would be unable to pursue otherwise. Weaved throughout this dissertation are non-traditional writing forms including narrative and critical personal narrative addressing my own experiences conducting this research, my impact on the research context, and how I understand the data gathered.
ContributorsJoanou, Jamie Patrice (Author) / Swadener, Beth B. (Thesis advisor) / Margolis, Eric (Committee member) / Arzubiaga, Angela (Committee member) / Fischman, Gustavo (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The purpose of this study was to answer the question, "What are the experiences of students who have completed the Achievement Academy program?" In collecting data to answer this question, a series of clarifying questions also emerged: "What are the cultural, academic, and personal costs and benefits associated with being a part of Achievement Academy?"; "How have students defined or redefined their cultural, social, academic, and personal identities because of Achievement Academy?"; and "In what ways have the students used their surroundings and experiences to overcome preconceived notions of either what they were capable of or general expectations of those around them?" While there have been studies undertaken to examine students' experiences in both public school and private school academic programs, there is currently no research on the unique academic program and partnership of Achievement Academy with both public and private schools. This study provides direct insight from a participant focus group and individual participant interviews of students that attended Achievement Academy. A phenomenology research methodology was used to collect the data and Critical Race Theory (CRT) was used as the lens through which the data from the focus group and interviews were analyzed. This analysis resulted in three distinct findings in the research data: peers, program environment, and the presence of a mentor or positive role model are the major influencing factors for their success both in Achievement Academy and afterwards. First, the Achievement Academy students' peers in the program had a strong positive influence on how they viewed and defined themselves. These interactions allowed some students an opportunity to re-evaluate and recreate their identities and allowed validation of identity for others. Second, the Achievement Academy program, and more specifically its stated mission and practices, also provided a strong positive influence on their success. Third, the presence of a mentor or role model was instrumental to their success. The program's emphasis on empowerment and enrichment also created opportunities for students to stretch themselves academically, socially, and culturally.
ContributorsCalleroz White, James (Author) / Brayboy, Bryan (Thesis advisor) / Neck, Christopher (Committee member) / Boyle, Charlotte (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Teacher learning is a complex and important idea, given the proposed centralized role these individuals have in eradicating the inequitable school outcomes for students of color. It is necessary that researchers document the complex trajectory of learning that occurs as teachers engage in critical reflection on their practice. In the current study, white, female teachers examined the ways their own beliefs, assumptions, and values impacted classroom interactions with students of color, as well as the ways power, privilege, and whiteness manifested in the classroom. Utilizing Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as a framework for understanding teacher learning as product and process, as well as whiteness and feminist theories as interrogative tools, the complex and iterative learning trajectories of two elementary school teachers are described in detail. The participating teachers engaged in critical reflection in the context of collaborative interviews, in which they reflected upon excerpts from classroom videos using the lenses of whiteness, power, and privilege in order to consider their own and others' teaching related to deeply held beliefs, assumptions, and values.
ContributorsMruczek, Cynthia (Author) / Swadener, Beth B. (Thesis advisor) / Kozleski, Elizabeth B. (Thesis advisor) / Scott, Kimberly A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Tribal Critical Race Theory (TribCrit) as a theoretical framework, this dissertation analyzes a contemporary cinematic film directed by an American Indian filmmaker about American Indians and answers the question of whether the visual texts are unmasking, critiquing, confronting, and/or reinforcing reductive and stereotypical images of American Indians. Using Critical Thematic Analysis as a process, this dissertation interrogates Drunktown’s Finest (2014) to understand ways a contemporary American Indian filmmaker engages in counterstorying as a sovereignist action and simultaneously investigates ways the visual narrative and imagery in the film contributes to the reinforcement of hegemonic representations—the static, constrained, White-generated images and narratives that have been sustained in the hegemonic culture for over a century. With an increase in the number of American Indian filmmakers entering into the cultural elitist territory of Hollywood, moving from the margins to the center, I believe Natives are now in a better position to apprehend and reconstruct a multidimensional and complex American Indian identity. I posit that the reshaping of these mass-mediated images can only be countered through the collective and sustained fostering of a more complex imagery of the American Indian and that authorship of the representation is crucial to changing the hegemonic imagery of American Indians.
ContributorsHoliday-Shchedrov, Dawna (Author) / Sandlin, Jennifer (Thesis advisor) / Swadener, Beth Blue (Thesis advisor) / Brayboy, Bryan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017