Advances in educational technologies and instructional design book series, 2019
This chapter presents research implications geared toward preventing the downward assimilation tr... more This chapter presents research implications geared toward preventing the downward assimilation trend prevailing among young African immigrants in US public schools. Secondary data from three qualitative studies of integration and adaptation processes of African-born immigrant youth in urban school settings helped identify signs of downward assimilation, especially among males. Salient signs of this trend include low academic achievement, gang inclination, and defiance towards authority. Four major theories-segmented assimilation, socio-ecological theory, intersectionality, and critical race theoryserved as framework for the analysis of the risk factors that may lead young African immigrants to follow the downward assimilation path. The analysis reveals the need for intervention measures at the federal, state, and school levels to reduce the vulnerability of non-predominant minority youth in US school settings and the moral responsibility of school authorities to ensure their welfare. Recommended preventive measures include (1) educating immigrant families and school communities; (2) encouraging collaboration and dialogue between African community organizations, school administration, and policymakers purported at creating a favorable school climate for the marginalized African immigrant youth; (3) increasing intervention measures, such as school-community mediation and political representation.
Explores students' views about their choice of historically black colleges and universities, ... more Explores students' views about their choice of historically black colleges and universities, their on-campus experiences, and the value of HBCUs. Examines the role of pre-college contexts, HBCUs' impact on academic and personal growth, and implications
Research Anthology on Racial Equity, Identity, and Privilege
This chapter presents research implications geared toward preventing the downward assimilation tr... more This chapter presents research implications geared toward preventing the downward assimilation trend prevailing among young African immigrants in US public schools. Secondary data from three qualitative studies of integration and adaptation processes of African-born immigrant youth in urban school settings helped identify signs of downward assimilation, especially among males. Salient signs of this trend include low academic achievement, gang inclination, and defiance towards authority. Four major theories—segmented assimilation, socio-ecological theory, intersectionality, and critical race theory—served as framework for the analysis of the risk factors that may lead young African immigrants to follow the downward assimilation path. The analysis reveals the need for intervention measures at the federal, state, and school levels to reduce the vulnerability of non-predominant minority youth in US school settings and the moral responsibility of school authorities to ensure their welfar...
Abstract:Critical Race Theory contends that institutions codify and sustain racial inequalities e... more Abstract:Critical Race Theory contends that institutions codify and sustain racial inequalities even absent explicitly racist motives or actions. College ranking systems perpetuate such institutional racism by socially constructing minority-serving institutions (MSIs) as less valuable and prestigious. By assigning greater worth to criteria favoring more selective institutions, ranking systems assign lower scores to institutions enrolling higher percentages of underrepresented students. The authors compared three higher education institution ranking systems' appraisals of MSIs. These systems employ varying methodological approaches to classifying college status, with apparent impacts on MSIs' performances. Implications of these rankings on the standings and fortunes of MSIs are considered.
For many African youth, questions of identity are pressing concerns. Many who were born in, but r... more For many African youth, questions of identity are pressing concerns. Many who were born in, but raised outside of their country of origin, known as one-pointfive immigrants, and their second-generation counterparts (Rong & Brown, 2002), often find themselves at the center of several conflicting cultures. These youth are often challenged in their ability to negotiate and reconcile the varying expectations of their respective racial and ethnic groups. While living in multiple, cultural worlds is the experiences of many minority youth (Phelan et al., 1991), it is uniquely challenging for Black immigrant youth as both their blackness and immigrant background make negotiating their racial and ethnic identities more challenging, than non-black and non-immigrant minority youth. Using qualitative methodology (questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and focus group), this dissertation explored the manner in which eleven, one-point-five and second generation Nigerian college students construct and negotiate their racial and ethnic identities. The research was guided by four broad research questions: (1) How do one-point-five and second generation Nigerian college students describe and experience their interactions with Africans and non-Africans (peers, family, and school personnel)? (2) How do they describe and experience their processes of racial and ethnic identity development? (3) How do their interactions with Africans and non-Africans shape their racial and ethnic identity development? (4) How do they negotiate their racial and ethnic identities among Africans and non-Africans? The results revealed three major findings that characterized the identity experiences of one-point-five and second generation Nigerian immigrants. First, participants often constructed and negotiated their racial and ethnic identities differently within their families, peer groups and the schooling context. Second, participants had to "learn" the meaning of blackness in the U.S. context, which significantly impacted how they experienced their racial identities. Lastly, participants often felt challenged about the authenticity of their Nigerian identity, by both Africans and non-Africans alike. This study provides a significantly more nuanced discussion on the identity constructions and negotiations of one of the fastest growing segments of the diverse black population-African immigrant youth.
The differential diasporic experiences that black groups in the U.S. have had shape their racial ... more The differential diasporic experiences that black groups in the U.S. have had shape their racial and ethnic identities in negotiation with the social context of the receiving country. Given the degradation of Africa, her peoples and their ways of life by the western media, many African Americans have sought to distance themselves from things African. Likewise, many black immigrants coming into the U.S. seek to escape the oppression and the negative media characterizations of African Americans. The portrayals of the two groups in the U.S. context, has often created a press for both groups to construct their identities in opposition to each other. Focused on the racial and ethnic identity constructions of African youth, this study explores their attempts to negotiate their identities within multiple conflicting worlds: family, peer, and media. The study found that media-generated portrayals of Africans and African Americans had a significant impact on the identity constructions and negotiations among the participants. The participants respond by practicing agency in shifting their self-identities according to the context and the nature of peer acceptance.
Past scholarship on immigrant racial and ethnic identity construction tends to ignore the process... more Past scholarship on immigrant racial and ethnic identity construction tends to ignore the processes by which social context influences identity at the individual level. In this qualitative study, Janet T. Awokoya presents a complex understanding of 1.5- and second-generation African immigrant youths’ identities. Awokoya explores how three major contexts—family, school, and peer groups—affect the ways in which African immigrant youth construct and negotiate their racial and ethnic identities. Further, she contends that the ways in which African immigrant youth are expected to conform to ideals of what it means to be African, Nigerian, African American, and Black, which dramatically shift across contexts, significantly confound the racial and ethnic identity constructions and negotiations for these youth. The article concludes with a discussion of practical and theoretical implications for identity development among Black immigrant youth.
The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influenced the college choice process for ... more The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influenced the college choice process for high-achieving, low-income African American students, and to understand the effect of the Gates Millennium Scholarship on their college choice. Drawing from the Gates Millennium Scholar Tracking Database, a College Choice Survey, and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, 231 high-achieving, low-income African American students who were selected as part of the 2012 cohort of Gates Millennium Scholars were surveyed. Data revealed the role of financial aid and college costs in the college choice process, and that being selected as a Gates Millennium Scholars enabled students to choose colleges that were more prestigious and institutions with more academic offerings. Implications research, policy, and practice are presented in the summary of the article.Keywords: Gates Millennium Scholars, low-income students, high-achieving students, grant aid, college choiceIntroductionFor several decades, policymakers and the constituents they serve have been deeply concerned about the rising cost of American higher education. Students and their families have also been affected by the shift in less grant aid to more loans (Lillis, 2008). Although the Obama administration has enacted federal policies over the past few years that have increased federal student aid (Baum & Payea, 2012), the average annual percentage increase for tuition and fees across all institutional types over the last decade has been 5.2% after controlling for inflation (Baum & Ma, 2012). Given these increases have consistently outpaced the rate of inflation, the role of federal, state, institutional, and private grant aid has been increasingly important for students from low- and moderate-incomes to attend the college of their choice.The role of grant aid in expanding college access and choice is particularly important for lowincome African American students given they disproportionately come from lower socioeconomic contexts and represent the racial/ethnic group that is most sensitive to the cost of higher education (Pema & Titus, 2005). Understanding how the timing, packaging, marketing, and actual distribution of grant aid affects different types of students is fundamentally important to expand college access and choice for all groups of students (Litten, 1982). However, much remains to be known about the role of grant aid in the college choice processes of different subgroups of collegegoing students. Granted that high-achieving, low-income African American students are substantially more likely to face socioeconomic challenges (Pema & Titus, 2005), but have more postsecondary options than their lower-performing peers (Hurtado, Inkelas, Briggs, & Rhee, 1997), a clearer understanding about how this subgroup of students choose their college of choice can help policymakers, college admissions officers, high school counselors, and community leaders understand the most effective methods to market, package, and distribute grant aid to this highly-qualified group of college-going students.OVERVIEW OF THE GATES MILLENNIUM SCHOLARS PROGRAMOne of the largest and most widely distributed forms of private grant aid created to assist lowincome, high-achieving African Americans (and other students of color) is the Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) Program, chiefly administered by UNCF (United Negro College Fund). While higher education has shifted from grants to loans in recent decades, the GMS Program was established in 1999 with a 20-year $1.6 billion grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to reduce the financial constraints of low-income, high-achieving students who aspire to earn a postsecondary education. While the GMS Program offers leadership development, academic empowerment, and mentorship to its Scholars, perhaps the most appealing component of the GMS Program is its national scholarship, which provides up to 10 years of renewable grant aid that covers the full cost of attendance for 1,000 high-achieving, low-income students of color each year to enroll in their college of choice and earn their undergraduate and graduate degrees. …
Journal of Praxis in Multicultural Education, 2011
Despite the significant increase of African-born immigrants in the United States of America, the ... more Despite the significant increase of African-born immigrants in the United States of America, the education system does not recognize their presence and does little to facilitate their integration through the implementation of necessary curricular adjustments. The purpose of this article is to call on multicultural education advocates to endorse the argument for the distinctness of Africanborn immigrants as a complex cultural group with unique vulnerabilities requiring sensitivity. Organizationally, the paper develops four key points: the current demographic representation of the African population; the absence of African voices in multicultural education scholarship; the salience of multicultural education advocacy in recognizing the essence of African cultures in the western world; and the minimal coverage of African topics in the U.S. curriculum. Two sets of recommendations, curricular and culture-oriented, conclude the argument. Despite the recent increase of African-born immigrants in the United States of America (Hamza, 2005), their presence is poorly reflected in curricular decisions and educational planning in the U.S. school system. Oftentimes, the efforts of school officials to acknowledge African students yield minimal effect and superficial understanding among American-born educators and peers. Due to the absorption of African immigrant populations into the larger context of the black race (Arthur, 2000), little is known about their histories, their cultures, and their achievements. African-born children or children of African-born parents in the western world are disadvantaged by the manner in which African cultures and people have been portrayed in western-authored textbooks and by the western media. This paper is a response to the minority cultures from sub-Saharan Africa, who seldom feel recognized or given the opportunity to affirm themselves in the U.S. context, particularly in the educational arena. After examining the American education curriculum vis-à-vis immigrant minorities from non-predominant cultures, like Africans, a twofold argument emerged.
The number of immigrants of color residing in the United States reached 13.5 million in March 200... more The number of immigrants of color residing in the United States reached 13.5 million in March 2005, the highest in U. S. history (Camarota, 2005). By 2010 the number of Black immigrants and their children is estimated to reach five million, and will represent twelve percent of the Black population in the United States (Rong & Brown, 2001, 2002 a & b). To date, the majority of Black immigrants in the United States are from Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Haiti, and Jamaica, but substantial numbers of immigrants also come from various African countries, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa (Rong & Brown, 2001, 2002 a & b). As a result of these demographic trends, educational researchers have increased their focus on how Black immigrant youth fare once in the United States. This scholarly attention is varied, emanating from three primary conceptual perspectives: Cultural Ecological Theory, Culture-Centered Theory, and Critical Race Theory. Cultural Ecological Theory (CET)...
By examining three major frameworks, Cultural Ecological Theory (CET),
Culture-Centered Theory (C... more By examining three major frameworks, Cultural Ecological Theory (CET), Culture-Centered Theory (CCT), and Critical Race Theory (CRT), the article unpacks the ways in which U.S.-based racism negatively impacts the educational experiences of Black immigrant youth. The authors suggest that while CRT, CCT, and CET are useful and promising in providing insight into the experiences of Black immigrant youth, none of them comprehensively capture the intragroup differences and identity processes that affect Black immigrant youth in social and educational settings.This article will address this gap in the literature in three ways: (1) it will discuss the extent to which these three theories do contribute understanding of the sociocultural experiences of Black immigrant youth in U. S. schools; (2) it will identify and problematize the shortcomings in these three theories vis-à-vis Black immigrant students; and, finally, (3) it will suggest possibilities for the advancement of a more detailed and otherwise robust theory that more adequately describes the sociocultural experiences of Black immigrant youth and supports their educational development.
Past scholarship on immigrant racial and ethnic identity construction tends to ignore the process... more Past scholarship on immigrant racial and ethnic identity construction tends to ignore the processes by which social context influences identity at the individual level. In this qualitative study, Janet T. Awokoya presents a complex understanding of 1.5-and second-generation African immigrant youths' identities. Awokoya explores how three major contexts—family, school, and peer groups—affect the ways in which African immigrant youth construct and negotiate their racial and ethnic identities. Further, she contends that the ways in which African immigrant youth are expected to conform to ideals of what it means to be African, Nigerian, African American, and Black, which dramatically shift across contexts, significantly confound the racial and ethnic identity constructions and negotiations for these youth. The article concludes with a discussion of practical and theoretical implications for identity development among Black immigrant youth.
Advances in educational technologies and instructional design book series, 2019
This chapter presents research implications geared toward preventing the downward assimilation tr... more This chapter presents research implications geared toward preventing the downward assimilation trend prevailing among young African immigrants in US public schools. Secondary data from three qualitative studies of integration and adaptation processes of African-born immigrant youth in urban school settings helped identify signs of downward assimilation, especially among males. Salient signs of this trend include low academic achievement, gang inclination, and defiance towards authority. Four major theories-segmented assimilation, socio-ecological theory, intersectionality, and critical race theoryserved as framework for the analysis of the risk factors that may lead young African immigrants to follow the downward assimilation path. The analysis reveals the need for intervention measures at the federal, state, and school levels to reduce the vulnerability of non-predominant minority youth in US school settings and the moral responsibility of school authorities to ensure their welfare. Recommended preventive measures include (1) educating immigrant families and school communities; (2) encouraging collaboration and dialogue between African community organizations, school administration, and policymakers purported at creating a favorable school climate for the marginalized African immigrant youth; (3) increasing intervention measures, such as school-community mediation and political representation.
Explores students' views about their choice of historically black colleges and universities, ... more Explores students' views about their choice of historically black colleges and universities, their on-campus experiences, and the value of HBCUs. Examines the role of pre-college contexts, HBCUs' impact on academic and personal growth, and implications
Research Anthology on Racial Equity, Identity, and Privilege
This chapter presents research implications geared toward preventing the downward assimilation tr... more This chapter presents research implications geared toward preventing the downward assimilation trend prevailing among young African immigrants in US public schools. Secondary data from three qualitative studies of integration and adaptation processes of African-born immigrant youth in urban school settings helped identify signs of downward assimilation, especially among males. Salient signs of this trend include low academic achievement, gang inclination, and defiance towards authority. Four major theories—segmented assimilation, socio-ecological theory, intersectionality, and critical race theory—served as framework for the analysis of the risk factors that may lead young African immigrants to follow the downward assimilation path. The analysis reveals the need for intervention measures at the federal, state, and school levels to reduce the vulnerability of non-predominant minority youth in US school settings and the moral responsibility of school authorities to ensure their welfar...
Abstract:Critical Race Theory contends that institutions codify and sustain racial inequalities e... more Abstract:Critical Race Theory contends that institutions codify and sustain racial inequalities even absent explicitly racist motives or actions. College ranking systems perpetuate such institutional racism by socially constructing minority-serving institutions (MSIs) as less valuable and prestigious. By assigning greater worth to criteria favoring more selective institutions, ranking systems assign lower scores to institutions enrolling higher percentages of underrepresented students. The authors compared three higher education institution ranking systems' appraisals of MSIs. These systems employ varying methodological approaches to classifying college status, with apparent impacts on MSIs' performances. Implications of these rankings on the standings and fortunes of MSIs are considered.
For many African youth, questions of identity are pressing concerns. Many who were born in, but r... more For many African youth, questions of identity are pressing concerns. Many who were born in, but raised outside of their country of origin, known as one-pointfive immigrants, and their second-generation counterparts (Rong & Brown, 2002), often find themselves at the center of several conflicting cultures. These youth are often challenged in their ability to negotiate and reconcile the varying expectations of their respective racial and ethnic groups. While living in multiple, cultural worlds is the experiences of many minority youth (Phelan et al., 1991), it is uniquely challenging for Black immigrant youth as both their blackness and immigrant background make negotiating their racial and ethnic identities more challenging, than non-black and non-immigrant minority youth. Using qualitative methodology (questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and focus group), this dissertation explored the manner in which eleven, one-point-five and second generation Nigerian college students construct and negotiate their racial and ethnic identities. The research was guided by four broad research questions: (1) How do one-point-five and second generation Nigerian college students describe and experience their interactions with Africans and non-Africans (peers, family, and school personnel)? (2) How do they describe and experience their processes of racial and ethnic identity development? (3) How do their interactions with Africans and non-Africans shape their racial and ethnic identity development? (4) How do they negotiate their racial and ethnic identities among Africans and non-Africans? The results revealed three major findings that characterized the identity experiences of one-point-five and second generation Nigerian immigrants. First, participants often constructed and negotiated their racial and ethnic identities differently within their families, peer groups and the schooling context. Second, participants had to "learn" the meaning of blackness in the U.S. context, which significantly impacted how they experienced their racial identities. Lastly, participants often felt challenged about the authenticity of their Nigerian identity, by both Africans and non-Africans alike. This study provides a significantly more nuanced discussion on the identity constructions and negotiations of one of the fastest growing segments of the diverse black population-African immigrant youth.
The differential diasporic experiences that black groups in the U.S. have had shape their racial ... more The differential diasporic experiences that black groups in the U.S. have had shape their racial and ethnic identities in negotiation with the social context of the receiving country. Given the degradation of Africa, her peoples and their ways of life by the western media, many African Americans have sought to distance themselves from things African. Likewise, many black immigrants coming into the U.S. seek to escape the oppression and the negative media characterizations of African Americans. The portrayals of the two groups in the U.S. context, has often created a press for both groups to construct their identities in opposition to each other. Focused on the racial and ethnic identity constructions of African youth, this study explores their attempts to negotiate their identities within multiple conflicting worlds: family, peer, and media. The study found that media-generated portrayals of Africans and African Americans had a significant impact on the identity constructions and negotiations among the participants. The participants respond by practicing agency in shifting their self-identities according to the context and the nature of peer acceptance.
Past scholarship on immigrant racial and ethnic identity construction tends to ignore the process... more Past scholarship on immigrant racial and ethnic identity construction tends to ignore the processes by which social context influences identity at the individual level. In this qualitative study, Janet T. Awokoya presents a complex understanding of 1.5- and second-generation African immigrant youths’ identities. Awokoya explores how three major contexts—family, school, and peer groups—affect the ways in which African immigrant youth construct and negotiate their racial and ethnic identities. Further, she contends that the ways in which African immigrant youth are expected to conform to ideals of what it means to be African, Nigerian, African American, and Black, which dramatically shift across contexts, significantly confound the racial and ethnic identity constructions and negotiations for these youth. The article concludes with a discussion of practical and theoretical implications for identity development among Black immigrant youth.
The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influenced the college choice process for ... more The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influenced the college choice process for high-achieving, low-income African American students, and to understand the effect of the Gates Millennium Scholarship on their college choice. Drawing from the Gates Millennium Scholar Tracking Database, a College Choice Survey, and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, 231 high-achieving, low-income African American students who were selected as part of the 2012 cohort of Gates Millennium Scholars were surveyed. Data revealed the role of financial aid and college costs in the college choice process, and that being selected as a Gates Millennium Scholars enabled students to choose colleges that were more prestigious and institutions with more academic offerings. Implications research, policy, and practice are presented in the summary of the article.Keywords: Gates Millennium Scholars, low-income students, high-achieving students, grant aid, college choiceIntroductionFor several decades, policymakers and the constituents they serve have been deeply concerned about the rising cost of American higher education. Students and their families have also been affected by the shift in less grant aid to more loans (Lillis, 2008). Although the Obama administration has enacted federal policies over the past few years that have increased federal student aid (Baum & Payea, 2012), the average annual percentage increase for tuition and fees across all institutional types over the last decade has been 5.2% after controlling for inflation (Baum & Ma, 2012). Given these increases have consistently outpaced the rate of inflation, the role of federal, state, institutional, and private grant aid has been increasingly important for students from low- and moderate-incomes to attend the college of their choice.The role of grant aid in expanding college access and choice is particularly important for lowincome African American students given they disproportionately come from lower socioeconomic contexts and represent the racial/ethnic group that is most sensitive to the cost of higher education (Pema & Titus, 2005). Understanding how the timing, packaging, marketing, and actual distribution of grant aid affects different types of students is fundamentally important to expand college access and choice for all groups of students (Litten, 1982). However, much remains to be known about the role of grant aid in the college choice processes of different subgroups of collegegoing students. Granted that high-achieving, low-income African American students are substantially more likely to face socioeconomic challenges (Pema & Titus, 2005), but have more postsecondary options than their lower-performing peers (Hurtado, Inkelas, Briggs, & Rhee, 1997), a clearer understanding about how this subgroup of students choose their college of choice can help policymakers, college admissions officers, high school counselors, and community leaders understand the most effective methods to market, package, and distribute grant aid to this highly-qualified group of college-going students.OVERVIEW OF THE GATES MILLENNIUM SCHOLARS PROGRAMOne of the largest and most widely distributed forms of private grant aid created to assist lowincome, high-achieving African Americans (and other students of color) is the Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) Program, chiefly administered by UNCF (United Negro College Fund). While higher education has shifted from grants to loans in recent decades, the GMS Program was established in 1999 with a 20-year $1.6 billion grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to reduce the financial constraints of low-income, high-achieving students who aspire to earn a postsecondary education. While the GMS Program offers leadership development, academic empowerment, and mentorship to its Scholars, perhaps the most appealing component of the GMS Program is its national scholarship, which provides up to 10 years of renewable grant aid that covers the full cost of attendance for 1,000 high-achieving, low-income students of color each year to enroll in their college of choice and earn their undergraduate and graduate degrees. …
Journal of Praxis in Multicultural Education, 2011
Despite the significant increase of African-born immigrants in the United States of America, the ... more Despite the significant increase of African-born immigrants in the United States of America, the education system does not recognize their presence and does little to facilitate their integration through the implementation of necessary curricular adjustments. The purpose of this article is to call on multicultural education advocates to endorse the argument for the distinctness of Africanborn immigrants as a complex cultural group with unique vulnerabilities requiring sensitivity. Organizationally, the paper develops four key points: the current demographic representation of the African population; the absence of African voices in multicultural education scholarship; the salience of multicultural education advocacy in recognizing the essence of African cultures in the western world; and the minimal coverage of African topics in the U.S. curriculum. Two sets of recommendations, curricular and culture-oriented, conclude the argument. Despite the recent increase of African-born immigrants in the United States of America (Hamza, 2005), their presence is poorly reflected in curricular decisions and educational planning in the U.S. school system. Oftentimes, the efforts of school officials to acknowledge African students yield minimal effect and superficial understanding among American-born educators and peers. Due to the absorption of African immigrant populations into the larger context of the black race (Arthur, 2000), little is known about their histories, their cultures, and their achievements. African-born children or children of African-born parents in the western world are disadvantaged by the manner in which African cultures and people have been portrayed in western-authored textbooks and by the western media. This paper is a response to the minority cultures from sub-Saharan Africa, who seldom feel recognized or given the opportunity to affirm themselves in the U.S. context, particularly in the educational arena. After examining the American education curriculum vis-à-vis immigrant minorities from non-predominant cultures, like Africans, a twofold argument emerged.
The number of immigrants of color residing in the United States reached 13.5 million in March 200... more The number of immigrants of color residing in the United States reached 13.5 million in March 2005, the highest in U. S. history (Camarota, 2005). By 2010 the number of Black immigrants and their children is estimated to reach five million, and will represent twelve percent of the Black population in the United States (Rong & Brown, 2001, 2002 a & b). To date, the majority of Black immigrants in the United States are from Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Haiti, and Jamaica, but substantial numbers of immigrants also come from various African countries, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa (Rong & Brown, 2001, 2002 a & b). As a result of these demographic trends, educational researchers have increased their focus on how Black immigrant youth fare once in the United States. This scholarly attention is varied, emanating from three primary conceptual perspectives: Cultural Ecological Theory, Culture-Centered Theory, and Critical Race Theory. Cultural Ecological Theory (CET)...
By examining three major frameworks, Cultural Ecological Theory (CET),
Culture-Centered Theory (C... more By examining three major frameworks, Cultural Ecological Theory (CET), Culture-Centered Theory (CCT), and Critical Race Theory (CRT), the article unpacks the ways in which U.S.-based racism negatively impacts the educational experiences of Black immigrant youth. The authors suggest that while CRT, CCT, and CET are useful and promising in providing insight into the experiences of Black immigrant youth, none of them comprehensively capture the intragroup differences and identity processes that affect Black immigrant youth in social and educational settings.This article will address this gap in the literature in three ways: (1) it will discuss the extent to which these three theories do contribute understanding of the sociocultural experiences of Black immigrant youth in U. S. schools; (2) it will identify and problematize the shortcomings in these three theories vis-à-vis Black immigrant students; and, finally, (3) it will suggest possibilities for the advancement of a more detailed and otherwise robust theory that more adequately describes the sociocultural experiences of Black immigrant youth and supports their educational development.
Past scholarship on immigrant racial and ethnic identity construction tends to ignore the process... more Past scholarship on immigrant racial and ethnic identity construction tends to ignore the processes by which social context influences identity at the individual level. In this qualitative study, Janet T. Awokoya presents a complex understanding of 1.5-and second-generation African immigrant youths' identities. Awokoya explores how three major contexts—family, school, and peer groups—affect the ways in which African immigrant youth construct and negotiate their racial and ethnic identities. Further, she contends that the ways in which African immigrant youth are expected to conform to ideals of what it means to be African, Nigerian, African American, and Black, which dramatically shift across contexts, significantly confound the racial and ethnic identity constructions and negotiations for these youth. The article concludes with a discussion of practical and theoretical implications for identity development among Black immigrant youth.
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Papers by Janet Awokoya
Culture-Centered Theory (CCT), and Critical Race Theory (CRT), the article unpacks the ways in which U.S.-based racism negatively impacts the educational experiences of Black immigrant youth. The authors suggest that while CRT, CCT, and CET are useful and promising in providing insight into the experiences of Black immigrant youth, none of them comprehensively capture the intragroup differences and identity
processes that affect Black immigrant youth in social and educational settings.This article will address this gap in the literature in three ways: (1) it will discuss the extent to which these three theories do contribute understanding of the sociocultural experiences of Black immigrant
youth in U. S. schools; (2) it will identify and problematize the shortcomings in these three theories vis-à-vis Black immigrant students; and, finally, (3) it will suggest possibilities for the advancement of a more detailed and otherwise robust theory that more adequately describes the sociocultural experiences of Black immigrant youth and supports their educational development.
Culture-Centered Theory (CCT), and Critical Race Theory (CRT), the article unpacks the ways in which U.S.-based racism negatively impacts the educational experiences of Black immigrant youth. The authors suggest that while CRT, CCT, and CET are useful and promising in providing insight into the experiences of Black immigrant youth, none of them comprehensively capture the intragroup differences and identity
processes that affect Black immigrant youth in social and educational settings.This article will address this gap in the literature in three ways: (1) it will discuss the extent to which these three theories do contribute understanding of the sociocultural experiences of Black immigrant
youth in U. S. schools; (2) it will identify and problematize the shortcomings in these three theories vis-à-vis Black immigrant students; and, finally, (3) it will suggest possibilities for the advancement of a more detailed and otherwise robust theory that more adequately describes the sociocultural experiences of Black immigrant youth and supports their educational development.