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"A belief in self far greater than anyone's disbelief": Cultivating resistance among African American female adolescents
... Although studies have shown mixed results for the relationship between preparation for bias and youth outcomes, resistance for survival preparation is associated with more negative outcomes such as depression and lower academic grades (Das et al., 2022;Rogers & Way, 2018). For example, Robinson and Ward (1991) refer to dropping out of school as a resistance for survival strategy. Our framework emphasizes that there are different resistance strategies with varying outcomes. ...
... Connectedly, in Anyiwo et al.'s (2020) review of current literature on racial and political resistance of racially minoritized youth, they highlight that youth political actions occur across multiple domains such as joining political parties and campaigns focused on racial injustice, using social media hashtags (e.g., #BlackLivesMatter, #IfThey-GunnedMeDown), and engaging in die-ins to protest police brutality (see Anyiwo et al., 2018;Robinson & Ward, 1991 for further examples of explicitly political resistance). The elaboration of varied acts of resistance at different levels demonstrates that the type of resistance employed is shaped by racial marginalization rooted in U.S. institutions that uphold White supremacist ideologies. ...
... Like the other developmental domains, the final developmental domain as youth transition into adulthood is independent living, where establishing financial stability and social mobility are essential to achieving this developmental task is centered in whiteness. Oftentimes, racially minoritized youth resist excessive individualism (Robinson & Ward, 1991). The likelihood racially minoritized youth can start living independently and completing the transition to adulthood is dependent on their experiences in other domains. ...
The transition from adolescence to adulthood is a challenging time marked by rapid changes in relational connections, housing status, and academic or work trajectories. We emphasize how structural inequality shapes racially minoritized youth behaviors and center the potential for resistance, arguing that a resistance lens allows us to deepen our understanding of the transition to adulthood for racially minoritized youth. Throughout the paper, we include research on how racially minoritized youth experience marginalizing institutional structures concurrently across multiple systems and their resulting behaviors. We end with the clinical and research implications of a resistance framework to illuminate resistance‐informed responses such as rethinking risk and creating spaces for youth‐led self‐making, youth–adult partnerships to scaffold transitions, and cultivating youth activism.
... The next set of findings from our SSIs were generated from our analysis of how boys positioned themselves in this larger conversation-how they responded to the stereotypes and expectations that framed their social group. We used the framework of resistance and accommodation to interpret boys' responses (Anyon, 1984;Gilligan, 2011;Robinson & Ward, 1991;Way, 2011). Resistance refers to the ways in which one challenges the dominant narrative, whereas accommodation refers to the ways that one endorses or reinforces it. ...
... In other words, "other" Black boys might be dumb and uneducated but he is not. This is a resistance for survival strategy (Robinson & Ward, 1991), self-focused and isolating. Although trying to make himself an exception to the stereotype, he inadvertently validates and perpetuates the stereotypes. ...
... Marcus, the case study for the liberators, is able to stay connected with what he knows and feels is true despite the stereotypes that encourage him to disconnect and not know, not feel, and not care. This ability to stay connected is the bedrock of resistance: the ability to remain connected to what one knows and feels in a culture that dismisses what you know and feel (Brown & Gilligan, 1992;Gilligan, 2011;Robinson & Ward, 1991;Ward, 1996;Way, 2011). ...
... Our study adds significantly to the existing literature and differs from previous studies on microaggressions in several ways: (a) our large sample size; (b) the inclusion of people who self-identify as White; (c) the application and translation of resistance theory to people across ethnic, racial, gender, and sexual differences; (d) a delineation of ways in which microaggressions manifest differently across multiple identities; (e) the inclusion of diverse participants who identify as gender and/or sexual minorities and exist outside of socially constructed and typically binary notions of heterosexuality (Smith et al., 2012); and (f) the examination of the phenomenon of microaggressions perpetrated and experienced by members of our society's intellectual elite. Robinson and Ward (1991) developed resistance theory for Black, adolescent girls and women with a primary goal to identify strategies that could be used to optimally push back against racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression. In America, Black populations have been found to have disproportionately higher rates of poverty, substance use, unemployment, incarceration, exposure to violence, low performing schools, and mortality. ...
... Persons characterized by optimal resistance are able to name discrimination, identify its emotional effects, while purposefully managing their thoughts and behavior in support of health and healing Robinson (2005). Seeking counseling for depression or anxiety and participating in regular exercise are consistent with optimal resistance strategies (Martin, Boadi, Fernandes, Watt, & Robinson-Wood., 2013;Robinson & Ward, 1991;. Braithwaite-Hall (2011), in her study of 106 Black Christian women, found that women who were described as optimal resistors did not believe depression reflected weakness, was a function of being female, or was contrary to God's presence. ...
... Suboptimal resistance is associated with shortterm and/or pleasure inducing strategies (e.g., comfort eating and drinking) that offer immediate gratification and are soothing, but do not serve people well in the long run. Specifically, suboptimal resistance is associated with increased vulnerability to and poor health outcomes, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and addiction (Martin, Boadi, Fernandes, Watt, & Robinson-Wood, 2013;Robinson & Ward, 1991;Robinson-Wood, 2014). Suboptimal resistance strategies include emotional eating that correspond to weight gain, substance use, dependence upon others for validation, and/or unprotected sex, which increases risk for contracting sexually transmitted diseases. ...
Seven ethnically and racially diverse researchers conducted phenomenological research using a semistructured interview investigating the presence and nature of microaggressions in the lives of 59 highly educated racial, gender, and sexual minority research participants, ranging in age from mid20s to mid60s. The minimum educational requirement for the study participation was a completed master’s degree. Participants could be enrolled in a doctoral program and pursuing any discipline or could have previously obtained a doctoral degree. The relevance of resistance theory as a framework for understanding participants’ experiences with and responses to microaggressions was investigated. Using thematic analysis within a social constructionist framework, 8 central themes were identified: (a) Suboptimal System; (b) Microaggressions Tax; (c) Acrid Environments; (d) Misconstruing Race, Gender, and Sexuality; (e) Assumption of Universal Experience; (f) Valuing Relationships; (g) Armored Resistance; and (h) Optimal Resistance. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.
... In contrast, political resistance is outwardly focused; she demands alternate options. In a related vein, Robinson and Ward (1991) develop the concepts of "resistance for survival" and "resis- tance for liberation." The former is short-term resistance, often reaffirming the stereotypes the individual is trying to overcome and recalls the psychological resistance of Gilligan (1990). ...
... Again and again, empirical research on the experiences of black and Latino students finds these young people to be agentic beings, rather than passive reci- pients of what the dominant social structure doles out (Carter, 2003(Carter, , 2006Olitsky, 2015;Robinson & Ward, 1991;Rogers & Way, 2016;Ward, 1996). Rogers and Way's (2016) research on young black men identifies various paths of resistance: those who engage in "resistance for liberation" and push against both racial and gender stereotypes (the "resisters"); those who push against racial, but not gender stereotypes (the "exceptions"); as well as those who engage in "resistance for survival" and accept the stereotypes placed upon them by larger society (the "accommodators"). ...
... While women of color may be uniquely marginalized, they may also possess unique and important resources, albeit undervalued ones in white, dominant society. The sense of strength, empowerment, and self-worth that young women of color may possess, vis-a` -vis white girls, may result from the active and politi- cal parenting in which mothers of black daughters must intentionally engage (Robinson & Ward, 1991;Ward, 1996). Black children whose parents engage in "liberating truth telling" (Ward, 1996) come to understand that the world is unjust, but it is neither their fault, nor their destiny. ...
This case study explores the ways in which black and Latino women who graduated from a predominantly white, elite public high school in the Northeastern United States engaged in varied acts of resistance while students there, both within the classroom and within the larger community. The women accessed the high school through one of the three ways: as town residents, as commuters, or as boarders through two distinct voluntary racial desegregation programs. Through in-depth interviews with 37 women, two overriding trends appear in the data - a form of "resistance for liberation" or "political resistance" in which women push against stereotypes, introduce new programming, and work to reform policies and curriculum, and a smaller strain of "resistance for survival" in which women actively utilize stereotypes. Women with greater amounts of both dominant and nondominant forms of cultural capital are more likely to engage in "political resistance," while women with lesser amounts of dominant cultural capital show more evidence of "resistance for survival." Variation exists by point of entry into the system, with town residents showing the lowest levels of either form of resistance.
... The earliest work on loss of voice grew out of interviews or clinical work with predominately Caucasian girls and women in middle-and upper-middle-class environments (Brown & Gilligan, 1992;Jordan et al., 1991;Miller, 1976). However, it was not long before researchers began examining loss of voice in racially, ethnically, and economically diverse groups drawing from qualitative interviews, focus group conversations, and clinical observations (Brown, 1998;Taylor et al., 1995;Robinson & Ward, 1991;Tatum, 1997;Way, 1996). In the prologue to her book investigating voice in racially diverse girls from low-income families, Jill Taylor quotes Virginia Woolf, calling girls' willingness to be persuaded to selfsilence in service of relationships akin to "committing adultery of the brain" (Woolf, as cited in Taylor et al., 1995). ...
... Many researchers have argued that a self-in-relation orientation to identity development, while devalued in White, western patriarchal culture, is consistent with healthy identity formation in the African American community. Robinson and Ward (1991) suggest that the excessive individualism characteristic of European American identity formation is anathema to an African worldview where recognition that an individual's identity is constructed in a matrix of relationships is more normative. In the self-in-relation orientation, growth toward affiliation and interdependence, not individuation, are seen as hallmarks of maturation (Carr et al., 1996;Gibbs & Fuery, 1994;Miller, 1976;Nobles, 1980;Robinson & Ward, 1991;Stack, 1986;Tatum, 1997;Turner, 1987). ...
... Robinson and Ward (1991) suggest that the excessive individualism characteristic of European American identity formation is anathema to an African worldview where recognition that an individual's identity is constructed in a matrix of relationships is more normative. In the self-in-relation orientation, growth toward affiliation and interdependence, not individuation, are seen as hallmarks of maturation (Carr et al., 1996;Gibbs & Fuery, 1994;Miller, 1976;Nobles, 1980;Robinson & Ward, 1991;Stack, 1986;Tatum, 1997;Turner, 1987). The greater respect for caring for others afforded to women in African American communities may offset potential negative consequences of self-silencing when it does occur. ...
Qualitative research has been foundational in shaping feminist theorizing about psychological development, yet this work has been criticized along methodological grounds. This chapter reviews research on loss of voice in females to illustrate the unique contributions of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Interview data suggest that girls lose voice at adolescence in an effort to preserve relationships. However, quantitative studies show that self-silencing is prevalent primarily among those endorsing cultural stereotypes about femininity. Examining intersections between race, class, and gender highlights the complexities in interpreting loss of voice phenomena. Use of quantitative methods has refined our understanding of female development, while using qualitative methods identified the diversity of reasons for self-silencing. The growth of quantitative approaches in the study of voice, or authenticity, has brought this work firmly into the academic mainstream, but at what cost? Have we lost the actual voices of girls and women in the process? Refinements in quantitative methodologies are needed to ensure a more complete understanding of reasons for loss of voice. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies provide iterative feedback about the nature of basic developmental processes that spark ideas for further inquiry.
... One effective way of coping with such punishment or threat of punishment is resistance to dominant social and historical meanings and messages [Elder & Shanahan, 2006;Erkut, Fields, Sing, & Marx, 1996]. It may be that a particularly effective coping strategy involves actively deconstructing problematic structures of power ["resistance for liberation"; Robinson & Ward, 1991]. However, even coping strategies that do not directly rework problematic structures may still be effective in helping young people make a temporary space for themselves within the constraints of their context ["resistance for survival"; Robinson & Ward, 1991]. ...
... It may be that a particularly effective coping strategy involves actively deconstructing problematic structures of power ["resistance for liberation"; Robinson & Ward, 1991]. However, even coping strategies that do not directly rework problematic structures may still be effective in helping young people make a temporary space for themselves within the constraints of their context ["resistance for survival"; Robinson & Ward, 1991]. ...
... American media shape a narrative that Kim and her colleagues call "the heterosexual script," in which aggressive, "sex-crazed" masculinity contrasts with submissive, "virgin-whore" femininity [Kim et al., 2007]. The ability to skillfully analyze such messages contributes to resistance of their influence [Diemer & Li, 2011;Robinson & Ward, 1991]. Youth could analyze the presentation of different bodies, the assumptions made about different sexual experiences, and the pressure on particular individuals to conform and perform in particular ways [Bay-Cheng, 2012;Bay-Cheng et al., 2010;Tolman, 2006]. ...
Sexuality is central in human life, perhaps especially in adolescence when multiple dimensions of change constitute physical, psychological, and social challenges and opportunities for the developing young person. Understanding this constellation of challenges and opportunities and formulating constructive, supportive interventions would be greatly facilitated by a skills-based model for promoting sexuality development in adolescence. Moving beyond the deficit, sex-negative approach, I propose a model that identifies three key elements of skillful adolescent sexuality development: sexual selfhood, sexual negotiation, and sexual empowerment. I link these components through the processes of personal agency, interpersonal intimacy, and social advocacy. I consider limitations of the model as well as the next steps for applying this theoretical framework to future empirical studies that seek to describe, explain, and optimize sexuality development throughout the adolescent years.
... But, as boys prepared to enter formal schooling (kindergarten), Chu observes a loss of resistance as they "become boys" in stereotypic ways, such as acting out and disrupting class. Robinson and Ward (1991) also delineate two paths of resistance in their research on resistance to racial oppression among African American girls. Resistance for survival is marked by short-term solutions or "quick fixes" to systemic racism, which provide a sense of agency in the face of oppression, but ultimately reinforce the very stereotypes girls need to challenge in order to thrive. ...
... Examples include succeeding in school despite low expectations or maintaining strong spiritual and community ties even while society undermines these ideals (Ward, 2000). Resistance for liberation is rooted in an "inner strength" of hope in the self and others (Robinson & Ward, 1991). Suárez-Orozco (2004) similarly distinguishes between a resistance that is infused with hope for "a better tomorrow" and one that lacks hope for change. ...
... An empirical question for identity research is where these identities intersect and how they develop in concert. While the theory of intersectionality is widely accepted and at times embedded in studies of resistance (e.g., Robinson & Ward, 1991), its use in empirical research remains scarce. This is partially due to unresolved tensions within the theory that limit its functionality in an empirical context (McCall, 2005;Nash, 2008;Shields, 2008). ...
Adolescents form their identities by both accommodating (endorsing) and resisting (challenging) cultural stereotypes. Most research on Black males focuses on how they accommodate to negative stereotypes (e.g., delinquency, aggression), but a growing literature emphasizes how youth resist stereotypes. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed to examine patterns of resistance and accommodation at the intersection of racial and gender stereotypes among Black adolescent males (N = 21). Findings indicate that, overall, Black males resist racial stereotypes more readily than gender. Using an intersectionality lens, we found three paths of resistance: (a) the “accommodators” endorsed racial and gender stereotypes, (b) the “resisters” resisted both sets of stereotypes, and (c) the “exceptions” resisted racial stereotypes but accommodated to gender. Implications for the study of resistance, identity, and intersectionality are discussed.
... It is also anticipated that this research will identify suboptimal resistance affect, behavior, and cognitions that may increase Black women's vulnerability to poor psychological and physiological outcomes. Robinson and Ward (1991) developed resistance theory for Black adolescent girls. One of the primary goals of this theory was to identify strategies that Black girls and women could use to optimally push back against racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression. ...
... Further development of this model identified affect, behaviors, and cognitions (ABCs of Resistance) associated with suboptimal and optimal resistance (Robinson, 2005; see Table 1). Suboptimal resistance is survival-oriented and refers to short-term cognitive and behavioral adaptations to chronic stress that do not serve people well in the long run, but rather, tend to have immediate, numbing, soothing, and/or pleasure inducing effects (Martin, Boadi, Fernandes, Watt, & Robinson-Wood, 2013;Robinson & Ward, 1991;Robinson-Wood, 2014). Suboptimal resistance strategies include emotional eating that corresponds to weight gain, dependence upon others for validation, and unprotected sex, which increases risk for contracting sexually transmitted diseases. ...
... The woman characterized by optimal resistance is able to name discrimination and identify its effects on her feelings, while purposefully managing her thoughts and behavior in support of health and healing. Seeking counseling for depression or anxiety and participating in regular exercise are consistent with optimal resistance strategies (Martin et al., 2013;Robinson & Ward, 1991). ...
Three ethnically diverse Black female researchers conducted phenom- enological research using semi-structured interview questions that inves- tigated the presence and nature of microaggressions in the lives of 17 highly educated women of African descent, ranging in age from mid-20s to late-50s. The minimum educational requirement for study participation was a completed Master’s degree. Women could be enrolled in a doctoral program and pursuing any discipline or could have previously obtained a doctoral degree. The relevance of resistance theory as a framework for understanding Black women’s experiences with and responses to microag- gressions is investigated. Using thematic analysis within a social constructionist framework, five themes were detected: (a) Mighty Melanin Tax; (b) The Acrid Academy; (c) Underrating Race; (d) Coping as Optimal Resistance; and (e) Armored Coping. Limitations and implications for future research are included.
... Many feminist researchers define resistance as a response or strategy that women adopt in order to prevent oppression, reduce its intensity, or halt it. This strategy can take the form of negotiation, argumentation, dispute, or bargaining (Delgado Bernal 2001; Oppenhaim-Shachar 2019; Robinson and Ward 1991;Torre and Fine 2011) and is connected to the dialogue between structure and agency-that is, the level of entitlement a woman feels she has to change her situation when she senses that she wants to do so. Resistance thus goes hand in hand with agency, will, and the ability or power to fight restrictive patriarchal structures. ...
... Meaning that establishing a trust-based learning process based on cooperative practices that bridge social distance can provide both students and instructors with a foundation for building trust, such that some of the content and the dialogue that they conduct reduces alienation, tension, and/or dissonance (Kook and Harel-Shalev 2021;Cahaner 2017;Kalagy 2016;Novis Deutsch and Rubin 2018). This in turn engenders experimentation with self-expansion and using one's power, as well as 'dipping one's toes into' resistance and bargaining (Robinson and Ward 1991;Delgado Bernal 2001). ...
This article is the product of a study, conducted over one academic year, that followed ultra-Orthodox women students working toward Bachelor’s degrees at a secular teacher training college with the goal of getting accredited to work at Education Ministry-supervised schools and thereby improving their employment prospects. It finds that a process that began as technical and instrumental emerged as one that, under certain conditions, could affect all of a student’s various identities. During the learning process, students faced contradictions between the realities conveyed to them in an unfamiliar academic language and their experiences in the ultra-Orthodox world. The clash produced a multifaceted resistance that testified to the degree of access the women had to power, support, and resources, and that in certain instances helped to forge multifaceted identities.
... Optimal conditions are a life that yields peace, joy, and harmony, and that recognizes that these factors increase the well-being of the whole (Martin et al., 2013). Robinson and Ward (1991) developed a theory of resistance for Black adolescent girls to address the intersections of race and gender in their lives. One of the main goals of Resistance Theory was to guide Black girls and women in identifying, naming, and resisting race, gender, and class oppression that impact their lives. ...
... Resistance Theory was also developed to help Black women recognize and utilize optimal resistance strategies reflected in Myers's Theory of Optimal Psychology (1991), as well as to help them recognize and actively avoid suboptimal resistance strategies. Optimal resistance reflects an awareness of environmental stressors and institutional oppression that impact Black women, as well as strategies for naming and opposing a sociopolitical consciousness of oppression (Robinson & Ward, 1991). Unlike suboptimal resistance, which is associated with a disempowered state that is linked to depression and feelings of insecurity and inferiority, optimal resistance encompasses a state of being that supports health and healing, and may include community involvement and other proactive, deliberate, conscious, and methodological measures. ...
The bodies of Black women have long been sites of trauma that carry the weight of the past and present-day stereotypes that dehumanize, and that are illustrative of the traumatizing effects of the multiple forms of gendered and racial injustices that harm Black women spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically. Using an intersectional analysis, this paper examines some of the most pervasive and long-standing controlling societal representations and images of Black women that have served to harm them in every aspect of their lives. It probes the many representations of Black women that have contributed to the development of a Black feminist consciousness that embodies Black women’s unique location at the crossroads of race, gender, class, and other social identities. In examining the transformative human agency of Black women, the paper concludes with an examination of how a Black feminist consciousness not only influences Black women’s experiences with mental illness but also provides a reservoir from which Black women learn to cope, manage, and seek help for these issues.
... Students, though, are not passive beings. Research investigating students' resistance to subtractive schooling practices reveals that their responses comprise negative and positive forms of oppositional behavior (Fine, 1991;Robinson & Ward, 1991;Valenzuela, 1999). Yet, few have examined student resistance that carries the potential for social change. ...
... The findings corroborate prior research that transformative spaces within schools are critical to fostering positive student resistance (Delgado Bernal, 1998;Robinson & Ward, 1991;Yosso, 2000;| 102 Cabrera et. al., 2014). ...
Social reproduction scholars and the literature on critical race theory and student resistance contend that schools are not neutral institutions existing in a vacuum free of the political and social struggles for rights and resources (Delgado Bernal, 1998; Fine, 1991). Instead, schools can be institutions that reproduce dominant ideologies and oppressive hierarchies or arenas from which to challenge power and status-quo policies (Freire, 1970). Drawing from two years of participant observations at Hillcrest High School, this study explores how Latina/o students in collaboration with their teacher engage in transformational resistance to subtractive schooling. I document how co-leadership in the classroom between teacher and students supports the co-creation of a transformative space for critical reflection. Similar to activist groups creating spaces to cultivate youth political engagement, classrooms can be reconstructed to foster the development of students as agents of change. This article presents the process through which Latina/o students gain critical reflection of social inequalities and systems of oppression that enables them to advocate for more inclusive and just schooling practices.
... In spaces such as these, adults build on the conversations that many Black parents have with their daughters that teach them to resist prevalent negative stereotypes associated with being Black girls (Ward, 1996). Robinson and Ward (1991) described these types of messages as "resistance for liberation" strategies in which "black girls and women are encouraged to acknowledge the problems of, and to demand change in, an environment that oppresses them" (p. 89). ...
... Additionally, the three vignettes illustrate how the Black girls' discussion group served as a place where the girls could celebrate and take pride in their racial and gendered identities, particularly through the Black girl-positive messages that they saw in the videos they watched. In line with the developmental aspect of a critical feminist media pedagogy framework, these Blackgirl-positive messages serve to promote the positive racial and gender identity development of Black girls in that the videos showed girls of color being bold and brave, being proud of their skin color, and of the way they talk-a demonstration of "resistance for liberation" (Robinson and Ward, 1991) strategies that push back the oppressive structures of racism and sexism. ...
This article discusses the potential of promoting the critical consciousness and positive racial and gender identity development of adolescent Black girls through implementing a curriculum grounded in Black feminist thought and critical media pedagogy. By using bell hooks’ (1992) “oppositional gaze” concept as a frame, it argues that Black girls’ development of a critical lens and analytic skills is tied to images in the media and central to their positive development. The article draws on qualitative data from a larger phenomenological study that explores how adolescent Black girls who attend independent schools employ critical lenses to understand their experiences around race, gender, and class. This study presents vignettes that illustrate how the different components of a Black feminist critical media pedagogy curriculum come together to support the developing of the oppositional gaze of Black girls.
... Thus, the daily routines of the girls' families cannot be separated from the investigation of avoidance. Further, given the pressures that girls experience both at school and at home, avoidance should not be seen as necessarily their own preference, or their resistance for survival 2 (Robinson & Ward, 1991). Therefore, researchers must gain a better understanding of avoidance behavior, which is defined here as self-exclusion from and noncooperation with educational opportunities, if seeking to facilitate interventions with at-risk urban girls. ...
... Endnotes 1 http://biu.academia.edu/OrlyBenjamin. 2 Resistance for survival as distinguished from liberating resistance: The former is associated with acts that connect adolescent girls to a sense of selfworth yet have but a momentary effect (e.g., dropping out, pregnancy, addiction, self mutilation); while the latter is based on the accumulation of resources, knowledge, and skills in a community context (e.g., attributing positive value to racial heritage and negating racial stereotypes) (Robinson & Ward, 1991). 3 The analysis of the interviews that were excluded from those excerpted here is presented elsewhere (Oppenhaim-Shachar, 2012). ...
... Transformational resistance is not merely about students 'acting out' in class but rather about their engaging with and critiquing the unfair social conditions, resisting the status quo and contributing to social change (Solórzano and Delgado Bernal 2001). CRT, LatCrit and critical theorists have been engaging with the concept of transformation resistance to frame experiences of successful and/or aspiring to be successful students from non-dominant background, such as Chicano/Chicana students (Hurtado 1996;Solórzano and Delgado Bernal 2001;Yosso 2000), African American adolescents (Robinson and Ward 1991;Ward 1996) and Native American students (Brayboy 2005). ...
... Transformational resistance infers individual agency as students who choose to resist oppressive structures "are not simply acted on by structures" but instead "negotiate and struggle with structures and create meanings of their own from these interactions" (Solórzano & Delgado Bernal 2001, 316). Like the related concept of student resilience (Hassinger and Plourde 2005;Yosso 2000;Robinson and Ward 1991), transformational resistance is not "self-explanatory", but rather students' awareness of social injustices as well as their motivation to challenge those are important in its identification and analysis (Solórzano and Delgado Bernal 2001, 320). ...
Indigenous Australian underrepresentation in higher education remains a topical issue for social scientists, educationalists and policymakers alike, with the concept of indigenous academic success highly contested. This article is based on findings of a doctoral study investigating the drivers of indigenous Australian academic success in a large, public, research-intensive and metropolitan Australian university. It draws on the concept of transformational resistance to illuminate the forms that indigenous resistance takes and how identities of resistance performed by indigenous students complicate and speak to the students’ notions of academic success. By drawing on ethnographic data, this article demonstrates how indigenous academic success is fuelled by the idea of resistance to the Western dominance, where resistance becomes the very cornerstone of indigenous achievement.
... They are also active in reshaping those narratives of dilemma that haunt black female lives, replacing them with themes, or 'discourses' (Smitherman, 2006; Kirkland, 2010a), of transcendence that further reshape the black female narrative itself. Hence, this work is in line with other scholarship on BFT in that it shows how black females are agentive in reconstructing the black feminine mystique (Collins, 1986; Robinson & Ward, 1995), where some use the technologies that have boldly transformed the day to offer voice to a new, amplified, complex and emerging black female self (Knadler, 2001; Richardson, 2003; Paris & Kirkland, 2011). For Foucault (1988), technologies of the self are the tools through which human beings constitute themselves. ...
... They are also active in reshaping those narratives of dilemma that haunt black female lives, replacing them with themes, or 'discourses' (Smitherman, 2006; Kirkland, 2010a), of transcendence that further reshape the black female narrative itself. Hence, this work is in line with other scholarship on BFT in that it shows how black females are agentive in reconstructing the black feminine mystique (Collins, 1986; Robinson & Ward, 1995), where some use the technologies that have boldly transformed the day to offer voice to a new, amplified, complex and emerging black female self (Knadler, 2001; Richardson, 2003; Paris & Kirkland, 2011). For Foucault (1988), technologies of the self are the tools through which human beings constitute themselves. ...
This article examines how two African American females composed counter-selves using a computer motherboard and a stand-alone microphone as critical identity texts. Situated within sociocultural and critical traditions in new literacy studies and black feminist thought, the authors extend conceptions of language, literacy and black femininity via the agentic, powerful and knowledgeable selves of African American women, constructs that are often missing from the scholarship on young African American women and their practices of self-definition. The motherboard and microphone serve as analytical constructs for understanding critical new literacies and subject malleability, which crisscrosses in complex configurations across the experiences, histories and relationships that carry meaning for those who struggle through scenes of silence. Motherboards and microphones act metaphorically as technologies of the self, which resist and reformat cosmologies of black femininity that have long patterned gender oppression. The findings suggest that technologies exist everywhere, and technology related to literacy and language exists in many forms, including vocabularies of motherboards and microphones. The authors conclude that using such vocabularies for expressing identity can work through the power of metaphor in its richest sense to offer new conceptions of self, whereby the subject becomes a personal artifact capable of immense transformative potential.
... 29). These students are aware of the oppressive environment and empower themselves to liberate themselves and create change (Robinson and Ward, 1991). When students talked about their involvement in predominately white organizations, some expressed the importance of being influential by "representing the underrepresented." ...
http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98948/1/lasanche.pdf
... Developmental psychologists Tracy Robinson and Janie Ward outline two paths of resistance to stereotypes and racial oppression: resistance for survival and resistance for liberation. 16 The first strategy, resistance for survival, refers to shortterm solutions, or "quick fixes, " in response to oppressive systems, such as joining a gang or dropping out of school. These strategies focus on the individual and might make him or her feel better in the moment, but in the long run they are counterproductive because they ultimately perpetuate stereotypes and result in "emotional isolation and self-alienation" rather than positive identity and community building.17 ...
The Black box in American culture is imposed upon Black boys and girls regarding what they can and cannot do, and who they should and should not be. In the case of Black boys, they can be athletes and thugs, but they cannot be scholars and scientists or engaged fathers and partners. They should be tough, independent, and aggressive, but they should not be vulnerable, relational, and sensitive. The Black box, in other words, constrains the humanity of Black people; it splits Blackness from goodness, and embeds homophobia into the Black male identity. These impositions are not simply about race, as Marcus reveals, but also about gender, sexuality, and social class. When Black boys and young men accommodate to society’s box of intersectional stereotypes, they disconnect from what they know about themselves—that they are thinking and feeling human beings—and disconnect from others within and outside of their communities as well. Over the next few pages, I first describe identity development and then reveal the pathways through which Black boys construct their identities, and conclude with ways to foster resistance to help Black boys stay connected to themselves as well as to others.
... It is during adolescence that the formation of a positive sense of self becomes a critical developmental task (Berkel et al. 2009;DuBois and Tevendale 1999;Granberg et al. 2009;Rosenberg 2015). Therefore, a positive sense of self may be particularly important for African American young women given their exposure to environments that often devalue their worth (Gray-Little and Hafdahl 2000; Robinson and Ward 1991;Twenge and Crocker 2002). Decades of research on the lived experiences of African American girls and women in the U.S. show social devaluation that takes the form of disregard and neglect. ...
Objectives
Issues around skin tone and colorism have generated much discussion in popular culture outlets and empirical research. This work has focused primarily on the continued significance of skin tone across the life course for women of color. Yet, few studies have examined the implications of skin tone on sexual health.
Methods
Using data from a longitudinal study of 397 African American young women, we examined a prospective model in which self-esteem was a psychological mediator through which skin tone influenced negative sexual behavior and sexual health outcomes. In addition, we investigated parental support and racial identity as moderators that act as protective factors to buffer the effects of an individual’s skin tone on self-esteem thus influencing sexual health outcomes.
Results
Results indicated that skin tone was linked to sexual behavior and negative sexual health outcomes indirectly through its association with self-esteem. Further, when parental support was high, a weaker link emerged between skin tone and self-esteem. Findings suggest high parental support may be advantageous for darker skin young women because it serves as a protective factor that buffers the impact of skin tone on self-esteem. Results, however, showed no evidence of moderation for racial identity.
Conclusions
Future research on African American young women should focus on the effects of skin tone alone or in combination with self-esteem and parental support given its link to sexual health.
... Resistance for liberation on the other hand, as acknowledge by Ward (1996) and Delgado Bernal (2001), offers solutions that are empowering to Black identity. Robinson and Ward (1991) establish that this type of resistance not only affirms positive self-identity, but also creates a stronger bond with the greater African American community. ...
This qualitative research study offers a new model through which to examine Black motherhood as resistance to institutionalized racism, being driven in part by the current mortality rate of Black children in the United States of America. Six mothers who self-identify as Black and activists were interviewed about how they resist racism through how they raise their children. Two major findings emerged and are discussed at depth within this study: Critical Race Socialization and Countering Mis-education. The Critical Race Socialization process is a new way to examine a critical, intentional process of racial socialization towards liberation taken on by Black mothers. The Critical Race Socialization process combines key components of Critical Race Theory, Pedagogies of the Home, Oppressed Family Pedagogy and Harro’s cycles of socialization and liberation. Recommendations provided in the conclusion of this study encourage new Black mothers to center race and other sites of oppression in their pedagogy, utilizing age appropriate material for children when speaking about the truths of the world and Blackness. The study also calls for a village of support to be built around Black children, and for educators working with Black children to develop a critical repertoire of the lived experiences of Black people and trauma.
... Because the language of the academy, in this case the resistance literature, does not fully explain the experiences and needs of working class fe male Students of Color, it is important to reconceptual ize theoretical constructs so that they can help us interpret the realities of the com munities we hope to serve. Closely re lated to my work on resistance is the work of African American psycholo gists, Tracy Robinson and Janie Victoria Ward (1991). They have reconceptual ized resistance amongst African Ameri can adolescent females to include harm ful and helpful strategies that help counteract the results of ineffective edu cational practices. ...
... Resistance also can be an intervention, a means of overcoming oppressive messages, words, and actions that can cause psychological distress. I still recall being a graduate student reading the seminal article by Tracy Robinson and Janie Ward (1991) titled "'A belief in self far greater than others' disbelief': Cultivating resistance among African American female adolescents," which described "healthy" resistance as essential to mental health. Robinson and Ward distinguished between "resistance for survival," which reflects more negative strategies focused on short term fixes (such as internalizing negative self-images), and "resistance for liberation," reflecting a longer-term strategy (such as identifying and transcending systemic barriers). ...
This paper presents the continuing need for effective mentoring in the face of social justice inequities in higher education and the larger society. The importance of persistence and resistance as essential qualities of mentors and mentees is emphasized, as well as the integral links of the personal, political, and professional components of psychological work. A discussion of impactful mentors is presented, including family, academic, cultural, professional, and peer mentors. A final section focuses on current mentees, who in turn will mentor future generations.
... In their work on Chicana/Chicano students, Solorzano and Bernal (2001) describe four types of resistance: reactionary behavior, self-defeating resistance, conformist resistance, and transformational resistance -which include both a desire for social justice and a critique of oppression. Similarly, in their work on black adolescent females, Robinson and Ward (1991) introduce resistance for liberation, which is 'resistance in which black girls and women are encouraged to acknowledge the problems of, and to demand change in, an environment that oppresses them' and reject short-term fixes (p. 89 see also Ward, 1996). ...
In this article, we explore and conceptualize counterwork in education as a critical element for resistance and progressive social change in the era of Donald Trump’s presidency. We first discuss education in the context of a Trump–DeVos administration, and how this milieu necessitates activist research and counterwork. Grounded in a sense of critical hope and part of a larger anti-hegemonic project, we describe our conceptualization of counterwork in education as unfinishedness and the critical imagination, human agency, and transformational resistance for liberation. This approach to education is committed to sustaining an anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and a critical social justice agenda in education across the P-20 spectrum
... This work contributes to the emergent perspectives of BFT in that it adds another dimension to how we understand Black female narratives of the self. What BFT offers is how Black females are agentive in reconstructing the Black feminine mystique (Collins, 1986;Robinson & Ward, 1995), and use technologies that have boldly transformed how voice is amplified, through complex and emerging Black female self (Knadler, 2001;Paris & Kirkland, 2011;Richardson, 2002). ...
Living life as an African American woman is a necessary prerequisite for producing Black feminist thought because within Black women’s communities thought is validated and produced with reference to a particular set of historical, material, and epistemological conditions.
... Resilience can be characterized as a child's ability to achieve despite factors that increase his or her risk of failure such as living in poverty, being raised in a single parent household, being one of multiple siblings, or assuming the role of a young caregiver (Benard, 1991;Schwartz, 2002;Wang, Haertel, & Walberg, 1998). Resilience can be seen in a child's resistance to introject societal messages that would otherwise cultivate unhealthy self-images and self-deprecating attitudes and behaviors (Robinson & Ward, 1991). Protective factors influencing resilience include attributional style, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and social competence (Hauser, 1999). ...
Research investigating the relationship between parenting and academic achievement has provided conflicting results, particularly for low-income, culturally-diverse parents. Using resilience theory, the researchers conducted a case study with five low-income African American mothers. Findings suggest that educators can benefit from partnering with African American parents.
... There are few evidence-based programs for African American girls, even fewer that focus on building strengths in resistance to the prevailing culture (Robinson & Ward, 1991), and none that is specific to CSEC prevention. We designed our curriculum to fill that gap. ...
Students with disabilities are bullied at rates disproportionate to their typically developing peers, yet we know little about effective interventions to reduce the rates of victimization among students with disabilities across all disability categories. This study examined the effectiveness of the inclusive Bullying/Victimization Intervention Program (BVIP) for students with disabilities. Students with disabilities who were eligible to participate in the BVIP based on the results of a universal screening designed to identify students who reported high rates of victimization were assigned to different treatment groups: BVIP group interventions only, BVIP individual interventions only, or BVIP group + individual. We explored whether students with disabilities showed an increase in self-efficacy, coping skills, and problem-solving skills and a decrease in self-reported victimization after participating in the intervention and whether there were differences across groups. We also examined whether students with disabilities who received the intervention in group individual, or group + individual settings had different outcomes. The outcome data were promising and suggested that students with disabilities reported increases in social–emotional functioning and a decrease in victimization post-intervention. students with disabilities who were assigned to the group + individual interventions reported greater gains in social–emotional functioning suggesting that
interventions presented in different modalities with repeated practice may be beneficial for these students. Implications for school psychologists in practice are discussed.
... There are few evidence-based programs for African American girls, even fewer that focus on building strengths in resistance to the prevailing culture (Robinson & Ward, 1991), and none that is specific to CSEC prevention. We designed our curriculum to fill that gap. ...
In disadvantaged neighborhoods African American girls are at elevated risk for exposure to violence and sexualization (Miller, 2008; Salazar, Wingood, DiClemente, Lan, & Harrington, 2004). Preventive interventions can promote resilience by supporting capacities such as social decision making and self-understanding (Masten, 2001). We report on an afterschool intervention group in a transitional housing facility for women and children. The participants were fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-grade African American girls (N 5 11). Sessions met for 1.5–2 hours per week over 15 weeks. We recorded the themes that emerged from the participants' conversations during group sessions. The girls in this study described strained relationships, recurring violence, internalized stereotypes, and objectifying sexual activities. When repeated throughout development, such experiences may normalize aggression and objectification and reduce agency and future orientation. Learning from first-hand accounts of girls living in stressed urban environments is crucial to creating future interventions specific to their needs.
... What many critical pedagogues have minimized or ignored is the reality that oppressed groups have produced "critical" ways of learning that have been transformed into practice, often by oppressed people themselves. Scholars of color (Delgado Bernal, 1997;Fuller, 1980;Robinson & Ward, 1991;Sewell, 1997) have articulated what Bernal (1997) refers to as a "transformative resistance" that can be identified in the counter-participatory stances and actions of people of color within educational institutions. In doing so, they argue that people of color can and do actively resist racism in their daily lives even when schools fail to do so. ...
... The study of resistance grows out of the recognition that children and adolescents are actively engaged in the socialization process (Anyon, 1984;Brown & Gilligan, 1992;Chu, 2004Chu, , 2014Gilligan, 1990;Gilligan, 2011;Robinson & Ward, 1991) and respond to cultural beliefs, norms, and practices as well as to their biology. They do not simply accommodate to messages received from parents, teachers, and peers about what it means to be a girl, with its emphasis on feminine goodness and selflessness, or a boy, with its emphasis on stoicism, toughness, and independence. ...
This article examines the patterns of resistance to norms of masculinity (i.e., emotional stoicism, physical toughness, and autonomy) and its association to psychological and social adjustment among boys from preadolescence through late adolescence. Semi-structured interviews were conducted longitudinally with a sample of 55 White, Black, Latino, and Chinese American boys from 6th grade to 11th grade. Our analyses indicated that boys' resistance to norms of masculinity is explicit and implicit and is prevalent during adolescence, with 78% of the boys in our study demonstrating moderate to high levels of resistance typically during the middle school years. Four trajectories of resistance over time were detected: (a) decreasing resistance; (b) stable moderate-to-high levels of resistance; (c) stable low levels of resistance; and (d) mixed patterns of resistance. White, Black, and Chinese American boys were the most likely to suggest a decline in resistance from pre-to late adolescence, whereas the Latino boys were the least likely to suggest such a decline and the most likely to suggest stable moderate-to-high levels of resistance throughout adolescence. Findings suggest that resistance to norms of masculinity enhances psychological and social adjustment for boys during adolescence and is deeply influenced by the context in which boys are embedded.
... More specifically, for African American females, resistance is freedom from hegemonic representations. According to Robinson and Ward (1991), liberation resistance is -resistance in which Black girls and women are encouraged to acknowledge the problems of, and to demand change in, an environment that oppresses them‖ (p. 89). ...
... We also do not expect that the present findings would necessarily generalize to non-White or working-class emerging adults. In particular, the mildly intimate pattern that was evident for our White middle-class young women may not be as practiced by working-class and ethnic minority women, whose greater resistance to rosy romance narratives may stem from a historical tendency to have been less dependent on men for economic support (Robinson and Ward 1991;Taylor et al. 1995). In addition, we do not expect that the findings of the present study would necessarily generalize to gay men or lesbian women. ...
Heterosexual U.S. adolescents tend to show gender differences in how they describe romantic relationships, with males being positioned as cool and objectifying toward females, and females as warm and positively engaged (Simon et al. 1992; Tolman 2002). However, according to developmental theory (Arnett 2000, 2004), such gender scripts should be less operative in early adulthood, when romantic relationships become a prime concern for college-age youth regardless of gender. Partly confirming this premise, a recent study of male undergraduate friends in California found that during casual conversations, one of their most prevalent story telling patterns was shifting between positioning themselves as warm and engaged (intimate) and as cool and objectifying (distancing) toward romantic partners (Korobov and Thorne 2006). For purposes of a gender comparison, the present archival, mixed-methods study deployed the same methodology to examine the prevalence of these patterns for a companion college sample of 37 pairs of women friends. Gender differences were found for only one of four story patterns: Women friends told proportionately more stories than men that were mildly intimate. Otherwise the stories of both genders showed parallel patterns either of dense distancing, or of repeatedly shifting between intimacy and distancing. In addition, women and men friends showed a similar versatility in the array of patterns they produced. The findings suggest mild operability of a gendered intimacy script, but more generally support the premise that working out what one does and doesn’t want in a romantic relationship is a common concern for young adult friends regardless of gender.
... 24,25 Although this review was informative, there are very few evidence-based prevention programs for African American girls, even fewer that focus on building strengths in resistance to the prevailing culture, and none that are specific to CSEC. 26 Therefore, we created a curriculum responsive to the community's needs. By including content to enhance physical and emotional safety, both in and out of school, we addressed community threats while working to promote the social-emotional development of girls. ...
Introduction: Youth from low-income, urban backgrounds face significant challenges to maintaining a positive developmental trajectory. Dangerous neighborhoods and stressed relationships are common in these settings and threaten adaptation by weakening the natural assets that undergird resilience. African American girls in these contexts face specific, multiple risks, including gender stereotyping, violence, and sexual exploitation. The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a multibillion-dollar industry victimizing over 1 million children around the globe. The typical victim in 1 city in the southeastern United States is an African American girl 12–14 years old. There has been little research investigating the characteristics of girls placed at risk for CSEC and even less research on the personal perspectives of these girls.
Methods: Over 3 school terms we provided preventive intervention groups for 36 African American middle school girls who were placed at risk because they lived in neighborhoods with high rates of interpersonal violence and CSEC. Two group leaders and a process recorder took detailed notes on each group session. Our focus on group conversations over a period of weeks increased the probability of recording spontaneous, open comments by the children and is a promising method with this population. The data were analyzed qualitatively and resulted in an account of the girls' own views of the environmental challenges and personal experiences that may influence their development.
Results: The girls' language during the group sessions contained 4 themes: difficulty forming trusting relationships, frequent peer aggression, familiarity with adult prostitution, and sexuality as a commodity.
Conclusion: Our research shows how girls placed at risk for CSEC view their own lives. These children described violence and sexual exploitation and cited limited supports to protect them from these risks. Understanding the perspectives of these girls should generate future research and intervention strategies to support their coping and resilience.
... A very small number of studies address female school resistance, and most of those examine aggressive sexuality as the only manifestation of resistance (McRobbie, 1978; Ohron, 1993; Thomas, 1980). The few studies that examine more positive forms of female school resistance in which students are motivated by social justice concerns focus on overt forms of resistance and do not explicitly examine more subtle forms of resistance (Delgado Bernal, 1997; Fuller, 1980 Fuller, , 1983 Robinson & Ward, 1991; Ward, 1996). Within this body of literature, student resistance has been conceptualized in many different ways. ...
Using critical race theory and Latina/Latino critical race theory as a framework, this article utilizes the methods of qualitative inquiry and counterstorytelling to examine the construct of student resistance. The authors use two events in Chicana/Chicano student history—the 1968 East Los Angeles school walkouts and the 1993 UCLA student strike for Chicana and Chicano studies. Using these two methods and events, the authors extend the concept of resistance to focus on its transformative potential and its internal and external dimensions. The authors describe and analyze a series of individual and focus group interviews with women who participated in the 1968 East Los Angeles high school walkouts. The article then introduces a counterstory that briefly listens in on a dialogue between two data-driven composite characters, the Professor and an undergraduate student named Gloria. These characters’ experiences further illuminate the concepts of internal and external transformational resistance.
Most approaches to resilience portray it as a trait residing in the individual. Relational-cultural theory (RCT) suggests that resilience arises in relationship in the capacity for connection. This chapter provides an overview of a relational model of resilience, especially as it applies to girls and women. Rather than looking for traits in the individual that render him or her responsive, flexible, and capable of “bouncing back,” RCT suggests that we think of relational resilience as the capacity to move back into growth-fostering connections following an acute disconnection. These growth-promoting relationships are characterized by mutual empathy. Relational resilience emphasizes strengthening relationships rather than increasing an individual’s internal strength. At the core of relational resilience is movement toward mutuality. The ability to resist disempowering norms to first name and then challenge the processes of marginalization and discouragement is essential. Growth-fostering relationships promote zest, clarity, a sense of worth, productivity, and desire for more connection (the “five good things”). RCT supports the development of the capacity for mutual engagement and mutual benefit. This model can be applied to social change as well as to individual growth.
This study explores how high-achieving African American and Latinx female college students in an historically white institution (HWI) experience and respond to ethno-gendered bias based on the perspectives of resilience and intersectionality. Six 90-minutes focus group were conducted with 21 college women of color (CWOC), including 10 African American and 11 Latina emerging adults aged 18 to 23. A modified grounded theory approach was employed for the data analysis. The transitions of CWOC as emerging adults taking on greater responsibilities and independence were made more complex by ethno-gendered encounters. A grounded model of resistance expanded the ecological framework of resilience to accommodate intersectional experiences with race and gender bias. The model highlights CWOC resistance as an important psychosocial mechanism facilitating their adjustment in a predominantly White institution. CWOC employed a strong psychological mechanism of resistance to prevent the internalization of the negative stereotypical narratives. Maternal ethno-gendered racial socialization appeared to be a crucial resilience resource helping them to cope and promoting the growth of self-system characterized by independence, self-efficacy and self-respect, high self-esteem, determination and hard work. This transformative and constructive psychological mechanism of resistance was linked to their successful adjustment and achievement in college. The findings have developmental and practical implications for historically minoritized women college students’ resilience and adjustment.
Objective:
To explore the psychobiographical origins of Carol Gilligan's sensitivity to the importance of voice in human psychology, an awareness that, through her foundational written work, transformed the field.
Method:
Narrative inquiry and analysis.
Results:
Carol Gilligan's awareness of voice began at a young age with a self-defining memory in which she learned to hold on to her own voice and experience. She never set out to be a social change agent, but she became one. Other scholars relied on her work, particularly the lyrical trope of "in a different voice" to change social (and psychological) attitudes toward women in many ways. This psychobiographical analysis traces Carol's personal struggles to sustain her own voice and knowledge, and these struggles met a culture that became able to hear something about how the patriarchal culture suppresses relational sensibilities. Rooted in a close and intense relationship with her mother, who expressed and imposed on her a duality between the voice of personal experience and the voice of meeting social expectations. Carol's understanding of the differing levels of what it means "to know" grounded a new conception of girls' development as well as of moral development.
Conclusion:
Carol Gilligan became an agent of social change because her inner world and life path coincided with sociocultural readiness to embrace her work as giving voice to an emerging awareness of the suppression and denigration of women's sensibilities in psychology as well as in the larger culture. Her lifelong conflicts about speaking her own truth versus conforming to a society in which she was well able to be successful attuned her to the ways in which others, particularly women, similarly discounted their own experience.
This article examines multicultural citizenship education (MCE) as a form of teacher-driven resistance to oppressive macro-level policies and discourses. I present an analysis of how six English and History teachers at Castro Middle School describe their pedagogical changes following the election of Donald Trump. Findings reveal how teachers embedded MCE into the curriculum to resist the anti-immigrant national climate and support the cultural citizenship of Latinx, Asian, and immigrant-origin students. Teachers also strove to cultivate students’ critical awareness, political efficacy, and commitment to political action. I conclude that major political events, like elections, can be catalysts for resistance through MCE.
The present study contributes to the literature on the consequences of social inequality through a qualitative examination of the social functions and meanings of violence in the lives of 20 marginalized women. All of the women in the sample were at some point court involved and were victims, as well as perpetrators, of violence. Findings indicate a need to expand the extant theory to address enforcement (i.e., strengthening) of status level, social inequities (e.g., gendered power disparities), adding to the accommodation/resistance paradigm. Consistent with scholarship conceptualizing violence as contextual and gender as a socio-structural variable, results support the need to better understand the ways in which contexts of gendered inequality – and inequality in general – may promote processes through which survivors of violence accommodate, resist, and enforce oppression. Implications for research and practice related to social inequality are discussed.
Often in response to the feelings of marginality that women across all three groups encounter, women develop tight-knit, internal networks that provide bonding social capital in the form of emotional and instrumental support. The bonds that young black and Latina women in Mayfair develop with one another are strong, often long-lasting, and important for the sharing of critical resources. Although these trends are found across all three groups, the strength and benefits of the relationships vary. Boarders and commuters cite the importance of the strong internal bonds they develop with each other as a result of their shared experiences of marginalization. Residents cite the relationships they develop across groups, and the benefit of having more young women of color in the school and community, as a result of the voluntary desegregation programs. Both the resources that women need and the resources that they can provide vary based upon point of access.
Approaches to rectifying the inequities Black female students encounter in U.S. educational institutions are rarely discussed in the body of research in which these individuals are the foci. In this critical race feminist auto-ethnography, the author used qualitative data from a two-year study of a girls' empowerment program that she established at an urban public high school. Through an analysis of Black feminist curricula, in-class video footage, student artifacts, and interviews with former participants, the author argues that Black feminist pedagogy may promote the development of positive social and academic identities among African American female youth. Concrete, research-based guidelines for developing culturally responsive pedagogical interventions are discussed.
The women’s narratives indicate that intimate and cultural violence go hand in hand, and that healing requires attention to both areas. For whose initial experience of violence occurred when they were young, the difficulty in this healing is that the violation often had serious implications for their childhood ability to create boundaries and evaluate danger that often persists into their adult relationships. A second difficulty in healing is that given the ubiquitous nature of stereotypes about Black girls and women, the relational and cultural context within which they approach healing is embedded in hostile attitudes toward their race, gender, sexuality, and class. The women I interviewed responded to this challenge with coping strategies and connections that allowed them to survive and maintain their lives. I examine these processes in this chapter, including their perspectives on how sexual violence impacted their intimate decision making, and relationships/encounters that helped them navigate the hostile terrain of negative stereotypes that showed up in places and relationships that were important to them.
From the beginning, my introduction to self psychology was steeped in questions related to race, gender, and sexuality. The Center for Religion and Psychotherapy of Chicago, where I trained, offered a program specializing in the work of Heinz Kohut and the theory he developed, known as self psychology. I was struck by and drawn to what many thought of as Kohut’s radical and necessary shift from Freud’s classical drive model postulating that humanity is primarily motivated by innate sexual and aggressive instincts. Kohut stressed innate developmental needs that we turn to others to meet. The shift from drives leading our way into relationship to needs ultimately produced a view of the person where self-ness emerged out of the experience of satisfaction of crucial needs throughout life. We immediately see that Kohut recognized the importance of early developmental environment, the related needs, and advocated the lifelong need for others—as opposed to a developmental trajectory always toward a radical independence. The aspect of his work that I have found most compelling is where he links culture and self-experience. We will expand these ideas later in the chapter, but I think the following vignette can help us see why a psychoanalytic view of the relationship between culture and self is crucial.
This autoethnographic text invites readers into identity work at the interstices of growing up working class and becoming an academic. Influenced by mystory scholarship, the author has crafted a performance-oriented “ourstory” that blends academic, personal, biographical, and popular culture discourses. Following an introduction, the author presents four scenes chronicling her own and one research participant's moments from precollege through present day. The text uses a wideangle lens to view the social dimensions of being a first-generation college student and academic. In proximate existential moments, readers also move inward, being exposed to two vulnerable, incomplete, and sometimes contradictory “selves-in-process.” A critical text reflecting the belief that the ethnographic, aesthetic, and political can never be neatly separated, it seeks to provoke us to deconstruct the degrees of separation between private troubles and public issues.
This article explores performative features of religious language, especially grammars of belief. Relational aspects of this speech genre and associated functions of narrative behavior are examined. Potentials for the psychology of religion derived from a constructionist frame are proposed.
Developmental issues for African American adolescent girls are best understood using a multiple‐lens paradigm inclusive of gender, race, ethnicity, and social class. This article provides a context for assessing the relevance of these socially influenced constructs to identity development for adolescent African American girls. The relationship between the “myth of femininity” and personal worth and value is examined using this paradigm.
Homicide is the leading cause of death of African American youths in the United States. The loss of their friends to these deaths challenges the identity development of many urban African American teen girls. To understand the implications of such a loss on the psychosocial task of identity development of urban African American teen girls, 21 African American girls, 16–19 years old, living in a large Northeastern city in the United States, participated in a qualitative study. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted. A grounded theory, constant comparative approach, is used to analyze the narrative data. The findings show (a) the presence and pressure of psychosocial stress on the participants’ identity development process, (b) the adaptive functions of foreclosed religious identity commitments, (c) the potential for this event to inform, in complex ways, racial identity development examined through racial group orientation, and (d) natural avenues of resistance to marginalization and race devaluation that may be experienced from societal responses to this event. How the teens make meaning of this experience informs their identity development. The article promotes the inclusion of identity-informed psychosocial interventions in bereavement work with this population.
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