Living Proof: Transnational Black Youth Theorizing Racism, Justice, and Education

203 Pages·2017·1.77 MB·English

University of Pennsylvania
ScholarlyCommons
Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations
1-1-2014
Living Proof: Transnational Black Youth Teorizing
Racism, Justice, and Education
Chike McLoyd
University of Pennsylvania,
Living Proof: Transnational Black Youth Teorizing Racism, Justice, and
Education
Abstract
Based on eighteen months of ethnographic research in a high school E.L.L. classroom, this study contributes
to the felds of new literacies studies and critical pedagogy by showing how transnational Black youth theorize
and negotiate intersections of racism, justice, and education. Drawing on a multidimensional approach for
understanding how racism is reproduced and resisted across various domains of power (Collins, 2009), I show
on how two young men from Haiti theorize the U.N. and INGO occupation of post-earthquake Haiti; a
disjuncture between how Africa and Haiti are (mis)known in the U.S. and students' lived realities in their
respective countries of origin; and fnally, students' analysis of structural racism in the U.S. through a Justice
for Trayvon unit I co-taught from March-May 2012, when Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, and Stand
Your Ground became household names. I conclude by suggesting that we move toward a global l.a.w.s.
(lessons against white supremacies) framework for critical pedagogy. Such an approach draws on centering
counter-narratives and thinking through the notion of de-colonial love to reframe everyday classroom praxis.
Troughout this dissertation I argue that culturally informed, antiracist pedagogies must begin with students'
theoretical work and experiential knowledge. Such an approach transforms classrooms into spaces for
students to not only interrogate racism but also create (counter)texts that represent their subjectivities as
young Black people in the 21st century.
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Graduate Group
Education
First Advisor
Shaun Harper
Keywords
Critical Literacy, Critical Pedagogy, Cultural Studies, Multimodal Pedagogy, Transnational Studies, Trayvon
Martin
Subject Categories
African American Studies | Education | Teacher Education and Professional Development
Tis dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: htp://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1366
LIVING PROOF: TRANSNATIONAL BLACK YOUTH THEORIZING RACISM,
JUSTICE, AND EDUCATION

Chike Jamal Brett McLoyd
A DISSERTATION
in
Education

Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania

in

Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
2014

Supervisor of Dissertation:

_______________________________________
Shaun R. Harper, Associate Professor of Education

Graduate Group Chairperson:

______________________________________
Stanton E.F. Wortham, Judy & Howard Berkowitz Professor of Education

Dissertation Committee:

Shaun R. Harper, Associate Professor of Education

Kathleen D. Hall, Associate Professor of Education
Marc Lamont Hill, Associate Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
DEDICATION

This dissertation is dedicated to Garlen Capita and Chenzira Capita McLoyd, my
loving wife and son who have stood (and crawled!) by me with patience throughout this
dissertation process and beyond. You two are truly the loves of my life and seeing you
both at the beginning and end of every day means my life is book-ended with love. I am
truly blessed.
This dissertation is also dedicated to all the McLoyds, Joneses, Capitas, and
Courvoisiers who call me kin. The roots and routes of our family take us from Africa to
Haiti, to the United States and back to Africa. I am blessed to part of this incredible cycle
of family. To Caulbert and Martha Brett Jones, and Ben and Ruth Brett Quarles- I am the
Third Generation. To Sylvia, Lander, Sheila, Tiga, Tomo, Shani, Keli, Will, Willie,
Marie Denise, Wilna, T.J. and Taka- I love you all.
Finally, to Trayvon Martin, his family, the supporters of the Justice for Trayvon
movement, and all who continue to fight for global human rights- your work inspires me.
Thank you.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is my pleasure to acknowledge my dissertation committee, Drs. Harper, Hall,
and Hill for the support and feedback over the years. Kathy you believed in me from Day
One, thank you! Shaun I am grateful for the time and energy you put into seeing me
through this process and for introducing me to an in-depth appreciation if Critical Race
Theory in education. Marc, I can’t thank you enough for your insightful feedback and
stepping in during a time of need.
I am extremely grateful to Dr. Betsy Rymes and the entire research team. Without
your support this project would not have been possible. I especially want to thank
Krystal Smalls, Catrice Barrett, and Sofia Chaparro. Krystal and Catrice, I have leaned
on your brilliance throughout this project. Sofia, I am eternally grateful for the Trayvon
Martin video. It is one of my proudest moments as a teacher and to have it on film means
the world to me.
To Mr. D and all the students I had the pleasure of knowing throughout this
research process, I cannot thank you enough. You granted me access to your worlds and
for this generosity I am so grateful.
To the entire Africana Studies family, thank you for the collegial support and
good times over the last few years. Dr. Camille Charles, thank you for believing in me as
a teacher and a scholar. And I am especially grateful to have been part of Drs. Deb
Thomas, John Jackson, Herman Beavers, and Camille Charles’ Africana Seminar, 2008-
2009. To the whole class- It was stone grove. (Yeah!)

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ABSTRACT

LIVING PROOF: TRANSNATIONAL BLACK YOUTH THEORIZING RACISM,
JUSTICE, AND EDUCATION
Chike Jamal Brett McLoyd
Shaun R. Harper

Based on eighteen months of ethnographic research in a high school E.L.L. classroom,
this study contributes to the fields of new literacies studies and critical pedagogy by
showing how transnational Black youth theorize and negotiate intersections of racism,
justice, and education. Drawing on a multidimensional approach for understanding how
racism is reproduced and resisted across various domains of power (Collins, 2009), I
show on how two young men from Haiti theorize the U.N. and INGO occupation of post-
earthquake Haiti; a disjuncture between how Africa and Haiti are (mis)known in the U.S.
and students’ lived realities in their respective countries of origin; and finally, students’
analysis of structural racism in the U.S. through a Justice for Trayvon unit I co-taught
from March-May 2012, when Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, and Stand Your
Ground became household names. I conclude by suggesting that we move toward a
global l.a.w.s. (lessons against white supremacies) framework for critical pedagogy.
Such an approach draws on centering counter-narratives and thinking through the notion
of de-colonial love to reframe everyday classroom praxis. Throughout this dissertation I
argue that culturally informed, antiracist pedagogies must begin with students’ theoretical
work and experiential knowledge. Such an approach transforms classrooms into spaces
for students to not only interrogate racism but also create (counter)texts that represent
iv
st
their subjectivities as young Black people in the 21 century.

v
Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Statement of Problem…………………..………….…………………………………………….…………….4
Purpose of Study………………………………………………………..……………………………..8
Research Questions…………………………………………………..………………………….11
Significance of Study……………………………………………………….……………………12
Personal Stakes………………………………………………………………………………….....…14
Organization of the Dissertation….…………………………………………..…….………...19
Key Definitions……..……………………………………………………………...………………….20

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETCIAL FRAMEWORK
Globalization and the Structural Adjustment Diaspora……………….………………………..22
Negotiating Racism in the United States………………………………………………………..….…32
Race, Migration, and Black Migrant Youth in School Settings…………………..……………48
Critical Literacies Praxis……………………………….…………….……………………………………....54
My Bricolage: A Transnational Approach to Critical Race Theory…………………….......61

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH PLAN
Research Design……………………………………………………..……….………………………………..69
Research Context……………………………………………………………….………………………….….75
Data Collection Methods and Analysis…………………….…………………………………………..85
My Role in the Research Process…………………………………………………………………………88
Limitations………………………………………………………………………………………………………...89

CHAPTER FOUR: THEORIZING BEYOND DISTASTER: MULTIMODAL STORYTELLING
AS A LESSON AGAINST WHIE SUPREMACY
The United Nations, NGOs, and “Relief” in Haiti……………………………………………………93
Coming to America: Theorizing and Experiencing American Racism…………………..105
(Mis)Learning Africa and Haiti……………………………………………………………………….…110
Agents Against White Supremacies ……………………………………..……………………..….…116
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………….131

CHAPTER FIVE: JUSTICE FOR TRAYVON(S): AN ETHNOGRAPHIC CASE STUDY OF A
TEACHABLE MOVEMENT
Engaging the Teachable Moment………………………………………………………………………135
Grappling With Intersectionality……………………………………………………………………....137
“What’s Frisk Mean?”: Reading the Visual World of Justice for Trayvon………………149
“How Can we do this Thing Called Justice for Trayvon?”…………………………………….156
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………….164

CHAPTER SIX: TOWARD OF GLOBAL L.A.W.S FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AND
LEARNING
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Theoretical Contributions……………………………………………………………………………….165
Practical Contributions…………………………………………………………………………………….168

APPENDIX A: PHOTO IMAGES…………………………………………………………………………174
WORKS CITED………………………………………………………………………………………………….179

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Chapter One
Introduction
To address an under-researched aspect of the Black educational experience in the
United States, this dissertation examines how a cohort of young people from Haiti and
various countries in sub-Saharan Africa, recently arrived to the U.S., theorize and
negotiate intersections of racism, justice and education. Throughout this study I focus on
their critical literacy practices (Freire and Macedo, 1987) and critical textual production
(Morrell, 2008), which I define as their collective abilities to theorize and name the
various forms of racism that affect how they read the world and are (mis)read in the
world, as well as the counter-texts they produce and circulate that demand new readings
of global Black personhood.
Believing in youth as social theorists in their own right, I focus my analysis on the
explanatory power students give to racism on both macro- and micro-scales, and the
strategies they employ to resist it. By social theorists in their own right, I do not mean
that young peoples’ theorizing is disconnected from what they are taught and learn from
parents, schools, researchers, media outlets, and each other. Rather, I work from the
position that their discourses, sense-making strategies, and textual production evidence
critical social theory as much as the discourses, sense-making strategies, and textual
production of any other person who we might find in the theoretical framework of a
dissertation in education. Thus, while I put their theorizing in conversation with a host of
critical theorists, including Patricia Hill Collins, Edward Said, V.Y. Mudimbe, Chela
Sandoval, Michel Foucault, Paulo Freire, and Gloria Ladson-Billings, I do not imagine a
hierarchal relationship in which the theory work of established scholars should “drive the
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