The Development and Lived Experience of African Centered Identity

142 Pages·2015·0.64 MB·English

Georgia State University
ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University
Psychology Dissertations Department of Psychology
Winter 12-14-2011
Te Development and Lived Experience of African
Centered Identity: A Qualitative Investigation
Obari Cartman
Georgia State University
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Georgia State University, 2011.
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THE DEVELOPMENT AND LIVED EXPERIENCE OF AFRICAN CENTERED IDENTITY:
A QUALITATIVE INVESTIGATION
by
OBARI CARTMAN
Under the Direction of Roderick Watts
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to explore cultural identity within African Americans. The primary
construct of interest is African centered identity, which is comprised of two parts: 1) cultural values with
origins in African cultures that have been unintentionally retained, and 2) a social and political ideology
that intentionally incorporates elements of an African worldview. This study utilizes qualitative research
methodology to investigate the lived experience of African centered identity, and incorporates a
developmental perspective.
Semi-structured interviews of 14 adults are analyzed using a grounded theory approach. The
results reveal many themes in the participants’ lived experience of their cultural identity that are
consistent with prominent descriptions of African centered worldview. Less consistent results regarding
participants’ development of their cultural identity are discussed within the framework of racial and
ethnic identity stage models. Finally, respondents’ narratives are discussed with regards to their
implications for identity measurement, the social construction of identity, and the influence of
environment on identity development.

INDEX WORDS: Cultural identity, Nigrescence, Afrocentric worlview, Identity stage
development, Grounded theory
THE DEVELOPMENT AND LIVED EXPERIENCE OF AFRICAN CENTERED IDENTITY:
A QUALITATIVE INVESTIGATION

by

OBARI CARTMAN

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia State University
2011
Copyright by
Obari Cartman
2011
THE DEVELOPMENT AND LIVED EXPERIENCE OF AFRICAN CENTERED IDENTITY:
A QUALITATIVE INVESTIGATION

by

OBARI CARTMAN

Committee chair: Roderick Watts

Committee: Julia Perilla
Ciara Smalls
Makungu Akinyela

Electronic Version Approved:

Office of Graduate Studies
College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia State University
December 2011
iv

DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to my parents: Carla Jean Holmes and Thabiti Hanif Nizam Cartman.
v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………………. vii

1 LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………………………………. 1

1.1 African American Cultural Context…………………….………………………….. 8

1.2 Africentric Worldview and Ideology……………………………………………….. 10

1.3 African Centered Identity and Lifestyle…………………………………...……….. 18

1.4 Culture Based Developmental Stage Models……………………………………... 23

1.5 Introduction to Current Study……………………………………..……………. 30

2 METHOD……………………………………………………………………………… 33

2.1 Research Participants……………………………...……………………………… 33

2.2 Interview Protocol and Questions………………………………………………… 34

2.3 Data Management and Analysis……………..…………………………………… 35

3 RESULTS………………………………………..…………………………………… 44

3.1 Lived Experience of African Centered Identity.………………………………… 44

3.2 Values………………...…………………………………………………………… 44

3.3 Activities………………………………………………………………………...…. 53

3.4 Influences on the Development of African Centered Identity ….………………… 62
vi

3.5 Childhood Insights..…………...………………………………………………… 62

3.6 Childhood Environment………………………………….……………………………….. 68

3.7 Identity Shifts………………………………………………………………………………. 75

3.8 Adult Environment…………………………………………………………….… 81

4 DISCUSSION……………………………….……………………………………… 87

4.1 Defining African Centered Identity ………………………………..………... 87

4.2 Findings Applied to Identity Stage Theories…………………………………. 92

4.3 Oba T’Shaka’s Model of Cultural Identity Development………………...…. 97

4.4 Implications………………………………………………................................ 101

4.5 Conclusion………………………………………………………….…………. 106

REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………… 108

APPENDICES……………………………………………………………………………… 122
vii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1 Common themes across identity development models………………………. 24

Table 2.1 Cohen’s Kappa indices of inter-coder reliability ……………………………... 42

Table 4.1. Comparison of African-centered values in the literature with findings……. 89
1

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
The evolution of African-American identity over generations is reflected in the changing
labels used to describe this group collectively. In more than a superficial way, transitions from
Negro to Colored to Black to Afro-American to African American have coincided with broader
social, political, and economic events that have influenced their collective consciousness or sense
of self. Accordingly, psychological research, theory, and practice have shifted in their approach
to self and identity. Research by and about African Americans have set precedents for
psychology’s interest in matters of race, ethnicity and culture in the United States. Consistent
with the hyphenated identity reflected in this group’s current label “African-American”,
psychologists have begun to ask the question: What is “African” about African Americans’
experiences and identity? The aim of this study is to contribute to psychology’s deeper
understanding of African American cultural identity and its development.
Definitions
Psychological literature has vague and often conflicting conceptualizations of what
culture is, and frequently uses the terms race, ethnicity, and culture interchangeably. Race
typically refers to a group of people who share biological and phenotypic characteristics that
signify group membership but also the social meaning of such membership in the larger society
(Jones, 1997). More recently, theorists have argued that race is a social construction typically
used to create and justify social and political hierarchies that maintain status quo for the
dominant race (Smedly and Smedly, 2005; Helms, 1994). Ethnicity refers to an embodiment of
values, institutions, and patterns of behavior which incorporate a group’s historical experience
and worldview (Deng, 1997, as cited in Chang and Dodd, 2001), and is typically used to
distinguish groups within a particular region.