Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, EDU Teaching and Learning

Black women have a legacy of excellence as teachers, administrators, colleagues, and community members in the field of English language education. However, their expertise, perspectives, and voices continue to be underappreciated, under-researched, and therefore, too often unheard. Furthermore, given the ongoing impact of racism as a systemic force shaping U.S. society and the world, due to the global reach of U.S. culture and economy, Black women's personal and professional lives are necessarily affected. More specifically, Black women are regularly stereotyped and regarded as intellectually, professionally, and aesthetically inferior to their White and male counterparts. Therefore, this dissertation highlights the experiences of Black women teachers of English to speakers of other languages as counternarratives that can “shatter complacency, challenge the dominant discourse on race, and further the struggle for racial reform” (Solorzano and Yosso, 2002, p. 32). Researchers have published important work on the experiences of teachers of color who are Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and of Black women in education, but there is scant literature specifically centering the experiences of Black women in TESOL. Therefore, this dissertation attends to the following research questions: How do race, gender, and racism impact the personal and professional lives of Black women educators in TESOL? How can their counternarratives enrich the existing literature that examines relationships among race, gender, and racism for women of color, generally, and Black women educators, specifically? My research is grounded in Critical Race Theory and Black Feminist Epistemology—intellectual traditions that definitively center Black and Black women ways of knowing and coming to know and understand the world, and that are unapologetically oriented toward racial equity and justice for all people. Critical race methodology guided my process of collecting, analyzin (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Carlotta Kinloch (Advisor) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Education; English As A Second Language; Gender Studies; Multicultural Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, EDU Teaching and Learning

Student populations at institutions of higher education across the United States are becoming increasingly diverse with more women, students of color, and students from low-income families enrolling in colleges and universities. Many of these students will be the first in their families to pursue and possibly obtain a college degree (Pascarella, Pierson, Wolniak, & Terenzini, 2004; Reid & Moore, 2008; Terenzini, Springer, Yaeger, Pascarella, & Nora, 1996; Vega & Moore 2012). According to Strayhorn (2008a), 75% of African American students attend predominately white institutions (PWIs). However, their attrition rates remain higher than whites and other ethnic minority college students (D'Augelli & Hershberger, 1993; Loo & Rolison, 1986). Therefore, it is important that research be conducted on first-generation African American students at predominately white institutions. The purpose of this research study was to critically analyze the academic and social experiences of first-generation African American students and their sense of belonging at a predominately white institution in the Midwestern region of the United States. A qualitative research design was employed that utilized one-on-one interviews in order to better understand the lived experiences of these college students. Additionally, critical race theory (CRT) was utilized as the theoretical framework, with specific emphasis on the tenet of counter-storytelling and narratives as a way to understand how race and racism impacted the experiences of first-generation African American students at a predominately white institution. In addition, critical race methodology particularly its attention to race and racism was utilized as a methodological approach for this research study. The following seven themes emerged from the data: (a) pre-collegiate academic and social experiences, (b) academic preparation in high school, (c) academic experiences/academic sense of belonging, (d) social experiences/social s (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Valerie Kinloch Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: African Americans; Education; Higher Education

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2025, Leadership and Change

This study focuses on the lived experiences of seasoned White facilitators of racial equity workshops to understand how they navigate the complexity of occupying a White racial identity while working to challenge the belief systems of white supremacy ingrained in themselves and others. Through applying Critical Race Theory as a framework to grounded theory methodology, this study examined whiteness as a sensitizing concept in micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis, situating this dissertation in the theoretical exploration of the multifaceted and pervasive nature of whiteness. Much of the research on racial equity work examines White participants in nascent stages of engagement, concentrating on the external behavior and impact of White race talk during conversations about race and racism. Applying dimensional analysis to 18 in-depth interviews of White facilitators, whose experience in racial equity work ranged from 7 to over 30 years, this study identified two co-core, interrelated dimensions of engaging on a learning journey to embrace the both/and. In addition to these co-core dimensions, four primary dimensions depicting the phenomenon of whiteness emerged from the findings: colluding with whiteness, stirring whiteness, unraveling whiteness, and interrupting whiteness. Through analysis of these findings, this study presents four theoretical propositions and a theoretical model representing variations of the social processes White facilitators move through to interrupt whiteness in themselves and others. The methodological exploration used in this study provides an opportunity to explore the fullness of what it means to be White and engage in racial equity efforts, potentially contributing to the literature on utilizing grounded theory as a process to explore social justice efforts. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Committee: Harriet Schwartz PhD (Committee Chair); Lemuel Watson EdD (Committee Member); Maureen Walker PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Behavioral Sciences; History; Political Science; Social Psychology; Social Research; Social Structure; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, EDU Teaching and Learning

This study examines teachers' pedagogical practices that sought to affirm students' cultural and learning experiences. The work of cultural affirmation seeks to value students' involvement in education and home knowledge. During the time of crisis (i.e., the COVID-19 outbreak), low-income immigrant students and their parents did not have access to equitable schooling and faced severe economic and health challenges. Drawing upon Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy(CSP)and Critical Race Theory (CRT) as theoretical frameworks, this study sheds light on the importance of practicing cultural affirmation through ePedagogy (i.e., the implementation of affirming students' cultural and learning experiences during the time of crisis that captures emergency, electronic, equity, empathy) and examines teachers' rationale for engaging culture in teaching. Crisis Methodology was employed to understand the teachers' pedagogical practices.The participants included seven teachers with diverse cultural backgrounds who taught immigrant youth in an after-school program in the Midwestern U.S. area. During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers taught their students virtually to help them with their homework and meaningful lessons that sought to engage students in learning. The research utilized grounded theory and included online interviews, online FGD(Focus Group Discussion), and online observations. In addition, field notes, online journals, and classroom documentations were collected to obtain comprehensive data. The findings demonstrate that ePedagogy offers an advanced form of teaching and creative methods teachers employed in virtual settings. The study also explores teachers' agencies and commitment to support students that enable them to practice transformative approaches to teaching. Additionally, the study addresses how teachers recognize the isolating effects of online learning on mental health. Valuing cultural affirmation as a pedagogical practice, a recommendation to create online pr (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Binaya Subedi (Advisor); Adrian Rodgers (Committee Member); Michiko Hikida (Committee Member); Melinda Rhodes (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Multicultural Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, EDU Teaching and Learning

Rooted in the interest to interrupt the prevailing tribal-centric narrative of Indigenous Peoples as those born and raised on Indian Reservations and to uplift the college-going experiences of Urban Indian graduate students, in this research, I explored what is learned from Urban Indian graduate students attending a predominately and historically white institution (PHWI) located in the Midwest of the United States when their Indigenous identities are overlooked or contested in classrooms spaces. For the purpose of the study, Urban Indian was defined as Indigenous Peoples born and raised off Indian Reservations (e.g. in metropolitan cities, suburbs, or rural areas). I used an Indigenous Research Methodology with personal story and narrative collected via virtual Talking Circles to learn from the experiences of the founding members of the university's first Indigenous graduate and professional school student organization. None of the participants or storytellers were born or raised on an Indian Reservation. The data analysis revealed findings related to the reframing of an Urban Indian identity and exploration of who is Native American to “what kinds of Indian identities are in production during a given historical moment” (Grande, San Pedro & Windchief, 2015, p. 105). Other findings connected to this refraining lay groundwork to consider the impact of student as contextualized teacher and identify ways to minimize the invisibility for current and future generations of Urban Indian, college-going students who attend PHWIs.

Committee: Cynthia Tyson PhD (Advisor); Timothy San Pedro PhD (Committee Member); Maurice Stevens PhD (Committee Member); Candace Stout PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Womens Studies

This dissertation project theorizes the ability contract as a means for understanding the experience of women living with HIV in the United States. I understand the ability contract as the triad of labor-utility-predictability that is central to the construction of the liberal citizen-subject, extending the work of John Locke, Carol Pateman, Charles Mills and Shannon Winnubst. The theory of this project is rooted in my original field research; during the 2012-2013 academic year, I spent six months facilitating a reading group for women living with HIV. Together, we read popular memoirs written by women with what I have termed invisible episodic illness, such as lupus, early stage m.s., chronic depression and HIV. Participants in the reading group used these books as a catalyst for discussing their daily negotiations of labor, family and the medical industrial complex in relation to disability identity. I also conducted one-on-one preliminary and follow-up interviews. What I found was that my research participants all resisted a disability identification, despite many of them accessing disability resources. They also all closely connected their identity not to their current employment conditions, but to their prediction of how they will be able to work in the future. This prediction of becoming a wage-earner was the primary reason for their dis/identification with disability. What explains this close connection of disability with future labor? And what is the relationship between labor and disability at the intersection of gender, race, class, and (medical) citizenship? In order to address these questions, I developed a three-tier reading group research method; in my dissertation, I analyze life narratives of women living with HIV, both the narratives of the women in my group and published narratives; I also analyze the reading group reception to those life narratives; finally, I re-read social contract theory alongside American multiracial feminisms, disability the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Wendy Smooth PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Brenda Brueggemann PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Shannon Winnubst PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Epistemology; Ethnic Studies; Gender Studies; Health; Womens Studies