Othermothering in a Community-Led Afterschool Program

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32674/jump.v7i2.4742

Keywords:

Afterschool Program, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Community University Partnership, Othermothering, Theory of Change

Abstract

We examine a community-led afterschool program designed by Black women for Black youth from a low-income community through the lens of othermothering. Through interviews and focus groups exploring a multi-year community–university partnership in a large northeastern city, we find that the Black women staff-centered community needs to drive programming activities, provided wraparound supports for families, and created a familial environment within the program. We argue that these practices fostered a culturally relevant afterschool program that was driven by the knowledge and practices of Black women in the community. Supporting minoritized communities to enact their own culturally relevant afterschool programs may lead to the establishment of unique programs that view communities as assets instead of sites of domination.

Author Biographies

  • Jake D. Winfield, Temple University, USA

    JAKE D. WINFIELD recently completed a Ph.D. in Policy and Organizational Studies at Temple University’s College of Education and Human Development. Prior to graduate studies, Jake taught high school math in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, and Arizona.  His research interests center on the intersection of community-university relationships and college access for minoritized students. Email: jake.winfield@temple.edu.

     

  • Catherine Pressimone Beckowski, Temple University, USA

    CATHERINE PRESSIMONE BECKOWSKI recently completed her PhD in Policy and Organizational Studies with a concentration in Higher Education at Temple University. She also teaches writing and serves as a learning community faculty fellow at Cabrini University. Her research interests include access, equity, and outcomes in higher education. More specifically, she is interested in the intersection of organizational culture and student success, particularly for students from minoritized backgrounds. Email: Catherine.Pressimone.Beckowski@temple.edu.

  • Sara Fiorot, Temple University, USA

    SARA FIOROT is a PhD student in the Policy and Organizational Studies program at Temple University. She is also a part-time lecturer in psychology at Rutgers University-Camden. Her work is broadly focused on issues related to access and equity in higher education. More specifically, she is interested in examining the ways in which inequities among faculty members may interact with and perpetuate inequities across various student populations. Email: Sara.Fiorot@temple.edu.  

  • Dominique Daniels, Temple University

    DOMINIQUE DANIELS is pursuing a PhD in Policy and Organizational Leadership Studies with a concentration in higher education at Temple University. As a future faculty fellow, she teaches general education courses in the areas of research methods, interpersonal communication, and socio-cultural foundations of education. Dominique’s praxis-centered research focuses on critical analysis of the racialized systems and ideologies underpinning access and equity inequalities at historically white institutions. Email: Dominique.Daniels@temple.edu.

      

  • James Earl Davis, Temple University, USA

    JAMES EARL DAVIS Ph.D., research focuses on gender and schooling outcomes; men, boys and masculinity; sociology of higher education; and applied research methods. He is particularly interested in issues of access and equity in the educational pipeline as they are informed by gender, race, class, and the intersection of these social locations. His research agenda has been driven by recurring questions related to what we know about the social context of identity and how institutions and policy are implicated in academic and social outcomes. Email: JDavis21@temple.edu.

References

Author, A. A., Author, B., Author, C. C. & Author, E. E. (in press). Valuing the aspirations of the community: The origins of a community–university partnership. Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship.

Beauboeuf-Lafontant, T. (2002). A womanist experience of caring: Understanding the pedagogy of exemplary black women teachers. The Urban Review, 34(1), 71–86. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014497228517

Bernard, W. T., Issari, S., Moriah, J., Njiwaji, M., Objan, P., & Tolliver, A. (2012). Othermothering in the academy: Using maternal advocacy for institutional change. Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement, 3(2), 103–120. https://jarm.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/jarm/article/view/36305

Birt, L., Scott, S., Cavers, D., Campbell, C., & Walter, F. (2016). Member checking: A tool to enhance trustworthiness or merely a nod to validation? Qualitative Health Research, 26(13), 1802–1811. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732316654870

Bourke, B. (2014). Positionality: Reflecting on the research process. The Qualitative Report, 19(33), 1–9. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol19/iss33/3

Case, K. I. (1997). African American othermothering in the urban elementary school. The Urban Review, 29(1), 25–39. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024645710209

Chatters, L. M., Taylor, R. J., & Jayakody, R. (1994). Fictive kinship relations in Black extended families. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 25(3), 297–312. https://doi.org/10.3138/jcfs.25.3.297

Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Connolly, M. R. & Seymour, E. (2015). Why theories of change matter (WCER Working Paper No. 2015-2). Wisconsin Center for Education Research. https://wcer.wisc.edu/docs/working-papers/Working_Paper_No_2015_02.pdf

Cottom, T. M. (2019). Thick: And other essays. The New Press.

Dancy, T. E., Edwards, K. T., & Davis, J. E. (2018). Historically white universities and plantation politics: Anti-Blackness and higher education in the Black Lives Matter era. Urban Education, 53(2), 176–195. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085918754328

Denner, J., Bean, S., Campe, S., Martinez, J., & Torres, D. (2019). Negotiating trust, power, and culture in a research-practice partnership. AERA Open, 5(2), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419858635

Dixson, A. D. (2003). “Let’s do this!”: Black women teachers’ politics and pedagogy. Urban Education, 38(2), 217–235. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085902250482

Edwards, A. E. (2000). Community mothering: The relationship between mothering and the community work of Black women. Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering, 2(2), 87–100. https://jarm.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/jarm/article/view/2141

Foster, M. (1993). Othermothers: Exploring the educational philosophy of Black American women teachers. In M. Arnot & K. Weiler (Eds.), Feminism and social justice in education: International perspectives (pp. 101–123). Washington, DC: Falmer Press

Gordon da Cruz, C. (2017). Critical community-engaged scholarship: Communities and universities striving for racial justice. Peabody Journal of Education, 92(3), 363–384. https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2017.1324661

Haggler, P. (2021). The exact synonym for “Missionary” is “Negro teacher”: Black feminism in the Sunday school. Religious Education, 116(3), 252–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2021.1917845

Hirt, J., Amelink, C., McFeeters, B., & Strayhorn, T. (2008). A system of othermothering: Student affairs administrators’ perceptions of relationships with students at historically black colleges. NASPA Journal, 45(2), 210–236. https://doi.org/10.2202/1949-6605.1948

James, S. M. (1993). Mothering: A possible Black feminist link to social transformation? In S. M. James & A. P. A. Busia (Eds.), Theorizing Black feminisms: The visionary pragmatism of Black women (pp. 45–56). Routledge.

Kezar, A., Gehrke, S., & Elrod, S. (2015). Implicit theories of change as a barrier to change on college campuses: An examination of STEM reform. The Review of Higher Education, 38(4), 4790596. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2015.0026

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312032003465

Lane, T.B., & Id-Deen, L. (2020). Nurturing the capital within: A qualitative investigation of Black women and girls in STEM summer programs. Urban Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085920926225

Love, D. (2020). The equity divide: A call to action. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict , 24(1), 1–3.

Mason, M.J. & Chuang, S. (2001). Culturally-based after-school arts programming for low-income urban children: Adaptive and preventive effects. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 22(1), 45–54. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011088114411

Mason-Dixon Pulling and Research. (2002). New York state survey of teens. http://www.fightcrime.org/ny/teenpoll

Mawhinney, L. (2012). Othermothering: A personal narrative exploring relationships between Black female faculty and students. Negro Educational Review, 62/63(1–4), 213–232.

National Institute on Out-of-School Time (2004). Making the case: A fact sheet on children and youth in out-of-school time. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College, Center for Research on Women. Retrieved March 9, 2006, from http://www.niost.org

Njoku, N., Butler, M., & Beatty, C. C. (2017). Reimagining the historically Black college and university (HBCU) environment: Exposing race secrets and the binding chains of respectability and othermothering. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30(8), 783–799. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2017.1350297

Parker, A. & Tritter, J. (2006). Focus group method and methodology: Current practice and recent debate. International Journal of Research and Method in Education, 29(1), 23–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/01406720500537304

Parker-Morrison, D. M. (2018). The influence of the triple A factors: Awareness, Afrocentrism, & agency on African-American’s post-secondary school choices (Publication No. 10981331). [Doctoral Dissertation, Lewis University]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. https://proquest.com/docview/2269386778

Perkins, L. (1989). The history of Blacks in teaching: Growth and decline with the profession. In D. Warren (Ed.), American teachers: Histories of a profession at work (pp. 344–369). New York: American Educational Research Association.

Powell, R.A. & Single, H.M. (1996). Focus groups. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 8(5), 499–504. https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/8.5.499

Saldaña, J. (2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.

Smith, E. P., Witherspoon, D. P., & Lei, P. (2021). The “Haves, have some, and have nots:” A latent profile analysis of capacity, quality, and implementation in community-based afterschool programs. Prevention Science, 22(7), 971–985. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-021-01258-z

Stack, C. (1974). All our kin: Strategies for survival in a Black community. Basic Books.

Tuck, E. & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1), 1–40. https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18630

Waters, B. S. (2016). Freedom lessons: Black mothers asserting smartness of their children. Race, Ethnicity, and Education, 19(6), 1223–1235. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2016.1168545

Weerts, D. J., & Sandmann, L. R. (2010). Community engagement and boundary-spanning roles at research universities. The Journal of Higher Education, 81(6), 632–657. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2010.11779075

Weiss, C. H. (1995). Nothing as practical as good theory: Exploring theory-based evaluation for comprehensive community initiatives for children and families. In J.P. Connell, A.C. Kubisch, L.B. Schorr, & C.H. Weiss (Eds.), New Approaches to Evaluating Community Initiatives: Concepts, Methods, and Contexts (pp. 65–92). Aspen Institute.

Woodland, M. H. (2008). Whatcha doin’ after school?. A review of the literature on the influence of after-school programs on young black males. Urban Education, 43(4), 537–560. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085907311808

Downloads

Published

2023-11-12

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2023): Journal of Underrepresented & Minority Progress

Section

Articles