Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2757
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Item INTERSECTIONAL EXPLORATION OF BLACK MEN’S GENDER IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT AND EXPRESSIONS(2024) Moore, Daniel K.; Worthington, Roger L; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Gender identities and expressions of men from minoritized racial and ethnic backgrounds often differ from those outlined in Traditional Masculinity Ideologies (TMI). These differences have been highlighted by scholars who have advocated for intersectional approaches to exploring masculinities. Recent intersectional inquiries into Black masculinity and Black manhood have provided insights into the unique expression of masculinity Black men have developed. This study sought to extend the understanding of existing intersectional explorations of Black manhood and Black masculinity through qualitative inquiry. Additionally, it attended to the impact of religion, spirituality, and sexual orientation in its analysis of Black men’s intersectional identity development and expression. Findings indicated that Black men often described their experiences in terms of either race or gender, but rarely in terms of intersectional identity. A theory of racialized gender identity development and expression for Black men is posited based on the integration of extant theories of racial and gender identity development, ego identity development, as well as intersectional approaches to stereotyping and prejudice. Implications for research and practice are provided.Item RACIAL CONSCIOUSNESS, IDENTITY, AND DISSONANCE AMONG WHITE WOMEN IN STUDENT AFFAIRS GRADUATE PROGRAMS(2012) Robbins, Claire Kathleen; Jones, Susan R; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to investigate racial identity among White women enrolled in student affairs and higher education (hereafter, SA/HE) master's degree programs. Guided by a social justice epistemology encompassing constructivism, feminist inquiry, and Critical Whiteness, this grounded theory study included the following research questions: (1) how does racial identity develop over time among White women; (2) how do White women construct racial identities; (3) in what ways do educational and professional experiences, including those that occur in SA/HE master's degree programs, influence White women's racial identities; and (4) in what ways do multiple layers of social context, including power and privilege, influence White women's racial identities? Data sources included two interviews with a sample of 11 White women in SA/HE master's degree programs, and data analysis procedures were consistent with grounded theory for social justice. The outcome of this study was a grounded theory of racial consciousness, identity, and dissonance among White women in SA/HE graduate programs. The emergent theory consisted of two core processes: changing one's perspective and the emergence of racial dissonance. The first core process, changing one's perspective, foregrounded a series of developmental shifts through which participants became conscious of whiteness and developed racial identities. These shifts or "lenses" corresponded to a series of visual metaphors, including not seeing race, peripheral visions, and "opening my eyes." The second core process, the emergence of racial dissonance, disrupted the developmental process of changing one's perspective. When new insights threatened preexisting worldviews, participants were forced to confront racial dissonance, or discomfort and ambiguity about race, identity, and privilege. In response, participants developed strategies for resisting, engaging, and transforming racial dissonance. Navigating racial dissonance was a performative process that gave participants the capacity to resume the developmental process of changing one's perspective and to adopt a new lens with two regions, "a conscious lens of whiteness" and "a vision for my life." This grounded theory of racial consciousness, identity, and dissonance among White women has implications for SA/HE graduate preparation programs, social identity and student development theory, and future research.Item Asian American Racial Identity Experiences in Intergroup Dialogue: A Narrative Study(2011) Mac, Jacqueline; Quaye, Stephen J; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this constructivist narrative study was to explore how Asian American students experience their racial identity in intergroup dialogue. This study addressed the following guiding research question: how do Asian American students experience their racial identity in the context of intergroup dialogues? Two Asian American students from two intergroup dialogues participated in this study. Data collection included semi-structured individual interviews and course documents, such as journal reflections. Data were analyzed using a hybrid narrative approach that combined the analysis of the content as an entire story (inductive case analysis), of the content of themes within each story, and of the structure of a complete story (cross-case analysis). Full restories of each participant's story were provided. Four themes emerged from these restories to illuminate how students experienced their racial identity in intergroup dialogue. First, racial identities were experienced in a complicated manner that conflated race and ethnicity, within and outside of intergroup dialogue. Second, the salience of racial identity impacted how and what participants shared about their experiences. Third, both participants shared stories of internal conflict related to their racial identities, which were illuminated by their experiences in intergroup dialogue. Lastly, participants shared similar experiences participating in intergroup dialogue, which included holding back, taking risks, and responding to stereotypes. However, these experiences varied in the ways they were explicitly connected to participants' racial identity.