233 p., The experiences of Black females have received little attention in Canadian research on education. As a result, little is known about how Black females experience schooling, and even less is known about the specific challenges they face on account of their gender and its interconnection with race, class, immigrant status and other aspects of their identity. In this dissertation, I examine the schooling experiences of a group of young, Black, females of Caribbean descent. Through the use of anti-racism feminism and immigrant integration theories, the author looks at the relationship between their experiences of school and their understanding of their identity. Argues that the young women's negotiation of schooling is intimately linked to their understanding of their identity - an understanding that is filtered through race and gendered lenses, and is a product of their status as Canadian children of immigrant, Caribbean parents, living in a multicultural society.
172 p., Retention and graduation rates for minorities, especially African Americans, tend to be lower than for their White peers. Although much research exists on retention and factors that affect retention of African American students, very little seems to address African Caribbean students. The rationale for this qualitative study grew out of the researcher's desire to learn about African Caribbean students and their experiences at predominantly White institutions of higher education in the United States. The researcher hoped that the findings on the persistence of African Caribbean students may lead institutions and administrators to re-examine the current supports they now provide as they attempt to improve student retention for all students. The data collection methods included interviews, observations, and document analysis. The research sample included 10 African Caribbean students between the ages of 18 and 28 pursuing undergraduate degrees (Bachelors) and 3 administrators at two predominantly White institutions located in the New York area.
68 p., A collection of poems that explores the immigrant experience, detailing three worlds that forge a Caribbean-American voice. All three sections of the manuscript examine an identity that comes directly, almost solely, from her surroundings. In the tradition of Louise Bennett, the use of dialect aside, Section I attempts to comprehend a narrow Caribbean existence by scrutinizing a life that is tied to nature, family, and country. Section II sees the world slightly more broadly, but there the speaker is also acutely aware of her identity and the complexity in bridging the two worlds she now finds herself simultaneously occupying, one immediate, the other existing only through reflection.
104 p., According to the 2010 census Caribbean immigrants make up 49% of the Black immigrant population of the United States, yet there remains a limited amount of acculturation research with Caribbean immigrants. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between acculturation, ethnic identity, and psychological outcomes in a sample of immigrants of African-Caribbean descent. Using Berry's (1997) theoretical framework for acculturation research, the author hypothesized that ethnic identity mediates the relationship between acculturation and psychological outcomes. A sample of adult, self-identified immigrants of African-Caribbean descent recruited in the Houston metropolitan area completed a survey packet that included a bidimensional measure of acculturation, a measure of ethnic identity, and scales of self-esteem, life satisfaction, and depression.
429 p., Founded in 1969 in Lima, Perú Negro is now the most widely recognized Afro-Peruvian dance and music company. In order to emphasize the black presence in a nation that has dominantly narrated itself as mestizo, Perú Negro has produced representations of blackness that are grounded both on the history of slavery and on Diasporic idealizations of Africanness. While meant to value blackness through its music and dance performance, Perú Negro’s representations have contributed to romanticize the slave past and essentialize the African roots. This is made clear in the group’s concept of “family” upon which Perú Negro has relied to define who can and cannot belong to the group as well as who is capable of performing blackness.
