"We Just Want to Break the Stereotype": Tensions in Black Boys' Critical Social Analysis of Their Suburban School Experiences

• Published in: Journal of educational psychology 2020-04, Vol.112 (3), p.551-566
• Main Authors: Smith, Chauncey D., Hope, Elan C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Action Research; Adolescent Characteristics; Adolescents; African American Students; After School Programs; Black People; Black students; Boys; Educational Experience; Ethnic Identity; High School Students; High Schools; Human; Identification (Psychology); Male; Males; Participant Observation; Participation; Participatory Research; Photography; Political Issues; Racial Bias; Racial Factors; Racial Identity; Resistance (Psychology); Social Attitudes; Social Bias; Social Development; Social networks; Social Problems; Stereotyped Attitudes; Stereotypes; Suburban areas; Suburban Environments; Suburban Schools; Youth Programs
• ISSN: 0022-0663; 1939-2176
• DOI: 10.1037/edu0000435

This study used a youth participatory action research (YPAR) approach to explore the meaning five Black boys make of race, identity, and oppression through their school experiences in a suburban high school. The first author developed, cofacilitated, and assumed the role of participant observer in a YPAR afterschool program aimed at promoting sociopolitical development. The participants completed photovoice projects identifying problems in and solutions for their school community. In their initial framing of the projects, they espoused a deficit narrative of Black student achievement, rooted in low public and private racial regard: Black students are not achieving. At the end of the program year, with the help of individual and group meaning-making in the YPAR program, some participant narratives shifted away from a deficit narrative, and two participants presented a counternarrative that emphasized the ways in which Black students are trying and achieving. These findings contribute to our understanding of how YPAR programs, as situated in liberation and transformative psychology, facilitate critical social analysis for Black boys. Furthermore, these findings contribute to the literature on the experiences of Black boys in suburban schools, through the voices and perspectives of the boys themselves. Educational Impact and Implications Statement This study took place within an afterschool program for Black boys; the program was focused on affirming and supporting the boys as they reflected on their experiences at their suburban high school through photography and conversation. The goal of this reflection was to provide the boys with an opportunity to think about what their school could do better to support them; initially, the boys used the opportunity to make negative statements about the achievement of Black students at their school-a choice that runs counter to the goals of the program. Eventually, their reflection centered the ways in which Black students are trying and achieving at their school. Our findings speak to the complexities of supporting Black youth in afterschool programming aimed at facilitating their liberation.