Darlene K. Drummond

Accepting the Challenge of Centralizing Without Essentializing: Black Feminist thought and African American Women’s Communicative Experiences”

Black feminist thought represents one of several feminist standpoint theories. Collins’ (1986) conceptual framework of Black feminist thought renders an insightful vantage point into the experiences of “ordinary” African American women, and the focus of this essay is to offer a collaborative analysis of the salience and utility of Black feminist thought in communication research. A recent case study that focused on African American women’s communicative experiences is used as a reference point for this analysis. Critical reflection on this case study and on Black feminist thought allows us to address some of the implications of engaging in critical-cultural scholarship. There are, for example, significant conceptual and methodological dilemmas associated with the use of this framework in communication research. However, a central argument of this essay is that Black feminist thought remains useful for offering meaningful commentary about African American women’s everyday communicative experiences.

“Who Are You Trying To Be?”: Identity Gaps Within Intraracial Encounters

This study employs the Communication Theory of Identity (CTI) to explain and describe the interpenetration of personal, enacted, and relational frames of identity within the context of interracial communication encounters. Specific examples, derived from focus group discussions, of personal-relational and personal-enacted-relational identity gaps experienced by Blacks and Hispanics are presented. The article concludes with a discussion of the conditions under which satisfying communication is achievable in difficult situations requiring the negotiation of ethnicity.

Cultural Contracts: Negotiating a Ubiquitous U.S. Dominant Worldview on Race and Ethnicity

Within this study, we explore the U.S. dominant worldview of race—one that traditionally uses a rigid classification of distinct racial categories and multiple ethnic groupings—and how diverse groups of individuals come to understand and adapt to the labels that are associated with that particular worldview. Drawing from focus group discussions involving 100 persons from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, we describe how individuals in the Southeastern United States negotiate their identities through the use of cultural contracts that are accepted, altered, and/or co-created. The manuscript concludes by discussing the studys implications for theorizing and future research.

Does a bite cause cancer? Misperceptions of breast cancer etiology among low-income urban women in Miami, Florida.

Objectives To explore breast cancer beliefs among a cohort of low-income, urban, English-speaking women in Miami, Florida, who had undergone screening mammography. Methods Four focus groups of 34 women were conducted. Discussions were transcribed verbatim and transcripts were analyzed separately by two investigators using an immersion–and-crystallization approach. Common risk factors were identified by consensus. Results Participants were predominantly African American (82%) women of low income (77% with a household income <

The Decision: A Creative Autoethnographic Account with Poetry

20,000/year). Common risk factors included family history, environmental factors, trauma, and sexual activity. There also was a perception that breast cancer grows rapidly and causes detectable symptoms. Conclusions Women voiced some accurate and numerous inaccurate beliefs regarding the causes of breast cancer, suggesting a lack of knowledge about the potential benefits and harms of screening mammography before undergoing examination. These findings highlight the importance of identifying women’s underlying beliefs when initiating a discussion of breast cancer screening and prevention to ensure that messages are mutually understood.

If my cholesterol is…then I foresee…: patient accounts of uncertainty

ABSTRACT This is the story of my decision to place my mother in a continuing-care facility. It is interwoven with the experiences of 32 residents of two continuing-care communities. Their stories are presented as a poem, short conversation, and dramatic monologue. The poem describes what it means to be healthy. The short conversation elucidates the decision-making process of a couple and the monologue of a widow or single individual in moving to one of these facilities.

White American Style in Rhyme

The author examines the talk of patients with high cholesterol as they discuss their experiences of adding a statin to their treatment regimen. The primary objective was to understand patients’ expectations of statins, and their beliefs and feelings as they continued or discontinued use, and to better understand why adherence to a statin regimen is particularly low. While numerous studies report reasons for nonadherence, few apply theory to provide plausible explanations. Analysis of the focus group data revealed three major themes. First, patients do not view high cholesterol as serious in light of other major health problems like diabetes and cancer within the household. Second, patients believe statins are effective in lowering cholesterol but risky. Third, many patients do not understand how high levels of cholesterol are produced in the body and how statins interrupt that process. Problematic integration theory is used to explain the uncertainty patients experience when given a diagnosis of high cholesterol, the use of statins to control it, and the quality of information received about both cholesterol and statins. Correspondence: Darlene K. Drummond, Institute for Writing and Rhetoric, Dartmouth College, 6250 Baker Library, Room 206B, 25 North Main Street, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. Tel.:+1.603.646.9840 Fax: +1.603.646.9747. E-mail: Darlene.K.Drummond@Dartmouth.edu

What Is Qualitative Research

What follows is an experiment in presenting data in a nontraditional way. Accounts of the intraracial experiences of White college women were adapted to various traditional forms of poetry including the villanelle, rondeau, and roundel. These traditional 16th-century French poetry forms featured pastoral verses or tales of romance that were often sung and accompanied by music. However, in following the lead of 19th- and 20th-century English and American poets, the author uses the poetry styles to address serious issues of racial identification, identity negotiation, and enactment. The author employs the principles of variation, alliteration, and rhyming to underscore the impact of various ethnicities and nationalities in making Whiteness visible within the United States.