Juanita Johnson-Bailey

Power and positionality: negotiating insider/outsider status within and across cultures

Early discussions of insider/outsider status assumed that the researcher was predominately an insider or an outsider and that each status carried with it certain advantages and disadvantages. More recent discussions have unveiled the complexity inherent in either status and have acknowledged that the boundaries between the two positions are not all that clearly delineated. Four case studies - a Black woman interviewing other Black women, Asian graduate students in the US interviewing people from ‘back home’, an African professor learning from African businesswomen, and a cross-cultural team studying aging in a nonWestern culture - are used as the data base to explore the complexities of researching within and across cultures. Positionality, power, and representation proved to be useful concepts for exploring insider/outsider dynamics.

Mentoring in black and white: the intricacies of cross‐cultural mentoring

Cross‐cultural mentoring relationships can be sites of struggle around the issues of race, class and gender. In addition, the mentor/protégé relationship offers micro‐cosmic insight into power relations within western society. The authors of this paper, a black woman associate professor and a white male professor, use the example of their mentoring relationship to illustrate six common issues facing academicians involved in these relationships: (1) trust between mentor and protégé; (2) acknowledged and unacknowledged racism; (3) visibility and risks pertinent to minority faculty; (4) power and paternalism; (5) benefits to mentor and protégé; and (6) the double‐edged sword of ‘otherness’ in the academy. Literature is used for review and critique of mentoring in the academy while offering personal examples to illustrate the complexity and success of a 13‐year mentoring relationship between a duo who began their association as teacher/student.

An Analysis of the Educational Narratives of Reentry Black Women

The purpose of the study was to examine the educational narratives of reentry Black women in an effort to determine how the dynamics of the larger society, which often negatively impact their lives, are played out in higher education. The adult education literature portrays reentry women as a generic class and does not consider the actual cultural diversity of the group. The sample consisted of graduate and undergraduate Black women, including the author, between the ages of thirty-four and fifty-four. Narrative analysis was the methodological approach used and Black feminist thought provided the theoretical framework. Findings revealed that these Black women regularly faced issues involving power relations based on race, gender, class, and color. In responding to these systems of oppression, these women used strategies of silence, negotiation, and resistance.

Power dynamics in teaching and learning practices: an examination of two adult education classrooms

The purpose of this research was to determine the ways in which power relations that exist in the wider social context are played out in the teaching and learning dynamics of adult education classrooms. The research design was a qualitative comparative case study of two courses taught by the authors in a university setting. Data sources included students’ evaluations, teachers’ observations, interviews with students, interviews with both teachers, and conversations with similarly situated faculty members. The themes of mastery, voice, authority and positionality found in previous research were used to organize the results. The results showed the many complex ways in which power relations based on race, class, gender, disability and sexual orientation played out across all four themes and how these dynamics directly influenced the teaching and learning process. The positionality of the teachers and learners, in particular the racial category of whiteness, emerged as a key power relationship mediating class...

Hitting and climbing the proverbial wall: participation and retention issues for Black graduate women

This qualitative study isolated the participation and retention issues of Black graduate women who were enrolled in four departments within the College of Education at a major research university. By identifying factors that contributed to and hindered their successful educational tenures, this study details how the societal issues of gender, race and class affected the womens academic lives. The graduate women in this study did not report the concerns set forth in the literature as factors that influenced their participation. The two major issues that affected participation were the accessibility and encouragement by university representatives and personal recruitment by Black mentors and students. Regarding retention, four factors emerged as significant themes: the presence and mentoring by supportive faculty and staff, the presence of and networking by Black students, respect from professors and continued funding.This qualitative study isolated the participation and retention issues of Black graduate women who were enrolled in four departments within the College of Education at a major research university. By identifying factors that contributed to and hindered their successful educational tenures, this study details how the societal issues of gender, race and class affected the womens academic lives. The graduate women in this study did not report the concerns set forth in the literature as factors that influenced their participation. The two major issues that affected participation were the accessibility and encouragement by university representatives and personal recruitment by Black mentors and students. Regarding retention, four factors emerged as significant themes: the presence and mentoring by supportive faculty and staff, the presence of and networking by Black students, respect from professors and continued funding.

Rooted in the Soil: The Social Experiences of Black Graduate Students at a Southern Research University

The social experiences of Black graduate alumni, 1962 to 2003, at a major Southern Research University were examined in a comprehensive forced choice and open-ended survey. Characteristics that distinguish this study from others include the large sample of 678 participants and the longitudinal span of four decades.

How lesbians learn to negotiate the heterosexism of corporate America

The purpose of this study was to understand how lesbians learn to negotiate the heterosexism of corporate America. The sample consisted of ten women at the management or executive level who were over the age of 30, identified as lesbians, had worked in their organization for at least two years, had at least two people who report directly to them and had budget responsibility. The primary data collection strategy was in-depth interviews and data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Lesbians who have learned to negotiate the heterosexism of the corporate setting successfully have learned: a) to pre-screen individuals and groups for their receptivity toward the issue of lesbianism, b) to come out as individuals/lesbians in a strategic way, and c) to educate others about the unique issues that lesbians face in corporate settings. This learning occurred informally and incidentally through: a) dealing with human resources, b) participating in committees and groups, and c) participating in social/corporate events.

The road less walked: a retrospective of race and ethnicity in adult education

This article is a 20-year retrospective on race and ethnicity in Adult Education. A brief historical synopsis of how Adult Education has examined race and ethnicity foregrounds a contemporary segment that reviews the existing situations of people of colour in Adult Education. It is imperative to first discuss Adult Educations past as regards race and ethnicity in order to properly situate the contemporary discussion. This status report focuses primarily on Blacks since other groups, such as Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans, have been essentially absent from the literature. Research during the formative years of Adult Education in the 1930s and 1940s generally consisted of a neutral surface examination, while the current research of the 1980s and 1990s has a distinct social justice component sustained by a critical lens. The literature is virtually quiet on issues relating to race and ethnicity between the years of 1950 and 1980. Seven data sources were used in this appraisal. The following journals were surveyed, with particular attention placed on the last 20 years: Adult Education Quarterly, International Journal of Lifelong Education, Adult Literacy and Basic Education, and New Directions in Adult and Continuing Education. This critical analysis also included documents from the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), journal abstracts from the Current Index to Journals in Education, dissertations published in adult and continuing education, and the conference proceedings of the Standing Conference on University Teaching and Research in the Education of Adults (SCUTREA) and the Adult Education Research Conference (AERC). There has been a significant increase in research on minorities in Adult Education. For the most part, this research seems driven by the context of the present socio-political climate, and it is asserted that the movement towards examining race and ethnicity has been partially inspired by the increase of racial and ethnic group members as Adult Education professors, practitioners, and students in our classrooms and programmes.

African Americans in Adult Education: The Harlem Renaissance Revisited.

This study examined a 25-year period of African Americans in adult education by accessing the archival holdings of three major data centers: the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Moorland-Spingarn Archives, and the Hollis Burke Frissell Library. The sociopolitical context of the data was analyzed using a Black feminist theoretical framework. Three themes emerged from the data and were seen to be representative of the major issues found in adult education for African Americans: education for assimilation, education for cultural survival, and education for resistance.

Biculturalism—Outsiders Within: The Career Development Experiences of Black Human Resource Developers

Consistent with the career development issues that black* people encounter, it is likely that black human resource developers face unique career development issues versus human resource developers in general. However, an exhaustive search did not find research that has focused specifically on the career development process of black human resource development professionals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the career experiences of black human resource developers. A qualitative study was conducted of 10 black human resource developers. Interviewing was the primary data collection method and the data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. The results of this study indicate that the respondents experienced similar career challenges to other black workers. Based on the results, we posit that because of racial prejudice and discrimination, black human resource developers serve as outsiders within traditional work organizations and become skilled at using bicultural strategies for managing various aspects of their lives.