Yasser Arafat Payne

“Brenda’s Got a Baby” Black Single Motherhood and Street Life as a Site of Resilience in Wilmington, Delaware

This secondary analysis examines low-income, street-identified single Black mothers aged 18 to 35 years in Wilmington, Delaware. This study is guided by the following question: To what extent do family composition and criminal record/street activity shape notions of Black single motherhood? “Sites of resilience” theory informs this study by providing a reconceptualization of street life and the phenomenological experiences of street-identified Black women. This analysis draws on 310 surveys, 6 individual interviews, 3 dual interviews, 2 group interviews, and extensive field observations. Findings reveal how these women experience single motherhood within the context of blocked opportunity and structural inequality. Results also indicate that most women socially reproduced childhood attitudes and conditions, including “fatherless” homes and single motherhood. Use and sales of narcotics and incarceration were primary factors for why their children’s father didn’t reside in the home. Findings also suggest that number of children, arrest and incarceration rates, and educational and employment statuses are predictive of marital status in the women.

Evaluating the Impact of Community-based Learning: Participatory Action Research as a Model for Inside-Out

The last two decades have seen significant growth in US university initiatives to promote civic engagement for undergraduates through service or community-based learning (CBL) experiences,1 with 60 percent of graduates engaging in at least one course during their academic career (The National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement, 2012). Some describe the current era as representing the fourth wave of a reemphasis on civic engagement in higher education (National Service-learning Clearinghouse, January 2008). A recent report from The National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement designates this era as a “crucible moment,” given that the research clearly demonstrates that “students who participate in civic learning opportunities are more likely to: persist in college and complete their degrees; obtain skills prized by employers; and develop habits of social responsibility and civic participation” (2012, v). Bridging theory or textbook material learned in the classroom with the reality of these ideas in practice better prepares undergraduates for the work force and can engage college students in the life of their communities. It is no surprise that there is a concurrent call for universities to continue measuring the impact of such programs on students, community partners, and the university as a whole, and to continue developing innovative methods to evaluate these initiatives.

Cope, Conform, or Resist? Functions of a Black American Identity at a Predominantly White University

This study organized five black American undergraduate students into a participatory action research (PAR) team to examine Cross and Strauss’ (1998) and Cross, Smith, and Paynes (2002) functions of blackness theory (i.e., bonding, code switching, and individualism) within a sample of black American students, frontline staff (i.e., janitors), and faculty at a predominantly white institution (PWI) or university. The racial-ethnic lived experiences of black Americans at a PWI can reveal outcomes in terms of employee performance and student academic and social experience. Data were collected from four student focus groups (i.e., general student body, students in Greek organizations, student athletes, and student leaders), one frontline staff focus group, five individual faculty interviews, and one individual interview with a female student athlete. Each participant completed a demographic survey. Also, extensive field observations were taken of participants at this particular PWI. Findings revealed how black Americans use bonding, code switching and individualism as functions of a racial identity when navigating a PWI as a mainstream environment. Data suggest very little bonding took place across the three subsamples (i.e., students, frontline staff, and faculty) and bonding practiced by black Americans at this PWI was found to exist most often within subpopulations, specifically within students and frontline staff. Participants, overall, were comfortable with code switching between a professional identity and a more racial, black American and/or social identity. Also, a number of participants understood their individuality to be more salient than a racial or black American identity. Implications for PAR projects with black American college students are also discussed within this article.

Street Participatory Action Research in Prison: A Methodology to Challenge Privilege and Power in Correctional Facilities:

This article presents a prison research model grounded in street participatory action research (Street PAR) methodology but programmatically facilitated in an Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program class. Street PAR’s nine tenets were adapted to a prison setting, and we demonstrate its promise with a brief case study of research projects at one prison location. This article also explores the challenges scholars and incarcerated persons as researchers may face in correctional facilities. Street PAR and Inside-Out can improve prison environments and successful transition to local communities as a function of equipping incarcerated persons with reading, writing, and analytic skill sets.

Young Jeezy and “The Recession”: What Gangster Rap Can Teach Us About Economic Poverty in the Black Community

This article presents an in-depth case study and qualitative examination of Young Jeezy’s album “The Recession” to explore to what extent Gangster Rap artists use Hip-Hop as way to respond to structural inequality in economically poor Black communities. Through Young Jeezy’s phenomenological standpoint, much can be understood about the lived experiences of Gangster Rap music and culture as well as more broadly, the perspectives of street-identified Black men. Sites of Resilience Theory and Grounded Theory were employed as method and analysis to examine Young Jeezy’s album “The Recession.” Analysis reveals “The Recession” speaks to the challenges of blocked economic and educational opportunity, negative living and health conditions, a corrupt political system, and the insidious ways these forms of structural inequality shape the identity of street-identified Black men. This article calls for social scientists and community professionals who seek to reach Black men in the streets to more deeply understand the phenomenological value of Gangster Rap music.