The Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute Graduate Research Fellowship Grant assists graduate students of African ancestry to complete post-secondary education at the graduate level. The Grant also provides an opportunity for the DBDLI to strengthen its relationship with ‘up and coming’ researchers in the African Nova Scotian community.
We are pleased to present the Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute Graduate Research Fellowship participants, their works and a summary of their research undertaking. You may also download the fellowship summaries in PDF format.
Kwesi Yeboah Firempong
The “Dream Keeper Project”: Afrocentric Education for Improving Math and Science Achievement for African Canadians and cultivating Positive Teacher Attitudes.
This PhD project seeks to explore the theory of change I developed as a math specialist with the Halifaxbased Black Educators’ Association’s Cultural and Academic Enrichment Program (CAEP) and the Preston Area Learning Skills (PALS) society. I have experienced the relative ease with which Black students actively engage and excel with the existing provincial math and science curriculum when suitable pedagogical methods are utilized.
The objective of my program is to train teachers in Afrocentricity and math and science pedagogies, and then involve them as instructors in the CAEP program. The idea behind this project is not just to boost African Nova Scotia learner math performance but also to help change perceptions of teachers concerning the aptitude of Black learners. When teachers progressively begin to encounter Black learners who are conversant with the language and methods of math and science, the old stereotypes about Black performance may disappear, helping to eliminate unconscious and institutional racism.
Eluned Jones
Lawful Violence: How Rudyard Kipling Uses Violence against Animals, Children and Women to Create Narratives of White Masculinity in his Novels and Short Stories
In my dissertation, I am examining violence in the novels and short stories of Rudyard Kipling. I argue that in Kipling’s novels and short stories, he both justifies the use of colonial force and understands the justification and “lawful” use of violence in the colonies to be foundational to the creation of white masculine identity both in a colonial context and in England. Applying Fanon’s analysis of the colonizer and the colonized, I argue that Kipling’s autobiographical short story “Baa Baa Black Sheep” is inherently structured around racialized notions of power. Drawing upon Noel Ignatiev’s book How the Irish Became White I suggest that Kipling understands white masculinity as both formed and shaped by violence. Ignatiev’s thesis that whiteness is conferred upon groups in return for consent to state violence against Afrikan/Indigenous/so-called “Native” peoples can be seen in The Jungle Books, for example, where Kipling uses “hunting” in order to naturalize and justify colonial violence.
Exploring the Impacts of Culturally Specific ‘Community-Driven’ Programs on the Life Journey of African Nova Scotians
From the time people of African descent reached Canada with records dating to the 1600’s, they have had to fight for equity, inclusion, and basic human rights. Promised freedom, land, education, employment, and equal opportunity, the majority of people of African descent attempted to integrate into mainstream society but were rejected.
Understanding the historical context of this population in the Western parts of the world, many studies have highlighted the need for culturally specific programs and services for youth in particular. Often ‘community-driven’, these programs have sought to empower youth of African descent through their community orientation focusing on the formation of a cultural identity, self-evaluation, self-esteem, and sense of belonging.
Although ‘community driven’ programs exist in Nova Scotia, there remains the need in Canadian research to examine the effectiveness of culturally specific ‘community-driven’ programs and their impact on the lives of African Nova Scotians. My study will seek to explore qualitative research on how these programs have influenced or impacted the life journey of African Canadians.
Set our spirits free: Exploring the role of spirituality as an anti-oppressive agent in the formal education of African Nova Scotian learners
African Nova Scotian (ANS) learners have endured alienation, racial and cultural oppression, and inequity in their formal education experiences over the years. Forced to borrow the dominant culture and its knowledge, and denied the right to bring their histories, heritage, lived experiences and ways of knowing to formal education sites, these learners struggle in school environments that threaten their self-image. The oppressive educational realities ANS learners face urgently demand that the education system engage their communities and indigenous knowledge to generate innovative solutions to these challenges.
I aim to explore how embracing spirituality as an anti-oppressive agent may impact the formal education experiences of African Nova Scotian learners. Spirituality is a multi-dimensional, relational “way of being in the world where one is connected to one’s cultural knowledge” and others – including community, nature, higher powers, and ancestors. Including spirituality in the classroom for marginalized learners like ANS may be a critical step towards dismantling oppression, using its knowledge to address issues of power, systemic inequities, alienation and social oppression.
Cinera States
Examining the schooling experiences of African Nova Scotian youth: implications for mental health and emotional well-being
In this study, I will examine the school experiences of African Nova Scotian (ANS) youth to determine how their academic experiences impact their mental health and emotional well-being. In addition, I will examine the occurrence of racial discrimination and what impact, if any, it has on their self-efficacy, academic goals, and overall achievement.
For the purpose of this study, I will explore “school experiences” of those who are currently enrolled in school and those who are no longer enrolled (for a variety of reasons including dropping out of school or suspensions/expulsions) across three lines:
- ANS youth perception of racially discriminatory attitudes and treatment (or differential treatment) by teachers, peers, and school administration staff.
- Cultural inclusion: ANS youth’s sense of belonging (or fitting in) with peers, curriculum, and the institution as a whole.
- ANS youth’s educational achievement, academic goals, and self-efficacy (belief that they will achieve those goals)
Joseph Nyemah
Education and Gender Relations: The Case of Liberian Refugee Couples in Atlantic Canada
Between 2000 and 2012, about 5000 Liberian refugees arrived in Canada. Six hundred of them live in Nova Scotia (NS), which is also home to an indigenous African population. Like many immigrants, these Liberian refugees have discovered that some aspects of their traditional patriarchal norms conflict with prevailing Canadian norms, especially as Liberian women seek education, employment and friendship in their new homeland. The purpose of my doctoral research is to understand the impacts of shifting traditional gender roles as Liberian women seek education in their new homeland.
My research seeks to answer the following questions: In what ways do the patriarchal views of Liberian refugee men affect the educational experiences of their wives? In what ways do the experiences of immigration cause women to desire further education? If the Liberian refugees are experiencing tensions within families, as a consequence of the coexistence of tradition and cosmopolitanism, how can they be resolved?
Journey To Fostering And Preserving Cultural Identity: Are There Any Roads Leading To The “Black Church”? A Case Study of Three Churches In Nova Scotia
The Black church, which I define as a church with a Black clergy, a predominately Black congregants and an orientation towards African cultural values, is often considered an important institution within the Black community, yet it has received minimal attention from scholars in the field of lifelong learning/adult education.
Using a qualitative method of inquiry supported by a theoretical framework that includes Africentricity, critical race theory, and post colonialism, this thesis examines the role of the Black church in reproducing and affirming an African cultural identity among the congregants of African ancestry. The study centres the voices of 17 congregants from three churches in Nova Scotia: Emmanuel Baptist Church, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, and St. Phillip’s African Orthodox Church.
By using both inductive and deductive thematic analysis, emerging themes suggest that these religious organizations provide valuable learning activities and promote community involvement that enhance intrinsic values such as, the feeling of home, a sense of belonging, empowerment, cultural grounding, heritage, traditions, identity, and spiritual grounding.
These values align with the broader themes found in the data: shared cultural experiences, culturally relevant learning, social engagement, and a sense of community. By exploring how these churches effect change among congregants and the community at large, it is clear that these churches are agencies of significance for the Black congregants, particularly within a racially diverse multicultural society.
Fear at First Sight: Library Anxiety, Race, and Nova Scotia
Multidisciplinary research and services have attempted to decrease educational barriers and increase university success for African Canadian students. However, these efforts have put limited focus on the influence of academic libraries on student success. This study examined racial differences in library anxiety and the coping methods undergraduates used in Nova Scotia, Canada. To examine student experiences, this study used a mixed-methods approach with surveys and interviews. In the preliminary phase, survey findings demonstrated no significant racial difference. The interview phase revealed that African Nova Scotian undergraduates experienced lower library anxiety than Caucasian Nova Scotians. Specifically, African Nova Scotians expressed comfort interacting with their community and public libraries prior to attending university.
Wendy Mackey
Transforming a School System through Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: An Instrumental Case Study
The purpose of this proposed PhD study is to examine district-wide educational reform using culturally relevant pedagogy. The aim is to determine what factors have to be aligned for a school district to implement culturally relevant pedagogy effectively and to identify possible barriers to system-wide reform.
The theoretical framework for this research is situated in both sensemaking and decolonization. Decolonization will provide the lens through which the data is analyzed. The decolonization lens will allow for deeper analysis into the characteristics of sensemaking to view the actions of change agents from an equity perspective.
In this instrumental case study, meaning and understanding will be derived from the experiences of participants that represent every level of a school district as they make sense of culturally relevant pedagogy through the district’s reform efforts.
The findings of this study will be unique because they will give educational leaders insight on what is necessary to create deep-level sustainable district-wide reform from the perspectives of educators from within all levels of a school system (Superintendent, central office staff, school-based administrators and teachers). It is also unique because culturally relevant pedagogy will be examined as a school-district reform.
This study, through its theoretical framework and corresponding methodological design, will fill a gap in the research by combining sensemaking and decolonization. This has not been done before. Using sensemaking and decolonization together, will allow for the examination of how educators make sense of the changes in their personal belief systems and organizational culture while implementing culturally relevant pedagogy.