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One Unique School's Efforts to Provide Holistic University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 2015 Addressing Disparity: one Unique School’s Efforts to Provide Holistic Education in a low-income, Black Community Allison Anne Parsons University of South Carolina Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Health and Physical Education Commons Recommended Citation Parsons, A. A.(2015). Addressing Disparity: one Unique School’s Efforts to Provide Holistic Education in a low-income, Black Community. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/3637 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Addressing Disparity: One Unique School’s Efforts to Provide Holistic Education in a low-income, Black Community by Allison Anne Parsons Bachelor of Arts Texas A&M University, 2004 Master of Arts East Carolina University, 2010 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior The Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health University of South Carolina 2015 Accepted by: Christine E. Blake, Major Professor Sonya J. Jones, Committee Member Katrina M. Walsemann, Committee Member Sherina Feliciano-Santos, Committee Member Herman T. Knopf, Committee Member Lacy Ford, Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies © Copyright by Allison Anne Parsons, 2015 All Rights Reserved ii DEDICATION To those who spent countless hours talking me off ledges: my mom and dad and step dad; my husband; my grandparents; my advisor and committee; my cohort. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to my Advisor, Dr. Christine Blake, and my committee, Dr. Sherina Feliciano-Santos, Dr. Sonya Jones, Dr. Herman Knopf, and Dr. Katrina Walsemann for their feedback, support, and encouragement. Thank you also to Tiara Rosemond for her help during data analysis and Lashanta Rice and Sarah Hales for their time and feedback during defense preparation. iv ABSTRACT Schools are meant to provide an equal opportunity for achievement to all students. The reality is that school policies and practices, which govern not only child education but also child health, parenting practices, and other social issues, are based on ideologies of the dominant culture creating an environment the perpetuates current social hierarchies. By doing so, this not only limits minority populations’ access to the opportunities associated with education but also access to health, as education and health are strongly and positively linked. This study used qualitative methods including ethnography to explore how racism was perpetuated through the dominant discourses of obesity and parent involvement in the context of a school developed through public/private partnership that aims to serve a low-income, mainly Black, community. Data for this study was collected over an eighteen-month period and included, participant observation, field notes, and in-depth interviews. Critical discourse analysis was used to address specific aim 1. Verbatim interview transcripts were analyzed using a combination of a priori and emergent coding techniques. Results showed that participants viewed obesity as a product of an individual’s lifestyle choices and perceived obesity negated health. Participants used dominant obesity discourse to normalize their own lifestyle choices and distance themselves from ‘deviant others’. Despite some misgivings, participants continued to engage dominant obesity discourse. v To address specific aim 2, field notes and verbatim interview transcripts were analyzed using an open coding technique. Results showed that school policies and practices were undergirded by ideologies of colorblind racism that maintained current social hierarchies by perpetuating White privilege and racial minority disadvantage. The colorblind approach to parental involvement created barriers to the creation of authentic relationships at SEPS and, therefore, the development of a positive, mutual, and respectful relationship between families and the school. This study illuminated the issues of social inequality that were perpetuated in this school environment. Further, the findings of this study showed that racist ideologies were created and maintained within the school environment despite individual intentions to address disparities. This study provides evidence of the opportunity for school personnel to recognize the ways that racialized policies and practices can impact the school environment and take meaningful steps towards change. vi PREFACE The racism discussed herein is that of structural racism. The analysis of the individual interviews does not shed light on the character of those interviewed. Ideologies are socially constructed and, by virtue of being a part of that society and no matter our individual intentions, we are all involved in the construction of ideologies. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv Abstract ................................................................................................................................v Preface ............................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables .......................................................................................................................x List of Definitions .............................................................................................................. xi Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Literature Review ...............................................................................................7 Chapter 3: Methods ............................................................................................................20 Chapter 4: Results ..............................................................................................................44 4.1 The influence of dominant obesity discourse on child health narratives ...............45 4.2 Parental involvement: Rhetoric of inclusion in an environment of exclusion .......84 Chapter 5: Discussion ......................................................................................................129 References ........................................................................................................................146 Appendix A – Parents and Teachers Interview Guide .....................................................169 Appendix B – Administrators Interview Guide ...............................................................172 Appendix C – Example follow up interview ...................................................................175 Appendix D – Informed Consent .....................................................................................176 Appendix E – Observation Field Note Template .............................................................179 viii Appendix F – Node Hierarchy Specific Aim 2 4.7.14 .....................................................180 Appendix G – Node Hierarchy Specific Aim 1 4.22.14 ..................................................183 Appendix H – Summary of data in progress 7.22.14 .......................................................185 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Sample Interview Questions ..............................................................................54 Table 4.2 A Priori Code List ..............................................................................................56 Table 4.3 Child Health Narrative Summary ......................................................................58 Table 4.4 Parent Involvement Contract at SEPS ...............................................................94 x LIST OF DEFINITIONS Dominant culture –a dominant culture is one that is able, through economic or political power, to impose its values, language, and ways of behaving on a subordinate culture or cultures. This may be achieved through legal or political suppression of other sets of values and patterns of behavior, or by monopolizing the media of communication (Scott & Marshall, 2009). Dominant obesity discourse - the ideology that overweight and obesity is necessarily associated with health status and that overweight and obesity occur due to an individual’s choices. Structural racism - the systems that perpetuate and reinforce “race-based social ostracism, in which phenotypic or [perceived] cultural characteristics are used to target individuals for social exclusion, unfair treatment, and harassment” (Brondolo, Rivera, & Walsemann, 2011, p. 359). xi CHAPTER 1 Introduction According to the oft-touted American Dream, schools are meant to be the great equalizer, free from prejudice and discrimination. They are hailed as places that reward students solely based on merit. In reality, schools play a critical role in the reproduction of racial and other forms of inequality, “converting social hierarchies into academic hierarchies” (MacLeod, 1995, p 14). In the United States, education and health are strongly and positively linked; however,
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