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An Exploration of How Second-Generation Afro-Caribbean College Women Make Meaning of Their Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

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An Exploration of How Second-Generation Afro-Caribbean College Women Make Meaning of Their Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 6-30-2020 We're Here, We Exist: An Exploration of how Second-Generation Afro-Caribbean College Women Make Meaning of their Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Emmanuela P. Stanislaus Florida International University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Higher Education Commons Recommended Citation Stanislaus, Emmanuela P., "We're Here, We Exist: An Exploration of how Second-Generation Afro- Caribbean College Women Make Meaning of their Race, Ethnicity, and Gender" (2020). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4486. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/4486 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida WE’RE HERE, WE EXIST: AN EXPLORATION OF HOW SECOND-GENERATION AFRO-CARIBBEAN COLLEGE WOMEN MAKE MEANING OF THEIR RACE, ETHNICITY, AND GENDER A dissErtation submittEd in partial fulfillmEnt of the requiremEnts for the degreE of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in HIGHER EDUCATION by Emmanuela PiErre Stanislaus 2020 To: DEan MichaEl R. HEithaus CollEge of Arts, SciEncEs and Education This dissErtation, writtEn by Emmanuela PiErre Stanislaus, and entitlEd WE’re HEre, We Exist: An Exploration of How SEcond-GEneration Afro-Caribbean CollEge WomEn Make MEaning of their RacE, Ethnicity, and GEnder, having beEn approved in respect to stylE and intEllEctual contEnt, is referred to you for judgmEnt. WE have read this dissErtation and recommEnd that it be approved. _______________________________________ Sarah Mathews _______________________________________ HEather RussEll _______________________________________ Maria Lovett _______________________________________ BEnjamin BaEZ, Major Professor DatE of DEfensE: June 30, 2020 The dissErtation of Emmanuela PiErre Stanislaus is approved. _______________________________________ DEan MichaEl R. HEithaus CollEge of Arts, SciEncEs and Education _______________________________________ Andrés G. Gil VicE President for ResEarch and Economic DEvelopmEnt and DEan of the University GraduatE School Florida IntErnational University, 2020 ii © Copyright 2020 by Emmanuela PiErre Stanislaus All rights resErved. iii DEDICATION To my guardian angels, LalEE, Joy, Tonton EtiEnne, and Mignon thank you for watching over mE and pushing mE to the finish line. To my parents, Samuel and RosE MariE PiErre, you made the journey to this new country with so many hopes and dreams. You had no idea that your future child would complEtE her doctoratE. Thank you for always beliEving in mE and pushing mE to be the best in everything that I pursue. Thank you for your love and sacrificE which inspires mE every day. Also, to my nine resEarch participants. Thank you for sharing your storiEs and trusting mE to represEnt your life experiEncEs. I hope that I do you justicE. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The complEtion of this degreE would not be possiblE without the love and support of countlEss individuals. First, I’d like to thank my amaZing committEE mEmbers - Dr. BEnjamin BaEZ, Dr. HEather RussEll, Dr. Sarah Mathews, and Dr. Maria Lovett. Thank you all for making this such a positive and supportive experiEncE. I couldn’t have done this without your guidancE. To my loving and supportive husband, MichaEl. You really are the real MVP. You sacrificEd the most and witnessEd the ups and downs. You saw mE through so many tough timEs and motivatEd mE throughout the procEss. Thank you for always beliEving in mE and motivating mE to press forward. I couldn’t have done this without you. My mom, dad, and sistErs, thank you for always encouraging mE even if you didn’t really understand what I was going through. Thank you for keEping mE liftEd in prayer and for always giving mE a break from this major task. I also want to thank the father figures in my life who loved and cared for mE – Toto, DEde, HEnry, UnclE Lou, VErVEr, and ClEophat. IvettE DuartE, thank you for your real support. Your continuous questions about where I was in the procEss, really helped mE to reliEve stress and get out of my head. Words can’t express how much I appreciatE you “putting mE on icE” so that I can carve out timE to stEp away from work and make progress on my dissErtation. To my support circlE that helped mE throughout this journey, thank you so much. Special shout out to Dr. Joy Gaston-GaylEs, Dr. LamEsha Brown, Dr. Nashira Williams, Dr. BronwEn Bares PElaEZ, Dr. Cathy Akens, Dr. Suzanne Onorato, Dr. Carolyn MEEker, Dr. David Jones, Dr. StEphaniE Loudone-Jones, Dr. Katrina AmiE, GErson SancheZ, and v Suzy GomEZ, and Barbara Bader. Dr. Lynell Hodge, thank you for making it your mission to sEE mE through to the finish line. Thank you for being an inspiration and keEping mE motivatEd. Special thanks to a couplE of individuals who helped mE along the road to discovering Higher Education Administration as a careEr path - Dr. Paige Crandall and Dr. Shari Crandall. vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION WE’RE HERE, WE EXIST: AN EXPLORATION OF HOW SECOND-GENERATION AFRO-CARIBBEAN COLLEGE WOMEN MAKE MEANING OF THEIR RACE, ETHNICITY, AND GENDER by Emmanuela PiErre Stanislaus Florida IntErnational University, 2020 Miami, Florida Professor Benjamin BaEZ, Major Professor ThE presEnt singlE-casE study was situatEd within Florida IntErnational University and explored how sEcond-generation Afro-Caribbean collEge womEn make mEaning of their racE, ethnicity, and gender. My dissErtation expands the existing scholarship on Black collEge students who have historically beEn presEntEd as monolithic. Furthermore, my study illuminatEs how the racE, ethnicity, and gender intErsEct to complicatE the ExperiEncEs of thesE womEn. Additionally, my resEarch highlights how the surrounding collEge campus community impacts sEcond-generation Afro-Caribbean collEge womEn’s ideas of belonging. This study involved two sEmi-structured intErviEws with nine undergraduatE collEge womEn attEnding FIU. All womEn sElf-identifiEd as sEcond-generation Afro- Caribbean. This two-intErviEw schemE is a modification of SEidman’s (2013) threE-phasE intErviEw procEss. The first intErviEw focusEd on the life history of the participants, and the sEcond intErviEw cEntErs on the lived experiEncEs of the participants within the vii contExt of FIU. The womEn represEnt backgrounds that include Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guyana, and BeliZE. Four overarching themEs emErged from thE study. First, the study revealEd that Early childhood experiEncEs, particularly religion, played a major rolE in gender identity. SEcond, their physical appearancE impact how others viEwEd and treatEd them which influencEd how the participants made mEaning of their racial identity. Third, the womEn shared experiEncEs where both their racial and ethnic identitiEs wEre challEnged by others within their racial and ethnic groups. Finally, participants expressEd concErn of feEling Excluded from notions of diversity within the university. Findings illuminatE the factors influencing collEge choicEs among sEcond- generation Afro-Caribbean collEge womEn. My participants shared powErful storiEs of how their physical appearancE and hair influencE how they are viEwEd and treatEd. Specifically, thesE womEn spoke of engaging in the procEss of sElf-love and challEnging traditional standards of beauty and professionalism in the mEdia as wEll within their circlE of family and friEnds. The importancE of peEr groups where they could be their authentic sElves and find comfort against systEms of oppression sElves wEre also discussEd. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 StatEmEnt of the ResEarch ProblEm ............................................................................... 2 PurposE of Study ............................................................................................................ 5 ResEarch Questions ....................................................................................................... 7 StatEmEnt of SignificancE .............................................................................................. 7 DElimitations/Assumptions of Study ........................................................................... 10 DEfinitions ................................................................................................................... 11 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 12 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................ 14 BriEf History of the Caribbean .................................................................................... 15 History of Black Caribbean Immigration to the U.S. .................................................. 17 RacE and Racism in the U.S. ....................................................................................... 21 RacE and Racism in Higher Education ........................................................................ 24 Black WomEn .............................................................................................................
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