Exceptional Recruiting: Identity Intersections’ Impact On
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EXCEPTIONAL RECRUITING: IDENTITY INTERSECTIONS’ IMPACT ON DECISION MAKING FOR YOUNG BLACK WOMEN ATHLETES DURING THE NCAA RECRUITING PROCESS by BEAU MANIERRE HOUSTON B.S., University of Alabama, 2005 M.A., University of Alabama, 2006 A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Research, Leadership, and Foundations 2019 © 2019 BEAU MANIERRE HOUSTON ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This dissertation for the Doctor of Philosophy degree by Beau Manierre Houston has been approved for the Department of Education by Andrea J. Bingham, Chair Patricia Witkowsky Phillip Morris Jay Coakley Franklin Tuitt Date: October 24, 2019 iii Houston, Beau Manierre (Ph.D., Educational Leadership, Research, and Policy) Exceptional Recruiting: Identity Intersections’ Impact on Decision Making of Young Black Women Athletes During the NCAA Recruiting Process Dissertation directed by Professor Andrea J. Bingham ABSTRACT This qualitative critical phenomenological study describes the lived experiences of Black collegiate women student-athletes attending predominantly White institutions. Interviews and written narratives of ten Black woman student-athletes who attend National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) colleges or universities were analyzed. Wilen’s (2007) critical scholarship, policies, and practices of inclusion and exclusion are applied to the embodied lived experiences described by Moustakas (1994) to capture the circumstances and configurations of collegiate athletic recruitment. This research integrates Intersectionality and Organizational theories to describe the relationship of the Black Collegiate (BC) woman athlete to her college or university. The Complex Decision-Making Framework for Intersecting Identities was the conceptual framework and categorized their decision-making process and explained how they perceive and make sense of their recruitment. The explication of the data captured the system-, process- and group-centered objectives of critical analysis. Emerging themes revealed the emotions embedded in the decision-making process. The original contribution to knowledge is within the transition and development of Black female student-athletes and is also associated with the critical methodologies involved. iv DEDICATION First, I dedicate this work to my daughter London. You are my inspiration and a model of everything I still hope to become. The things you need most on this journey are knowledge and understanding. I pray that you find answers to some of your questions in this text along the way to fulfilling your unique and incredibly particular purpose. Also, I dedicate this work to my boys Marcus and Hollis. You made your debut on this world during this doctoral journey and fueled my ingenuity, creativity, and commitment to our family and my vision. I pray that you find value in these efforts and my sacrifice in ways that directly impact the decisions you make in the future. Finally, to my husband, and forever teammate on this journey, I dedicate everything I do in this name to you. Your willingness to be supportive in so many ways while I faced this enormous challenge was seen, respected, appreciated, and valued. Thank you for choosing us, and for encouraging me to pursue my passions in the manner of my choosing. I love you. v ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would first like to acknowledge the way that Jesus Christ has ordered my steps and continues to make way for me. I am thankful. To my parents, I hope to honor you with this work. Your guidance in my life is undeniable. Your advice to reject excuses, create solutions and be respectful has cultivated the woman I am today. In recognizing my in-laws, what a blessing it is to have you in my life. You have always been an advocate for me and the things I stand for. I must also acknowledge my big sister, a woman who is a fighter and survivor. Thank you for demonstrating what it means never to shy away from a fight. Your ability to survive is my reason to try. Finally, to my brothers and sisters, you have challenged and motivated me. I revisit your personal stories to become uplifted, comforted, and inspired. Thank you! To my committee, thank you so much for your direction and willingness to help. Dr. Bingham, you are such an amazing woman and professor. Thank you for your courtesies and willingness to allow me to grow under your leadership. Dr. Witkowsky, you are so skilled and a pleasure to work with. I thank you for your honesty, trust, and ability to help me get where you and I both know I am headed. Dr. Morris, your welcoming spirit, was helpful after some of the hectic weeks in this process. Thank you for sharing your family’s experiences and expertise to prepare me for my next step. Dr. Tuitt, I am humbled in your presence. You have diligently advanced your field and remained committed to serving others along the way. Taking the time to remember and support me is not taken lightly. Dr. Coakley, you have advanced my network, my experiences, and my way of understanding my passion for sport. I am excited about each interaction to learn from you. Also, Dr. Mendez, you have served our cohort well while vi working as our Department Chair. Thank you for the care and concern you showed us all, personally and professionally. Lastly, Dr. Strawn, our interaction, although brief, was timely and critical as I completed my coursework. You were a phenomenal resource and functioned as a great leader worth modeling. Finally, I am happy to acknowledge and thank the Black collegiate women athletes who contributed to this research study. I appreciate your time, honesty, and willingness to connect with me regarding your dynamic experiences. Thank you for supporting me in this process and granting permission to speak on your behalf when you cannot. I wish you the very best of luck and opportunity to become the woman you aspire to be. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………....……...1 Young Black Women Student-Athletes and Exceptionalism………...…...1 Identifying and Categorizing “Black” ……………………….…………...4 Problem Statement………………………………………………………...5 Statement of Purpose……………….……………………………………..8 Overview of Methodology……………………….………………………11 Rationale and Significance………………………….…………………...12 Terms………………………......………………………………...13 Organization of the Dissertation………………………...……………….13 II. LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………….….14 Making a case for Exception……………….…………………………….14 Exceptional Circumstances for Young Black Women Student-Athletes..16 Microaggressions in Educational Settings……………………….18 Projected Stereotypes………………...…….…………….20 Mammy…………………………………………..21 Jezebel……………………………………………22 Matriarch/Sapphire………………………………22 Strong Black Woman…………………………….23 Silencing and Marginalization………………………...…23 Assumptions about Beauty and Style…………...….……27 Cultural Ways of Being………………………….27 Communication Style…………………………….28 viii Physical Appearance and Body Types…………...29 Depression and Discrimination……………………….….32 Social Identity Development for Black Student-Athletes…….….33 Racial Identity Development…………………………….35 Academic Identity Development…….……………….….37 Academic Preparedness ……………………. …..40 Athletic Identity Development…………………………...45 Sports Participation...............…………………….47 Young Black Women Student-Athlete Identity Development…..49 Black Student-Athlete Identity Conflicts…………………….......51 Higher Education Recruiting…………………………………………….55 College Athletic Department Recruiting………………………………...57 NCAA Recruiting Policy and Process………………………….….…….59 Student-Athlete Collegiate Experiences…………………………63 Exceptional Experiences for Black Collegiate Women………………….66 Exceptional Access………………………………………………74 Getting to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964……………...75 Education Amendments of 1972…………………………81 Exceptional Climates for Black Collegiate Women Today……..89 Theoretical Frameworks……….………………………………………...95 Intersectionality………………………………………………….97 Organizational Culture Theory……….………………………...102 Conceptual Framework……………….…………………………..….…106 ix Cynefin Framework: A Sense-Making Model………………….107 Complex Decision-Making Framework for Intersecting Identities……………………………………………….. 109 Summary……………………………………………………….……….111 III. RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY…………….…………………..114 Qualitative Research Design……………………………………………116 Rationale for Qualitative Research Approach…………….………...….116 Understanding Phenomenological Research……...…………………….119 Critical Phenomenology ……………………...………………………...120 Applying Intersectionality to a Research Design……………………….122 System-Centered Research ………………………………….....125 Process-Centered Research …………………………………….126 Group-Centered Research ……………………………………...127 Critical Phenomenology as a Research Design………………………...128 Epoche………………………………….………………………129 Phenomenological Reduction…………………………………..129 Imaginative Variation…………………………………………..133 Synthesis of Meanings and Essences…………………………...135 Positionality of the Researcher…………………………………….…...135 Where I Stand: My Position as the Researcher…………………137 Data Collection………………………………………………………....140 Research Sites…………………………………………………..141 General Description of Research Sites…………………………142 x Access…………………………………………………………..145 Sampling………………………………………………………..146 Summary of Participants………………………………………..153 Adil……………………………………………………..153 Buli……………………………………………………...153 Daib……………………………………………………..154 Gasira…………………………………………………...154 Hali……………………………………………………...155 Iyora…………………………………………………….155 Jilo………………………………………………………156