Beyond Your Perception: an Exploratory Study of Black Parent- Daughter Relationships and Hip Hop Influences on Adolescent Girls
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Educational Policy Studies Dissertations Department of Educational Policy Studies Fall 12-18-2014 Beyond Your Perception: An Exploratory Study of Black Parent- Daughter Relationships and Hip Hop Influences on Adolescent Girls Sherell A. McArthur Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/eps_diss Recommended Citation McArthur, Sherell A., "Beyond Your Perception: An Exploratory Study of Black Parent-Daughter Relationships and Hip Hop Influences on Adolescent Girls." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2014. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/eps_diss/116 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Educational Policy Studies at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Policy Studies Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BEYOND YOUR PERCEPTION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF BLACK PARENT-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS AND HIP HOP INFLUENCES ON ADOLESCENT GIRLS by Sherell A. McArthur A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Foundations in the Department of Educational Policy Studies in the College of Education Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 2014 ACCEPTANCE This dissertation, BEYOND YOUR PERCEPTION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF BLACK PARENT-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS AND HIP HOP INFLUENCES ON ADOLESCENT GIRLS, by SHERELL A. McARTHUR, was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s Dissertation Advisory Committee. It is accepted by the committee members in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Education, Georgia State University. The Dissertation Advisory Committee and the student’s Department Chair, as representatives of the faculty, certify that this dissertation has met all standards of excellence and scholarship as determined by the faculty. The Dean of the College of Education concurs. _____________________________ ______________________________ Joyce E. King, Ph.D. Janice Fournillier, Ph.D. Committee Chair Committee Member _____________________________ ______________________________ Kristen L. Buras, Ph.D. Layli Maparyan, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member _____________________________ Date _____________________________________ William L. Curlette, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Educational Policy Studies ______________________________________ Paul A. Alberto, Ph.D. Dean College of Education AUTHOR’S STATEMENT By presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the library of Georgia State University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote, to copy from, or to publish this dissertation may be granted by the professor under whose direction it was written, by the College of Education’s director of graduate studies and research, or by me. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for scholarly purposes and will not involve potential financial gain. It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential financial gain will not be allowed without my written permission. _____________________________________ Sherell A. McArthur NOTICE TO BORROWERS All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University library must be used in accordance with the stipulations prescribed by the author in the preceding statement. The author of this dissertation is: Sherell A. McArthur Department of Educational Policy Studies College of Education Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30302-3977 The director of this dissertation is: Dr. Joyce E. King Department of Educational Policy Studies College of Education Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30302-3977 CURRICULUM VITAE Sherell Anjel McArthur ADDRESS: 5243 Rockborough Trail Stone Mountain, GA 30083 EDUCATION: Ph.D. 2014 Georgia State University Educational Policy Studies, Social Foundations M.A. 2006 University of Maryland-College Park Educational Policy Studies B.A. 2004 Psychology PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 2009-2013 Graduate Research Assistant Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Georgia State University 2012-2014 Graduate Teaching Assistant Educational Policy Studies Georgia State University 2007-2010 Elementary School Teacher Fulton County Board of Education, Atlanta, GA 2006-2007 Elementary School Teacher Clayton County Board of Education, Jonesboro, GA PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: American Educational Research Association American Educational Studies Association National Association for Multicultural Educators Georgia Educational Research Association PUBLICATIONS: King, J. E., Goss, A. C., and McArthur, S. (2014). Recovering history and the “Parent Piece” for cultural well-being and belonging. In J. E. King & E. Swartz (Eds.), Re-Membering History in Student and Teacher Learning: An Afrocentric Culturally-Informed- Praxis. New York: Routledge. PRESENTATIONS: Muhammad, G. and McArthur, S. (2014, March). Adolescent girls’ interpretation of Black girlhood in the media. Paper presented at the Southeastern Women’s Studies Association Conference, Wilmington, North Carolina. McArthur, S. and Edwards, E. (2013, November). Hip-Hop: Bridging the gap between teachers and African American girls. Paper accepted at the National Association for Multicultural Education Conference, Oakland, California. Edwards, E. and McArthur, S. (2013, November). Using a hip hop pedagogy to bridge the gap between teachers and Black girls. Paper presented at the American Educational Studies Association Conference, Baltimore, Maryland. McArthur, S. (2013, November). Black girls, hip hop and parents. Paper presented at the American Educational Studies Association Conference, Baltimore, Maryland. King, J.E., Goss, A. and McArthur, S. (2012, April). Engaging parents in culturally authentic assessment of heritage knowledge and contextualized teaching for Black middle school parents. Panel presentation at the American Educational Research Association Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia. McArthur, S. (2011, October). Teacher, “If you don’t go, who will?” Paper presented at the Southeast Philosophical Education Society Conference, Atlanta, Georgia. McArthur, S. (2011, April). The value of lifelong learning. Paper presented at the Sources Conference, Atlanta, Georgia. McArthur, S. (2011, March). An exploration of the racialized-gender of Black girls in schools. Paper accepted at the Augusta State University Women’s Studies Conference, Augusta, Georgia. ABSTRACT BEYOND YOUR PERCEPTION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF BLACK PARENT-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS AND HIP HOP INFLUENCES ON ADOLESCENT GIRLS by Sherell A. McArthur This study is situated at the nexus of three bodies of literature and research and sought to contribute to all three: the socialization of Black girls, hip hop as a pedagogical tool and critical media literacy. My research explored how might the Black parent-daughter relationship serve as a vehicle by which the girls come to understand, submit to, and/or resist the stereotypical images prevalent in the hip-hop culture? I co-created a critical media literacy collective with high school, African American girls where we explored personal identity development in relationship to representations of African-American women in the media. It was through my interactions with the girls in this collective, named Beyond Your Perception (BYP). Through this collective, the primary data sources were qualitative interviews, focus groups, and documents. A thematic analysis revealed Black girls represent the dominant narratives within the cultural movement of hip hop by ascribing to cultural mores like fashion trends, hairstyles and language. They also consciously choose to resist the stereotypical imagery (e.g., loud, angry, sexually loose, etc.) and are able to compose powerful counter-narratives to the monolithic depictions of Black women in the media. By examining the data it was evident that parents engage with hip hop media by listening to the music and watching television shows and music videos, however the ways in which they engage their daughters in dialogue pertaining to the messages within hip hop media is sporadic and suggests the need for parents to become media literate. The implications of this study suggest the need for the creation of collaborative and emancipatory spaces for Black girls, media literacy education for parents, and culturally relevant pedagogy. BEYOND YOUR PERCEPTION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF BLACK PARENT-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS AND HIP HOP INFLUENCES ON ADOLESCENT GIRLS by Sherell A. McArthur A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Policy Studies in the Department of Educational Policy Studies in the College of Education Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 2014 Copyright by Sherell A. McArthur 2014 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation has truly taken a whole village of mentors, family, and friends in order to come to fruition. Much thanks to the department of Educational Policy Studies at Georgia State University for allowing me to serve as a GTA. HUGE thanks to the Alonzo A. Crim Center of Urban Educational Excellence for five years of support as a graduate student!