Submitted to the Faculty of the University Graduate School In
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THE ROLE OF BLACK CULTURAL ARTS EDUCATION IN STUDENT IDENTITY AFFIRMATION: A CASE STUDY OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTS INSTITUTE Gloria L. Howell Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Education, Indiana University October 2019 Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Doctoral Committee _____________________________________________ Lucy LePeau, Ph.D. _____________________________________________ Lori Patton Davis, Ph.D. _____________________________________________ Valerie Grim, Ph.D. _____________________________________________ Charles Sykes, Ph.D. July 25, 2019 ii To my ancestors, the strong Black women and men who paved the way and fought tirelessly for me to have this and so many other opportunities. Big Momma, Big Daddy, Aunt Gloria, and Uncle Brut – I dedicate this work to you. Your memory and legacy live on. I love you. Thank you. iii Acknowledgements First and foremost, I am thankful to God Almighty as my faith has sustained me not only throughout my doctoral program, but my entire life. I express sincere gratitude to my dissertation committee: my chair, Dr. Lucy LePeau, who would never let me give up on myself or my work. Through countless tears and moments of uncertainty, you consistently encouraged me. When I needed accountability, you gave it to me straight, and I thank you. Dr. Lori Patton Davis, thanks for encouraging me to do this work and follow my passion during the literature review course, and for inspiring me to be unapologetic in who I am as a Black woman scholar. To Dr. Valerie Grim, thanks for inspiring me in more ways than you know. Whether it was in class or at church, you always had something to say that came at just the right time for me. To Dr. Charles Sykes, thanks for treating me like family. I appreciate you for believing in me and my work and being such a valuable resource as I did my research. Working with you as a graduate assistant and as an intern with the Office of the Bicentennial were both wonderful experiences. Throughout my time in the IU HESA program, I have met some amazing scholars and friends. To Dr. Sarah Hurtado, we started this program together, and I can easily say that if it wasn’t for your friendship, your listening ear, your calmness and voice of reason, I would not have gotten this far. I have so much love for you, girl! Connie Skinner and Jihye Kwon, my HESA sisters, thank you for the laughs, support, and celebratory catch-up dates at Five Guys. Your friendship means the world to me. To my big brothers in HESA, Dr. Carl Darnell, Dr. Reginald Blockett, and Dr. J.T. Snipes, thanks for welcoming me with open arms and helping me transition. To my friend Autumn Harrell, thanks for radiating love and light and for the beautiful frame that has kept me focused on this journey. Black HESA, you are everything! Thanks for community and support. iv Several individuals have mentored me along the way: Valeria Beasley Ross, thank you for helping me discover my love for this field and giving me several opportunities to engage in student development with the Black Student Union and Gospel Choir at the University of Mississippi. Dr. Mignon Chinn, you were brilliant. Thank you for guiding me and being transparent at all times. You are truly missed. Dr. RoSusan Bartee, if it had not been for your push and encouragement, I would not have even applied to a doctoral program. Thanks for being in my corner. Dr. Christina Wright Fields, my big sis, thank you for challenging me and always giving me opportunities to grow as a scholar and researcher. Dr. Tyron Cooper, thanks for the pep talks, the raw truth, and for reminding me of God’s grace when I felt inadequate. Dr. Abegunde, you have a beautiful spirit. Thanks for keeping me grounded and reminding me to protect my peace, to dance, and to be happy. I appreciate you. I’ve met so many people during my time at Indiana University who have poured into me and easily become some of my closest friends and family: Marvin Q. Jones, Jr., thank you for being the big brother I always wanted but never had. You and I conquered so much together as students and as leaders of the Black Graduate Student Association. Your wisdom, your kindness, and your love are very much appreciated. Angel Nathan and Shanalee Gallimore, my P.A.C. sisters, I am a better person because of you. Thanks for the laughs, the trips, the meals, the support, and the love. What we have is the ultimate representation of lifelong friendship. I am so grateful for the both of you. I look forward to more adventures and building our brand as the best event planners around! (haha) My sista-scholars: Dr. Katrina “KO” Overby, Francesca Williamson, and Tiffany Campbell, I admire your drive, your strength, your scholarship, and your Black Girl Magic. You have influenced me not only as a scholar, but as a Black woman, in more ways than I can explain. I value your sisterhood. Quinton Stroud, thanks for your positive v energy, being my writing buddy, and for helping me see and embrace my Black Joy. You are a gift. To the Study Tour Gang, especially my sista-scholars Dr. Kim Jenkins, (very soon-to-be Drs.) Iantheia Calhoun, Jordan Lenton, and Manaswita Dutta, thanks for the accountability and for reminding me to celebrate every victory. We spent many days and nights at Crumble (thanks Laura, Kelly, David, Lindsey, and the crew!), the library, Runcible Spoon, the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, Butler Winery, Iantheia’s apartment (lol!), and many other places studying and writing. I love and am proud of each of you. To Tom Edelberg, we always ended up at Crumble at the same time, and you always encouraged me in this process. Also, thanks for the APA help! You’ve been a great colleague, and I look forward to cheering you on to the finish line! To my L.I.F.T. family, you all kept me grounded, prayed for me, and reminded me that “Greater is He that is in me, than He that is in the world.” I thank God for you. To Black in Bloom, you are my community. You exude so much Black excellence. My time in Bloomington would not have been the same without you. I am also very grateful for my AAAI family – my study participants including students, faculty, and administrators. Thank you for your support and your willingness to help me tell the AAAI story. I am forever indebted to you for sharing your artistic gifts and your personal narratives with me. Dr. Raymond Wise, Professor Iris Rosa, Dr. Lillian Dunlap, Dr. Mellonee Burnim, thank you for your knowledge, your prayers, your support, and your commitment to making the AAAI a transformative space for students and audiences around the world. Special thanks to Dr. Portia Maultsby for making time for me during her visits to Bloomington and sharing valuable insights that strengthened my work. To all of the students I was blessed to meet in the IU Soul Revue, the African American Dance Company, and the African American Choral Ensemble, thanks for inspiring me to do this work and for sharing your gifts with the world. vi Last but certainly not least, I thank my home team. This degree is for YOU. Everything that I am, and everything that I will be, is because of you. Momma, thanks for being my best friend, my toughest critic (outside of myself), my prayer warrior, and my biggest cheerleader. I love you more than you’ll ever know. You sacrificed so much for me to get to where I am today. I can never repay you, but I say thanks for all that you have done and will continue to do. Grandma, thanks for the laughs, recaps of the basketball games when I needed distractions and writing breaks, and home-cooked meals on my trips home. To my cousin Dr. Angela Savage: thanks for being one of my biggest inspirations. Kwan, thanks for your love, support, and patience, and for giving me all the coca-cola’s I wanted when I needed caffeine to stay awake and write (lol). To my aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, sorority sisters in Kappa Tau Omega and Theta Psi (especially Meagan, B. Tuggle, Lisa, Vernell, and Alex), mentors, former teachers, and church families in Mississippi, Bloomington, and Indianapolis, I love you and appreciate your investment and belief in my future. A special thank you to the Raleigh W. Holmstedt Fellowship for your generous support as I pursued my doctoral research. vii Gloria L. Howell THE ROLE OF BLACK CULTURAL ARTS EDUCATION IN STUDENT IDENTITY AFFIRMATION: A CASE STUDY OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTS INSTITUTE The purpose of this collective case study was to explore the ways in which cultural arts education is integrated into postsecondary classrooms and how that integration affirms Black students’ identities. I utilized the African American Arts Institute (AAAI), an entity housed on a predominately White Midwestern university campus that provides students opportunities to participate in performance ensembles for course credit, to showcase the importance of arts education centered in the Black tradition. The primary case, the AAAI, featured three embedded cases, the ensembles: IU Soul Revue, African American Choral Ensemble, and African American Dance Company. Broadly speaking, the arts in higher education contexts have not received the attention they deserve.