University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2010 I Am Not My Hair...Or Am I?: Exploring the Minority Swimming Gap Dawn M. Norwood University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the African American Studies Commons, Education Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, and the Sociology of Culture Commons Recommended Citation Norwood, Dawn M., "I Am Not My Hair...Or Am I?: Exploring the Minority Swimming Gap. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2010. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/835 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Dawn M. Norwood entitled "I Am Not My Hair...Or Am I?: Exploring the Minority Swimming Gap." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Exercise and Sport Sciences. Joy T. DeSensi, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Joy T. DeSensi, Steven N. Waller, Allison Anders, Leslee A. Fisher, Quiona Stephens Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Dawn M. Norwood entitled “I Am Not My Hair…Or Am I?: Exploring the Minority Swimming Gap”. I have examined the final electronic copy of this [dissertation or thesis] for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Exercise and Sport Sciences. ______________________________ Joy T. DeSensi We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Steven Waller Leslee A. Fisher Allison Anders Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original Signatures are on file with official student records.) I Am Not My Hair…Or Am I?: Exploring the Minority Swimming Gap A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree University of Tennessee, Knoxville Dawn Michelle Norwood August 2010 ii Copyright © 2010 by Dawn M. Norwood All rights reserved. iii DEDICATION I dedicate my work to my grandmother, Frances L. Yates, who was only able to go to school through the sixth grade but, in many respects, has wisdom that no formal education could ever offer. I admire her for being a great mother, grandmother, wife, accountant, entrepreneur, community leader, Christian, and overall, a genuinely sweet person. I also dedicate this dissertation to my grandfather, Curtis “Tom” Lee Yates, Sr., whom I never had the pleasure of meeting but am told I am like him in many respects. Education was extremely important to him and I hope I have made him proud. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “There, but for the grace of God, go I” – John Bradford There are so many people that I need to thank but cannot possibly name them all. First and foremost, I thank God for keeping me and bringing me through this process. There is no way I could have made it without His mercy and grace. I thank my father, Lonnie Norwood, Sr. for instilling in me a strong work ethic from an early age and planting the seed of education in me which is now in full bloom. The “street lawyer” is now legit…ha ha! There aren’t enough words to express how blessed and thankful I am to have my mother, Gloria Norwood. Mom, you are the absolute best mother for me. You are the epitome of unconditional love, patience, and strength. If I’m ever fortunate enough to be a mom, I will definitely take my cue from you. I’m getting closer to sending you on that cruise I’ve been promising to send you on since I was five…LOL. To my siblings, Danielle, Lonnie, Jr. and Lennie, you all are the best! I love each one of you. We have had some great laughs over the years and I pray there will be plenty more to come! Even though we are no longer living in the same state, there’s a special place in my heart for each of you that distance cannot erase. I definitely look forward to our future of “New Beginnings”…LOL. Thank you to my niece, Kaylah Wright, for being a constant of sunshine in my live. “Dr. Auntie” loves you! I also have awesome friends and extended family who have helped me along this journey. Uncle Kalvin, thanks for your love and support and the numerous bank deposits…LOL. Dinner is on me soon! Aunt Dorothy, thank you for ALWAYS v supporting me throughout my life and especially during this Ph.D. journey when things seemed dark and hopeless. I could not have made it without you. Thanks to my Godmother, Anne Spinks, for having a hand in raising me and always encouraging me. We’ve come a long way from the days of the “little green car”! Soon, I will have my ultimate “E-ward” to show you…ha ha! Thank you so much to my wonderful committee! You all made this process a lot smoother than I thought it would be. Dr. Joy T. DeSensi, thank you for being an awesome chair! How do you juggle so many things at once?! Dr. Steven Waller, thank you for being a great mentor to me. Your support and encouragement really helped me over the hump. I look forward to doing great research with you in the future. Dr. Quiona Stephens, my friend and soror, thank you for serving on my committee. You were needed in more ways than one. Thanks for your support and friendship over the years. Let’s crank out those articles. Is the world ready for the Black, Dr./Soror duo? Hmmm…I think not…LOL. To my sorors, Christi Culpepper, Rakisha Myers, Waynetta Rogers, and Myisha Dorsey, thank you for being great proofreaders and wonderful sisters. Soror Carmanelette Rawls and Soror Joycelyn Perry, I love you two! Thank you for being so supportive of me through my ups and downs, and most of all, thank you for bringing me into the sisterhood. Nature walk, anyone??...LOL And finally, to everyone else that I can think of who has touched my life in some way and helped me to accomplish this goal: Shamekia Noel – I actually stayed awake long enough to get this degree…LOL, Kenya Brownlee – true friends like you are hard to vi come by, JoAnne Paul, Dr. S. R. Hill – Thank God, ‘nough said!...LOL, Tracia Cloud, Chutney Walton, Helena Wyche – don’t forget July 19 th is OUR Independence Day…LOL, Demetrius Richmond, Chrissy Hannon-Richmond, Ferlin McGaskey, Dr. Bryan Patterson, Dr. Jane Redmond, Uncle Howard, Uncle Robert, Ernest and Persephone Jones, Terra Gay, Morena Lamothe – you helped me through some dark times and I love you for that!, Mrs. Lettie Robinson – rest in peace, Jamia Stokes, Ellie Odenheimer, Denelle Brown, Chaquina Parker, Tanisha Jenkins, Terry Lilly – “Daily I strive, daily I strive!”, Dr. Kay B. Forest and everyone else I may have forgotten. I’m sorry but I just can’t remember everyone right now. Charge it to my head and not my heart. vii ABSTRACT A review of literature has revealed a dearth of research on leisure swimming patterns of Black females. Black youth, both male and female, have a higher rate of drowning than any other racial/ethnic group in the United States (“Water related injuries: Fact sheet”, 2005). Two known studies produced by (Irwin et al., 2009; 2010) examining hair as a constraint to swimming for African American youth produced conflicting results. In order to comprehensively examine hair as a constraint to African American female participation in swimming, the current study adopted a qualitative approach which allowed exploration of the cultural background and experiences of the participants enrolled in a required swimming class at Yates University (this is a pseudonym used throughout this research). The following research questions guided the study (a) How does hair influence swimming participation choices of Black females and (b) What is the self-reported degree of difficulty in the constraints negotiation process for Black females who do swim? The major finding is that hair acts as a constraint to swimming for participants of this study, but participants offered ways of negotiating this constraint to still be active participants in swimming. Keywords/terms : Black, African American, female, minority swimming gap, leisure constraints, Black hair viii TABLE OF CONTENTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I INTRODUCTION………………………………………………… 1 Statement of Problem…………………………………….. 4 Purpose……………………………………………………. 5 Operational Definitions…………………………………… 6 Assumptions of the Study………………………………… 8 Limitations and Delimitations…………………………….. 8 Significance of Study……………………………………… 9 II REVIEW OF LITERATURE……………………………………… 11 Introduction………………………………………………… 11 Identity…………………………………………………….. 11 Swimming Participation and Drowning…………………… 32 Cardiovascular Health and Swimming…………………… 41 Understanding the Roots of Black Hair……………………. 44 Theoretical Framework…………………………………….. 49 Constraints Negotiation……………………………………. 64 Evolving Constraints Research…………………………….. 66 III RESEARCH METHOD & DESIGN……………………………… 68 Methods…………………………………………………… 77 Data Collection……………………………………………. 82 IV RESULTS & DISCUSSION………………………………………. 89 Observational Notes………………………………………. 89 Semi-Structured Interviews……………………………….. 95 Analyses from Qualitative Review Group………………… 125 Summary…………………………………………………… 125 V CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS…..…………………. 127 REFERENCES….………………………………………………… ……… 135 APPENDIX A……………………………………………………………… 148 APPENDIX B……………………………………………………………… 149 APPENDIX C……………………………………………………………… 150 ix APPENDIX D……………………………………………………………… 151 APPENDIX E……………………………………………………………….