TRANSFORMATIVE BLACKNESS: TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP IN TRAVERSING SPACE IN SEARCH OF BLACK QUEER COOL A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Education Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Degree of Doctor of Education By Tiffany D. Wilkins Dissertation Draft Please Do Not Cite or Reproduce without Permission of the Author July 2014 Copyright by Tiffany D. Wilkins 2014 ii DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION PROFESSIONAL DOCTORATE IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) Presented by: Tiffany Denise Wilkins B.A., English, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 1994 M.A., Teaching of English, Teachers College Columbia University, NY, 1997 July 17, 2014 TRANSFORMATIVE BLACKNESS: TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP IN TRAVERSING SPACE IN SEARCH OF BLACK QUEER COOL ________________________________________, Chair Gretchen Givens Generett, Ph.D. Associate Professor/Associate Dean, Department of Educational Foundations & Leadership and Director, UCEA Center for Educational Leadership & Social Justice Duquesne University _______________________________________, Member Rick R. McCown, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Educational Foundations & Leadership and Director, Professional Doctorate in Educational Leadership Program Duquesne University _______________________________________, Member Mary Beth Gasman, Ph.D. Professor, Higher Education Division/Director, Center for the Study of Minority Serving Institutions University of Pennsylvania iii _____________________________________________, External Reader Timothy L. Smith, Sr. Pastor, Keystone Church of Hazelwood Founder/CEO, Center of Life Community Empowerment Program Director Rick R. McCown, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Educational Foundations Leadership and Director, Professional Doctorate in Educational Leadership Program Duquesne University School of Education iv ABSTRACT TRANSFORMATIVE BLACKNESS: TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP IN TRAVERSING SPACE IN SEARCH OF BLACK QUEER COOL By Tiffany D. Wilkins July, 2014 Dissertation Supervised by Dr. Gretchen Generett This project is a portraiture case study that investigates how African American educational systems became systems of oppression faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) 1youth of color. The experience of an aspiring leader who identifies as African American, lesbian, and gender 2non-conforming encountering intersecting systems of oppression surrounding race, class, sexuality and gender presentation is a representative case. This experience reveals critical instances of parallel issues confronted by LGBTQ youth of color in predominantly Black secondary schools and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), consequently unprepared and obstructed from higher education access. 1 Though the phrase “youth of color” is often used to cover the wide range of non-European/Caucasian racial and ethnic backgrounds, for the purposes of this project the phrase is used specifically to refer to African American (Black) kids, youth and students. 2 Dixon, Jindasurat, and Tobar (2012) refer to a gender non-conforming person as one whose gender expression is different from the societal expectations based on their assigned sex at birth. This term can refer to a person’s gender identity or gender role and refers to someone who falls outside or transcends what is considered to be traditional gender norms for their assigned sex. Hate Violence Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and HIV- affected Communities In the United States in 2011. New York: Report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. Retrieved from http://www.avp.org/storage/documents/Reports/2012_NCAVP_2011_HV_Report.pdf April 1, 2014. v I sketched themes and recreated images with words to interpret meaning behind observations and insights. I narrated my reality of events, examined an interview, collected and traced events, interpretations, behaviors, and words from schooling experiences to study converging themes and relationships. Additionally, I found that my narrated experiences, the physical documents, and interview refuted my speculations, and at times confirmed misperceptions both on my part and those I interacted with. These approaches complemented each other in a synthesis of outcomes for LGBTQ youth of color. Insights resulting from this retrospective portraiture case study included the value of scholarly inquiry into “lived experience” that reflects the reality of others guiding future engagement; this was key in discovering my role and identity as a leader, and in challenging myself to recognize my own positionality and privilege. Key phrases and concepts illuminated a shared experience of battling a “degenerating sense of nobodiness” (King, n.d.), in multiple constructions of exclusion, isolation and oppression; an ongoing transformation in the “Process of Becoming” (Lyle, 2009). Each stage was part of a process of systemic inquiry into epistemology for insight behind constructs, evoking reflection, redefining agency. Interconnectedness is the final stage of being in deviant resistance, mobilized to act, teach and model for others. vi DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my late mother Alice Louise Wilkins aka “Ms. Alice” the writer of the family. In 2010, her homecoming began this journey for her, because of her. When I came out to you, queer, gender non-conforming, androgynous and all, you loved me, were always proud of me, and proud to be my Mom. Thank you, Ma, for being the origin of my “cool” the beginning of my story. Now I can finish yours. Tamara, my dearest friend and family. For 18 years of unconditional love and support that got me here and saw me through. You always believed even when I struggled to. Your friendship and love was what I wished for as a little girl reading Frog and Toad stories To the Oglesby family and our matriarch, my Grandmother, the late Geneva Oglesby. For breathing history into my blackness. vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I acknowledge Dr. Gretchen Generett for her unwavering confidence in my ability to write, teach, research and lead. Each year she challenged me with the question, “What kind of leader do you want to be?” Her guidance and faith was the model for my answer. Dr. Rick McCown, the second best man I know next to my stepdad; for his shoulder to cry on, his “kid tie” to wear, his undivided and often time sensitive (vivid pictures of this caped hero running through the airport with suitcase and coat in hand to catch flights to present ProDEL while texting/emailing instructions, answers, suggestions to me) attention and guidance in listening to my story; teaching me how to write it as portraiture, and why I needed to share it. His kindness is how I believe that every person I met and engaged in Pittsburgh is inherently good even when they continued to demonstrate otherwise. I would not have completed this program without these two amazing individuals, my scholarly lifelines and literal “foot in my tail”. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract…………………………………………………………………………...………….…v Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………vii Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………………………...viii List of Figures………………………………………………………………………………xi List of Tables………………………………………………..………………………………xii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………..……………..14 Background………………………………………………………………………..……...…16 Statement of Problem…………………….…………………………………………..……...17 Purpose of Study and Research Questions…….……………………………………….....…22 Significance of Study……………………………………………………………………..…23 CHAPTER II: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW INRODUCTION….………………………………………….……………………………...24 Blackness…………………………………………………….……………………………....27 Blackness as a Construct (Modern & Past)…………………………..……………………...30 Educated by “Blackness”: Context of Education in the Construct of Blackness Lessons in School Parallel to Lessons of Survival in the Construct..……………………………………………......33 CHAPTER III: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW INTRODUCTION…….................................................................................................................38 Derrick Bell: Critical Race Theory, Interest Convergence and Black Education….…….….38 African American Educational Leadership………………………………..………………….…43 The Black Queer Theory Challenge to the African American Educational Leader………....48 ix Institutional Critical Spirituality of the Black Church in African American Leadership ………………………………………………………………………………………..….....52 Spirituality vs. Religion the “Smack Down”: LGBTQ Youth of Color Causalities of African American Educational Leadership Internal Conflict…………………….…………………57 Deteriorating Institutional Critical Theory in African American Leadership…..………….59 The Update and Acceptance of the Challenge in African American Educational Leadership ……………………………………………………………………………………………...62 African American Cultural Institutions…………………………………..….…………………68 Institutional Intersectionality…………………………………………….…………………70 The Institution of the Black Family: To Be or Not to Be……………..……………………73 The Institution of Black Womanhood and Manhood: Woman, Man or Muffdiver? Man or Pussy? ...……………………………………………………………………………………77 The Damage of Root Shock in African American Cultural Institutions…………………....81 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS & LITERATURE REVIEW A Future in Root Shock for LGBT Youth of Color………………….……………………..93 Deviant Resistance and Autonomy as a Means of Survival………………………………..100 African American Mazeways: Schools, Churches,