Erasing Invisibility, Inequity and Social Injustice of Africans in the Diaspora and the Continent [1 ed.] 9781527504165, 9781443894975

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Erasing Invisibility, Inequity and Social Injustice of Africans in the Diaspora and the Continent

Erasing Invisibility, Inequity and Social Injustice of Africans in the Diaspora and the Continent Edited by

Omiunota N. Ukpokodu and Peter Otiato Ojiambo

Erasing Invisibility, Inequity and Social Injustice of Africans in the Diaspora and the Continent Edited by Omiunota N. Ukpokodu and Peter Otiato Ojiambo This book first published 2017 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2017 by Omiunota N. Ukpokodu, Peter Otiato Ojiambo and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-9497-4 ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-9497-5

On behalf of the International Association of African Educators (IAAE), the editors would like to dedicate this book project to our beloved and dedicated IAAE board member, newsletter editor, and parliamentarian, Dr. David Mburu, who passed away in October 2016. We thank him for inspiring us and modeling humility and grace for us all. He is deeply missed!



CONTENTS

List of Figures and Tables .......................................................................... ix Foreword ..................................................................................................... x African Immigrants and the Yearn for Visibility Peter I Ukpokodu Acknowledgements ................................................................................. xvii Introduction ............................................................................................ xviii Toward Erasing Invisibility of Africans Omiunota N. Ukpokodu and Peter Otiato Ojiambo Part 1: Contextualizing Educational Scholarship from the Diaspora 1 ................................................................................................................... 2 Perspectives of African Immigrant Parents on U.S. PK-12 School System Omiunota N. Ukpokodu 2 ................................................................................................................. 30 Sub-Saharan Immigrant Parents’ Knowledge and Perceptions about Their Children’s Special Education Services Margaret Khumbah Mbeseha 3 ................................................................................................................. 56 The Struggles of Invisibility: Perception and Treatment of African students in the United States Mercy Agyepong 4 ................................................................................................................. 76 Understanding the Educational and Social Experiences of African-Born Immigrant Students in an Urban School Environment Alex Kumi-Yeboah, Linda Tsevi, Gordon Brobbey, and Patriann Smith

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Part 2: Africans Negotiating Transnational Spaces 5 ............................................................................................................... 102 Identity and Positionality: African immigrants in Transcultural Spaces Omiunota N. Ukpokodu 6 ............................................................................................................... 131 The Changing Gender Roles: African Diasporic Masculinity Redefined and Negotiated David N. Mburu Part 3: Contextualizing Educational Scholarship from the African Continent 7 ............................................................................................................... 154 African Indigenous Education: The Case of South Africa  Zandile P. Nkabinde 8 ............................................................................................................... 186 Examining Kenya’s Secondary School Education: The Work of Edward Carey Francis at Maseno School, 1928-1940 Peter Otiato Ojiambo 9 ............................................................................................................... 214 Education for a Robust Socio-economic and Political Transformation of Africa: Rethinking Classroom Spaces in K-12 Schools Michael Ndemanu 10 ............................................................................................................. 238 Education and Empowerment: A School Good Enough for the Richest and Open to the Poorest Teresa Wasonga 11 ............................................................................................................. 263 Conclusion: New Framings of Collective Future: Reflections on the Possibilities of an International Association of African Educators George J. Sefa Dei Contributors ............................................................................................. 289

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figures 9.1a Row –Style Seating ........................................................................ 222 9.1b Row-style seating, a private elementary school in Cameroon ......... 223 9.2 U-shape-style seating ........................................................................ 224 9.3 Cluster Seating .................................................................................. 225 9.4 Rug-style Seating .............................................................................. 226

Tables 2.1 Overview of Questions, Methods, and Results .................................... 39 2.2 Categories and Key Expressions under Limited Knowledge base....... 41 2.3 Categories and Key Expressions under Personal Growth .................... 44 2.4 Categories and Key Expressions under Challenges/Difficulties.......... 46



FOREWORD AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS AND THE YEARN FOR VISIBILITY PETER I. UKPOKODU

In political rhetoric and campaign engineering, the Age of Trump— Donald J. Trump, the new president of the US that is—may very well be the age of aggressive nationalism, of flag-waving patriotism and of the rise of political ultra-conservativism. It seems to be an anti-immigrant, antiimmigration age that advocates wall-building across the US Southern borders to ward off immigrants from Mexico and Latin America, the opening of a national registry of Muslims, and the halt to potential immigrants from a certain region of the world entering the United States of America. In pursuit of executing the Trump campaign motto of “Make America Great Again,” the Age of Trump could be the age of insularity in America, of a trade war with China and Mexico, and perhaps a new arms race. Some impatient critics and philosophers have also referred to it as a “post-truth” era in which truth is no longer the conformity of the intellect with reality but a figment of one’s imagination, and the line demarcating truth from lie is blurred. But the age of Trump is better understood within antecedent world events in which Britain seceded from the European Union, a “Brexit”, as it came to be known, that the irrepressible and vociferous Nigel Farage, one of the aggressive champions of Great Britain’s exit from the European Union, proclaimed unwittingly in the euphoria of victory as British Independence Day. Brexit, in a way, was an anti-immigrant, anti-immigration referendum. It came in the wake of an exodus of emigrants from the Middle East and Africa to Europe through the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, turning those seas into one massive marine graveyard of immense depth and making the lucky survivors the most wretched immigrants on earth. Brexit was the answer to this human surge from a timorous, not a xenophobic, Britain. Great Britain, from where citizens migrated to all corners of the

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earth establishing the British Empire and the British Commonwealth of Nations that came in the wake of the empire, was now afraid of immigrants. When Trump made his political entrance, it was on the altar of anti-immigrant, anti-immigration sentiment. Not even the Roman Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis, was spared from Trump’s attack when he gave a personal moral opinion, not speaking ex-cathedra, that the world is better off with building bridges rather than erecting impenetrable walls at the borders. With world politics so out of joint and anti-immigrant rage in the US quite feverish, what then in the world--let me rephrase this since we are at the dawn of Trumpism where politically-correct language is under assault-what the hell is propelling the International Association of African Educators (IAAE) most of whose members are African immigrants of all races and their descendants, to flaunt its intellectual power and international aspirations to write the book, Erasing Invisibility, Inequity, and Social Injustice of Africans in the Diaspora and the Continent (henceforth referred to simply in its shorter rendition as Erasing Invisibility…). What collective brain tumor, what incubuses or the prodding of demons would make the editors and contributing authors of the book to write about Africans and their experiences at this inauspicious time in American history? Have the authors forgotten that the gestation of the Age of Trump may well be traced to the Obama presidency when Trump told the baffled world that Barack Obama, the first US President of African-American descent, was born in Africa, perhaps an African and, therefore, not qualified to be an American President? Even when President Obama showed his birth certificate to the world, Trump remained unconvinced. The logical conclusion, even if the major premise is erroneous, is that Obama is an African immigrant in the US and at best a naturalized citizen of the US. A naturalized citizen cannot be an American president. With the mounting rage and deafening clamor over immigrants and immigration that have not spared even a seating president from corrosive verbal albeit fallacious attacks, is this not bad timing for a book of this nature that raises the visibility of African immigrants? There is only one answer to these seemingly rhetorical questions: it is the call of Sankofa or “the anguish of severance”—to borrow a phrase from Wole Soyinka. Herein lie the importance and the relevance of Erasing Invisibility… And if a book is ever timely, it is this book written mostly by immigrants about the educational, cultural, and social experiences of African immigrants in the diaspora and of Africans in the continent.

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Sankofa is the Akan (Ghanaian) word that exhorts an African, perhaps it could apply to anyone, to go back to the ancestral, historical, and cultural roots and sources physically, spiritually, and/or mentally. It renders void the concept of expatriate or expatriation--the permanent selfexile or withdrawal of one from his or her land of birth and citizenship and from allegiance to it. Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian Nobel Laureate for Literature, may have raised this concept to a metaphysical and inescapable level in his theorizing of the separation of deities from humans and the indescribable psychic and spiritual deep yearning by one for the other (deities and humans, that is) as “the anguish of severance.” That irresistible response to restore one’s severed nature in order to have a harmonious and complete self-propelled Ogun, the Yoruba god of iron, steel, metal and war, to create a bridge across primordial chaos to essentially reunite the heavens and the earth, the divinities and the humans. Many African luminaries have felt the anguish of severance. While living in the West, Soyinka responded to it by helping Nigeria find its way back to true democracy after many years of successive military dictatorial regimes. Chinua Achebe, just before his death in the US where he had lived for many years, returned to his anguish about the Nigerian civil war in his memoir- cum-autobiography, There was a Country. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, while living in English-speaking Western world, departed from his usual practice of creative and critical writing in English to writing first in Gikuyu or Kiswahili before translating the work in English. His primary argument is one of allegiance to Africa, of placing the Gikuyu and Kiswahili languages on a pedestal among other world languages because language primarily carries and affirms a people’s culture. Ali Mazrui’s manifestation of that pain of separation was in his monumental nine-part documentary series and the accompanying book, The Africans: A Triple Heritage. Like these eminent scholars, Omiunota Nelly Ukpokodu may have felt the anguish of severance, the pain of separation from Africa and the invisibility and isolation in her new “home”—the U.S.—when she founded the IAAE. It is the same feeling then, expressed collectively, that materialized itself in the inaugural conference of the IAAE from which the book, Erasing Invisibility…, has emerged as an external concretization of the members’ internal disposition towards the continent of their origin. Whether the departure to the diaspora was forced or voluntary, these Africans have two homes, two nations—the native land that gave birth to them and the host country that has given them habitation and has enabled them to grow new roots and stability, no matter the process they have gone through—sometimes seemingly hostile and inimical, at others confusingly

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amicable and amiable. In their relative peace, stability and success in the host country, they have heard the silent call of their native land. In periods when they felt the pangs of social invisibility and marginalization, the call to come home has become louder and urgent, almost impossible to resist because of its seeming incessancy and stridence. These African immigrants and transnationals have responded to this call mainly in two forms—in material (mostly pecuniary) and social remittances. The chapters in Erasing Invisibility... reveal the fulfilment by authors of one or both of these remittances. Material remittance to Africa is often pecuniary. African immigrants remit billions of dollars annually mostly to their respective African nations. They also send books, equipments, computers, and electronic software, among other things. As exemplified in Jane Adeny Memorial School in Kenya where an all-girls’ boarding school experiments with, and implements, new ideas of educating young females, an IAAE member and chapter contributor, Teresa Wasonga, has joined forces with a charitable organization to erect a model school that aspires to merge intellectual training with preparing students for a sustainable practical economic achievement. In this way, Jane Adeny Memorial School prepares its students towards an immediate contribution to Kenya’s economy and the students’ own economic survival, independence, self-fulfillment and empowerment. Thus, even though it may be true that some immigrants may have left their poorer and less developed countries in Africa to seek fame and fortune, self-fulfillment and self-worth in Western countries, their successes in the diaspora have shed light on their altruistic spirit that belies the selfishness and egotism that some caustic critics and detractors in some African countries have heaped on them. The book itself and the ideas behind the formation of the IAAE as an organization visibly manifest the social remittance by African educators to the homeland and to their host country. As educators, immigrants also export ideas, attitudes, skills and beliefs from abroad to their native countries. In the age of social media, the exchange of influential ideas has become easier than in any other generation, through letters, postcards, photographs, cell phones, Skype, emails, blogs, facebook, twitter, Instagram, I-pads, computers, artworks, music and whatever the ubiquitous internet permits. As in the case of Jane Adeny Memorial School, when some immigrant educators seize available opportunities (such as those offered by the Carnegie Foundation African Diaspora Program, the Fulbright, the university sabbatical leave system, Federal grants, and non-profit organizations) to return to Africa to teach or carry

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out research for a defined period, they transfer skills, ideas, and technology to Africa. Erasing Invisibility… itself is linking its members abroad with their African counterparts, thus facilitating and improving the exchange of educational information, innovation, and general communication. But the engagement in social remittance is not a one-way affair. There is also a flow of cultural influence from Africa to the Western world through social media and when immigrants return to the diaspora after a short-term or prolonged stay in Africa or when Africans visit relatives and friends abroad, spend a sabbatical leave in the West, or are sponsored by governments and other bodies for some training abroad. Omiunota N. Ukpokodu’s chapter on immigrant students and their families is a testimony to the contribution of immigrants to the education and professional development of American educators. Among other things, it directs a searchlight on the issues and challenges that African immigrant students and families in the US Pre-kindergarten through 12thgrade education grapple with. These challenges may affect their academic achievement and effective social integration. Let it be known that African immigrant educators in America improve the intellectual growth and the social wellbeing of all students and their communities of residence. They are also cultural purveyors who enhance America’s taste and knowledge of, at least, some aspects of global culture, and certainly of African cultures. The book also makes visible the trauma that Africans in the Diaspora go through as they come face-to-face with the American way of life. In an elegiac and contemplative manner, David Mburu lays bare the confusion that immigrant families confront in Western nations, especially the transformation of gender roles in the family and the legal system. His is also, on the one hand, a nostalgic feeling for the “good” old days that used to be in an African country, when male primacy was recognized, upheld and beyond interrogation, the days when men were men, and on the other hand, a lamentation that the Western ideas and practices of gender equality have turned the world upside down for the African male in America and to some extent, in most regions of post-colonial Africa. Mburu is thus the audacious voice snickering at the stultified and timorous African male immigrant disenfranchised from male dominance (perhaps dominion?) by the pugnacious and belligerent African female immigrant in “conspiracy” with the Western legal system. For those uncharitable critics prone to irascibility who may want to dismiss this as hogwash and poppycock emanating from the dreams and splendid isolation of a lotus-eater, do I need to remind you that this is the Age of Trump? As Mburu points out,

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families of Africans in the Diaspora are experiencing the waning of the authoritative family patriarch and this trauma has led to family pains and separations, and divorces for those who could not reconcile the differing and transitional ways of life from the African to the Western. Mburu did not live long enough to see if his recommendation—that would-be African immigrants seek counseling before migrating to the West—would be heeded, and what the social outcome would be. In October 2016, the mildmannered, self-effacing Mburu embarked on another migration, this time the ultimate one, to the ancestral world. Erasing Invisibility… gives voice to the challenges that African immigrants, both young and old, have to contend with in the diaspora. The immigrants have left their native countries for the US or other Western countries they had imagined would hold answers to their quest for personal, economic, social and intellectual fulfillment, where they thought they would be received and treated humanely and equitably. Unfortunately, many experience shattered dreams as their quest for cultural affirmation, educational excellence and achievement remains a chimera. The book’s import is its belief that the problems African immigrants face in their transnational and transmigrant spaces must be recognized so that educators, counselors, policymakers and social service workers will become more informed and positioned to provide relevant and responsive services that would effectively nurture and support African immigrant students and families in their academic development and social integration in their new homes. When African immigrant students and their families receive necessary and meaningful support, they will be able to unleash the creative and intellectual energies that had hitherto laid fallow and dormant, and their achievements will become visible and recognizable. The IAAE and Erasing Invisibility…have brought public focus on the issues and challenges of African immigrants, as well as indigenous epistemic matters and pedagogical practices in African education that have proven to be excellent and durable and, therefore, exemplary for education in the Western world. The visibility the book and its authors engender is intended to inspire others to tell their stories, to find keys to doors that have been locked, to open windows that have been shut to let in fresh air and fresh insight, to break intellectual shackles that had kept them earthbound and to soar into space, and from that height lift up their colleagues, students and families in Africa and its diaspora. The book and the IAAE seek to create an environment where transnational and continental African educators can collaborate and learn from one another. That way, they share from best practices that have been made visible, and

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the educators are energized to hone their craft instead of suffering from debilitating isolation and academic ennui.

References Achebe, C. (2012). There was a country. New York: Penguin Press. Falola, T., & Adebayo, O. (Eds.) (2017). The new African diaspora in the United States. New York: Routledge. Mazrui, A. (1986). The Africans: A triple heritage. Boston: Little and Brown. Soyinka, W. (1969). The fourth stage. In D.W. Jefferson (Ed). The morality of Art. London Routledge and Kegan Paul. —. (1993). Art, dialogue, and outrage. New York: Pantheon Books. Thiong’o, Ngugi wa. (1989). Matigari mu njiruungi. Translated from Gikuyu by Wangui wa Goro. Oxford: Heinemann International. Ukpokodu, O. N. & Ukpokodu, P. (Eds.) (2012). Contemporary voices from the margin: African educators on African and American education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This edited book developed from the dedication of individuals who participated in the historic, inaugural conference of the International Association of African Educators (IAAE), and responded to our call for chapters. This book would not have been possible without their commitment to issues of equity, educational excellence, and social justice of Africans in the diaspora and the continent. We thank them for their hard work, timely and excellent contributions and willingness to generously share their work with us, thus making this book project a reality. We are grateful for their constructive spirit of collaboration, inspiration, insights and leading the way toward erasing the invisibility of Africans on the world stage. We also would like to express our deepest gratitude to Professor Peter I. Ukpokodu for graciously accepting to write the foreword of this book at a short notice. We greatly appreciate his sacrifice of time, commitment, diligent reading, professional skill and rigor in the editing of the manuscript. Finally, we are grateful to Cambridge Scholars Publishing for reaching out to us and giving us the opportunity to undertake this project. In particular, we thank the editors for their support, patience and guidance in the successful production of the book.

INTRODUCTION TOWARD ERASING INVISIBILITY OF AFRICANS OMIUNOTA N. UKPOKODU AND PETER OTIATO OJIAMBO

African immigrants have been described as the most educationally accomplished immigrant group in Western nations such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada (American Community Survey, 2009; Boyd, 2002; Cross, 1994; Dustmann and Theodoropoulos, 2006). Despite this acclamation and the fact that the African immigrant population is increasing in many Western countries, little is known about their experiences and the contributions they make toward the advancement of their communities, particularly, the challenges and issues they face in the larger society and institutions of learning. Negative images and narratives about Africa as the “Dark Continent” remain prevalent. An emerging body of research shows that African immigrant educators, students, and families are homogenized, marginalized, and ignored in Western institutions of learning across all levels (Arthur, 2000, 2010; Obiakor, Grant & Obi, 2010; Traore & Lukens, 2006; Ukpokodu, 2013). These scholars show that African immigrant educators, students and families are an invisible and silent minority within their transnational spaces and P-20 institutions. This book, Erasing Invisibility, Inequity, and Social Injustice of Africans in the Diaspora and the Continent, originated from the first Conference of the International Association of African Educators (IAAE) held in September 2015, at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. The forum served as a scholarly inaugural conference of the association. The title of the book was culled from the theme of the conference and the fundamental objectives that underlined the formation of the association. IAAE was conceptualized as a space where scholars and practitioners work on critical issues related to Africans in the diaspora and homeland. The organization’s aim is to create a forum where visibility could be given

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to the scholarship on Africa and African immigrants and their contributions to the academe. Through this exploration of the state and experience of African education both on the continent and in the diaspora, the authors present an optimistic view that despite many obstacles and challenges, the scholarship field of African education has promising prospects as attested by the growing scholarship and discussions on the same in the last decade. The papers in this book reflect and illuminate the stories of the contributors who speak loudly to the forms of invisibility and marginalization of African immigrants. The editors and contributing authors of the book engage the reader in understanding critical issues in African scholarship both on the continent and in the diaspora that have been marginalized, unexamined and under-researched and propose ways to make them visible. The contributors have imagined and reimagined African and African immigrants’ educational scholarship in light of the issues and challenges that have been witnessed scholarly and experientially in this regard. The book consists of eleven chapters conceptualized around three central thematic areas. The first part, entitled contextualizing educational scholarship from the diaspora, consists of four chapters that unpack African immigrants’ educational and institutional experiences in the U.S., perspectives of African immigrant parents and families and their experiences with regard to their children’s education in U.S. Pk-12 schools; struggles and treatment of African immigrant students in U.S schools and their perceptions of educational and social experiences. Part two, Africans negotiating transnational spaces, with two chapters, focuses on identity and shifting positionalities and the redefinition and negotiation of African Diasporic masculinity. The third part, contextualizing educational scholarship from the African continent, consists of four chapters and engages critical, under-researched areas in African education that are vital in advancing the role of education to the future of the African continent in several spheres. This part demonstrates the vitality of IAAE; the critical and central role that African educators have played in nation building and as a catalyst for social, political and economic change; the effects of a transformative girl-child education and the potential it has for Africa’s national development; and the role of indigenous education in democratizing education at all levels, primary, secondary and tertiary and the pathway to transforming pedagogical practices in African schools. In the following we provide brief overview of each chapter. Chapter 1, by Omiunota Ukpokodu, presents the perspectives of African immigrant parents regarding their children’s educational experiences in U.S. Pk-12 schools. The chapter reveals that while some

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African immigrant families express appreciation for, and some satisfaction with, their children’s education and schooling in U.S. schools, overwhelmingly, they report significant challenges that relate to marginalization, lack of cultural responsiveness and sensitivity, and inequitable practices and policies that adversely affect their children’s educational development and success. The chapter discusses critical implications and suggestions for improving African immigrant families’ experiences with schools and their children’s quality of education and schooling. It seeks to contribute to the limited research on African immigrant parents and families and their experiences in relation to their children’s education in U.S. Pk-12 schools. In chapter 2, Margaret Mbeshena, presents a phenomenological study that explores Sub-Saharan African (SSA) immigrant parents’ knowledge and perceptions about the special education services their children with disabilities receive in some U.S. schools. The findings of the study support the research on the challenges immigrant parents of students with disabilities face during their involvement in the special education process in the schools. Results from the data analysis in the chapter indicate that the SSA immigrant parents of children with disabilities start off in U. S. schools with little or no knowledge about disability, their children’s special education services, and their role expectations in the special education provision process. The chapter notes however, that SSA immigrant parents gain a lot of awareness and knowledge after a couple of years in the system through their own personal efforts of educating themselves, and making sense of the educational differences between the U.S. and their home countries. The chapter provides insights into the disconnect that exists between policies and the implementation of special education programs in the U.S. It gives suggestions on how to implement effective practices that underpin educational excellence for SSA immigrant students with disabilities in the U. S. school systems that are vital in addressing inequities related to social justice and equality in special education. Mercy Agyepong explores the perception and treatment of African students in American schools in chapter 3. The chapter argues that, despite the large increase in the population of African immigrant children and adults in the United States within the past four decades, not much is known about their educational experiences and academic achievement. Moreover, due to their continent of origin and racial make-up, Black African students are placed under, and forced to adopt, a pan-African and a Black racial identity, two identity categories that are viewed as

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homogeneous in the U.S, thus further making Black African students invisible. The chapter examines the emerging literature that has developed in this area in recent years that seeks to expose the schooling experiences of this burgeoning population. By focusing exclusively on the experiences endured in U.S. K-12 schools by African immigrant students, the literature review examined in the chapter brings to afore ways in which African students are perceived and treated in school by teachers, administrators, and peers and how these experiences impact their educational realities. The reviewed literature in the chapter offers implications for educators and researchers for the inclusion and understanding of the educational experiences of African immigrant students. The chapter strives to erase the invisibility of African students by bringing to light the needs of a linguistically and culturally underrepresented group that is often overlooked in the research and discourse surrounding immigrant and nonimmigrant students' educational experiences in the United States. In chapter 4, Alex Kumi-Yeboah, Linda Tsevi, Gordon Brobbey and Patriann Smith discuss the educational and social experiences of Africanborn immigrant students in an urban high school environment in the U.S. Using analyses drawn from in-depth interviews and observational data, the authors examine voices and perspectives, the nuances, and academic journey of African-born immigrant students as they relate to their teachers, fellow students, and their academic engagement and achievement, and how they are fostered by the school context. In their findings, the authors note that African-born immigrant students experience acculturation and psychological stress, cultural and language discrimination, stereotyping, differential experiences, differential relationships with teachers, peers, and school environment, and different parental support. Their findings are expected to help teachers, educators, and policy makers understand the educational and social experiences that African-born immigrant youth go through as part of their efforts to achieve equity and educational excellence in American schools. Omiunota Ukpokodu addresses the issues of identity and shifting positionalities of African-born Americans and their claim to the African American identity in chapter 5. The chapter underscores that African-born Americans have been questioned, challenged, harassed, denounced, vilified, and explicitly told not to identify as African American because the African American identity belongs to historically Black, native-born Americans. Drawing from emerging interdisciplinary research in the field, personal experiences and perspectives, the chapter explores the following questions: Who can claim the right to the African American identity or

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label? What are the issues, challenges, and consequences of African-born Americans claiming the African American identity? By and large, the chapter discusses issues of identity and recognition and the space one occupies or is “assigned” in his/her new space of identity. In particular, it illuminates issues and challenges African-born Americans experience in transcultural, transnational and transmigrant spaces. It calls for creative resolutions that will erase their invisibility and ensure their humanity, dignity, and social justice in the education field. In chapter 6, David Mburu examines the changing gender roles of Africans when they migrate to the Western world. He argues that when Africans migrate to the Western world, their gender roles go through metamorphosis and are redefined afresh. The chapter explores the dynamics and impact of this new social order on African masculinity. It asserts that due to the decrease in social and economic status of the African male coupled with his alienation from the new society and culture, his patriarchal power, social masculine identities and privileges often times are challenged and renegotiated in these new environments. The chapter provides perspectives on how to negotiate and renegotiate these new gender roles and identity in order to foster family unity and harmony. In chapter 7, Zandile Nkabinde examines the importance of indigenous education in South Africa and its relevance towards democratizing education at all levels, primary, secondary and tertiary. The chapter argues that the current South African education system is based on a philosophy of education that is Eurocentric and foreign to Black Africans. The chapter illustrates that two decades of educational transformation in democratic, post-apartheid South Africa have not delivered desired learning and societal outcomes. It advocates for the need to explore indigenous approaches to education that can bring meaning to the education system in South Africa. It accentuates the need to offer education that is grounded in cultural experiences of Africans. The chapter asserts that indigenous knowledge, as a system of African knowledge, can provide a useful philosophical framework for the construction of empowering knowledge that can enable communities in Africa to participate in their own educational development. On the whole, the chapter demonstrates how indigenous education and theories can be utilized to erase the invisibility of marginalized groups in South Africa through promoting equity, equality, social justice and educational excellence in schools. Reintroducing indigenous knowledge systems in the South African educational system is seen as a vehicle of healing the wounds of apartheid.

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Peter Ojiambo explores the role of African-centered educational biographies and the contributions of individual African educators to the transformation of Africa’s social, political and economic spheres in chapter 8. Through examining the educational contributions and thoughts of Edward Carey Francis, a leading Kenyan educationist, to the development of Kenyan secondary education and school leadership that were transformative, holistic and virtue- centered, the chapter seeks to erase invisibility by acknowledging the contributions of individual African educators to the development of African education both in the colonial and post-colonial period. The chapter brings to afore the contributions of these individual African educators and sheds some light on the educational biographies scholarship that is limited in the field of African education. The chapter highlights critical lessons and insights constructed from the educational work of Carey Francis that will be valuable for transformative leadership development and practices. In chapter 9, Michael Ndemanu examines the need to re-think classroom spaces in K-12 school settings as vehicles of reforming educational pedagogy and instruction in Africa and making them instruments of socio-economic and political transformations. The chapter articulates the importance of organizing classroom learning spaces in public schools in Africa in ways that can facilitate active and transformative learning. It argues that although many schools in Africa have successfully educated children through traditional pedagogical methods and limited resources, studies on contemporary pedagogical approaches and learning theories emphasize the importance of creating classroom learning spaces and child-centered pedagogy that are vital for effective learning. Drawing on current research in these areas, the chapter discusses ways of reconceptualizing classroom spaces to enable them foster transformative learning. It posits that redesigning classroom spaces in a multifaceted manner that allows students to engage in diverse experiential learning is vital in making schooling more productive and in motivating all children, which in turn has a great impact on socioeconomic and political developments. It notes that although increasingly African countries are embarking on curriculum reforms that can foster this, it is imperative for them to reconceptualize and restructure their classroom settings in ways that can maximize student learning outcomes. Teresa Wasonga discusses the correlation between transformative education and empowerment in Chapter 10. In it, she examines innovative ways of providing quality basic education to all children, especially the poor and specifically the girls. The chapter discusses the on-

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going educational work at an all-girls secondary school in Kenya, Jane Adeny Memorial School, where enterprise learning and democratic leadership are under implementation alongside the regular curriculum with the goal of empowering and equipping students with appropriate knowledge and skills that they can utilize to transform their communities. In Chapter 11, George Dei provides reflections on the vitality of an International Association of African Educators (IAAE) from whose inaugural conference these chapters emerged. The chapter brings some personal reflections on the importance of IAAE. It engages the following questions: What does it mean to have a professional association on African education for African-born educators, students, and community? What do such professional associations bring to the professional and intellectual development of educators? What does it take to grow such a professional organization? What should be the identity, target goals, benefits and the strategies to ensure success? How would such collective associations articulate ‘relevance’ and ‘debt to community’? The chapter, framed within anti-colonial, anti-racist and Afrocentric interrogations of collective leadership, addresses issues of invisibility and marginalization of Africanborn immigrant educators, students and families within a racialized society. The discourse in the chapter borrows from indigenous African philosophies and cultural knowings for understanding “collectivities” and what Black/African leadership means in such undertakings. The chapter underscores that Black educators and scholars, as part of the collective intellectuals, have a responsibility to build, create and sustain their complex communities as they seek to produce knowledge on, and about themselves and their realities and as they advocate for social justice. This is a historical duty that they must collectively seek to undertake and fulfil. Erasing Invisibility, Inequity, and Social Injustice of Africans in the Diaspora and the Continent is not only relevant but also timely, and aims to encourage and further our collective work on erasing the invisibility of African educators, students, families and communities in the Diaspora and “motherland.” It is our hope that the issues discussed in this book will be explored more and incorporated in educational research, theory, reform, policy and practice both on the African continent and in the diaspora to enrich the teaching and learning process and to produce rich and higher learner outcomes of African students. Numerous educators, scholars, students, administrators, policy makers and community leaders engaged in the field of education both on the African continent and in the diaspora will find the book a great resource for their work.

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References American Community Survey (ACS). (2005-2009). Place of Birth of the Foreign-Born Population: 2009. Accessed from Grieco, E. M. & Trevelyan, E. N. http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/acsbr09-15.pdf. Arthur, J. (2000). Invisible sojourners: African immigrant diaspora in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Prager. —. (2010). African diaspora identities. Negotiating culture in transnational migration. New York, NY: Lexington Books. Boyd, M. (Winter, 2002). Educational attainments of immigrant offspring: Success or segmented assimilation? International Migration Review, 36, 1037-1060. Cross, T. (Spring, 1994). Black Africans now the most educated group in British society. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 3, 92-93. Dustmann, C. & Theodoropoulos, N. (2006). Ethnic minority immigrants and their children in Britain. Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration. London: University College. Obiakor, F.E., Grant, P. & Obi, S. (2010). Voices of foreign-born African American teacher educators in the United States. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Traore´, R., & Lukens, R. J. (2006). This isn’t the America I thought I’d find: African students in the urban U.S. high school. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. Ukpokodu, O. N. (2013). Fostering African immigrant students’ social and civic integration: Unpacking their ethnic distinctiveness. In E. Brown & A. Krasteva (Eds.), International advances in education: Global initiatives for equity and social justice (pp.215-236). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.



PART 1 CONTEXTUALIZING EDUCATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP FROM THE DIASPORA 

1 PERSPECTIVES OF AFRICAN IMMIGRANT PARENTS ON U.S. PK-12 SCHOOL SYSTEM OMIUNOTA N. UKPOKODU

Introduction and Background African immigrants have been reported to be America’s “new model minority.” The U.S. media has highlighted this in headlines such as, “A success story: Immigrant Blacks in colleges,” “Black immigrants collect most degrees” (Page, 2007), and “African immigrants now America’s new model minority” (Kperogi, 2009). However, what these reports do not reveal is the number of outliers, especially newcomers, who experience significant academic failure that predisposes them toward engagement in anti-social activities (Traore, 2006; Ukpokodu, 2013). These reports do not consider other studies indicating that immigrant students struggle to perform well after their second year in school (Rong & Brown, 2002). A few qualitative studies on African immigrant students suggest that they are invisible and subjected to forms of marginalization and discrimination (Arthur, 2000; Gong, Saah, Larke & Webb-Johnson, 2007; Harushimana & Awokoya, 2011; Obiakor & Afolayan, 2007; Ukpokodu, 2013). The small but growing qualitative studies reveal that many African immigrant students in U.S. Pk-12 schools are struggling academically, falling behind, disengaged, failing, dropping out, and engaging in antisocial behaviors and criminal activities (Deparle, 2009; Medina, 2009; Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 2001; Traore, 2006; Traore & Lukens, 2006). In her study of African immigrant students, Rosemary Traore (2006) documents African immigrant students’ struggles in U.S. public schools that include dropping out of school, engaging in drug activities, prostitution, and getting pregnant. As an African immigrant parent of children who for the most part fared relatively well in the U.S. public schools they attended, I did have some disconcerting experiences with teachers and counselors. For example, I

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experienced frustration with a discriminatory school counselor when my child was recommended to take the placement test for the talented and gifted program. For three months, the counselor did not take action to administer the test. When my son’s teacher asked me about the test result, I told her that my son had not been tested. She encouraged me to talk to the counselor. When I approached the counselor about the placement test for my son, she disdainfully said to me, “Who told you your son was gifted?” Reluctantly, she said, “Well, I will look into it.” It would be another two months before the counselor would send a letter home, informing me that my son would be tested the next day. It got worse! After my son completed the test the counselor failed to communicate the result to me. I had to go back to the counselor to ask about the test result. The counselor’s reaction and response shocked me. Without looking at any record, the counselor insensitively said to me, “He is not gifted.” The counselor’s decision to deny my son the opportunity to participate in an educational enrichment program was not only discriminatory but dehumanizing. The counselor’s differential treatment toward me, her insensitivity, and her lack of responsiveness are a reflection of the challenging experiences many African immigrant families face in U.S. Pk12 schools. My experience as an immigrant parent occurred more than three decades ago. Since then, U.S. society and institutions have transformed demographically, and diversity is becoming an existential reality. Since then, much attention has been generated to reform teacher preparation programs through the promotion of diversity and teacher development for multicultural competency. Although some progress has been made toward enacting quality and equitable education for all students regardless of their race, ethnicity, culture, and nationality, the goal remains a dream deferred, especially for immigrant students and families who remain invisible. African Immigrant children and families remain marginalized and minoritized across many U.S. schools. Within the past five years, I have encountered many African immigrant parents/families and their children who have painfully shared about their harrowing experiences with the U.S. education system—the schools, educators, and peers. In fact, some parents and families, in their desperation, have approached me for advice as they shared their harrowing experiences with the schools. Their stories have been heartbreaking and extremely disturbing. Their stories, and a reflection on my own unsettling experiences, motivated me to explore the study that provides the material for this chapter. Apparently, regardless of what some reports say about

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African immigrants as the most highly educated immigrant group and as America’s “new model minority,” in reality, many African immigrant children and their families are not well served in U.S. Pk-12 schools. Unfortunately, little is known about their individual and collective experiences with U.S. Pk-12 schools. The purpose of this chapter, then, is to bring a much-needed voice on African immigrant families’ perspectives about their children’s schooling and education and their own experiences with the schools, educators, and peers. The chapter aims to shed light on this invisible African minority group by understanding their individual and collective experiences, needs and challenges, and ways to support them so that they can effectively engage and participate in their children’s successful schooling and education. The chapter contributes to the limited research on African immigrant families and toward the effort to erase their invisibility in U.S. society and institutions, particularly in Pk-12 schools. It is informed by data from a large, ongoing qualitative study. Two questions guided the study: 1) How do African immigrant parents/families perceive and describe their children’s educational and schooling experiences in U.S. Pk12 schools? 2) How do African immigrant parents/families perceive and describe their experiences with U.S. Pk-12 schools, teachers, and other school personnel? This chapter is a critical contribution because of the vital importance of parental involvement in their children’s success in education. Today, there is an abundance of scholarship on parental involvement in their children’s education and the need for schools and educators to collaborate with families and tap into their “funds of knowledge” (Moll, Amanti, Neff & Gonzalez, 1992) in order to effectively anchor students’ learning.

Related Literature and Theoretical Perspectives Because this study focuses on the phenomenon of African immigrant families, the literature review will first focus on their migration and lived realities and experiences in transnational, transcultural, and transmigrant spaces in U.S. society and institutions. Second, because it is important that teachers develop the cultural competency needed to effectively work with African immigrant students and their families, the literature review examines educational and schooling practices and culture of U.S. Pk-12 schools. The chapter draws on interrelated theoretical frameworks on migration and immigration, critical race theory and multicultural education

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to examine and illuminate African immigrant parents’ experiences with U.S. Pk-12 schools in relation to their children’s education. The U.S. is popularly known as a nation of immigrants. The motto E Pluribus Unum (from many, one) reflects that reality. Over the years, immigrants have come from many shores to make America their home (Takaki, 1989). Africans, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, have been a part of the U.S. migratory story. Today, immigration continues to transform and challenge the U.S. demographic landscape as well as the national, cultural, social, and political discourse. The last two decades have witnessed a dramatic transformation of the U.S. population. Currently, the U.S. population is approximately 323,000,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2016). African immigrants are a part of today’s growing immigration population in the U.S. According to the Pew Research Center (2015), the African immigration population, although a small share of the U.S. immigrant population (4.4 percent), has rapidly doubled since the decade of the 1970s and this number is projected to increase exponentially due to changing U.S. laws on immigration and naturalization (Pew Research Center; Gambino, Trevelyan & Fitzwater, 2014; U.S. Census Bureau, 2013). Although significantly small compared to other immigrant groups, they are among the fastest growing groups in the U.S. (Capps, McCabe, & Fix, 2012; U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2011). This data shows that the U.S. is rapidly becoming the major destination for many African migrants. African immigrants are a diverse group from different regions of Africa. About seventy-five percent come from 12 of the 55 African countries, namely Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, Liberia, Somalia, Sudan, Morocco, Cape Verde, and Sierra Leone with a sizeable number also coming from Eritrea, Cameroon, and Burundi (McCabe, 2011). Most of these countries continue to experience considerable economic, political, religious, cultural, and social conflicts that propel some of their citizens to migrate to America (American Community Survey, 2012). These immigrants also come from linguistically diverse countries—Anglophone, Francophone, and Lusophone. Beyond these colonial affiliations, they bring their native languages as well as their cultural, socioeconomic, social, religious, and educational experiences. Like other immigrants, African immigrants have come to the U.S. to seek better opportunities and new lives (Arthur, 2000; Obiakor & Afolayan, 2007; Rong and Brown, 2001; Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-

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Orozco, 2001; Swigart, 2001; Takougang, 2003; Zong & Batalova, 2014). Some have come as “voluntary” immigrants for economic and educational purposes as students and as skilled professionals. Others have come “involuntarily” as refugees escaping the social, political, religious, cultural, and economic upheavals that plague their respective countries. Generally, African immigrants carry different immigration statuses such as permanent residency, naturalized citizenship, and non-immigrant statuses (F-1 student visa and temporary working H-B and J-I visas). The African immigrant influx is projected to increase exponentially due mostly to changing U.S. laws on immigration and naturalization (Capps et al., 2012). The family reunification and refugee law allows naturalized and permanent residents to sponsor relatives to migrate to the U.S. (Capps et al., 2012; Gordon 1998; McKay, 2003). The 1990 Diversity Visa Lottery (DVL) awards automatic permanent residency and a path to American citizenship. In 2010, Africa received 52.63 percent of the DVL, with Ghana receiving the highest number of the visas (U.S. Department of State, 2010). It is reported that 48 percent of African immigrants have come through family reunification, 24 percent through the DVL, 28 percent as refugees and asylees, 5 percent through employment, and the rest through other means (McCabe, 2011).

African Immigrant Children, Families, and U.S. Pk-12 Schools First and foremost, it is important to point out that while there is much scholarship on other immigrant groups’ experiences, for instance Latinos in U.S. schools, little exists on African immigrants. The little scholarship on African immigrants has focused primarily on identity issues and the cultural divide between African Americans and African immigrants. Some studies have examined the Black racial and ethnic issues (Arthur, 2000; Rong & Brown, 2002; Walters, 1999). A few researchers have examined African immigrants’ academic achievement, but mostly at the collegiate level (Bennett & Lutz, Clarkson, 2007; Lutz, 2009; Massey, Charles & Torres, 2007; Suarez-Orozco et al., 2009). Only a few studies (see Njue & Retish, 2010 and Schwartz & Stefiel, 2006) have examined academic achievement issues at the public school level. A few other studies have focused on African refugees’ acculturation, especially those from Eastern Africa (Kanu, 2008; Ndura & Ukpokodu, 2006). African immigrant families and their children are increasingly populating many U.S. communities and schools. Although they are

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dispersed across many U.S. communities, most reside in urban cities (Pew Research Center, 2015). McCabe (2011) reports that 714,000 children resided with at least one African-born parent in 2009 and many of these children attend urban schools. These children are entering schools in increasing numbers. Although there is a small but growing body of research on African immigrants, and reports show that they generally fare well on social integration indicators and are well educated with college completion rates that greatly exceed those for most other immigrant groups and U.S. natives (Capps et al., 2012), little is known about their educational and schooling experiences in U.S. PK-12 schools (Awokoya, 2009; Ghong et al., 2007; Harushimana, 2007; Ukpokodu, 2013). Much of what is known often focuses on the overgeneralized, isolated educational success stories of a few individual students from some Western African countries such as Nigeria and Ghana. Generally, the available research suggests that African immigrant students are invisible (Arthur, 2000; Ghong et al., 2007; Harushimana, 2007; Ukpokodu, 2013); that they face difficulties and hardships (Obeng, 2008; Obiakor and Afolayan, 2007; Ukpokodu, 2013); and that they face schooling conditions that are culturally incongruent and have low expectations of them (Mukuria & Obiakor, 2004; Ukpokodu, 2013). Similarly, little is known about African immigrant families and their experiences in relation to their children’s education and schooling in the U.S. The little that is known has focused on their sociocultural experiences including immigration issues, employment, and social integration (Arthur, 2000; Obiakor & Afolayan, 2007). Although African immigrant parents/families have been documented to be well educated, they often experience challenges and hardships in U.S. society. While some of these families reside in suburban communities, most are concentrated in urban areas (Dixon, 2006). Consequently, many African immigrant children attend urban schools that have been documented to perform poorly academically and to be in crisis. Urban schools have also been reported to have teachers and other educators who lack the cultural competence needed to effectively work with immigrant students and their families. Due to their physical characteristics, African immigrant students and their families are oftentimes indistinguishable from their native-born African American peers. Consequently, they are often lumped into the African American/Black racial category without recognizing the unique differences and needs they bring with them to school (Arthur, 2000; Ukpokodu, 2013).

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Further, while some African immigrant students come from wellresourced and highly educated and professional families, recent arrivals who are mostly refugees are from poor, working class and under-resourced families (Dodoo, 1997; McCabe, 2011) with challenging living conditions that affect their schooling. Regardless of their skills and educational levels, many African immigrant families often work low-paying and transient jobs as janitors, cleaners, cab drivers, and restaurant and airport workers. According to data, more of these families live at or below the poverty line (19%) than the native-born (13%) or all foreign-born families in America (16%). While some are less likely to live the U.S. poverty line (Nigeria, 10.6%; Morocco, 10.8%; Sierra Leone, 13.5%; and Ghana, 14.6%), others live well below it (Somalia, 49.9 %; Guinea, 42.7%; and Sudan, 41.2 %) (McCabe, 2011). Thus, although some African immigrant families may have adequate resources (skills, time, money, and education) to support their children’s educational success, others lack such resources, including formal education and literacy skills, to assist their children even as they value education as the key to upward social and economic mobility and work hard to support their children. Some African immigrant students who come from under-resourced families are more likely to take on jobs to supplement family income, which may negatively impact their schooling and academic achievement as they devote less time to their studies. African immigrant families, regardless of their educational and socioeconomic status, place a high value on education. They have a high expectation for their children’s education and invest immeasurably to ensure their success. Leila Farah (2015) examined Somali parents’ perceptions about their understanding of, and their responsibilities and roles in, the education of their children and confirmed that Somali parents value education and provide support for their children’s education. Evangeline Nderu (2005) also examined Somali parents’ role in the education of their children and found that they were engaged in the education of their children. Cecil Obeng (2008) examined African immigrant families’ perceptions of the ESL classes offered to their children. The study revealed that a majority of them were dissatisfied with the selection criteria of the program. Overall, researchers have confirmed the dearth of research on African immigrant families’ experiences with U.S. schools (Ghong et al., 2007; Obeng & Obeng, 2006; Obiakor & Afolayan, 2007). The theoretical constructs of immigration, critical race theory, and multicultural education theory are used to guide and illuminate the lived experiences of African immigrant parents in U.S. Pk-12 schools. African

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immigrant families today embody a new phenomenon known as transnationalism or transmigration. Transnationalism or transmigration is the phenomenon whereby immigrants are able to maintain the identities of their homeland while actively participating in their new societies (Arthur, 2010). Today’s globalization and new communication technologies have made travels relatively convenient for African immigrants, which allow them to connect and maintain ties with families and relatives in their homelands. This also allows them to maintain their cultural heritage and the “funds of knowledge” that they attempt to transmit to their children. However, transnationalism may complicate and compound the challenges of African immigrant families as they must strive to make ends meet for themselves and also feel obligated to support and remit money to the relatives left behind in the homeland. They must, therefore, work very hard, in some cases working multiple jobs that leave them with little time to attend to their children and their needs. Critical race theory (CRT) is valuable for illuminating the discourse on African immigrant parents’ experiences in a racialized, ethnicized and linguicized society. CRT promotes the voices of marginalized people in the analysis of the dominant social order and educational equity to address negative sociopolitical relationships (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001; LadsonBillings & Tate, 1995). CRT scholars posit that racism is ingrained in the fabric of the U.S. society, including its educational institutions. It aims to critique the power structure, privilege, and ideologies that oppress people of color and others at the margins. Among its tenets and implications is that it uses counter-storytelling as a methodological and pedagogical tool to narrate the experiences of marginalized people that often are not told, and to build community among those at the margins (Solórzano & Delgado, 2001). CRT is relevant to this chapter discourse because although African immigrant families are a growing presence in the U.S. society and their children are increasingly attending U.S. Pk-12 schools, they remain invisible and their voices silenced within the American educational system and scholarship (Arthur, 2000; Obeng & Obeng, 2006). Through CRT the chapter discusses the unique experiences that people share through narratives and counter-narratives. Connelly and Clandinin (2006) aptly capture this relevance: People shape their daily lives by stories of who they and others are and as they interpret their past in terms of these stories. Story, in the current idiom, is a portal through which a person enters the world and by which their experience of the world is interpreted and made personally meaningful (p. 375).

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Closely related to CRT is the theory of multicultural education. The cornerstone of this theory is that education in a democratic society must be equitable, culturally responsive, socially-just, and humanizing for all students regardless of their cultural, gender, linguistic, socio-economic, national, and racial backgrounds. Education in a multicultural democracy recognizes that schools serve as sociocultural contexts for assisting all children in navigating and negotiating their identities and learning within the school and classroom spaces. For many immigrant students, the school and its teachers and other personnel, play a critical role in whether the immigrant student will swim or sink, succeed or fail (Rong & Brown, 2002). All students, regardless of their background, have the right to learn in an environment that is safe, respectful, dignifying, affirming and supportive of their identity, learning and performance. Similarly, as partners in their children’s education, families deserve to be treated with respect and affirmation. The role and participation of parents and families in their children’s education has been well documented in educational literature. In U.S. schools, parental involvement is highly promoted. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) provides for substantive shared accountability between schools and parents for high student achievement. It requires that parents/families play an integral role in their child’s education, that they are actively involved and are full partners in their child’s education, including in decision-making and in serving on advisory committees (United States Department of Education, 2004). Several researchers (Obiakor & Afoláyan, 2007; Ogbu, 2003; Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco, 2001) contend that the family plays an important role in the educational achievement of immigrant youth. Teachers and other educators must possess multicultural competency in order to effectively work with diverse students, including immigrant students. Research continues to report that due to inadequate preparation, many teachers in U.S. schools lack the cultural and multicultural competency needed to work with culturally, ethnically, socioeconomically, and linguistically diverse student populations (Banks, 2016; Gay, 2010; NEA, 2012; Ukpokodu, 2004). In particular, many U.S. teachers are inadequately prepared to work with immigrants, especially African immigrants who are often invisible within the U.S. schools (Ghong et al., 2007; Ukpokodu, 2013). Several scholars have called on teacher education programs to prepare teachers for multicultural competency (Banks, 2016; Nieto, 2005; Ukpokodu, 2013). Teachers who are multiculturally or culturally competent will be more capable to provide a nurturing,

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humanizing, and supportive classroom environment and enact a culturally responsive curriculum that supports their humanity and academic achievement (Ukpokodu, 2013). Culturally-competent educators are more able to develop a synergistic, responsive relationship and collaborative partnership with families. This is critically important for African immigrants who come from communally-oriented cultures and so value relationships and collaboration. Educators in U.S. schools must recognize this cultural value of relationship and should strive to build a respectful relationship with African families who serve as a critical resource for supporting their children’s learning and schooling. Lisa Delpit (1995) reminds teachers of this fundamental value: “Teachers cannot hope to begin to understand who sits before them unless they can connect with the families and communities from which their students come” (p.179).

Research Methodology This chapter emerges from an ongoing qualitative study that seeks to examine the sociocultural experiences of African immigrant families in U.S. Pk-12 schools. The research design reflects a narrative inquiry approach (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000). Ten diverse families with children in U.S. Pk-12 schools are the focus of the study. A purposive participant sampling was used for data collection. The overarching research question is: How do African immigrant families describe their sociocultural experiences in U.S. society and its institutions? Several relevant sub-questions were designed to answer the primary question. The research question examined for the chapter development was: How do African immigrant parents perceive and describe their experiences with schools and educators in relation to their children’s education and schooling in U.S. Pk-12 schools? I began the study following numerous informal conversations with several African immigrant parents, who were constantly sharing about the challenges of raising families in the U.S., as well as others who approached me to seek my guidance about the challenges they were experiencing with their children’s education and schooling. I began journaling about these conversations between 2015 and 2016. In 2015, the International Association of African Educators (IAAE) inaugural conference presented an opportunity to initiate a study on African immigrant families. I invited some of the participants to collaborate on the presentation on the topic.

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As of the time of this chapter development, ten interviews and informal individual and group conversations with diverse African immigrant parents who vary in age, educational level, religion and language, have been completed. The participants include four Nigerians, one Somali, two Kenyans, two Ghanaians, and one Cameroonian. There were eight females and two males. The participants’ length of U.S. residency ranged from 10 to 35 years. All participants have children who either attend or attended U.S. Pk-12 schools. All participants are educated; five are professionals with doctorate degrees, two are nurse practitioners, one is a doctoral student, one is a master’s graduate student, and one is an unemployed, recent college graduate. An open-ended interview protocol was used with a focus on four areas: a) participant’s background and immigration story, and goals; b) expectation and role in children’s education; c) children’s schooling and education in U.S. schools; and d) experience with children’s schools support and collaboration. As a relational research, I also unpacked my story as an African immigrant parent alongside my participants (Connelly and Clandinin, 2006). As Clandinin et al. (2006) explain: As researchers live alongside participants, their lives and experiences become connected and interwoven as not only the stories of the participants’ lives are told, but the stories of the researchers who observe participants are established within those stories. As such, the stories become “collaborative” or “a mutually constructed story created out of the lives of both researcher and participant” (p. 20).

I used data analysis to decode meaning or make sense of the data collected. Toward this end, I approached the data collection holistically and utilized an inductive method in identifying common patterns, relationships, and themes (Patton, 2000; Stake, 1995). The themes were used as codes for analysis and interpretation. While the findings of this study are significant, it is important to recognize the limitation. The ongoing nature of the study poses a limitation to the data and its analysis given that data is yet to be collected from other identified participants. Further, the nuances of relational research pose some unintended bias that may be problematic.

Findings This study reveals that while some African immigrant families express appreciation for, and relative satisfaction with, their children’s education and schooling in U.S. Pk-12 schools, overwhelmingly, they report

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significant problems and frustrations. Two major themes were identified that characterize African immigrant families’ experiences with U.S. Pk-12 schools in relation to their children’s education and schooling: a) appreciation and optimism about U.S. education, and (b) frustration and harrowing experiences. The theme of frustration and harrowing experiences was most evident and manifested specifically in areas of disconnect and exclusion, lack of cultural responsiveness and sensitivity, and dissatisfaction with inequitable practices and policies that marginalize, shortchange, and mistreat their children. These findings are discussed below.

Appreciation and Optimism about U.S. Schools All participants were quick to express appreciation for the opportunity to have their children experience American education and attend schools in the U.S. They spoke positively about the resources available in U.S. institutions and public schools, especially in comparison to the schooling conditions in their homeland. As Rosemary noted, “My family is grateful to be in the U.S. and to have our children get a good education that will improve their lives.” Adam echoed, saying, “It was my dream for me and my family to come to the U.S. so that my children will have access to good schools and education. The schools and education back home have really deteriorated.” Some expressed that they remained in the U.S. after completing their studies because they could not deny their children the opportunity to attend good schools in the U.S and have a better life. Overall, all participants confirmed that they immigrated to the U.S. because they wanted their children to have an opportunity of a lifetime and felt that the schools in the U.S. offer better opportunities for their children to succeed in life. This finding confirms previous studies on immigrants and their perception of education.

Frustration and Harrowing Experiences Although all participants expressed being grateful for, and feel optimistic about, the U.S. schools and the education their children receive, they also expressed disappointment over the tremendous challenges and frustrations with the schools. Participants described the experience of frustration in the following specific areas.

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Disconnect, Invisibility, and Exclusion Culturally, African immigrants are communal people who value relationships and intimate connection with people in their spaces. They enter the U.S. educational system expecting to experience the kind of teacher-parent relationship that exists in their homelands, where social courtesy and respect are accorded to students’ parents and families. All participants expressed feelings of exclusion and cultural disconnect with the schools, especially with teachers and other school personnel. Although they expressed making efforts to be visible in their children’s schools and activities, they felt that they were always invisible to the teachers and staff. They referenced the low quality of interactions and communication with their children’s teachers. They spoke of interactions that were very brief and superficial. As Adiza shared: I always felt left out or awkward when I went to my children’s schools. The teacher seemed to not want to interact with me. I saw the [different] way they related to […] white parents. Even when I tried to engage the teachers they quickly dismissed me. After a while I just did not try anymore. It was casual exchange of hi, hi. Maybe it was because of my accent. You know… I felt discouraged to approach the teachers even when I had questions. I just had to make sure that I spent time helping my children in their study so that they perform well.

As a new immigrant parent, one participant shared that she felt so discouraged approaching anyone at the school even when she had questions or did not understand how to read or interpret her child’s SAT scores. As she noted: “When I received my child’s SAT scores, I did not understand it or [know] how to interpret it. My child did well but I did not know that it would have allowed her to qualify for the gifted and talented program. Sadly, though, the teacher did not help her understand the implication or take action to recommend her for placement in the gifted and talented program.” Three other participants had this common experience of not receiving meaningful information, academic direction and contact from teachers and school

Lack of Cultural Responsiveness and Sensitivity Much research on the U.S. teaching profession has shown that most teachers, schools counselors, and administrators lack cultural responsiveness and sensitivity (Banks, 2016; Gay, 2010; Sleeter, 2001). Cultural responsiveness is the ability of teachers to learn and interact respectfully with people across differences. Most African immigrants are

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linguistically different and they speak with accents that most educators in U.S. schools find difficult to follow; they are not patient enough to allow for a meaningful and respectful conversation. This may account for the lack of inclination to interact with African immigrant families. Although all participants in this study were well educated, they felt frustrated that their children’s teachers and other educators did not respect or take them seriously because of their accents. The participants felt frustrated that they were always told that their speech could not be understood even when they attempted to speak slowly and clearly. Participants felt that some teachers used their linguistic difference as a convenient excuse to dismiss them. Abel, a Somali parent, said this: “It seems each time I tried to make complaint about something that had gone wrong with my child, the teacher would say, ‘I don’t know what you mean. I don’t understand you.’ It is so frustrating when they dismiss you, saying, I don’t understand what you are saying.” Participants also experienced the teachers and other educators’ lack of cultural responsiveness and sensitivity when they failed to learn the correct pronunciation of the names of the parents and their children. Some participants shared about how their names or their children’s names were distorted and shredded or they became nameless when they were addressed. Sarfon explained it this way: Some of the teachers were just too disrespectful. They called my name differently and never once asked me to teach them how to correctly pronounce it. Even when I pronounced the name for them they still did not make good effort to learn it. My kids had to beg me to change their names to common English and American names so that their teachers would stop butchering them and making them ashamed.

Obviously, like their children, African immigrant families experience linguicism, which is wrong and discriminatory (Apraku, 1996). Name disaffirmation is dehumanizing and marginalizing. Culturally responsive teachers take the time to learn about student and family names so that they can respectfully pronounce and humanize them. African immigrant students and their families feel a disconnect, anger, and frustration when teachers invalidate and disaffirm their names.

Frustration with Inequitable School Practices and Policies Multicultural scholars have long documented the inequitable practices and unjust policies that serve as barriers to marginalized students’ successful learning and education (Oakes, Lipton, Anderson & Stillman, 2013; Nieto, 2000). Inequitable school and classroom practices and policies create

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differential experiences that negatively affect both children and families. Such practices and policies relate to student discipline, grade and program placement and retention, and curricular marginalization. All study participants shared harrowing and frustrating stories. First, four of the participants’ children were inappropriately placed in grade levels because they were either new arrivals or that their names were foreign. One participant had immigrated with three of her children who were in grades 3, 7, and 9. The children had attended school, actually a university-based Pk-12 school in their homeland prior to their immigration. The children spoke English but with an accent. According to Rosemary: When I took them to school, I was told that the children will be placed in a grade level below their previous level. Because I was new, a JJC (Johnny Just Come), I did not know differently. I did not know how to advocate for my children so I left it alone. Soon after they were enrolled in the school, one of the children started to have difficulties. With no positive change in the situation, I decided to change their school. When I took them to enroll in a different school, I was told again they would be placed one grade level below their current grade level. I was irritated and refused for them to be demoted again. Unfortunately, that year I got a new position and moved out of the state. The pattern repeated itself when I took them to the new school to enroll. They were assigned two grade levels below their current grade. It was like the same practice and experience everywhere I went. All three of my children had been good students who performed well in all areas. What was frustrating about this practice is that the schools never gave the children a test before making the decision to inappropriately place them.

Rosemary described the English as a Second Language (ESL) classes as a “waste” of her children’s time. While her experience can be understandable given that her children were new arrivals from a socalled “Third World” country that made the U.S. schools distrustful of the standard and quality of education in African countries even though many African schools are of equal or superior quality, it is difficult to comprehend why U.S.-born African immigrant children were inappropriately placed in ESL classrooms. Adiza’s two children were born in the U.S. They had lived in the U.S. their entire lives, and had attended preschools and kindergarten until they entered the public school. In their first year in the public school, they were placed in ESL classrooms because their parents were “foreigners” who spoke a language other than English at home. Two participants’ harrowing experiences took a turn for the worse when, for the first time, they took their children to their homeland for the

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summer. When the children returned to school in the fall, they were placed one grade level below their current level because the children had supposedly “experienced an inferior African culture.” Adele felt this practice to be unjust. As she explains: When White children travel overseas, whether to Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, or other non-western places, they are considered to have experienced a cultural enrichment, which then qualifies them for grade acceleration or eligibility for the gifted and talented enrichment program. Yet when my children travel to our homeland, they are held back because they have experienced an inferior culture.

Closely related is the arbitrary placement of African immigrant children in special education classes. Although this was not common among all participants, two participants indicated that their children were labeled and placed in special education classes because they were wrongly labeled by the teachers as “emotionally disturbed.” Actually, prior to this study, one of the participants sought my counsel on how to fight the school about the inappropriate placement of her child in a special education class. The participant explained that the reason for the placement was because of the child’s so-called hyperactive and aggressive behavior. But the parent was not convinced about the diagnosis and labeling. The parent believed that the child was reacting to microaggressive acts directed at him by his peers. The child’s African name is Oshema, but his peers called him Osama, a name associated in America with infamy and terrorism. Another common area of frustration for the participants was the differential school disciplinary policies that not only negatively affect their children, but also disrupt their daily activities. Overwhelmingly, all participants expressed frustration and anger over the microaggressive acts that are directed toward their children who then get into fights with their peers and are then punished. All participants confirmed that their children had been called to the office and suspended for getting into fights and other behavioral problems. Participants were angry and stressed out over the disruption and inconvenience that were created when they had to be called to pick up their children from school or had to find alternative child care services that created additional financial strains on them. Adele’s frustration was deeply emotional. She cried as she recalled the experience of having to deal with the disruption and inconvenience of picking up her son or constantly having to make other arrangements. As she noted:

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I was a single parent and a student. There was hardly a week I didn’t receive a call from the school to come and pick up Oshema. It was frustrating. I would be in the middle of something and the phone will ring; it was Oshema’s school. “This is Ms. X. Oshema is in the office; he got into a fight. Please come and pick him up.” After so many disruptions, I had to remove him from that school.

Understandably, when African immigrant students experience these microaggressive acts, they respond by confronting their peers. The participants felt that the teachers are often unfair to their children because they claim that their children are the aggressors without understanding the context for the confrontation. Adele explains it this way: The teachers are often unfair. They don’t ask for the whole story. They only ask who started it first without asking what caused it. My son explained to me: “Mama, the teacher is not fair. She doesn’t ask me for my side of the story. She just asks who started it? The students are mean. They call me names and push my button so I push back.”

The participants were also concerned about the subjection of their children to negative curricular materials about Africa that degrade their children. Research shows that microinsults through the curriculum negatively affect African immigrant students (Ukpokodu, 2013). One participant, Sarfon, recalled with pain his shock when his son, a high school student, brought to his attention the video on Africa and Ebola that the teacher showed in class. As he noted, “My son came to me and asked me if he can share with me a video that his teacher played in class. After I watched the YouTube video I was in shock.” Sarfon explained, “I was not only shocked, I cried, and was heartbroken and in pain for my son.” The video and the lyrics are appalling: La La La La Ebola La La La La …Rucka Rucka Ali Uh! I tell you where its from Africa that’s…Where Ebola...Come …West side It hidden in a suitcase Two days later It lands in U.S.A (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wc_lcat9vw)

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Discussion and Implications The findings suggest that although African immigrant parents have a good disposition toward U.S. schools in general and appreciate the opportunity for their children to receive a good western education that puts them on the path to upward social mobility, they experience problems and dissatisfaction with U.S. Pk-12 schools and educators that need to be recognized. First, the findings confirm the conclusions reached by some of the few existing studies on African immigrant families’ challenges with schools and educators relative to the differential treatment they receive, and the practices and policies that marginalize, dehumanize, and shortchange their children. For example, all participants expressed overwhelming frustration over the disrespect and invisibility they experience with schools, and the inequitable school practices and policies such as the inappropriate placement of their children in special education and ESL classes. Obeng and Obeng (2006), in their study with African immigrant parents on their perceptions of the ESL classes offered to their children, found that only 30 percent of them were satisfied with the program or found it beneficial. Also significant is that this study confirms the findings of previous studies about African immigrant parents’ attestation to the prevalence of microaggressive acts, such as bullying (Obeng, 2008), that dehumanize their children and contribute to their children’s behavioral issues at school. All participants attested to the microaggressive acts toward their children—bullying, violence, and hostility—that psychologically diminish their children’s humanity. Microaggression is defined as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color” (Sue, Capodilupo, Torino, Bucceri, Holde, Nadal, & Esquilin, 2007, p. 271). Sue et al. identify three forms of microaggressive acts—microassaults, microinsults and microinvalidation. Research shows that African immigrant students experience these microaggressive acts inside and outside their schools and classrooms (Awokoya, 2012; Obeng, 2008; Ukpokodu, 2013) as in name-calling, avoidant behavior (microassaults), subtle snubs, stereotyping, public humiliation, teasing, rudeness, mispronunciation or shredding of their names (microinsults), and maliciously-intended questions: “Where are you from?” “Did you live on top of trees in Africa before coming to the U.S.?” and “When are you going back home?” (microinvalidation).

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In this study, African immigrant parents/families felt frustration over the unequal treatment, and the unjust practices and policies by schools that shortchanged their children’s education. They lamented the negative impact of such practices on their effort toward realizing their immigration goal—the American dream. African immigrant parents/families place a high importance on education and are highly invested in their children’s education. Given the increasing presence of African immigrants in America, schools and educators can no longer ignore the needs and involvement of African immigrant families. To erase the invisibility of the African immigrant families, schools will need to embrace a multicultural education paradigm that calls for humanizing, equitable, and inclusive practices. These include bold efforts toward professional development of U.S. educators—administrators, teachers, counselors and psychologists, and support staff— and understanding African immigrant families’ cultures and worldviews, and forging a mutually respectful and synergistic relationship and partnership with them. These are discussed as follows.

Integration and Support for African Immigrant Parents Like their children, African immigrant parents feel invisible and excluded from the U.S. school system. Schools need to recognize African immigrant parents as a distinct group with unique needs and realities and to actively work to assist them. Given that most African immigrant parents encounter the U.S. educational system not knowing and understanding how it operates, the schools and educators must strive to know them and help them navigate and negotiate the system, especially in matters regarding the assessment system, college entrance tests, child protection/discipline issues, resources, and federal and statement requirements and expectations, including parental involvement in children’s education.

Professional Development As already indicated, research shows that many educators in U.S. schools lack the multicultural competency that is needed to develop their abilities, skills, and dispositions to effectively work with students and families from culturally, linguistically, socioeconomically, and racially diverse backgrounds. Teachers who are multiculturally or culturally competent will be more capable at providing a nurturing, humanizing, and supportive classroom environment and enacting a culturally responsive curriculum that supports students’ humanity and academic achievement (Ukpokodu, 2013). Culturally competent educators are more able to develop a

Perspectives of African Immigrant Parents on U.S. PK-12 School System 21

synergistic responsive relationship and a collaborative partnership with families. This is critically important for African immigrants who come from communally-oriented cultures and so value relationships and collaboration. This begins with learning and knowing African immigrant families’ cultural worldviews such as the values of humanism, respect, reciprocity, social relations, and collective responsibility. Respect means affirming their humanity and deference. Ukpokodu (2012) explains an African’s view of respect and how an African teacher demonstrated it in his/her relationship with families. She writes, “The teacher demonstrated high regards for parents by curtsying when meeting and greeting parents/families, and addressed them as “papa/baba” and “mama/madam” (p.46). Although no one suggests that American teachers curtsy and bow to African immigrant parents, they, however, should recognize the importance of honoring their presence through positive gestures and smiles and addressing them by their titles.

Curriculum Humanization It has been well documented in the literature that U.S. educators perpetuate microaggresive acts (although subtle) toward African immigrants and students through curricular and pedagogical racism that presents stereotypical and negative images of Africa. Africa, although a continent (second largest for that matter), is often diminished to the size of a country, and often characterized as a place of immense catastrophe, corruption, diseases, starvation, poverty, and wildlife. The use of a dehumanizing “Ebola” video by the teacher of Sarfon’s son is reprehensible and unacceptable. Teachers should critically evaluate instructional materials for bias, stereotype, imbalance, and invisibility, and consider the impact of curricular racism on an African immigrant student’s identity and self-concept. More importantly, teachers should consider the messages conveyed to other students that contribute to the microaggressive acts directed at African immigrants that generate negative reactions from them, including conflicts and fights.

Promote Equitable and Socially-Just Policies and Practices One key finding from this study is that of African immigrant parents’ frustration and anger over the inappropriate grade level and program placement of their children. Schools and educators must re-evaluate these policies. While it is important to recognize that some African immigrant students are challenged linguistically and so need programs that assist

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them in developing and improving their skills, such programs must be of high quality. Educators must recognize that many African immigrant families and their children are multilingual. Schools must capitalize on the linguistic funds of knowledge of African immigrant students to assist in their English proficiency and academic development.

Further Research Given the dearth of research on African immigrant families, there is a need for more comprehensive and qualitative studies on African immigrant families’ experiences with U.S. schools and educators. In particular, studies should inquire into African immigrant families’ collaboration and partnerships with schools, and the ways they navigate and negotiate the U.S. educational system in relation to their children’s schooling and education.

Conclusion Maxine Greene (1993) articulates the phenomenon of erstwhile invisible and silenced people whose presence is now magnified and their voices audible and arresting. She writes: There have always been newcomers in this country; there have always been strangers. There have always been young persons in our classrooms we did not, could not see or hear. [Today] invisibility has been refused on many sides. Old silences have been shattered; long repressed voices are making themselves heard… [and] we are challenged as never before to confront plurality and multiplicity (p. 185).

This chapter, in unraveling and unpacking African immigrant families’ lived experiences in relation to their children’s schooling in U.S. educational system, particularly in Pk-12 schools, contributes to the title and theme of the book, Erasing Invisibility, Inequity, and Social Injustice of Africans in the Diaspora and the Continent. It is widely acknowledged that the future of the U.S. and its place in a complex and interdependent world rests with its children. Imperatively, children and their immigrant families are a major part of the U.S. future. Families are the building block of any society. If schools and the U.S. society want to sustain their democracy and their competitive edge in the world, the education of immigrant children must be a priority. Schools and educators must forge sustainable relationship and alliances with the families in order to realize the common goal of successfully educating the children. This chapter has

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focused on illuminating the experiences of African immigrant families, a growing but silenced and invisible population of the larger immigrant population. African immigrant students and their families can no longer be ignored, neglected or underserved. Macedo and Bartolome (1999) remind us of the moral duty schools and educators have toward forging and enacting a humanizing education for all children: The critical issue is the degree to which we hold the moral conviction that we must humanize the educational experiences of students from subordinated populations by eliminating the hostility that often confronts these students. This process would require that we cease to be overly dependent on methods as technical instruments and adopt a pedagogy that seeks to forge a cultural democracy where all students are treated with respect and dignity (pp.160-161).

The U.S. is a nation premised on democratic ideals of equality, freedom and justice. As demonstrated in this chapter, while African immigrant families are optimistic about the prospect of education for their children’s social and upward mobility, they nevertheless experience disproportionately unjust and inequitable policies and practices that shortchange them and their goals for their children. The No Child Left Behind legislation stipulates that parents/families play a significant role in their children’s education. The growing rise of African-born immigrant students in U.S. Pk-12 schools demonstrates the need to pay attention to their educational experiences as they interact with teachers and students in classrooms. Parents of African immigrant students cannot be left behind in this endeavor. Their invisibility and marginalization must be addressed so that they are included and empowered to play a significant and successful role in their children’s education.

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2 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN IMMIGRANT PARENTS’ KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THEIR CHILDREN’S SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES MARGARET KHUMBAH MBESEHA

Introduction A fundamental consideration in discourses on parental involvement in their children’s education programs focuses on what school districts have been trying to deduce for years. For many school districts, parental involvement simply entails connecting parents to the school by creating familiarity with teachers and facilities (Pena, 1999). However, that is not meaningful parental involvement. According to Hill, Tyson, and Bromell (2009), parental involvement refers to “parents’ interactions with schools and with their children to promote academic success” (p. 1491). Meaningful parental involvement requires a systematic development of plans and programs (Gomez & Greenough, 2002) that should be designed to include rather than exclude. In order for a meaningful parental involvement to occur, parents must be aware of their children’s learning environment, be able to understand and interpret information about the academic programs in their children’s schools, and be able to evaluate, in understandable terms, the achievement of their children in these schools. Parental involvement in special education is crucial. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines special education as a specially-designed instruction aimed at meeting the unique needs of a child whose disability (2004) has a high probability of resulting in a developmental delay. As such, special education broadly identifies the academic, physical, cognitive, social and emotional instruction offered to children who have one or more of the thirteen different disability

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categories listed in the IDEA. According to IDEA (2004), students aged 3 through 21 with documented disabilities once placed in the special education program under the IDEA qualify for an Individual Education Plan (IEP). The plan determines the directions children’s education programs will take and the services children will receive in a given school year. The meeting at which the plan is created is a chance for parents to provide direct input into their children’s education. Therefore, it is not by accident that the U.S. federal government realizes the critical need to place parents at the center of the decision making- process in the educational programs for their children. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEIA) requires a high level of parental involvement, especially in the development of lEPs. Due to the federal mandates that require parental involvement during the assessment, decision-making, and educational processes (Harry, 2008), involving immigrant parents in the schooling activities of their children in special education (Langdon, 2008) includes participating in IEP meetings. As a result, IDEA includes expectations for involvement at every stage of the process, from assessment to goal development to progress monitoring. An active parental involvement includes the following: understanding the purpose of an IEP meeting, offering information about a child’s strengths and needs, listening to the recommendations of school personnel, telling the teachers what they want their child to learn, and signing the IEP (Kober, 2002). Some of the goals are to provide parents the opportunity to play a crucial role in their child's education by requiring their presence, and active participation at IEP meetings (Bursztyn, 2007). An important implication of this conceptualization is that increasing immigrant parents’ involvement requires full participation of both parents and the school personnel in the child’s learning. Although parental involvement in the educational process of their children is a fundamental principle of IDEA 2004 (Turnbull, Turnbull, Erwin, & Soodak, 2006), low levels of parental involvement are common among culturally and linguistically diverse families (Smalley & ReyesBlanes, 2001). According to Ariza (2002), a common reason why immigrant parents fail to be actively involved in their children’s education is that parental expectations of schools that are rooted in their own home cultures are different from most American schools. Their experiences with the special education services in their home countries predispose parents to have specific expectations for their roles in U. S. schools. As such, some immigrant parents may lack an influential voice in their children’s education because of their lack of information about U. S. schools. When immigrant parents understand the U. S. school systems and their legal

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rights and those of their children, they will experience transformative knowledge—knowledge that permits Sub-Saharan African (SSA) immigrant parents of children with disabilities to be more familiar with the general concept of parental involvement in the educational decisionmaking affecting their children (Kalyanpur, Harry, & Skrtic, 2000). It is the type of knowledge that requires immigrant parents to step out of the traditional mode of their cultural beliefs related to teachers’ authority (Keyes, 2000) and beliefs about education or child development in general (Sauer, 2007). Because they are immigrants, these parents bring international perspectives to their children’s success in American schools (Valdes, 1998). Thus success is best achieved when American teachers help SSA immigrant families and students in understanding how American schools operate (Olsen & Jaramillo, 2000). Without additional support or information, these parents continue to act on the practices in their home countries, which may mean that they have come from countries without mandates for educating children with disabilities. Research points to the fact that low immigrant parental involvement may be caused by school systems that do not encourage parents to get involved (Harry, Rueda, & Kalyanpur, 1999); some educators pre-judge diverse parents as having low enthusiasm and commitment (Warger & Burnette, 2000). Casting blame on parents does not encourage collaboration between schools and families, especially families identified as culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD). According to Harry (2008), the barriers to effective collaboration among educators and CLD families and students include race, culture, language, and social class. Another finding of the study conducted by Brandon and Brown (2009) reveals that additional barriers such as cultural diversity, economic status, family structure, level of education, communication, parent and teacher-school interactions, student success, and personal constraints can also impact the levels of parental involvement. While studies exist for some cultural groups regarding the challenges of parental involvement (Flynn, 2006; Staples & Diliberto, 2010; Trussell, Hammond, & Ingalls, 2008; Zhou & Logan, 2003), little exists for immigrant parents from Sub-Saharan Africa. The gap that currently exists in the literature on the knowledge, perceptions, and experiences of SSA immigrant parents whose children receive special education services in U.S. schools demands that more research be conducted to provide rich, informative, and intimate accounts in this area. The impetus for this is the growing student body of foreign-born immigrants in U.S. schools (Fix & Passel, 2003; Ruiz-de-Velasco, Fix, & Clewell, 2000) whose parents

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assume passive roles in the educational decision making-process (Turnbull & Turnbull, 2000). Immigrant families, especially newly-arrived ones who have children with disabilities entering U.S. schools, might not be cognizant that their expectations and those of the educators who work in these systems might not be congruent. Parental involvement is particularly important because it can provide insights to help educators and schools develop training, programs and policies to ameliorate educational risks for their children. It is my position that parental involvement that enhances parents' attitudes about themselves, the school, and the school personnel, and, spotlights the role each plays in the development of the child is a legitimate academic inquiry. Accordingly, the findings of such an inquiry can inform practice to improve the learning experiences of immigrant students with disabilities (Becher, 1986). I believe in a model of scholarship of an SSA parental involvement in their children’s learning that endorses inquiry and investigations for the purpose of understanding the connection between the knowledge of SSA immigrant parents and their role in the special education planning. Consequently, the findings could provide an appropriate orientation for immigrant families to know their rights and roles in their children’s education, and for them to reap the benefits of parental involvement. Oftentimes, the involvement of parents from different ethnic backgrounds are nestled within a larger one-size-fitsall paradigm despite the fact that parental involvement might not be the same among the different ethnic groups (Olivos, 2006). The experiences may be the outcome of the different ideas of how they wish and choose to be involved (Nieto & Bode, 2008; Olivos, 2006). This study, therefore, seeks to understand the experiences of other ethnic groups by examining SSA immigrant parents. The study is guided by the following questions: 1. How do SSA immigrant parents of children with disabilities describe their children’s special education services? 2. How do SSA immigrant parents of children with disabilities describe their knowledge and perceptions about their children's special educational services?

Literature Review The dramatic growth of immigrant populations in the United States schools has been accompanied by a rise in the demand for special education services. The rate of participation in special education for immigrant students varies by country of origin (Conger, Schwartz, &

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Stiefel, 2003). Among the cultural groups arriving in the United States are immigrants from sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. These immigrant families come with very high educational expectations for their children even though they may not be very familiar with the U. S. school system. Because learning and teaching take on different forms in different countries, teachers may not understand the children’s previous school experiences. The information that does exist on immigrants in U.S. schools, however presents a clear picture of the experiences and perceptions of parents from other ethnic groups. For example, many studies highlight numerous factors that may influence Latino parents’ school involvement (Hammer, Miccio, & Wagstaff, 2003; Kohl, Lengua, McMahon, 2000). The Individual with Disability Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) (2004) provides guidelines as to how IEPs are implemented in the academic planning process for students with disabilities. The guidelines stipulate that an IEP team that includes a combination of various people— the regular education teacher, a special education teacher, an administrator (e.g. principal, school district representative, school psychologist, and school counselor), the parents/guardians, and if appropriate, the student (Lee-Tarver, 2006)—meet annually to develop a blueprint for the educational services that meet the unique needs of the particular student (Huefner, 2000). During an IEP process, the multidisciplinary and interagency team develops an appropriate program and a written document setting learning goals and delineating the special education and related services to be provided to an eligible student (Yell, 1998). Such collaborative efforts offer the advantage of integrating the unique contributions of different partners toward the accomplishment of the shared goal. However, despite this, research shows that parents often have negative experiences in IEP meetings (Park & Turnbull, 2001). Immigrant parents involved in IEPs face challenges due to factors such as language barriers, differences in customs, and discrepancies in beliefs about education or child development in general (Sauer, 2007). Similarly, Ariza (2002) observes that some common reasons why immigrant parents fail to actively participate in their children’s education include language barriers, time conflict and, most alarmingly, their expectations of schools rooted in their own home cultures rather than the American culture. Drawing on research about the experience of Chinese parents of children with disabilities during IEP meetings, Lo (2008) identifies cultural and language barriers, poor translation and interpretation services, and disrespect from professionals as some of the challenges faced by immigrant families. As a result of these challenges and barriers, the level

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of involvement in IEP meetings by immigrant parents from most countries turns out to be minimal. In general, immigrant parents want to be involved in the educational decision-making process of their children, but many feel silenced or marginalized by overt or covert messages that indicate that their voices are not always valued or welcomed (Salas, 2004). As a result of these challenges, immigrant students with disabilities lack access to equal opportunity and, therefore to social justice and educational excellence. Knowledge of these barriers will help professionals to constructively develop strategies that can facilitate family understanding and active involvement in the planning of their children’s special education programs. This will help provide authentic and relevant experiences to families pertaining to quality education and social justice and thus, help to erase their invisibility in the school system.

Theoretical Framework Central to the theoretical orientation of this study is the interpretive meaning of the participants’ lived experiences as perceived by SSA immigrant parents in the U. S. schools’ social setting. Using the interpretive perspective increased an understanding of the critical, social and organizational issues that relate to the experiences, perceptions, and knowledge of SSA immigrant parents studied. As part of this approach, responses from the research participants were analyzed in terms of being a representative group of the status quo. Interpretation of action gave meaning to social interaction (Del Carlo, 2009) that lends itself to forming some sort of regularity and structure to society.

Research Methodology This study relied primarily upon what educational researchers Denzin and Lincoln (2003) refer to as phenomenology, an interpretive theory. A phenomenological form of inquiry is used for "describing what all participants have in common as they experience a phenomenon" (Creswell, 2007, p. 58). I adopted a hermeneutic phenomenology, a natural inquiry that permitted me to search for the meaning of the SSA immigrant parents’ knowledge of the special education services their children with disabilities receive within the learning context and, their perception of their involvement in their children’s education (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). In order to attend to the larger social context in which this study was situated and the importance of the interpretive meanings from

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the participants’ lived experiences, a variety of qualitative methods were utilized (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). As such, qualitative methods provided the most promising option for the current study as they afforded for the application of the most detailed, descriptive, and systematic approaches essential to generating a holistic understanding of the research problem (Creswell, 2007; Denzin & Lincoln, 2005; Merriam, 2009). This is significant as there is virtually no empirical data available on the knowledge and perceptions of SSA immigrant parents within the context of special education services for their children in U. S. schools. This study explored SSA immigrant parents’ knowledge, perceptions, and experiences. As part of the interpretive methodology, the study was grounded in the constructivist theory. The constructivist theory acknowledges that meaning-making is constructed through exchanges of social processes and that knowledge is derived collectively among people (Vygotsky, 1978). Since social constructivists place significance on communities of learners versus individual learners in regards to the construction of knowledge (Lave & Wenger, 1991), the constructivist theory provided the necessary lens to analyze the important shared learning experiences. This sort of collaborative learning is continuously emphasized during parental involvement in U. S. schools.

Participants and Settings The participants involved in the study were six English-speaking parents (three dyads) who had migrated from different cultural ethnic groups of immigrant families from SSA countries and were living in different cities in the Mid-western region of the U.S. Each father had his foreign-born children living with him and attending school in different school districts. Additionally, all six participants met the required criteria of parents who had one or more foreign-born children currently in U. S. schools who had been diagnosed with one or more of the thirteen Federal disability categories and were receiving special education services from a school district in the region. Of the six participants, five had at least a college degree and were professionals, while one was a homemaker. All had spent at least 4 years and at most 13 years in the U.S. All six participants were eager and motivated to make their voices heard, to share their life experiences from a minority perspective, and to transform their struggles and plight from an imbalanced power structure to face the reality in schools.

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Group organizers and cultural leaders facilitated the recruitment of participants who received orientation sessions from me within one month of the study period. Thus, affirmation of the rights of the recruits was assured through informed consent documentation that explained the purpose, the goals, the context, and the duration of their participation in the study (Creswell, 2007; Hatch, 2002). Parents who met the criteria and who continued to manifest interest in participating in the study and interviewed on a first identified/contacted basis were recruited for the study.

Data Collection Prior to the start of the study, approval for the research study was obtained from the Institutional Research Board of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Also, each participant signed an informed consent form. Subsequently, data was collected through individual interviews that were guided by open-ended questions prepared in advance with 6 parents (mother and father). Both parents were interviewed together, and were engaged in in-depth discussions regarding their personal knowledge and perceptions within the context of special education services. Open-ended questions related to their experiences, behavior, opinions, values, feelings, and knowledge were utilized in two in-person interviews that were audio recorded and transcribed to capture personal information and gain insight about their involvement. Also, reflection and descriptive journals kept as field notes were used to provide additional data. As such, the invitation packets, questions for reflection, and my own reflective journals became a valuable source of data from which to seek alternative perspectives and to check interpretations. The group interviews allowed for a free-flowing open discussion in order for each couple to share their lived experiences as close as possible. The exact number of parent participants was determined by the parents who were willing and available to participate.

Data Analysis In line with the hermeneutic phenomenological approach, the production of meaning was a process of co-creation between the researcher and the participants in which the construction of meaning occurred in a cycle of interviews, reflective writing, and interpretations. The use of my own reflective journals allowed me to move back and forth between the data and my own reflections. I further subscribed to Glaser & Strauss’ (1967) call for ongoing search for factors that could explain similarities and

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differences through the constant comparative method. All interview transcripts and reflective journals were regularly reviewed in order to validate, clarify, and reframe analyses of the data. Ongoing data analysis occurred by means of an inductive data analysis approach to code, categorize, and to search for themes. This facilitated the identification of "patterns of meaning" across the participants with common experiences. Because inquiry is a human activity, I rejected the possibility of a valuefree, objective human science (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Accordingly, I assumed the responsibility to be reflexive and to continually reflect upon research practices, decisions, and personal values (Richlin, 2001).

Results The perspectives of the parents of three immigrant school-age children with disabilities from Sub-Saharan Africa in relation to their knowledge of, and involvement in the planning for, their children’s special education services are presented here. Based on the data analysis, three categories emerged: parents’ knowledge base, their experiences, and their perceived roles in their children’s special education planning. For purposes of this chapter, I have used the participants’ comments as evidence to support each category. All participants’ names are pseudonyms.

Special Education Services The disability categories identified for the children of participating parents included autism, communication impairment, developmental delay, emotional impairment, health impairment, intellectual disability, neurological impairment, physical impairment, sensory impairment, and specific learning disability. In addition, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech and language therapy were also services used as identified by the parents of the children with severe cognitive disabilities, and Rex Syndrome.

Parental Involvement in Schools and IEP Meeting Experiences Almost all parents experienced challenges in learning about and gaining access to services for their children with a disability. Parents felt that they or other parents with similar situations would benefit if schools would provide assistance to parents in learning about and accessing school-based programs for their child who has a moderate to severe disability.

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To provide an overview, Table 1 organizes the questions, data sources, and categorical results. Table 1 Overview of Questions, Methods, and Results Inquiry Questions I. Knowledge Base II. Experiences III. Perceived Roles

Data Sources -III -WRs -III -WRs -III -WRs

Findings –Categories 1. Limited Knowledge base 2. Personal growth 3. Challenges and Difficulties 4. Constructive meaning

III= In person Individual Interviews; WRs=Weekly Reflections (Field Notes).

Limited Knowledge Base Results from the data analysis indicate that the SSA immigrant parents of children with disabilities in U. S. schools became more knowledgeable about their children’s special education services with time; they also became more aware of the educational differences between the U.S. and their home countries. From the analysis of the in person individual interviews and weekly reflections, sub-categories and key expressions emerged and are organized in Table 2. During the individual interviews, the participants came to a collective consensus about “Lacking in information about services and the IEP processes” (Sadia). Knowledge about their Children’s Special Education Services During the individual interviews, the participants came to a collective consensus about “ lacking knowledge about services and the IEP processes ” (Sadia). Hasana also described her experience: “A lot of time we were not aware and knowledgeable about our child's services. If services were not mentioned, we seemed to assume that no other services existed and or were necessary.” This experience seemed to have “provided us with little knowledge of the services our son, Bem, receives and little knowledge of the range of services that might be available to him (e.g., speech and language, occupational therapy),” Hasana affirmed. Even though all participants are well educated, they expressed having “little knowledge about special educational services for their children because in their home countries well-structured special education services are not

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available” (Steve). In this experience, they indicated that because they “did not know much about the IEP process, school personnel were in total control of the planning and decision making processes.” Yafeu explained, Because of our lack of knowledge about the educational system in general and special education in particular, we could not determine specific services other than he being in the classroom, and were unaware that we could either request additional services or dispute the services provided to him because services are listed for us or called for at meetings as we were not made aware.

The SSA immigrant parents, however, appeared to be content with whatever services were given. Bem believed that “service decisions are the purview of school personnel.” (Yafeu and Hasana). Hasana believed that their primary role in the IEP meetings was limited to consume information about their child’s education because they did not receive prior orientation as to what their role and expectations at these meetings were. Ignorance about Disability The SSA immigrant parents whose children had been diagnosed as having a disability perceived an additional setback from the experience that they became “more overwhelmed” about “accepting a disability label for [their] child” and had “more difficulty in adjusting to the diagnosis of their child’s disability” (Yafeu, Esi, Steve, Sadia, Obasi, Hasana). For this reason, all of the six participants initially had to go through a period of adaptation, adjustment, and acceptance, and eventually developed realistic expectations, goals, and services for their child. “We had little knowledge about our daughter’s condition because we knew nothing about disability and its potential impact on development.” (Steve and Sadia). As Sadia reported, “…we [didn’t know about] the process of development… that there will be somebody who will … live without talking or walking as we are learning from her as it was the first time we ever had the experience.” “We did not understand that our daughter was going to be very severely disabled because we did not understand her condition,” affirmed Steve. Yafeu reported that the early intervention specialists contacted the family when their son was first diagnosed with autism. As recalled by Esi, “I was getting all of this diagnosis and stuff and had barely ever heard of autism.” All of the six participants responded in the interviews that they did not have the knowledge of childhood disability and so were lacking in knowledge of available services for their children. They displayed a

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multitude of reactions based on the nature and severity of their children’s disability when they were initially confronted with the diagnosis of each child’s disability. This complicated their involvement and understanding in the “early” years of their children’s diagnosis. Additionally, because they had feelings of depression, shock, denial, guilt, grief, confusion, and despair, they did not understand the child’s needs. However, they acknowledged that their optimism, determination, strong sense of self and goal-oriented practices served as powerful counter-forces that helped them engage in specific practices aimed at supporting their children in special education. “Despite the diagnosis and services, this period of time is providing us with a life learning experience and we will continue to learn and understand from our daughter’s situation,” explained Sadia. Table 2 Categories and Key Expressions under Limited Knowledge base Category Knowledge about their children’s special education services

Key Expression Understand things in different ways Different to be an immigrant parent Some confusion and difficulty adjusting

Parents ignorance about disability

Impact of disability on the children Resentment and Guilt-feeling Complicated parents’ participation Optimism and determination Maintaining a strong positive attitude

No awareness of professional roles in IEP meetings

The IEP team members Regularities of IEP meetings Control and power

No Awareness of Professional Roles in IEP Meetings All of the six parents in the study agreed that they “had no knowledge of the roles of different IEP team members and the presence of an advocate in the team.” (Yafeu, Hasana, Obasi, Esi, Steve, Sadia). This experience seemed to have “heightened that the school was in total control of the process enormously,” as Esi affirmed. “We were very passive IEP team participants in the very early years of our child’s receiving special education services,” echoed Steve. Sadia had nursed a misconception about the role of the professionals, and IEP meetings. She noted,

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When it all started I think I used to see special education teachers as doctors or people to fix our daughter. We did not know that we could dispute services proposed by these professionals because we thought it was a school thing and as parents we were only seeking miracles for our child with disabilities. To me, IEP meetings were a forum for us to learn about various solutions to fix our daughter, and this resulted in completely misunderstanding of the purpose of the meetings, and what role the professionals were expected to play in these meetings.

The data analysis consistently showed that the six participants’ perceived experience allowed them to nurture the feelings that all professional had to do was to present them with prepared forms during an IEP meeting. After attending IEP meetings for at least three years, all of them confirmed that they didn’t know that IEP meetings were annual events designed to discuss their child’s progress in school with professionals in a collaborative manner. This no doubt seems to convey the message that the parents’ presence in IEP meetings was merely a legal obligation being fulfilled by professionals.

Personal Growth The findings from the data analysis indicated that this experience provided enormous opportunities for the participants to grow personally. Based on the data analysis, key expressions emerged and are shown in Table 3. Self-Education The SSA parents were able to identify their role as the primary individuals responsible for ensuring that their children received the appropriate types of education and services they required. They appreciated the fact that over time following their children’s diagnosis, they “struggled to simultaneously understand [their] child’s diagnosis, the implications of the diagnosis, and the service systems” in which they found themselves, Sadia stated. She continued, “The learning process we have gone through as a result of getting to and beyond the diagnosis grounds our perspective of our involvement in the planning processes.” These parents maintained a strong positive attitude and were determined to continue seeking the services that Nathalie, their daughter needed to acquire basic life skills and develop social and academic skills. Additionally, Sadia said: I went back to graduate school to study special education in order to be more cognizant of my child’s disability and needs so as to be more involved and helpful. We did not even know what special education was in

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the first place and anything like what she was going through, and it was all trying to find answers to the many questions that I asked about her situation.

By way of educating herself through her special education teacher certification program, Sadia is better able to understand her daughter’s needs and special education services. It also gave her the opportunity and motivation to be fully involved in the special education planning and intervention processes. This is confirmed by Steve who further explained, “… we have grown in it as time has gone on. We have gotten to understand the IEP better, the goals, the intentions, the process.” Training Two of the six participants attained personal growth by attending organized workshops on the IEP process. They participated in IEP-related workshops organized by their school district, teaching them how to prepare for an IEP meeting. From these events, they had “the opportunity of enhancing their knowledge base about special education services and the IEP process,” stated Obasi and Esi. They appreciated the fact that they were invited “to attend the orientation and workshop on IEPs.” Esi continued, “Originally, a letter was sent to us to attend the first orientation and workshop on IEPs.” “It was a good learning experience because we had never had it for the many years that our child had been receiving special education services,” explained Obasi. Similarly, Esi described her plight over the years: “when I just came, I had no one to explain the IEP process to me but now attending the workshop helps me to understand more.” Personal Adjustments The participants experienced “many adjustments personally and with schools” (Hasana). The six parents were in a new school system, in an unfamiliar country with a different array of educational services for their children; this required them to make personal adjustments. According to Yafeu and Hasana, the adjustments included “working with additional services to assist our child, relying on school personnel for information, and learning about our role in order to provide the most support for our child.” They learned to explore services for their child by “reading printed materials.”

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Table 3 Categories and Key Expressions under Personal Growth Category Self-Education

Key expression Pursuing education Experienced a steep learning curve Gaining firsthand information about their child’s disability and services Understanding the US special education system Facilitating involvement in the special education services decision making process Importance of expanding their knowledge base Attended organized workshops Role Orientation Became aware of the educational choices they should make for their children

Training

Personal Adjustments

Making adjustments personally and with schools Relying on early intervention programs personnel Navigating through the area Figuring out the necessary information Constructive meaning

Challenges and Difficulties In addition to the new learning experiences, the experiences presented a few challenges due to some predetermined conditions stemming from communication and school settings. From the data, the following categories emerged in support of the theme of challenges (see Table 4). Logistical Challenges The agendas established for IEP meetings caused major challenges for the six SSA immigrant parents receiving special education services for their children. This was particularly evident when they discussed how IEP meeting agendas were conceived and enforced. Obasi stated, “We do not provide input on meeting agenda. The agenda is static with little or no input from us.” They were required to receive a copy of the IEP meeting agenda on arrival and to launch into discussions without any input on it. Sadia also complained: “Attending an IEP meeting I still believe that the IEP meeting agenda was never discussed. Even if we express our interests and concerns, the

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agendas are still set and controlled by the school. This brought forth tremendous challenges.” Additionally, Esi stated, “We had too many items on the agenda.” Hasana added, “The time was too short. We didn’t get to all the agenda items in our IEP meeting.” Another challenge for the participant was their confusion over the large amount of paperwork that was required. Esi revealed that she felt completely lost and couldn’t process the meeting: My problem is that usually I’m so bombarded with paperwork that I forget to listen to [the professionals] and then I notice things after they happen. I think I was just lost during the IEP. I was totally lost. I don’t know why, but it seemed that I was inside a classroom with all the papers and pencils, and I couldn’t concentrate or hear. I mean, I was hearing everything but I couldn’t process it.

Limited Role Parental role expectation challenges related to the IEP process became apparent once their children were placed in special education. The general view as to what role they should play in making educational choices for their children especially in the very first years of enrolling them in the school system placed the parents in a situation whereby they interacted with professionals “who did not help them understand their roles in the planning and decision- making and “this experience brought about many difficulties,” lamented Sadia. Moreover, some of their children’s teachers caused the parents to be more uncertain about their -children’s school services. This uncertainty was evident in their descriptions of how their involvement in “IEP planning was “tempered by our frustrations with our son’s teacher and this limited our involvement,” explained Esi. As a result, the parents perceived that understanding their role was a barrier and a challenge. For example, they “struggled to simultaneously understand the purposes of the IEP process or meetings, let alone the roles they could play in the planning and decision-making,” stated Steve.

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Table 4 Categories andKey Expressions under Challenges/Difficulties Category Logistics Challenges Limited Role

Key Expression Do not provide input on the agenda which is static Need better scheduling and planning IEP meetings Complicated paperwork Lack of shared ownership of IEP meetings Lack of clear delineation of roles in IEP meetings Parents and professionals working in isolation Early years were controlled by the school professionals Attend IEP meetings more as observers Experience growth in understanding the system with time

In addition, the participants experienced miscommunication with school personnel and believed that the school districts were the ultimate authorities in determining what services best fit their children’s needs. Obasi explained, “We were told that everything they do in the IEP meeting, the district will check,” allowing them to take the “back seat” in final decision-making. Also, while the participants hoped to rely on their children’s teachers in the school, the parents felt ignored by the teachers to the point that Esi remarked, “We were not contributing IEP team members at the onset of receiving special education services, providing little if any input at all into the decisions about our children’s special education services.” As a result, the parents’ lack of knowledge about their role made their participation fruitless.” Yafeu expressed that the experience “engendered their feelings of helplessness” when it came to their children’s education.” Obasi further stated that, “the very first IEP, if I may say so, we always get information not telling us exactly what it is, but it is like okay we will like to meet with you.” Nonetheless, the circumstances galvanized them into the action that led them “to engage in activities which prompted our greater understanding as we tried to learn all we could about our child by conferring with all service providers” (Esi). Hasana said, “We finally became actively involved several years after our child’s first IEP making our involvement in the decision-making process a more recent phenomenon.”

Discussion The current study presents a descriptive representation of the knowledge, experiences, and perceptions of sub-Saharan African (SSA) immigrant parents about the special education services their children receive in U. S.

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schools. The results suggest that while the parents, who came from the different countries of the sub region, had unique stories, they also shared similar experiences related to learning about special education and learning to get involved in the IEP process. These parents began their journeys with little information about disability and special education but have experiences that evolved over time through their efforts to become more knowledgeable. Sharing similar characteristics as educated parents working in professional positions with English as their first and main language of communication, they expanded their knowledge bases to ensure that their children’s educational needs were met. The results presented were based on the common themes generated by all three of the fathers who participated in relation to two research questions that address (1) how they describe their children’s special education services, and (2) how they describe their knowledge and perceptions about their children’s special education services. First, the participants who were initially confronted with the diagnosis of their child’s disability became overwhelmed and had low levels of involvement in their children’s initial IEP meetings. Like parents in other research who express feelings of depression and sadness related to their child’s disability diagnosis (Meaden, Halle & Ebata, 2010), participants in this study displayed a multitude of reactions depending on the nature and severity of the child’s disability (Valle-Riestra & Hughes, 2007). Like some families who are able to move beyond the diagnosis and adapt to the changes in their lifestyle due to the child’s diagnosis, the study participants were firm in fighting for their children regardless of their abilities or needs (Rueda, Monzo, Shapiro, Gomez, & Blacher, 2005). Their difficulty in adjusting to, and accepting their children’s disability label complicated their involvement and understanding of the required services. Their descriptions of these early meetings suggested that the meetings had not been structured in ways that were intended to provide them full involvement. The picture that emerged is a picture of what Childre and Chambers (2005) refer to as “traditional” IEP meetings in which the parents’ primary role is limited to listening to information about their child’s education and answering questions posed by the professionals. This depiction is unsettling since federal and state laws identify parents as key participants and joint decision-makers. Despite the reality related to this situation, these parents did not become apathetic or disengaged. Instead, they intensified their efforts to learn more about their roles, rights, and responsibilities in the education of their children.

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One major contribution the present study makes to the body of the literature is the finding that the parents indicated that at the very beginning of enrolling their children in schools they acquired most of their knowledge of special education services through self-education. They cited that without their taking the initiative to become knowledgeable about the special education system and the IEP process, they would have been unaware of all of the services that school districts were required to provide to their children. Parents were able to acquire educational resources and services that they believed their children would not have received if not for their acquired knowledge base in the IEP process. This process appeared to be facilitated by their determination, resilience, and self-education. The result appears to suggest that the parents in this study used the social capital they accrued through their education, economic status, and lack of language barriers to forward their own development as it relates to their children’s school districts and special education services. The results obtained from this study also suggest that apart from parents having an increased knowledge base about the IEP process when they take the initiative to educate themselves, others rely on support systems and other resources and training. For the participating parents who did not selfeducate, they received training through workshops organized by their school district on how to prepare for an IEP meeting, while another dyad reported reading printed materials. These types of support and workshops enhanced their knowledge base on special education services, and the IEP process. This finding is similar to that of Turnbull and Turnbull (2001), that systems enhance parents’ skills and knowledge, and Rock (2000), that school districts should educate families about special education services and the IEP process by scheduling meetings with parents prior to IEP meeting dates in order to discuss IEP content and protocol. The emphasis in this study is an empirical prediction that the inequality felt by the SSA immigrant parents of children with disabilities in relation to their children’s IEP process depends on their initial historical perceptions of how their rights have been depicted in the US school system. Hence, SSA immigrant children with disabilities have been rendered largely invisible in the implementation of policies guiding their special education service delivery. The answer to this invisibility is an insistence on the equal application of educational programs to SSA immigrant students with disabilities. The current study on SSA immigrant parents whose children receive special education services throws light on the issues affecting these populations, removing them from continuous invisibility in the school systems and validating their experiences. The educational outcomes of SSA immigrant children with disabilities in US schools cannot be

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understood without considering the level of understanding and full involvement in the service delivery process by their parents who are at the center of their education. The pressing practical issue here, then, is not whether policies and special education programs for SSA immigrant students with disabilities exist, but whether parents understand these policies and programs to the extent that they are able to take advantage of them for their children’s success and effective learning in school. Public awareness and the uncovering of negative experiences of SSA immigrant families are essential for the implementation of quality education programs in order to make equality meaningful and to produce real change in social justice by equipping parents with the necessary information. Increasing SSA parental involvement as a tactic to improve the school performance of SSA immigrant children with disabilities will ensure their educational excellence.

Study Limitations I acknowledge that this research has limitations. First, the overall sample size is small considering the large number of Sub-Saharan African immigrant families receiving special education services in the many different schools in the US. Therefore, the data presented in this study provide some indication of the perception of a small group of Sub-Saharan African immigrant parents and should not be taken as completely representative of a large, fairly representative sample. Secondly, as with most individual interviews in qualitative inquiry, a bias may arise as a result of the increasing intimacy during interview sessions, acquaintance with family members, and close-up views of parents' experiences. Another limitation of the study is that the sampling process for the study is in itself a restricted population focusing on families who share certain characteristics, so findings from this study may not be able to determine if having foreign born children in special education is a critical aspect of these parents’ experiences or if their experiences are the result of broader cultural differences. However, I am not suggesting that what the parents told me lacked credibility. The method used offers a way in which to draw conclusions about the factors that may play a facilitating or inhibiting role in the provision of special education services to SSA immigrant children with disabilities in the US schools.

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Implications for Practice The issues raised by parents in this research may be taken as important snapshots, and future research is necessary to provide a balanced account using both observations and interviews with SSA immigrant parents. The results from this study imply that the IEP process brings both benefits and challenges to SSA parents of students with disabilities in the U. S. schools. The overall benefit, which to a certain degree can also be a challenge, is that SSA immigrant parents get to experience and navigate the special education process themselves as parents and learners simultaneously. This in turn gives the parents a glimpse into how they can become conversant with the special education process and special education laws over time. Implications may be made in relation to the challenges the SSA immigrant parents faced, which could have been avoided with some modification in the platform of orientation and information sharing. Parental involvement in the special education process is a frequent topic of discussion in special education mandates and professional education literature. However, many professionals in the special education field still do not facilitate or assist the participation of SSA immigrant parents in the process because they (the school personnel) do not adhere to proper IEP protocols during meetings. Therefore, these challenges present one final implication for the future involvement of SSA immigrant parents in the special education process for their children in U. S. schools. In other words, as we move forward, professionals and school districts’ efforts should be to meet the needs of SSA immigrant parents through the creation of outreach programs, more family-friendly school policies, and the development of community-wide educational programs for SSA immigrant parents to gain knowledge of the school system and the special education process (Mbeseha, 2016).

Conclusion and Recommendations This chapter presents a descriptive representation of the knowledge, experiences, and perceptions of SSA immigrant parents about the special education services their children receive in U. S. schools to address the needs of collaborative services that are individualized and interactive between parents and the school system. The findings represent the parents who participated in the study; and are not intended to be generalized beyond the context of the current study. SSA immigrant parents of children with disabilities encounter numerous challenges in most U.S. school districts. Educators should serve as advocates to ensure that SSA

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immigrant parents successfully navigate the special education services. Designing and providing orientation programs will be helpful. For example, parental training programs that address their understanding of the special education process and the legal mandates will help them understand how schools function and what the schools expect from them as parents. These recommendations offer a way in which to draw conclusions about the factors that may play a facilitating or inhibiting role in the provision of special education services to SSA immigrant children with disabilities in U. S. schools. In this way, the results of this research will contribute to the knowledge and information that could be useful as a starting point for developing specific ways to optimize the full participation of SSA immigrant parents in special education programs for their children. Also, this chapter provides new directions for social justice and educational excellence for SSA immigrant students with disabilities in the diaspora. It also brings hope and clarity to the field by underlining the perspectives of SSA immigrant parents in the special education process to support the ongoing evolution of socially just ways that create more equity to meet the needs of SSA immigrant students with disabilities and their families.

References Ariza, E. N. (2002). Cultural considerations: Immigrant parent involvement. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 38(3), 134-137. Becher, R. M. (1986). Parent involvement: A review of research and principles of successful practice. In L. G. Katz (Eds.), Current topics in early childhood education Vol. 6(pp. 86-122). Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Brandon, R., & Brown, M. R. (2009). African American families in the special education process: Increasing their level of involvement. Intervention in School and Clinic, 45, 85-90. Bursztyn, A. (2007). The praeger handbook of special education. Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. Childre, A., & Chambers, C. R. (2005). Family perceptions of student centered planning and IEP meetings. Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities, 40(3), 217–233. Conger, D., Schwartz, A. E., & Stiefel, L. (2003). Who are our students? A statistical portrait of immigrant students in New York City elementary and middle schools. New York: New York University. Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

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Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). Introduction: The discipline and practice of qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed) (pp. 1–32). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. —. (Eds.) (2003). Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. —. (Eds.) (2000). Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed.).Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Fix, M., & Passel, J. S. (2003). U.S. immigration: Trends and implications for schools. Washington, DC: Urban Institute. Flynn, G. V. (2006). The middle school connection: Fostering alliances with parents. Science Scope, 29(8), 12-15. Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co. Gomez, R., & Greenough, R. (2002). Parental involvement under the new Title I & Title III: From compliance to effective practice. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. Hammer, C. S., Miccio, A. W., & Wagstaff, D. A. (2003). Home literacy experiences and their relationship to bilingual Preschoolers' developing English literacy abilities: An initial investigation. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 34(1), 20-30. Harry, B. (2008). Collaboration with culturally and linguistically diverse families: Ideal versus reality. Exceptional Children, 74(3), 372–388. Harry, B., Rueda, R., & Kalyanpur, M. (1999). Cultural reciprocity in socio-cultural perspective: Adapting the normalization principle for family collaboration. Exceptional Children, 66 (1), 123-136. Hatch, J. A. (2002). Doing qualitative research in educational settings. Albany: State University of New York Press. Huefner, D. S., (2000). The risks and opportunities of the IEP requirements under IDEA '97. Journal of Special Education, 33(4), 195-205. Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act [IDEA] (2004). 20 U.S.C.A. 1400 et scq. Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, 20 U. S. C. §1400, H. R. 1350. Kalyanpur, M., Harry, B., & Skrtic, T. (2000). Equity and advocacy expectations of culturally diverse families' participation in special education. International Journal of Disabilities, Development and Education, 47(2), 119-136. Keyes, C. R. (2000). Parent-teacher partnerships: A theoretical approach for teachers. In Issues of early childhood education: Curriculum,

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teacher education, and dissemination of information: Proceedings of the Lillian Katz Symposium (pp. 107-118). Retrieved June 10, 2016 from http://ceep.crc.uiuc. Edu/pubs/katzsym/keyes, pdf. Kober, N. (2002). Twenty-five years of educating children with disabilities: The good news and the work ahead. Washington, DC: Center on Education Policy. Kohl, G. O., Lengua, L. J., & McMahon, R. J. (2000). Parent involvement in school conceptualizing multiple dimensions and their relations with family and demographic risk factors. Journal of School Psychology, 38(6), 501-523. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lee-Tarver, A. (2006). Are individualized education plans a good thing? A survey of teachers' perceptions of the utility of IEPs in regular education settings. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 33(4), 263272. Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Lo, L. (2008). Chinese families’ level of participation and experiences in IEP meetings. Preventing School Failure, 53(1), 21–27. Mbeseha, M. K. (2016). Sub-Saharan African immigrant parental involvement in the individualized education program planning and decision making process and how educators can facilitate their involvement in U.S. schools. (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations Publishing (30337761). Meaden, H., Halle, J. W., & Ebata, A. T. (2010). Families with children who have autism spectrum disorders: Stress and support. Exceptional Children, 77(1), 7-36. Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco, CA: Jossy-Boss. Olivos, E. M. (2006). The power of parents: A critical perspective of bicultural parent involvement in public schools (Vol. 290). New York: Peter Lang. Olsen, L., & Jaramillo, A. (2000). When time is on our side: Redesigning schools to meet the needs of immigrant students. In P. Gándara (Eds.), The dimensions of time and the challenge of school reform (pp. 225250). Albany, NY: State University of New York. Park, J., & Turnbull, A. P. (2001). Cross-cultural competency and special education: Perceptions and experiences of Korean parents of children with special needs. Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities, 36, 133-147.

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Pena, C. D. (1999). Mexican American family involvement. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 35 (4), 166-69. Richlin, L. (2001). Scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 86, 57–68. Rock, M. L. (2000). Parents as equal partners: Balancing the scales in IEP development. Teaching Exceptional Children, 32 (6), 30-37. Rueda, R., Monzo, L., Shapiro, J., Gomez, J., & Blacher, J. (2005). Cultural models of transition: Latina mothers of young adults with developmental disabilities. Exceptional Children, 71, 401–414. Ruiz-de-Velasco, J., Fix, M., & Clewell, B. C. (2000). Overlooked and underserved: Immigrant students in U.S. secondary schools. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute. Salas, L. (2004). Individualized educational plan (IEP) meetings and Mexican American parents: Let’s talk about it. Journal of Latinos and Education, 3(3), 181–192. Sauer, J.S. (2007). No surprises please: A mother's story of betrayal and the fragility of inclusion. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 45(4), 273-277. Smalley, S. Y., & Reyes-Blanes, M. E. (2001). Lessons learned: Effective strategies for partnering with rural African-American parents. San Diego, CA: Growing Partnerships for Rural Special Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED453029). Trussell, R. P., Hammond, H., & Ingalls, L. (2008). Ethical practices and parental participation in rural special education. Rural Special Education Quarterly, 27, 19-23. Turnbull, A., & Turnbull, R. (2001). Families, professionals, and exceptionality: Collaborating for empowerment (4th ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill/Prentice Hall. Turnbull, A., Turnbull, R., Erwin, E., & Soodak, L. (2006). Families, professionals, and exceptionality. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Valdes, G. (1998). The world outside and inside schools: Language and immigrant children. Educational Researcher, 27(6), 4-18. Valle-Riestra, D. M., & Hughes, M. T. (2007). Families’ perceptions of the identification process: Related stressors, coping strategies, and supports. Unpublished manuscript. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher psychological process. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Warger, C., & Burnette, J. (2000). Five strategies to reduce overrepresentation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education (Report No. ERIC/OSEP Digest

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E596). Arlington, VA: ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education. Yell, M. L. (1998). The law and special education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Zhou, M., & Logan, J. R. (2003). Increasing diversity and persistent segregation: Challenges of educating minority and immigrant children in urban America. In J. S. Caldas & C. L. Bankston III (Eds.), The end of desegregation (pp.185-202). Nova Science Publishers. Nieto, S., & Bode, P. (2008). Affirming diversity. New York: Pearson Education.

3 THE STRUGGLES OF INVISIBILITY: PERCEPTION AND TREATMENT OF AFRICAN STUDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES MERCY AGYEPONG

Introduction The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 eliminated an earlier quota system put into place to restrict the flow of immigrants into the United States. The Act allowed for the influx of many immigrants groups, especially non-Whites, into major cities in the United States (Kasinitz, Mollenkopf, Waters, Holdaway, 2008). Prior to 1965, White Europeans were the largest immigrant group in the United States (Warner & Srole, 1945). However, these new immigrants were mostly from Latin America, Asia, the Caribbean, and Africa. The influx of the large number of nonWhite and non-European immigrants brought to light heated debates on immigrants and immigration policies; debates that are currently ongoing. These debates include what government should do with/to/for immigrants (legal and undocumented) and the government’s role in assisting immigrants and their wellbeing. Regardless of one’s opinion on these immigration debates, it is important to realize that immigrants are changing the cultural, political, social and economic structure of the United States (Kasinitz, et. al., 2008). These immigrants are also influencing how race and ethnicity are viewed and understood within the U.S. (Bartlett & Garcia, 2011; Kasinitz et al., 2008). Currently, there are approximately 313.9 million people in the U.S., of which an estimated 41 million (13 percent) are non-U.S. born (Brown & Patten, 2014). Additionally, 1 in every 4 children is either an immigrant or a child of an immigrant. This number is projected to increase drastically in the coming decades (Tienda & Haskin, 2011). Due to such a large population of immigrants, it is imperative to recognize and

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understand the experiences of immigrant children in the United States and how schools and educators could better accommodate them, paying important attention to the needs of those who are underrepresented, such as Africans (Harushimana, 2007). The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 opened the door for an inflow of immigrants from the continent of Africa during the second half of the 20th century (Falola & Afolabi, 2008; Harushimana, 2007; Reed & Andrzejewski, 2010; Takougang, 2003; Zeleza, 2009). The immigrant population has since increased drastically within the past four decades, from 80,100 in 1970 to approximately 1.6 million today (Gambino, Trevelyan, & Fitzwater, 2014). While they represent only 4 percent of the foreign-born population in the United States, Black Africans are one of the fastest-growing immigrant populations in America and their number has roughly doubled each decade since 1970 (Capps et al., 2011; Gambino et al., 2014). Despite the large increase in the population of African immigrant children and adults in the United States within the past four decades (a period known as the new African Diaspora), not much is known about the educational experiences and academic achievement of African students (Awokoya & Clark, 2008; Allen, Jackson, & Knight, 2012; Takyi, 2002). Moreover, due to their continent of origin and racial make-up, Black African students are placed under and forced to adopt a pan-African and a Black racial identity (Asante, 2012; Awokoya, 2009), two identity categories that are viewed as homogenous in the United States, thus further contributing to Black African students’ invisibility (Harushimana, 2007; Kusow, 2006; Phinney & Onwughalu, 1996). In recent years, there has been an emerging body of literature that seeks to expose the schooling experiences of this burgeoning population. This chapter examines this literature. Focusing exclusively on the experiences endured in U.S. K-12 schools, this literature review seeks to bring attention to 1) the ways in which one-point-five and second generation (1.5 and 2.0 generation hereafter) African students are perceived and treated in schools by teachers, administrators, and peers; and 2) how these experiences impact their educational realities. Š‡onepoint-five generation refers to foreign-born people who immigrated to the United States at or before the age of 12 (Harushimana, Ikepeze, Mthethwa-Sommers, 2013), while second generation refers to Americanborn people with at least one foreign-born parent (Awokoya, 2009). Lastly, this review of literature offers implications for educators and researchers for the inclusion and understanding of the educational experiences of African immigrant students. This chapter hopes to erase

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the invisibility of African students by bringing to light the needs of a linguistically and culturally underrepresented group that is often overlooked in the research and discourse surrounding immigrant and nonimmigrant students in the United States (Ghong, Saah, & Larke, 2007; Harushimana, 2007; Kusow, 2006; Phinney & Onwughalu, 1996). 

Methodology The focus of this literature review is on the perception and treatment of African students in U.S. schools. Thus, the search for literature included the phrases “African immigrants,” “African immigrant students,” “African refugee students,” and “Black immigrant students,” in combination with “perceptions,” “treatments,” “United States,” and “America.” The search also included a combination of the terms “Black African migration,” “First-generation Africans,” “First generation immigrants,” “Second generation immigrants,” “African-born students,” “ESL,” “Bilingual education,” “K-12 education,” and “United States.” The search engines used for this research included Google search, Google scholar, University of Wisconsin-Madison online library, University of Pennsylvania online library, Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), JSTOR, and referenced articles in papers on African immigrants and Black immigrants. The search for literature did not distinguish between types of schools (e.g. public, private, urban, rural), level of education (elementary, secondary, college), location in the United States, or country of students’ origin. This literature under review includes books, journals, dissertations, and master’s theses. The selection criteria were broad particularly due to the scant research available on this population’s schooling experiences.

Findings The literature shows that stereotypes and misconceptions of Africa, ideas about “being African,” and racialization of Black Africans influence perceptions of African students in school. The literature also shows that African students endure linguicism and are treated in ways that are exoticizing and tokenizing. All of these factors, together or in variations, influence the school experiences and achievements of these students.

Perception Others’ perceptions can highly influence one’s self-identity and ability, real or imagined, treatment, and overall lived experiences (Abu El-Haj,

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2007; Lee, 2005, 2009; Lopez, 2003; Traore & Lukens, 2006). School personnel such as teachers and staff have been shown to hold negative perceptions of some students, especially non-White and immigrant students, which highly influences students’ self-identity and overall school experiences (Ferguson, 2001; Lee, 2005, 2009; Lewis 2003; Tyson, 2003; Valenzuela, 1999). For example, in research on Asian American students in a Philadelphia high school, Lee (2009) found that teachers’ and peers’ perceptions of Asian American students influenced their self-identity, behavior, and academic achievement, and relationship with Asians and non-Asians in the school. With African American students as participants, Tyson (2011) also found that African American students’ academic outcomes (e.g. attitudes, behaviors, and course enrollments) and achievement, or lack thereof, are influenced by the racialized school tracking system that often places African American students in low tracks regardless of their ability. Tyson (2011) argues that the placement of African American students in lower tracks is a result of school staff’s negative perceptions of this particular group. These perceptions are fuelled by stereotypes and misconceptions of African Americans. Stereotypes & Misconceptions of Africa and “Being African” Scholars posit that one of the major struggles that African students encounter is peoples’ perceptions of Africa and Africans, which are based on negative stereotypes and misconceptions (Adutwum, 2009; Asante, 2012; Awokoya, 2009; Bigelow, 2010; Crandell, 2012; Harushimana, 2007; Ibrahim, 2014; Obeng & Obeng, 2006; Traore & Lukens, 2006). These stereotypes include the perception of Africans as savages, uncivilized, exotic; bushmen, and the “other” (Awokoya, 2009; Harushimana, 2007; Harushimana & Awokoya, 2011; Traore & Lukens, 2006). The misconceptions include the preconceived notion that African students are English illiterate and are therefore difficult to teach (Awokoya, 2009; Harushimana, 2007). Those who speak with an accent are viewed by teachers as difficult to understand and is damaging to students’ academic achievement (Harushimana, 2007). These stereotypes and misconceptions are rooted in European colonialism and imperialism in Africa, a colonial and imperial history that denigrated the people and cultures of Africa and continues to do so today (Cesaire, 1972/2000). The stereotypes are perpetuated through distorted images in the Westerncontrolled media, school curriculum and school spaces, and the general discourse about Africa in the Western world (Awokoya, 2009; Harushimana, 2007; Harushimana & Awokoya, 2011; Traore & Lukens, 2006).

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Contrary to these negative stereotypes and misconceptions of Africa and Africans, statistics illustrate that African students are one of the highest academically-achieving groups in the United States (Capps et al., 2011; Logan, 2007; Thomas, 2014). According to the U.S. census, among immigrant groups, 41% of African-born immigrants held bachelor’s degrees or higher from 2008-2012, compared to 28% of the overall foreign-born population (Gambino et al., 2014). According to the 2000 Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS), Africans in the United States (78.5% of whom are African-born) have a higher educational attainment (14.0 years) than any racial and ethnic group in the United States, both immigrant and native alike (Logan, 2007). It should be clarified that this data encompasses all Africans, both Black and non-Black, with non-Black Africans having a slightly higher educational attainment (Takyi, 2002; Thomas, 2014). Additionally, educational attainment differs between refugee and non-refugee Africans. Somali and Sudanese Africans (who are more likely to be refugees) for example, achieve at a lower rate than Egyptians and Nigerians (Thomas, 2014; Reed & Andrzejewski, 2010). Nevertheless, Thomas (2014) states that the educational attainment of Black Africans is “quite high”, with this group exceeding “all immigrants, the US-born, and the Black immigrant averages” (p. 39). The perception of Africans as “uncivilized” and yet being an academically high- achieving group places them in a peculiar space within school (Asante, 2012; Awokoya, 2012). This dilemma is similar to what Louie (2012) refers to as the “immigrant analogy” and the “ethnic-culture analogy;” a struggle that is also faced by Asian and Latino/a immigrants in the United States. The “immigrant analogy” implies that immigrants come to the United States with a need and desire to work hard for a better life. The “ethnic-culture analogy,” on the other hand, insists that certain immigrant cultures are less likely, due to the uncivilized or “backwards” nature of such culture, to assimilate into U.S. culture and schools. These analogies, for example, allow for the belief and acceptance of Asians as model minorities yet perpetual foreigners (Lee, 2005, 2009), and Latinos as hard working yet difficult to teach in school (Louie, 2012; Valdes, 1996; Valenzuela, 1999). For Africans, these contradictory narratives position them in a space in which they are viewed as “good Black students,” but also as having a culture that is “backward” and therefore difficult to teach and assimilate into the American school culture (Awokoya, 2009).

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Racialization of Black Africans In addition to the negative stereotypes and misconceptions that African students experience in the United States, they also struggle with the racialization of their identity, specifically Black Africans2 (Awokoya, 2009). Research shows that race and the way that students are racialized play a significant role in their schooling experiences (See Ferguson, 2001; Ghaffar-Kucher, 2011; Lee, 2009; Lewis, 2003; Lopez, 2003;Tyson, 2011; Wun, 2014). Race is a social construction with no biological base that is unstable and constantly changing depending on social and political forces (Smedley & Smedley, 2005; Omi & Winant, 2014). Omi and Winant (2014) argue that race is a socio-historical phenomenon that “signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies…[racial categories that are] at best imprecise, and at worst completely arbitrary” (pp. 110-111). The racial category in which a person is assigned is based on their phonotypical characteristics (Omi & Winant, 2014). While race is a socially-constructed phenomenon, it has real and serious consequences that affect people on a daily basis. Some people are stereotyped and mistreated based on their assigned race and the implications attached to such race, while others are privileged and offered opportunities due to their racial make-up. Discrimination based on race, or racism, has been used by the Western world to subjugate, enslave, and exploit Africans and people of African descent throughout history (Sanjek, 1994). Africans and people of African descent (e.g. African Americans) were, and still are, viewed as a subordinate minority group and struggle with inequalities and injustices (Ogbu, 2007). Racialization is defined by Omi and Winant (2014) as “the extension of racial meaning to a previously racially unclassified relationship, social practice, or group” (p. 111). As a previously racially-unclassified group in Africa with the exception of immigrants from South Africa, who suffered and continue to suffer from race-based discriminations in their country, Black African-born people are less likely to be race conscious or “see themselves through a racial prism” (Humphries, 2009, p. 276) and are more likely to be conscious of ethnic divisions than divisions caused by race (Arthur, 2000; Clark, 2009; Kusow, 2006). Upon coming to the United States, Black African immigrants are forced to adapt a Black identity and pressured to conform to what the dominant society views as Black culture. Unfortunately for this group, what society considers Black is mostly based on stereotypes of African Americans (Asante, 2012; Awokoya, 2012; Clark, 2009; Ibrahim, 2014).

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Blackness is synonymous with African Americans due to the common misconception that the Black race in the United States is a homogeneous group, and that African Americans (an ethnic group) are representatives of the Black race instead of an ethnic group within the Black race (Awokoya, 2012; Awokoya & Clark, 2008; Humphries, 2009). Therefore, the pressure to conform to a Black identity is in essence the pressure to conform to stereotypes associated with the African American culture (Awokoya, 2012). Viewing Blacks in the United States as a monolithic group ignores the national, ethnic, culture, and linguistic differences that exist in this large and diverse group, and further adds to the invisibility of small groups such as (foreign-born and American-born) Black Africans (Harushimana, 2007; Crandell, 2012). Moreover, being racialized as Black places Africans within a racially-stigmatized group (i.e. African Americans), which comes with severe and detrimental consequences such as racism and perception of inferiority (Lopez, 2003).

Interactions and Treatment The stereotypes of Africans and the negative views of Blackness in the United States impose a unique burden on Black African students, which I refer to here as a “double negative.” Not to be confused with the common understanding of “double negative” in English grammar4, my use of the term here is to indicate the two major negative factors that are common among and significant in the experiences of Black African students in the United States. Both the image of Africa and Africans, and “being” or “becoming” Black have been shown to negatively impact the ways that teachers, school personnel, and peers interact with and treat Black African students (Asante, 2012; Ibrahim, 2014). Being African and Black The stereotypes of Africans as mentioned above lead to the teasing and bullying of African students by their non-African peers (Awokoya, 2009). Research conducted by Obeng (2008) illustrates that African students, whether they entered the educational system in elementary, middle, or high school, are bullied in or on their way to school. Bullying occurs in the form of name-calling, lampooning, and teasing (Obeng, 2008), and includes social distancing and disparaging remarks such as, “Do you live in trees?” and the well-known insult of the “African booty scratcher” (Awokoya, 2009; Traore & Lukens, 2006). Disturbingly, even the word African is used as an epithet to ridicule these immigrants (Awokoya, 2012). These hurtful name-callings by peers commonly lead to

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immeasurable shame, forcing African students to reject or conceal their African identity (Awokoya, 2009, 2012). The limited research and literature on African immigrant students and their peers often focus on their relationship with native Black American students (Arthur, 2000; Bigelow, 2010; Crandell, 2012; Harushimana, 2007; Thomas, 2014; Traore & Lukens, 2006). This phenomenon could be due to many factors including the tendency of African immigrants and African Americans to live in the same geographical space and therefore go to the same schools (Awokoya, 2009; Capps et al., 2011; Harushimana, 2007; Takougang, 2003), often because they share a racial identity. Still, there is very little research on African immigrants that examines, to any degree, their relationship with their non-Black peers. When African students and native Black American peers are put into conversation with one another, the results are generally negative, in ways that I will argue position native Black Americans as the “bad peer”—often times citing Fordham and Ogbu’s (1986) oppositional culture and “acting White” framework. Fordham and Ogbu (1986) argue that African Americans have developed an oppositional culture/identity that views school success as ‘acting White’ and therefore refrain themselves and other Black people from engaging in academic success. The differences in colonial histories, racism, stereotypes, and lack of understanding from both parties have instilled in both groups negative and detrimental views of one another (Arthur, 2000; Clark, 2009; Humphries, 2009; Olaniyan, 2003). This has led to conflicts between these two groups in school. Perhaps the most cited research on the experiences of African students and their relationship with native-Black peers is a 2006 study conducted by Traore & Lukens. They posit that the relationship between African participants and African Americans is fraught with negative stereotypes of one another; the African participants viewed African Americans as rude, disrespectful and violent, while African Americans viewed Africans as uncivilized, uneducated, disease-ridden and dirty (Traore & Lukens, 2006). African students in the study confessed to being mocked and rejected by their African American counterparts (Traore & Lukens, 2006). The African students stated that African American students were ignorant and asked them questions such as, “How come you came out so light?” and “Do you walk with lions in the street?” all of which are rooted in negative stereotypes of Africa (Traore & Lukens, 2006, p. 7). This caused many physical and verbal attacks between the two groups.

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The school environment itself also adds to the conflict between African immigrant and African American students. Traore and Lukens (2006) indicate that the factors that contributed to their misunderstanding with each other includes the way that they were segregated by space and interest, the language barriers, the different ways that they are perceived by teachers, and the general myths, misconceptions and stereotypes presented in the curriculum (p. 5).

In Jackson High, for example, these two groups spent most of their day in different corridors because the school is divided between Native English students and Speakers of other languages. At lunch, the majority of the two groups of students sit at different tables (Traore & Lukens, 2006). Traore and Lukens (2006) found that teachers and school administrators perpetuated the harassment of African immigrants by ignoring complaints but then punishing these students when they took matters into their own hands, with some instances leading to physical altercations. These punishments included suspensions, detentions, or a call to the police (Traore & Lukens, 2006). This caused African students who were being bullied and harassed and those feeling “greater levels of aggression to stay silent” (Traore & Lukens, 2006, p. 6). Research by Crandell (2012), Awokoya (2009), and Asante (2012) all confirm the findings from Traore and Lukens (2006). In a study on 1.5 and 2.0 generation Nigerians in the Washington, D.C. area, Awokoya (2009) states that “according to the participants, much of the teasing and ridicule came from Black American youth who, for many, comprised the majority of their classmates and children in their neighborhoods” (p. 69). However, Awokoya’s (2009) study provides a more nuanced and inclusive understanding of the relationship between Africans and non-Africans in schools. Awokoya found that while Black peers derided African students directly, White peers and teachers were subtle, using descriptors such as “exotic” and “different” to insult and discriminate against Africans. For Awokoya’s participants, “Whites often held simplistic, patronizing, and sympathetic views of Africa and Africans” (p. 80). They “often evoked moralizing and paternalistic reaction” to African students and asked questions that were “laden with negative assumptions and misinformation about Africans in Africa and the United States” (Awokoya, 2009, p. 81). For these participants, discrimination by White peers and teachers was rooted not in teasing or name-calling but in linguicism, exoticism, and

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tokenism (Awokoya, 2009), three practices that other studies have shown influence African students’ schooling in the U.S. Linguicism As mentioned above, African students, especially those who are Africanborn, struggle with language and accent issues due to stereotypes and misconceptions of Africa and Africans. These students often face linguicism, “the practice of assigning power and privilege to language” (Awokoya, 2009, p. 82; Skutnabb-Kangas, 1988), in which English is perceived as a more privileged language, and is valued and rewarded while their non-English home languages and non-American accents are shunned (Awokoya, 2009; Harushimana, 2007; Okpalaoka, 2009). Due to people’s perception of Africa and Africans, schools pressure African students to get rid of their home languages and accents (Awokoya, 2009; Harushimana, 2007; Okpalaoka, 2009). This occurs through constant ridicule by their peers of the way African students speak and the teachers’ reported “inability” to understand them, thus causing a sense of frustration in their schooling experiences (Agyepong, 2013; Awokoya, 2009; Harushimana, 2007; Kruizenga, 2010). This shames African immigrants into actively losing their accents and reducing the use of their home language in and out of school (Adutwum, 2009). Interestingly, research on other immigrant groups shows that proficiency in one’s native language is extremely important and beneficial to academic success (Bankston & Zhou, 1995). In a study on the effect of native language literacy on the academic achievement of high school Vietnamese students in New Orleans, Bankston and Zhou (1995) found that proficiency in Vietnamese students’ native language is linked to positive student identity and academic success. The study also underscores that native language literacy provides students with a form of social capital that contributes to their academic achievement. This has been found to be true for African immigrants as well. Adutwum’s (2009) study on “the impact of culture on academic achievement among Ghanaian immigrant children” concluded that Ghanaian immigrant students who speak a Ghanaian language have a higher GPA and are more academically successful than those who don’t. Similarly, Bigelow’s (2007) research on the role of social and cultural capital in the educational experiences of Somali refugees found that maintenance of African students’ home language was a source of social and cultural capital for the Somali youth in Minnesota.

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Moreover, these stereotypes and perceptions of Africa can lead to the unfair and often mandatory placement of Africans in English acquisition and English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and programs (Awokoya, 2009; Obeng & Obeng, 2006). Studies show that African immigrant students are disproportionately enrolled in ESL programs/ classes regardless of their actual English language competencies, and mainly due to their perceived English language difficulties (Harushimana, 2007; Obeng & Obeng, 2006). In their research that seeks to explore African parents’ perceptions of the ESL classes offered to their children, the criteria used to select children for these classes, the length of stay in the program, and the benefits of this program, Obeng and Obeng (2006) found that seventy percent of parents were opposed to the criteria that schools use to assign their children to ESL classes. These participants’ complained that their children were placed into ESL classes because of perceived language ability based on assumptions. These parents’ further argue that due to their children’s immigrant status, accents, and African heritage, they are viewed as foreigners who need help with the English language, and not because of the children’s actual lack of proficiency in English. In contrast, 30 percent of parents were satisfied with the criteria used to select their children for the ESL program. All of these parents were from Francophone or Lusophone Africa. Thus, Obeng and Obeng (2006) show that although some parents view their children’s ESL classes as beneficial, the majority of the parents’ in this study view the selection criteria as unfair and biased. The misconception that Africans cannot speak English, or should get rid of their native language and accent, is problematic in that it fails to take into account the benefits of multilingualism, and it causes African students to attempt to learn in a space that belittles who they are. Furthermore, as Obeng and Obeng’s (2006) research indicates, misplacing children in ESL classes, with little attention to their English proficiency level, could impede their learning and academic performance. Exoticism As alluded above, Africa and Africans are often exoticized by the Western world (Awokoya, 2009; Okpalaoka, 2009; Traore & Lukens, 2006). Exoticism is the “tendency to associate and reduce Africa and Africanness to a touristic construct whereby Africa is a place where people can experience safaris, see wild animals in jungles, buy prints and masks and dance to traditional native music” (Awokoya, 2009, p. 83). In Awokoya’s study (2009) exoticization was mostly experienced with White teachers and peers who wanted African students to perform their Africanness for

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sthe pleasure of Whites. Exoticism is problematic in that in its most basic understanding, it seems positive and comes across as an appreciation of Africa. However, it positions African students as the “other” and, therefore, different from their peers (Awokoya, 2009). It also further promotes the negative stereotypes and perceptions of Africans as animalistic, primitive, and underdeveloped (Harushimana & Awokoya, 2011). Most detrimentally, exoticization of Africa reduces the continent and its people to one monolithic group with a pan-African identity instead of a compilation of multiple and diverse nations/countries

Tokenism: Africanness and Blackness As Awokoya (2009) states, “tokenism has traditionally been defined as the practice of using a member of a minority group to represent the larger group” (p. 85). Tokenism as experienced by Black Africans is unique in that it is based on the interplay of Africanness and Blackness. In other words, the ways in which Black African students are tokenized is based on White teachers and school administrators’ perception of Africans and of Black people in the United States. In the process of tokenization, African students become ambassadors of Africa and representatives of the Black race (Asante, 2012; Awokoya, 2009, 2012). As ambassadors of Africa, African students are expected to be experts on Africa, with teachers singling them out and using them as resources when teaching about Africa (Asante, 2012; Awokoya, 2009, 2012; Adutwum, 2009; Okpalaoka, 2009). As African ambassadors, African immigrants struggle with often patronizing assumptions and misguided questions from their teachers and school counselors, making it their responsibility to dispel myths about Africa and Africans (Awokoya, 2009; 2012). At the same time, Asante (2012) insists that some African students embrace the role of an ambassador in order to “debunk the media depictions of Africa (p. 69). Regardless, teachers and school personnel’s need to understand that due to the shame attached to “being African,” some African students might not want to be singled out in discussions on Africa. Additionally, teachers especially should understand that while it is positive to ask an African student for their input (privately) on certain topics on Africa, they should not assume that their African students are experts on all the 55 countries in the continent of Africa. As representative of the Black race, the academic achievement and school behaviors of African students are juxtaposed with African Americans (Awokoya, 2009). Participants in Awokoya’s (2009; 2012)

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study stated that White teachers often view African students as different from, and often better than, their African American counterparts. This is perhaps due to the “immigrant analogy” (Louie, 2012) and the high educational attainment of Africans in the United States. Awokoya (2009, 2012) found that Africans were viewed as stellar students and more desirable to have in class than African American students and were referred for advance placement classes, in which they were often the only Black students. Participants reported feeling an “immense amount of internal and external pressure to behave ‘appropriately’ in front of White people…” and “became hyper-conscious of their blackness in predominately white contexts” in order to avoid perpetuating stereotypes of Black people” (Awokoya, 2009, pp. 86-87). However, as some participants reported, sometimes regardless of how good their behaviors were and how academically successful they were, they were still discriminated against by White teachers and school personnel for being Black. Remarkably, these discriminations were due to White teachers’ and school personnel’s inability to believe and accept that Black students could have high academic achievement and “good” behavior, all things that school administrators considered “White” (Awokoya, 2009).

Further Research Further research on this population should focus on the numerous factors contributing to their school experiences. First and foremost, there is very little research that emphasizes the relationship between Black African immigrant students' school experiences and academic achievement. Most of the studies on this group examine school experiences and identity formation, with minimum focus on how these factors directly (or indirectly) influence tracking, grades, etc. Further research should be generation-specific since research shows that the generation of an immigrant influences their school integration process and academic success (Gans, 1992; Gibson, 1988; Perlmann, & Waldinger, 1997; Ogbu & Simons, 1998; Portes & Zhou, 1993; Warner & Srole, 1945). Generation-specific research can help us understand if this holds true for African students, and if so, how to better support different generations of African immigrant students. Future research on the identity formation of African students should be conducted not only in urban school and in relation to their native-Black peers, but also in a different geographical context, such as suburban and rural areas. Additionally, these studies should include African students’

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relationships with non-Black peers and teachers because previous studies show only the important role these groups play in the experiences of African students. More research on African refugee students, and the impact of parents and community on their schooling is also needed. Additional research should focus on developing techniques that can be utilized by educators to better accommodate African immigrant students, techniques that include the mitigation of stress attached to teachers’ and non-African students’ perception and treatment of Africans. Lastly, more research is needed on the racially different groups of Africans in the United States, that is, White and Arab-origin Africans in the U.S.

Implications and Conclusion The literature review presented in this chapter looks at research on Black African students, 1.5 and 2.0 generation, in U.S. schools. It examines these students’ struggles in the form of ridicules, rejections, and misconceptions put upon them by teachers and non-African peers. Specifically, it shows that stereotypes about Africa and Africans, and the racialization of Black Africans as “Black” have enormous consequences on the ways that they are perceived and treated by teachers, peers, and school personnel. Schools can accommodate the needs of African students by providing a safe space for these students to learn and express themselves. Schools can do this by hiring culturally-competent teachers and school staff who welcome diverse groups of students and demonstrate genuine interest in all students, including African students (Ghong et. al, 2007). School can also nurture a space that is inclusive of all its’ students’ different identities and cultures. Teachers can combat these issues faced by African immigrant and non-immigrant students by implementing culturally relevant (LadsonBillings, 1995) and culturally sustaining (Paris, 2012) pedagogies. These pedagogical theories provide teachers with the tools to teach students of multicultural backgrounds in ways that “affirm their cultural identity” (Ladson-Billings, 1995, p. 469) and “sustain linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism” (Paris, 2012, p. 93) in school. Teachers who use culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies are more likely to educate themselves and to be critically conscious of the culture of their students, which could help avoid stereotypical practices and teachings. All in all, schools and school staff (teachers and other school personnel) can help foster a critical knowledge and positive image of Africa and Africans and thus combat the unfair perception and treatment of African students in the United States. This critical knowledge can provide African and nonAfrican students with a better understanding of themselves, their peers,

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and society at large. Ultimately, schools and teachers who utilize the tools mentioned above would bring the needs of African students to the forefront, which could be the beginning of a more equitable education for these students.

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4 UNDERSTANDING THE EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL EXPERIENCES OF AFRICAN-BORN IMMIGRANT STUDENTS IN AN URBAN SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT ALEX KUMI-YEBOAH, LINDA TSEVI, GORDON BROBBEY, AND PATRIANN SMITH

Introduction The rapid increase of immigrant youth populations in United States schools attests to both the numbers and plethora of the diversity of immigrant groups. For example, the American Community Survey (ACS, 2014) reports that immigrant population in the United States increased by over 14 million in 2013. In 2009, 36.7 million residents (12%) were foreign-born while 33 million (11%) were native-born with at least one foreign-born parent, making one in five people either first or secondgeneration United States residents (United States Census Bureau Report, 2012). Included in this immigrant populations increase is the African-born immigrant population, which is highly diverse and among the fastestgrowing immigrant populations in the United States. The African immigrant population increased from 364,000 in 1990 to 881,000 in 2000, and 1,606,914 in 2010 (ACS, 2014; Capps, McCabe, & Fix, 2011). It is estimated that by 2020, the population of Black immigrants and their children in the United States will be five million, constituting about 12% of the U.S. Black population (Rong & Brown, 2002). The high growth of African-born immigrant population is attributed to the 1965 Immigration Act, which abolished national quotas to make room for more legal migration from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. It was created to provide more opportunities for the would-be immigrant population in the areas of education, economy, and politics

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where they had been denied access because of political instability in their regions of origin (ACS, 2014; Balogun, 2011). According to SuárezOrozco and Suárez-Orozco (2001), migration is universally marked by a series of psychological stressors, including having to come to terms with the separation and loss associated with leaving a native country while adapting to the new, unfamiliar environment of a host country (Mbanaso & Crewe, 2011). The student population in U.S schools is becoming increasingly diverse, especially with African-born immigrant students, who bring a varied wealth of cultural diversity and different educational experiences to the classroom. This diversity can enrich the curriculum to promote multiculturalism in U.S. schools. However, the primary concern is that most teachers have little understanding of the educational experiences of immigrant youth from sub-Saharan Africa (Kumi-Yeboah & Smith, 2016; Ukpokodu, 1996, 2013). Research suggests that the social and educational experiences of other immigrant students in U.S. schools have been previously identified (Suárez-Orozco, Suárez-Orozco, & Todorova, 2008; Zhou & Bankston, 1988; Waters, 2002). This has not been the case for African-born immigrant youth attending school in the U.S., specifically how the social and educational experiences of African-born immigrant youth in U.S. schools affect their academic achievements. If their social and educational experiences become known, it will help teachers and educators who teach these immigrant students to understand and recognize their diverse cultural and educational backgrounds and better design best instructional practices to help their academic outcomes (Awokoya & Clark, 2008; Butcher, 2010; Rong & Brown, 2002; Ukpokodu, 2013). Given that immigrant youth, including African-born youth, are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population and will certainly transform U.S. educational landscapes in the coming decades (ACS, 2014), there is a need to provide much attention to the identifiable social and educational experiences of these immigrant youth as they navigate the U.S. educational system to achieve better academic achievements. However, little research exists about the social and educational experiences of African-born immigrant students in the U.S. educational systems. In this study, we investigated the educational and social experiences of African-born immigrant students in U.S. urban schools with specific focus on classroom and school experiences, academic successes and challenges, adjustments and transitioning, and interactions with peers, teachers, and significant others across their U.S. home and U.S. school cultures. The study sought to reveal the meaning and importance of the human experience through the lens of fifteen urban high school immigrant youth from sub-Saharan Africa, notably Ethiopia

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and Kenya. The following research questions served the purpose of this study: (1) How do African-born immigrant students describe the educational experiences as related to their academic achievements? (2) How do they describe their social experiences in school as related to their academic success?

Literature Review Several studies (Arthur, 2000; Awokoya, 2012; Okpalaoka, 2011; Waters, 2002) found that African and Caribbean immigrants share many attributes such as multiple identities, navigating unfamiliar American race relations, and undergoing a similar process of adaptation. Rana, Qin, Bates, Luster, and Saltarelli (2011) examined the factors that contributed to the high educational attainment of Sudanese unaccompanied minors in the U.S., given the difficulties and emotional trauma they had faced in Africa. The researchers used qualitative methods and interviewed 19 Sudanese immigrant students attending high school in the U.S. Findings indicated that African immigrant youth considered education as their primary goal in the U.S., and personal attributes, relationships, and community support/opportunities helped the youth in overcoming the challenges that they faced in terms of educational attainment in the United States. Awokoya (2012) explored the experiences and challenges of 1.5- and second-generation Nigerian immigrant youth as they negotiated the identities of Africanness, Nigerianness, African-Americanness, and Blackness. She interviewed twelve Nigerian immigrant college students (9 women and 3 men) from the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Results indicated that African immigrant youth experienced multiple and contradictory processes in constructing and negotiating their racial and ethnic identities. The study concluded that African immigrants face distinctive challenges in constructing and negotiating their racial and ethnic identities. Awokoya (2012) argues that the challenges originate from the ways in which African immigrants are racialized as being similar to other Black immigrant students. Similarly, Onchwari, Begum, and Onchwari (2008) found that immigrant children bring to the classroom multitudes of cultural worldviews, which are different from their country of residence. The differences in cultural worldview may be a source of poor academic

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achievement if not acknowledged by teachers in the classroom. Traore and Lukens (2006) opined that African-born immigrant youth experience discrimination, rejection, and humiliation from their African-American schoolmates and other predominant minority groups such as Latinos and Asians in the classroom. African immigrant youth from Africa often experience a lack of agreement of ideas because their peers and teachers do not understand or appreciate their multiple socio-cultural values and identities. This leads them to be lost, frustrated, or isolated in the classroom due to marginalization by teachers and students (Allen, Jackson & Knight, 2012). Ogbu (1994) suggested that a major challenge for African immigrants in school is that the cultural and school environments are different from their native cultures and their children must confront and successfully address pre-existing racial realities and assumptions in order to facilitate their integration into the mainstream society and school. Other studies reveal that Black immigrant youth are often expected to adopt particular beliefs and behaviors to show solidarity with and be accepted by African American youth (Fordham & Ogbu, 1986). These beliefs and expectations are always in conflict with their parents’ expectations that their children maintain their African cultural heritage and their own expectations. According to Peguero and Bondy (2011), many immigrant students reported feeling that their teachers view them in unfavorable ways and that they encounter informal social patterns at school and an isolation from their English-speaking peers (Dauod, 2003; Peguero, 2009). Other factors that cause stress include intergenerational conflicts, psychological reaction to parental guidance that appear to influence them as they interact with their peers at school, and what is learned from the school curriculum (Qin, 2009). They experience the stress of coping with a new language, a new culture, racism, discrimination, school, and community violence that serve as factors for learning, behavior, and emotional problems (Qin, 2009; Suarez-Orozco, Rhodes, & Milburn, 2009).

The Role of Immigrant Youths’ Parents Voluntary immigrant parents who migrated to the U.S. to seek better educational and economic opportunities consider education as a pathway to social mobility as they provide more energy towards academic achievement and attainment. Several researchers (Obiakor & Afoláyan, 2007; Ogbu, 2003; Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco, 2001) found that the family environment plays an important role in the educational

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achievement of immigrant youth, as parents and other extended family members teach their children their cultural values, practices, languages, and discipline. Farah (2015) examined Somali parents’ perceptions about their responsibilities and roles in the education of their children and the study confirmed that Somali parents value education and provide support for their children’s education. Nderu (2005) examined Somali parents’ role in the educational advancement of their children in a Midwestern state in the U.S. and found that Somali immigrant parents were engaged in the education of their children.

Immigrant Youth and Teachers Nieto (2002) asserts that immigrant children are often forced to choose between their American identity and their cultural background. She further argues that teachers should not only teach curriculum content to immigrant children, they must also support students in their transition to American cultural and linguistic values. Several studies have indicated that schools serve as sociocultural entry points for many Black immigrant youth and are primary to the ways in which youth construct, adjust, and reinvent their identities within social interactions. In the school setting, immigrant students learn both formal and informal expectations about how to interact with their teachers and peers socially and educationally. Considering that most immigrant students spend ample time at school, teachers and peers play a crucial role in an immigrant child’s identity construction (Phelan, Davidson, & Yu, 1993; Rong & Brown, 2002). In addition, available research indicates that as the immigrant population is increasing and becoming multiracial and multiethnic, the teaching force remains largely White, middle class, and female (Goodwin, 2002). Research suggests that the majority of teachers in United States classrooms have limited knowledge and experience with minority people and their cultures (Ladson-Billings, 1999), specifically, about African-born immigrant youth (Traore & Lukens, 2006). Several researchers (Ogbu, 2003; Osunde, Tlou, & Brown, 1996; Ukpokodu, 1996) argued that educators might have limited exposure to the diversity within the African continent and thus reflect their teaching on stereotypical, media-generated images that portray Africans and African lifestyles as primitive, impoverished, and underdeveloped. They are also shamed by images of their people in the school curriculum, books, and the media (Awokoya & Harushimana, 2011). These images also shape the

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views and perceptions of U.S. born-youth about immigrant youth from Africa.

Methodology The participants in this study were all African-born immigrant youth who had migrated to join or live with their parents or guardians in the United States. Purposeful sampling via the snowballing method was used to choose our first participants for the study. The purpose of using the snowballing method was to allow initial participants to inform other students who were interested in the study. We used a phenomenological approach, where we asked questions that enabled each participant to share their stories about social and educational experiences. This allowed them to acknowledge their daily-lived experiences at school (Creswell, 2009).

Participants We collected data via a purposive sample of 15 (N = 15) African-born immigrant youth from East Africa, specifically, Ethiopia and Kenya in the 2013-2015 academic school year. Participants were originally born in East Africa to one or both African parents and migrated to the U.S. to live with their parent (s) or guardian (s). Participants consisted of 9 females and 6 males all of whom lived in the Tampa Bay area in Florida and attended the same urban high school. Participants’ demographic information was collected at the completion of each interview. The average age of participants was 16 to 18 years during the time of the interview. All participants had lived and attended school in the United States for at least 3.5 years. The demographic make-up of the participants’ school was 80% African American, 10% Hispanic, 6% Caucasian, and 4 % other. All of the participants lived with their parents and spoke English.

Recruitment and Data Collection Participants were recruited through the assistance of the school district in Tampa-Bay area in Florida. After Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, we contacted the school district for permission to interview and observe participants. We also sought approval from participants’ parents to observe them in their classroom settings. In addition, we contacted representatives of the East African Association to help us contact parents and guardians of participants. The total recruitment and interview time with all of the participants was one year and three months. We assigned

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pseudonyms to each participant to protect their confidentiality and identity. Data collection involved interviews and classroom observations.

Interviews We asked all 15 participants to complete the questionnaire prior to the scheduled interview. Students completed interviews mostly after church and at their homes on weekends depending on their availability on the day of the interview. The questionnaire requested basic socio-demographic background information, parental educational status, and family background in Ethiopia, Kenya, and in the United States. The completed questionnaire allowed us to identify important content and topics that we asked participants to describe in their stories further in the interviews. All interviews were conducted face-to-face and ranged from 60 to 90 minutes. Interview questions involved demographic information such as gender, age, grade level, and previous educational experiences in Africa—parental educational levels; number of years in the United States; impact of school environment; reflections in the classroom; interactions with teachers; and students; academic success and challenges at school; socio-economic backgrounds of their families; daily activities at school; voices about their personal journey and experiences of school in the U.S.; language/ or linguistic difficulties; and social experiences in the school and the community in which they lived. All interviews were conducted in English and were audio-taped.

Data Analysis Using phenomenological data analysis, we thoroughly read all interview transcripts and highlighted “significant statements,” sentences, and other quotes that offered an understanding of the educational and social experiences of the phenomenon (Moustakas, 1994). The main purpose of our analysis was the transcribing and coding process (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011) and critically looking for textual descriptions of the social and educational experiences and how they affected African-born immigrant youth attending school in the United States. We carefully and thoroughly read through interview transcripts and field notes repeatedly. We also maintained the research process called “epoche” in the study. We bracketed the transcribed African-born immigrant youths’ stories. Through this process, we were able to analyze the stories in searching for important structures in them.

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Findings Among African-born immigrant youths’ stories, we found these common themes: (1) social experiences, which include (a) acculturation and psychological stress; (b) cultural and language discrimination; and tense relationships with peers; and (2) educational experiences, which include (a) relationships with teachers; (b) relationships with peers; (c) school environment; and (d) parental support. In the following sections, we provide a brief description of the stories of these immigrant students, followed by excerpts from the stories with respect to each common theme.

Social Experiences Acculturative and Psychological Stress One of the main themes that emerged from participants’ stories was the issue of acculturating to a new environment and the emotional stress of having to adjust and adapt to a new school. A participant explained that having to deal with all the issues of adjusting and learning new lifestyles put much pressure on them. They also stressed about having difficulties doing away with their native cultures and language and learning a new one in the United States. For example, Melka, a seventeen-year-old from Ethiopia, described having conflicts with his parents about adopting the American culture. Most participants confirmed that having to navigate through two cultures (African and U.S. cultures) creates a stressful environment for them as they learn to socialize with peers and teachers at school. For example, participants explained that they experienced the challenges of practicing their native culture at home and learning U.S cultures at school. On the other hand, participants disclosed that being different from other minority students at school became a problem for them to deal with. For example, they were often tagged as “Whites” because they spoke differently and tended to focus more on academics. They discussed that such behaviors did not allow them to have cordial relationships with some African American students who saw them as behaving like “White students” in many aspects of life. They claimed that conforming to such pressures made it difficult for them to integrate into the social and educational paradigms of the new school. According to Fordham and Ogbu (1986), being a good student as a minority member often results in peer sanctions. Accusations of “acting White,” or being a “banana” or an

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“Oreo” (brown, yellow, or Black on the outside and White on the inside) were often used for immigrant students with good academic records in school. A participant commented, I remember in my first year at school, my classmates and some teachers will ask me questions like this: why are Africans so dark skinned and have big lips? Do you Africans live in trees? How is it like playing with wild animals and eating with your hands? Why are Africans so poor and full of unintelligent people? Teachers on the other hand will comment that I love to visit Africa but scared to catch disease if I go there. I probably need some shots first. Others will say; I can’t imagine teaching kids under trees with no classrooms. I was truly disturbed emotionally to hear this from teachers about Africa.

Across the interviews, participants revealed that being asked negative and demeaning questions about Africa caused them to lose confidence in contributing to class discussion. They disclosed that the negative perceptions resulted in emotional stress. They felt that they had to act as ambassadors or representatives for Africa to educate both teachers and students about the continent of Africa (Awokoya, 2012; Okpalaoka, 2011).

Cultural and Language Discrimination Participants disclosed that they experienced social challenges because of cultural and language discrimination in school. They also shared that some teachers consistently demonstrated a manner of discrimination towards them in the classroom via negative questions about Africa as well as cultural and language backgrounds. For instance, Michel explained, I feel like I’m been isolated because of my background as an African, it was hard to get a friend, because one of my teachers had openly asked in class if I’m aware of the Ebola disease in Africa before coming [to the U.S.]. This made most students to be afraid – they started calling me Ebola, until the principal issued warning for them to stop. The teacher apologized to me but that stigma is still there. Sometimes, it is hard to deal with it, especially when everything about Africa is not good – in the textbook and from teachers. I feel like there is lots of discrimination towards me because of my African heritage. Anytime I get a good score or grade in Math or Science, most students get surprised because they thought I should be the one struggling.

Fasi, a participant from Kenya, noted. “I face challenges communicating with teachers and peers in class because of language and cultural differences. Sometimes they complain of not hearing what I say.”

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Another participant noted. “I feel like there is lots of discrimination towards me because of my African heritage. Communication is a big problem for me. It is affecting my interactions with teachers and friends at school.”

Tense Relationships with Peers Interview accounts revealed that participants had tense relationships with their peers because they felt that their peers were ignorant about their social and cultural background as Africans. Malik from Ethiopia noted. “I understand that my peers don’t have to know my culture but their knowledge about Africa is very narrow. For instance, some of them thought I used to sleep on trees and play with wild animals back in Ethiopia.” Aliwa, another participant from Kenya reported that most of her peers made fun of her culture and accent in school. She noted that the attitude of most peers affected her daily activities at school and eventually academic performance because she disliked school and had no friends to share, play with, and learn American culture from. Another participant shared her story: I did not like school because they always make fun of me that I’m from Africa . . . I am shocked that African American students are the ones who call me ‘monkey’ and all sorts of names. It was very hard to be in school. They always make derogatory comments and attitudes about me like, ‘Do you know she is from Africa?’

Most participants explained that their peers, especially African Americans, shared the most derogatory and racial comments about them in class. Seffa, a senior from Kenya, commented, I must say that I was totally shocked to experience in almost all my classes about how some students, especially African Americans made comments about myself and other African students in school. I expected that they are the ones to say positive stuffs but I was wrong.

Participants explained that they felt a sense of rejection, discrimination, and unwelcoming demeanor from teachers and students. Research indicates that the disparaging media images that portray African people and their life styles as poor, culturally deprived, and primitive affect immigrant students in school (Awokoya, 2012). Salim described a classroom experience in which he felt that teachers and students were ignorant about Africa. He noted:

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On the other hand, they recognized that some of their friends eventually helped them to adjust to the new school environment. Alice a junior, from Ethiopia shared; “Some of my friends helped me to learn new cultures and I really begun to like school. I like the fact that they helped to improve my English language speaking.” She discussed that making new friends provided her with opportunities to understand the nuances of what to do and how to behave, and acculturate in the U.S. school.

Educational Experiences Varied Relationships with Teachers Participants described their relationships with their teachers as two-way experiences. First, they reiterated that teachers supported and helped them to understand the various school rules and procedures, instructional processes, transition to the new school environment, and class or homework. A participant noted, “I think, some of my teachers were very helpful to me since I enrolled in this school. They helped me to understand topics in math and science, homework and how to complete class projects. I believe their help allowed me to perform well in school,” Another participant indicated, “I give credit to some of my teachers at school. They made it easier for me to transition to the new school. Although I faced many challenges, they helped me in my academic work. Some of them will try to help you to achieve your academic goal.” It can be deduced from the above statements that participants had good relationships with some of their teachers, specifically on academic work and understanding of the concepts being taught in the classroom. They discussed that they had access to more resources that benefited their academic progress in their new school than in their country of origin. For example, Amal, an eighteen-year-old participant from Ethiopia commented, I had more opportunities in my new school than in Ethiopia. I always get the materials I need in school than in my school in Ethiopia. I think it has helped me to achieve better academic progress. Of all the problems, sometimes I compare the two schools and see which one is better— but

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there is nothing like being happy and respected so I guess I’m confused on which one is better.

On the other hand, several participants noted that teachers had little knowledge about their social, cultural, and past educational backgrounds and were judged by what they read and saw in the media. Participants indicated that they were used to a teacher-centered instructional approach, where a teacher took active control of the class and students became passive learners. Thus, adjusting to a new teaching approach was a challenging task for the participants. A participant stated, “I had a difficult time understanding my teachers initially in school because of the teaching styles. They also present reading materials that are not related to my culture. I struggled a lot to understand some of the stuff I read in books.” Asrat, a participant from Kenya, noted, Everything is different from teaching to completing assignment, homework or taking tests. Here they give lots of homework and assignments. I was shocked because I was told that everything is easy here in the U.S. but that’s not really true. You know, I am in shock of the way teachers teach, the way I have to answer questions and other stuff.

The variability of immigrant student’s school adjustment significantly influences the academic performance of minority students in the United States (Ogbu, 1999).

School Environment School environment played a significant role in the educational experiences of immigrant students as they acculturated to their new school. Interview data showed that most participants experienced both positive and negative social and educational environment. For example, a participant shared, “I like the fact that my new school has several amenities such as library, access to computer lab, text books, Ipads, and sports activities that helped my academic achievements.” Another participant described his success in school as: There are more opportunities in my school than it was in Kenya I get more access to resources in school in the [U.S]. There is no shortage of teachers and school materials like in Kenya. I like the open communication in class where you can make contribution and receive points. They made fun of my English accent and Africa but my parents told me not to care about it. Access to resources at school helped me to study for good grades.

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Participants agreed that easy access to instructional resources (computers, Ipads, textbooks) in their new schools helped them to complete assignments, projects, and homework. They also used them as a helping tool to prepare for their examinations. Another participant described her new school experience by stating that “it was very hard for me to adjust to my new school. I had to learn the culture at my new school and to get to know people in order to fit in.” A participant stated, During soccer practice, a teacher made a comment that we will go on a field trip and she hopes that will make me happy because the class will visit a forest reserve/nature park. This will make me feel at home. At first I thought she was joking but later I found that she really meant what she said because she thought that in Africa, I was living in the forest. This is in reference to my background from Africa. How could you feel happy in this school when teachers and students equally make mockery of you because of your cultural background.

The above finding resonates with the results from the study conducted by Awokoya (2012), which indicated that teachers at the secondary level are not knowledgeable about the educational system, cultures, and social and economic situations in Africa. Furthermore, participants discussed that the school environment often did not do much to help them integrate, especially in understanding classroom procedures and teaching styles, as they had no orientation about what to do or expect from teachers, students, and administrators. Most participants reported that they struggled to understand the cultures of the new school and were always left behind in most school activities. A participant commented, “I was always left behind in most school activities because I had no idea of the environment. I felt like I was not welcome to certain sports activities as no one informed me about it.”

Parental Support Participants’ stories demonstrated the importance of parental support they received and how it influenced their academic performance at school. For example, Habib, a student from Kenya commented, I was not happy about being called names because I was from Africa but I have to take advantage of the opportunities here and study hard. My parents told me not [to] worry about what other students would say. So, I was more worried about grades than what they will say or talk about Africa in the classroom. I guess it’s more of ignorance of some students and

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teachers. Teachers are more supportive and caring for me to succeed. I have good grades and currently taking lots of AP and Honors classes.

Another participant echoed, “My parent really helped and continues to help me in my school work and what to do here [in the U.S.] to succeed in my life journey.” When asked what led to the positive academic gains in school, a participant from Kenya enumerated her school experiences: “I think it is because of my parents . . . they provided me all the support for my school work. I am doing very well right now at school. I’m the only Black female student taking Advanced Placement course.” This confirms research findings that immigrant students’ attitude toward school is largely influenced by the “back home” comparison and belief that they have more educational opportunities in the United States than in their country of origin (Ogbu 1998; Suárez-Orozco, Suárez-Orozco, & Todorova, 2008). Another significant outcome of our interviews is that participants who received parental support were enrolled in Advanced Placement and honors courses, which demonstrates the value of parental support of immigrant youth in the U.S. educational system.

Discussion and Conclusion This study investigated the social and educational experiences of Africanborn immigrant students attending urban schools in the U.S. The study found a number of social and educational factors—social experience (such as acculturation and psychological stress, cultural and language discrimination), tense relationships with peers and educational experiences (relationships with teachers, relationships with peers, and school environment), and parental support all influenced the academic achievement of African immigrant youth. This study has provided valuable information on lived experiences and life characteristics that African-born immigrant youth believed were responsible for facilitating their educational and social experiences leading to their academic achievements and challenges in U.S. schools. The findings from the study showed that African-born immigrant youth undergo diverse educational experiences to be able to adapt and adjust to a new school environment. On one hand, African immigrant youth reported receiving support from teachers and parents and opportunities and resources that helped their academic performance in school. For example, African immigrant youth explained that the support from teachers helped them to understand the nuances of the United States school system such as classroom procedures, school cultures, interacting with teachers and peers, completing school work and homework, and the use of technology, which led them to achieve

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better academic performance at school. Findings revealed that African immigrant youth received support from teachers to augment their academic performance in school (Awokoya, 2012; Goodwin, 2002; KumiYeboah & Smith, 2016). Further, the participants explained that parental support played a vital role in their academic experiences in the United States, by helping them to understand how to prepare, communicate, and develop resilience to succeed in American schools despite the challenges they faced (Kumi-Yeboah & Smith, 2016), as well as counseled them on organization, preparation, and being effective in dealing with the challenges. Our findings suggest that African-born immigrant students undergo several complex transitional paradigms with regards to the social and educational experiences in their new educational environments. First, consistent with our expectations, we found that participants experienced racism, rejection, discrimination and negative perceptions of Africans. They were also regarded as low achieving and unintelligent. Findings indicate that participants attribute education as the gateway to assimilate upwards and achieve success in their new environment (Obiakor et al., 2007; Ogbu, 2003). It was puzzling to find in the data participants’ teachers and fellow students, particularly African American students who are classified as “minority” in the school system making all sorts of derogatory comments about African-born immigrant youth. These comments affected their social and emotional behaviors and reduced their level of motivation in school. Another unexpected finding from the study was that the majority of participants’ teachers were ignorant about their educational, cultural, and social backgrounds. This ultimately affected the students’ academic progress in school. Most teachers lacked multicultural awareness in terms of the basic knowledge of the continent of Africa and its people (Awokoya, 2012). It appears that the media depicts negative images about Africa and its people, that they are less intelligent and more uncivilized in the world order. African immigrants are subject to stereotypes born out of ignorance about the diversity of African societies and the misrepresentation of African cultures and societies in the Western media (Awokoya & Harushimana, 2011; Michira, 2002). Interview data indicate that African-born immigrant youth experienced difficulties with the way teachers delivered instruction as well as the procedures within the classrooms. For example, African-born youth shared that they were not used to classroom procedures and student-centered teaching, and were conversant with a teacher–centered type of learning where teachers have absolute authority in the classroom. These findings resonate with Ogbu’s study that the variability of immigrant students’

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school adjustment largely affects their academic performance in the U.S. (Ogbu, 1999). Study findings showed that African-born immigrant youth were faced with cultural challenges, language discrimination and being regarded as stereotypes. For example, they confirmed having experienced rejection, discrimination, and negative attitudes from teachers and students in the classroom and school environments. This affirms findings from prior studies that many Black immigrants encounter similar discrimination and prejudice to what African Americans experience (Rong & Brown, 2002; Waters, 2002). African-born immigrant youth also discussed that they struggled to interact with teachers and students in school because of communication and cultural differences. For example, they reiterated that it was difficult for them to share past social, and educational experiences with teachers in order for them to understand the students’ backgrounds. This resulted in misunderstandings between them and their teachers in school. Although they spoke English, it was difficult for them to interact based on their accent. Interview data and observations showed that cultural differences served as the impetus to miscommunication and the inability to socialize with teachers and students especially in group or team discussion work. This confirms findings from other studies such as those of Awokoya (2012), Rong and Brown (2002) and Suárez-Orozco, Suárez-Orozco, and Todorova (2008) of immigrant students’ difficulties of negotiating between personal histories, schools, families and friends. Considering the amount of time immigrant students spend at school, teachers and other students have a significant influence in their identity construction (Rong & Brown, 2002). Language barrier and cultural differences exert pressure on the academic progress of African-born immigrant youth (Obiakor & Afolayan, 2007). Our findings also revealed that African-born immigrant youth were categorized as African American students by teachers and school administrators, which created a situation that led them to be unrecognized based on their socio-cultural and ethno-linguistic backgrounds. It also affected their identity construction as they integrated into a new school environment (Phelan, Davidson, & Yu, 1993; Rong & Brown, 2002). Overall, this study contributes to a better understanding of the educational and social experiences of African-born immigrant youth attending urban schools in the United States. It will inform and create awareness among teachers and educators by providing knowledge on how

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to design curriculum and instructional resources to meet the needs of these immigrant youth. Study results could also guide policy decisions and provide direction for teachers, educators, and policy makers who are tasked with promoting educational opportunities for African-born immigrant youth to understand the social injustice and inequality that these immigrant youth experience in U.S. schools. We believe that when teachers and educators become aware of the social and educational needs of African-born immigrant youth they will help promote their academic excellence, considering their increasing population in U.S. schools (Awokoya, 2002; Kumi-Yeboah & Smith, 2016; Ukpokodu, 2013). In addition, this study will help to increase teachers’ and educators’ understanding of how African-born immigrant youth navigate their multiple worlds to understand and interact with teachers and peers to better integrate into the social and educational settings of their school. Lastly, we argue for the inclusion of African literature in the U.S. educational curriculum to help erase the invisibility that is tied to negative perceptions of African immigrant students in the U.S. schools. Based on the findings of this study, teachers and educators will gain knowledge on how to foster equity, social justice, and educational excellence of Africanborn immigrant students in the diaspora.

Limitations of the Study A limitation of the study is that a small qualitative sample size of 15 African-born immigrant youth from Ethiopia and Kenya cannot be used to generalize the educational and social experiences of all African-born immigrant youth in U.S. schools. This study did not take into account the multiple ethno-linguistic and socio-cultural differences among individual African-born immigrant youth, as well as other community related factors that might play a role in the educational and social experiences of all African-born immigrant youth. More so, we collected data from participants using in-depth interviews and observations because interviews were the most efficient and least disruptive ways to collect student data during weekends and after-school hours. We acknowledge that written surveys would have helped us to gather more in-depth data.

Implications and Areas for Future Research The continued rise of African-born immigrant students in United States K12 schools demonstrates the need for attention to their educational experiences as they interact with teachers and students in classrooms.

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Through attention to assumptions underlying the educational experiences of African-born immigrants in U.S. schools, future research might focus on how cross-cultural educational differences cumulatively impact the academic performance of English and French-speaking African-born and Black immigrants. Pedagogically, it is necessary to differentiate instructional delivery and to reflect on African-born students and African cultures (Arthur, 2000; Bryce-Laporte, 1972; Delpit, 2006) in the U.S. curriculum. Multicultural education can be used to disrupt prevailing negative stereotypes towards African-born students and serve as “a central way of teaching respect for difference and part of the continuing process for redefining the common American culture” (Hochschild & Scovronick, 2003, p. 56). In keeping with the efforts of multicultural education, this study points to the need for teachers to be better prepared to respond to intra-linguistic, intra-racial, intra-ethnic, and intra-cultural differences of African-born students as well as reduce discrimination faced because of perceived homogeneity within the Black student population. Given that the majority of African-born immigrant students are emergent bilinguals, teachers must be prepared to use academic language and literacy strategies for reaching secondary bilingual learners (August & Shanahan, 2006; Yi, 2007) and to tap into Black African-born students’ funds of knowledge (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992). Our findings suggest that African-born immigrant students undergo complex transitional paradigms with regards to the educational experiences in their new educational environments. A longitudinal study about the educational experiences using quantitative methods of Africanborn students in U.S. schools with large sample sizes could highlight existing factors that influence the educational and non-educational experiences of participants. We ultimately argue that there must be a case for implementing African cultures and literature in the U.S. curriculum (especially with the growing African-born immigrant population in the U.S.). Future research is needed to better understand how the social, cultural, political, economic, and historical contexts of the school and community shape Black African immigrant students’ social and educational experiences and the challenges they face in school. Findings of the study suggest the need for teachers and educators to understand the educational and social experiences of African youth in

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order to provide better educational settings that can enable them excel in school. First, teachers and educators must be aware that African-born immigrant youth bring to the classroom a wealth of diversity that includes multiple ethno-linguistic and socio-cultural patterns, past educational experiences, and diverse cultures. Hence, it is significant for teachers and educators to understand these students’ prior learning experiences and not pre-judge them based on their status as immigrant students. Teachers and educators must try to understand the individual and life histories of African-born immigrant students, the cultural practices in their countries of origin, and their paths to language acquisition, as well as the multiple ways they integrate and function to achieve better academic performance (Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco, 2001). Second, teachers could incorporate cultural and/or global resources into the curriculum to help African immigrant students understand the content of what is taught. Research studies indicate that culturally responsive teachers use what they know about their students to create an environment where students are encouraged to use their cultural experiences to acquire classroom content knowledge. Teachers must be aware of students’ cultural backgrounds to make learning meaningful and transformative (Gay, 2010; LadsonBillings, 2009).

References Allen, M. C., Jackson, I., & Knight, M. (2012). Complicating culturally relevant pedagogy: Unpacking West African immigrants’ cultural identities. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 14(2) (Special Issue). American Community Survey (2014). Selected characteristics of the native and foreign-born populations. U.S. Census Bureau. August, D., & Shanahan, T. (2006). Developing literacy in secondlanguage learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on languageminority children and youth. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Arthur, J. (2000). Invisible sojourners: African immigrant diasporas in the United States. Westport, CT: Praeger. Awokoya J. (2012). Identity constructions and negotiations among 1.5and second generation Nigerians: The impact of family, school, and peer contents. Harvard Educational Review, 82(2), 255-281. Awokoya, J. T. (2009). “I’m not enough of anything”: The racial and ethnic identity constructions and negotiations of one-point-five and

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Valle & S. Halling (Eds.), Existential-phenomenological perspectives in psychology (pp. 41-60). New York: Plenum. Portes A., & Rumbaut, R. G. (2001). Legacies: The story of the immigrant second-generation. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Qin, D. (2009). Being ‘good’ or being ‘popular’: gender and ethnic identity negotiations of Chinese immigrant adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Research, 24, 37-66. Rana, M., Qin, B. D., Bates, L., Luster, T., & Saltarelli, A. (2011). Factors related to educational resilience among Sudanese unaccompanied minors. Teachers College Record,113 (9), 2080-2114. Rong, X. L. & Brown, F. (2007). Educational attainment of immigrant and non-immigrant young Blacks. In S. Paik, & H. Walberg, (Eds.), Narrowing the achievement gap: Strategies for educating Latino, Black, and Asian students (pp. 91-108). The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. —. (2002). Socialization, culture, and identities of Black immigrant children: What educators need to know and do. Education and Urban Society, 34(2), 247-273. Rong, X.L., & Preissle, J. (1998). Educating immigrant students: What we need to know to meet the challenge. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Corwin. Suarez-Orozco, C., Rhodes, J, & Milburn, M. (2009). Unraveling the immigrant paradox: academic engagement and disengagement among recently arrived immigrant youth. Youth & Society 41, 151-185. Suárez-Orozco, C., Suárez-Orozco, M., & Todorova, I. (2008). Learning a new land: Immigrants students in American society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Suárez-Orozco, C., & Suárez-Orozco, M. M. (Eds.). (2001). Children of immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Traore´, R., & Lukens, R. J. (2006). This isn’t the America I thought I’d find: African students in the urban U.S. high school. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. Ukpokodu, O. N. (2013). Fostering African immigrant students’ social and civic integration: Unpacking their ethnic distinctiveness. In E. Brown & A. Krasteva (Eds.), International advances in education: Global initiatives for equity and social justice (pp.215-236). Information Age Publishing. Ukpokodu, N. (1996). Africa in today’s social studies curriculum. The Social Studies, 87(3), 125-129.

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PART 2 AFRICANS NEGOTIATING TRANSNATIONAL SPACES

5 IDENTITY AND POSITIONALITY: AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS IN TRANSCULTURAL SPACES OMIUNOTA N. UKPOKODU

Introduction “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits." (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Paris 1948, art. 27)

“Mom, mom, what are we? What am I? Am I not African American? Are we not African American?” My son, a 1.5-generation African immigrant, was three months old when we immigrated to the United States, so he had the American experience. More importantly, he constructed an identity he was comfortable with—African American—until he was harassed, questioned, and disaffirmed at his most vulnerable period in life, adolescence. This experience created a psychological disorientation. Adrienne Rich (1986) refers to this experience as “a moment of psychic disequilibrium when a person looks into a mirror and sees nothing” (p. 199). My son is not alone. Many African immigrant adults, children and youth who are American citizens by birth or naturalization have had (and continue to have) similar experiences as they construct and claim the African American identity. This begs the following questions: In contemporary U.S. society, who is an African American? Who legitimizes the identity of the “other”? Who can define the identity of the “other”? Given today’s fluid and shifting racial and ethnic demographics, who has the copyright to the African American name or label? These issues, questions, and experiences have provoked and motivated the development of this chapter. The chapter explores, argues, and provokes the concept and discourse on ethnic identity and shifting positionalities of the African

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immigrant group in transcultural and transmigrant spaces in the United States. Drawing on interdisciplinary, conceptual and literary discourse, research studies on African-born identity conceptualization, and interspersed with personal experiences and narratives, I explore the issues of identity, recognition, and the space one occupies or is “assigned” in transcultural, transmigrant, and transnational spaces. In the chapter, I first provide an overview of the demographic transformation of the United States and the Black/African American ethnicity and the growing African immigrant population. Second, I discuss the theoretical framework that situates the discourse. Third, I examine the pervasive issues of ethnic identity and recognition of the space one occupies or is “assigned” or denied in his/her new “home.” Fourth, I raise and analyze critical issues and questions that aim to provoke some conversations about African immigrants’ shifting positionalities and ethnic self-identification within the African American ethnicity. I conclude the chapter by advocating for bold efforts to disrupt the cultural and intragroup divide between native-born African Americans and continental-born African Americans. The chapter is a significant contribution toward erasing the invisibility of African immigrants in the diaspora, and the identity issues they negotiate in transnational and transcultural spaces. For clarity, it is pertinent to explain my designation of African-born American and native-born African American. African-born American refers to individuals of African descent, born in the continent of Africa and who are American citizens through the process of immigration and naturalization, or U.S.-born with at least one African immigrant parent. Some researchers have referred to them as the “other African American” (Arthur, 2010; Logan, 2007; Shaw-Taylor & Tuch, 2007). I distinguish this group from immigrant people of African descent in the U.S. who are non-American citizens or what Kobina Aidoo (2009) calls “African nonAmerican.” Also, for the purpose of this chapter, I refer to native-born African American as American citizens of African slave or non-slave descendants, historically known as American Blacks or Black Americans who were forcibly brought or freely came to the Americas. In general, according to the U.S. Census Bureau (n.d.), a Black or an African American is a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. The term includes people who indicate their race as "Black, African American, or Negro," or provide written entries such as “African American, Afro American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian” (n.p.).

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The increasing migration of people from around the world is transforming the demography of the United States. In 2012, the U.S. population rose to 309 million people. Much of the increase is attributed to the immigration of people from non-English-speaking people from Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2012), if current trends continue, the population of the United States will rise to 420 million in 2050, and 82 percent of the increase will be due to immigrants arriving between 2005 and 2050 and their U.S.-born descendants. Of the 117 million people thus added to the population during this period, 67 million will be immigrants themselves and 50 million will be their U.S.-born children or grandchildren (American Community Survey, 2012). People from Africa are a part of this immigration trend and are dramatically altering the U.S. ethnic diversity and transforming the African American ethnicity and its cultural and political narrative. Currently, African Americans constitute 13.5 percent of the U.S. population. Of this number, about 4 percent are foreign-born blacks. Prior to the 1960s, African immigrants comprised 0.4 percent of all foreign born in the United States. This number increased to 1.4 percent in 1980 and to 1.8 percent in 1990. Census 2000 showed that the African immigrant population increased dramatically to 2.8 percent and 3.7 percent in 2007. Today, it is at 4 percent. Arthur (2010) notes that more Africans have settled in the United States than during the centuries of the transatlantic slave trade when African slaves were brought to the New World. The increase in the population of African immigrants has been attributed to factors such as educational goals, family reunification due to current U.S. laws on immigration and naturalization that allow naturalized and permanent residents to bring their relatives (Mckay, 2003; Center for Immigration Studies, 2009), and the Diversity Visa Lottery (DVL) that awards automatic permanent residency and opens the path to American citizenship. Today, African immigrants are found in many small towns and urban centers across the United States. Data shows that the top states with significant African immigrant populations are California, New York, Texas, Maryland, and Virginia. In Washington, DC, the African immigrant population rose by 150 percent in 2012. Forty-seven percent of African immigrants were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2010. This compares to 43.7% of the foreign-born population as a whole (American Community Survey, 2012).

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African Immigrants in Transcultural Spaces One glaring characteristic of today’s immigrants is that they are transnationals, transculturals or “transmigrants” (Schiller, Basch & Blanc, 1992). Unlike the pre-1980s, today’s African immigrants straddle the cultures of their homeland and the cultures of their new or host country. Due to advancements in technology, electronic communication, and modern transportation, African immigrants, like other immigrants, are readily able to maintain cultural, social, economic, and political ties with the homeland while also learning to participate actively in the culture of their host country. They are increasingly creating transnational and transcultural spaces where they construct and express their individual and collective identities. Researchers define “transnational” as a complex, multidimensional and multiple inhabited space that encompasses “all of those engaged in transcultural existence, people from various backgrounds that enter into the space with a whole range of investments and from various positionalities,” whether it is “momentarily . . . or for a lifetime” (Jackson et al., 2004, p.3). Schiller et al. (1992)) argue that in contemporary times, immigrants are no longer uprooted individuals who are forced to adapt to a new culture and society. Rather they are able to maintain strong connections to their homeland and networks of friends and family while living in the new country. Arthur (2010), discussing the concept of transnationalism, explains it as an idea where migrants transcend the nation-states by manifesting and creating social fields, incorporating social, cultural, and economic ties not only with the host societies, but also with the migrant-sending communities. By it migrants straddle the cultures of their host society as well as the cultures of their home societies. He explains that transnationals are not bound by specific cultural and social genres that are constrained by space and locality, but they may form broad and encompassing social systems and complex networks that anchor them to the values, beliefs, traditions, and cultures of their home countries even as they map out new trajectories of identities with their migrant societies. Further, Arthur (2010) points out that negotiating transnational or transcultural spaces may vary given individuals’ statuses in terms of whether they entered the host country voluntarily or involuntarily (Ogbu, 1978), or their length of stay in the host country. For example, some African immigrants may choose to integrate with an existing ethnic/cultural group within the social system, while others may choose not to integrate and instead construct and maintain a transnational identity without affiliation with one of the existing groups. He contends, however,

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that all immigrants, regardless of the nature of the identity they choose to create, do not lose their memories, ideas, or the culture of their homeland. The extent to which immigrants mediate between the old and new memories impact their transnational or transcultural spatial experiences, meaning-making, and identity-construction or contestation, that is, how they choose to identify and contest or not contest their ethnic identities. Arthur (2010) contends that African immigrants who straddle the African world and the United States are negotiating their identities within transnational spaces by balancing individual and structural elements. It is pertinent to note that, for decades, many Africans have tended to maintain their national or continental identities in the United States. Arthur (2010) explains that for some Africans, their presence in the United States is guided by economic opportunities rather than cultural or political factors. However, others may be motivated by a genuine sense of affinity, belonging, integration, and ethnic membership.

Theoretical Perspectives This chapter is situated in the larger U.S. racial, cultural, and sociopolitical context where racial and cultural minority groups are subjugated to invisibility. Because African immigrants belong to this minority group, current theories of ethnic and social identity, social positionality, critical race theory and name discourses are the foundations for understanding and discussing their identity issues. Research shows that an understanding of racial, ethnic, cultural, or even social identity development is vital to one’s self-concept and self-esteem (Phinney, 2003). Simone Weil (1999) reminds us that to “be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul” (p.78). Dreikurs (1968) agrees with Wei and warns of the disorienting effect of denying anyone the “right [to] freely participate in the cultural life of the community” (UDHR, 1948). As he notes: “Not to belong is the greatest hardship for any human being” (p.20). For many African immigrants, the issue of ethnic identity creates confusion because they have rarely been presented with situations where they had to think about it, let alone grapple with it. Most African immigrants or African-born Americans except those in former apartheid countries like South Africa and Zimbabwe, had not or did not have to. Personally, I had never thought about my identity in the United States in terms of my relationship to other groups until I became an American citizen.

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However, in recent years, as many African-born Americans have become more immersed and acculturated within the social space of multicultural America, their consciousness of who they are has evolved. This is particularly so for African-born children and youth. Research on ethnic and social identity theories suggests that a strong identification with an ethnic group or a majority group in a society promotes an overall selfconcept (Phinney, 1990, Phinney & Alipuria, 1996; 2003; Tajfel & Turner, 1986). Phinney and Alipuria (1996) note that racial or ethnic identity is considered crucial in fostering a sense of belonging or commitment to a particular group. Studies also show that having a strong, secure identification or attachment with a racial or ethnic group enhances culturally-different students’ self-concept and facilitates their integration in their academic environment, thereby making it less likely that they would drop out of school (Murguia, Padilla, & Pavel, 1991; Wilson & Constantine, 1999).

Ethnic and Social Identity Researchers postulate that ethnic identity is one’s essence of being that asks the fundamental question: Who am I in relation to others within my cultural/ethnic or reference group? (Banks, 2009). An individual’s racial/ethnic identity serves as a prism for understanding how she/he may define, sense, perceive, or interpret his/her notions of inclusion and exclusion within the immediate community or larger social system. Researchers acknowledge that identity is a complex and multifaceted construct and process. Ethnic identity has been variably defined as one’s sense of his/her awareness, perception, and experience of his/her membership in a group (Arthur, 2010; Cross, 1971; Helms, 1990; Phinney, 1990, 2003; Phinney, Romero, Nava, & Huang 2001; Tatum, 1992). Bagley and Copeland (1994) suggest that it is “a sense of a group or collective identity based on one’s perception that he or she shares a common racial heritage with a particular group” (p. 167). In a multicultural society, the value of one’s self-identification cannot be undermined. Ghee (1990) explains that racial self-designations are powerful symbols of a group’s or an individual’s self-concept. As a multicultural society, the United States comprises distinct ethnic or microcultural groups with six essential ones: European American, Native American, African American, Asian American, Latino American and Arab American. Most American citizens identify with one of these groups. Banks (2009) defines ethnic groups as “microcultural groups within the United States that have unique characteristics that set them apart from

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others” (p. 60). Within these cultural or ethnic group memberships, individuals feel a sense of belonging and inclusion. Although the African American/Black category exists, African immigrants experience challenges feeling a sense of belonging and inclusion within the African American/Black racial group and ethnicity. Social identity relates to an individual’s sense of knowledge of his/her membership in a particular social group. Henri Tajfel (1972) defines social identity as an “individual’s knowledge that he [she] belongs to certain social groups together with some emotional and value significance to him[her] of his[her] group membership” (p. 292). Other researchers view it as one’s sense of self that rests on a fundamental awareness of the distinction between the collective self (social identity), which is associated with group membership, group processes, and intergroup behavior, and the individual self (personal identity)” (Hogg, 2003, p. 463).

Minimal Group Paradigm Researchers also have developed theories that explain, as well as justify, the attitudes and behaviors of racial and cultural groups. For example, the minimal group paradigm (Tajfel, 1970) suggests that “all human beings are predisposed to form in-groups and out-groups and to respond to other human beings based on these self-created, and sometimes trivial, distinctions” (p.37). The theory explicates as well as complicates the social relations between African-born Americans and native-born African Americans. In a multicultural America where race is a critical social construct that is used to define and relate to individuals and groups, all people of African descent in the diaspora are viewed through the lens of the “Black” or African American prototype. All images, stereotypes and preconceived notions ascribed to “Blacks” or African Americans are projected toward all continental Africans, yet identity contestation exists within the African American ethnicity.

Positionality Social researchers recognize that while ethnic and social identities factor into how individuals and groups make distinctions between their reference groups and outside groups, they also tend to draw some distinction on the basis of domination and subordination. As Gary Howard (2006) notes, how individuals and groups view the world, construct social reality, and ascribe meaning and value to their lives are intimately connected to their

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positions within cultural and social hierarchies of dominance and subordination. It delineates how individuals see themselves (subjectively) and how others see them (objectively). Maher and Tetreault’s (2001) interesting view of positionality states that “people are defined not in terms of fixed identities, but by their location within shifting networks of relationships, which can be analyzed and changed” (p. 164). Further, Martine and Gunten (2002) define positionality as “a concept that acknowledges that we are all raced, classed, and gendered, [ethnicized] and that these identities are relational, complex, and fluid positions” (p. 46). Our identities are largely shaped by socially-constructed positions and memberships to which individuals and groups belong or seek to belong.

Critical Race Theory Critical race theory (CRT) promotes the voices of people of color who analyze the dominant social order and educational equity to address negative sociopolitical relationships (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001; LadsonBillings & Tate, 1995). It is an outgrowth of the civil rights scholarship and focuses on the social construction of race and the relationships between race, racism, and power (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001). Scholars of CRT posit that racism is ingrained in the fabric and system of the American society, including its institutions. The theory is aimed at critiquing the power structure, privilege, and ideologies that oppress people of color and others at the margin. Three critical implications of CRT are that (1) it theorizes about race while also addressing the intersectionality of race, classism, sexism, and other forms of oppression, nationalism/nativism and linguicism; (2) it challenges dominant ideologies such as meritocracy and objectivity; and (3) it uses counter storytelling as a methodological and pedagogical tool that oppressed people use to tell the story of their experiences that are not often told and to build community among those at the margins (Solórzano & Delgado, 2001). All these constructs relate to and shed relevant light on the complexity of Africanborn identity issues in their transmigrant and transcultural spaces. When it comes to African-born identity in the United States, what are the counterstories?

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Findings The African American Identity and Name Contestation Within the last decade, the issue of ethnic identity has become complicated for African-born Americans and immigrants. What ethnic membership do they claim? Most importantly, how do they or should they self-identify? First, it is important to provide a chronological perspective on the naming and labeling of the African American ethnicity. Since their presence in the Americas, Africans and their descendants have undergone name transformations from African, Colored, Negro, Black, Black American, Afro-American, to African American (Ghee, 1990; Hilliard, 2004; Martin, 1991; Smitherman, 1991; Speight, Vera & Derrickson, 1996; Wilkinson, 1990). Today, African American is regarded as the politically correct and popular name to use. This identification is argued to be appropriate and consistent with how other ethnic Americans are identified—Native American, Asian American, Latino American, and European American. However, it has been noted that not all individuals of African descent identify as African American, including the native-born. Some have been documented to identify as Black American or American Black, arguing that they were not born in Africa, had never been to Africa, and so do not have a physical, cultural, sociological, or psychological connection to Africa. In other words, they do not feel an affinity with what others call the “motherland.” Others have been noted to identify as Black American because of the negative images, perceptions and portrayal of Africa as “uncivilized” and “inferior,” or as a “jungle,” among other degrading images. Yet others, perhaps out of their own misconception of their history, have developed an oppositional ideology due to harboring anger and resentment toward Africa and its people for “selling” their ancestors into slavery and so view Africa and Africans as their oppressor (Arthur, 2000, 2010; Mwakikagile, 2006). Mwakikagile (2006) notes that he read about a letter to the editor of the Black conservative journal, National Minority Politics, in which the writer said, “Whenever I see the term ‘African American’ used in the newspaper or magazine, I drop it right there” (p. 59). Larry Elder, a Black conservative radio talk-show host, also calls the term “African American” a “silly terminology.” In an interview with the Washington Times in the late 1990s, he pointed out that he did not like the term “African American” and blames Jesse Jackson for imposing the new identity on Black Americans (Mwakikagile, 2006, p. 59). As a professor, I often encounter students who prefer one of these labelling— African American, Black American, and American Black.

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However, today, many African Americans identify themselves as descendants of Africans and embrace Africa as their ancestral home, and so call Africa the “Motherland.” It is common to see many African Americans embrace the African culture, including the language, spirituality, symbols, ideas, values, beliefs, philosophies, and institutions. From December 26 through January 1st, many African Americans observe Kwanzaa, an African American cultural celebration, that is based on the Kiswahili language and culture of Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa. It is also common to see native-born African Americans drape themselves with African Kente cloth during celebrations, especially at school and college graduation ceremonies, suggesting pride in the African cultural heritage. Increasingly, some native-born African Americans have engaged in searching for their roots in Africa, with some adopting specific countries as their homeland. Native-born African Americans view these trips to Africa as a holy pilgrimage and as an opportunity to kiss the ground upon stepping onto the African soil. I have heard several of my students pledge to visit the “motherland,” Africa, before they die, and they look forward to kissing the ground of their great ancestors. These are wonderful sentiments to read and talk about. Yet, numerous studies have documented the disconnect between African immigrants/African-born Americans and native-born African American over the years. The studies reveal cases of adversarial, cultural, social and relational divide between the two groups. Blatant displays of animosity, hostility, tensions, and misunderstanding have been recorded (Arthur, 2000; Asika, 1997; Obiakor & Grant, 2000; Uwah, 2003). Distrust, lack of understanding, and cultural and economic gaps are some contributing factors (Asika, 1997). In a comparative study of black immigrants in New York City, Foner (1985) found that African immigrants tend to stress their distinctiveness from native-born African Americans, setting themselves as “more ambitious, hardworking, less likely to be on welfare and less hostile to whites and more dignified and self-assured in their dealings with white majority” (p.717). Arthur (2000) notes that what appears to emerge from the discussions about the relationship divide between African immigrants and native-born African Americans “is that both sides perceive the other as culturally ethnocentric” (p.81) and so accuse each other of a lack of understanding of each other’s history and lived realities. For example, African non-Americans and African-born Americans allege that native-born African Americans have shown no sustained understanding of African history and culture or the impact of foreign domination and colonization on Africans, while nativeborn African Americans allege that African immigrants also lack an

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understanding of the historical realities of the Black experience of discrimination, racial segregation, Jim Crowism, among others. Anyone who has watched recent films, movies, and documentaries such as 12 Years a Slave, Selma, The Book of Negroes, The Help, and the remake of Roots among others, would appreciate the perspective of native-born African Americans. These films or documentaries depict the harrowing experiences, cruelty, and dehumanization that African slaves were subjected to in the era of segregation in the U.S. The effects and vestiges of Jim Crowism—legal slavery based on white supremacist laws—have contributed much to the impoverished conditions that many native-born African Americans suffer today. One common allegation by native-born African Americans against African immigrants is that Africans sold their ancestors into slavery, and actively participated in the slave trade, and did nothing to stop it. They, therefore, hold Africans accountable for their complicity and culpability in their enslavement, as well as their subjugation and dehumanization in the United States. Although this belief stems from historical misrepresentation that Keim (2013) calls “mistaking Africa,” many native-born African Americans, including the younger generation, continue to believe it.

African Immigrants’ Identity and Effects Until recently, many African immigrants did not seek American citizenship, and their desire or concern about ethnic identity was minimal. This has changed! Data shows that today, about 47 percent of African immigrants are American citizens (Pew Research Center, 2015). This shifting positionality has generated the desire for some African immigrants to integrate more and attain social and ethnic identity. Arthur (2010) writes that social identity is a major site for the contestation of space, place, belonging, and social status within a social system. For example, in postapartheid South Africa, identity contestation surfaced as South African Blacks raised questions about who could and should be considered “African.” Mwakikagile (2006) dismissed such questioning as a “backward ideology.” In the United States, the claim of the African American name or label has become a site of social contestation, and has generated heated debates in scholarly venues, the media, films, and documentaries. In 2004, the African American identity became politicized in the Illinois senate race between Alan Keyes, a Black Republican, and Barack Obama, a Black Democrat. During the campaigns, Keyes, in an ABC program, challenged Obama’s claim to the African American identity and heritage. He distinguished himself from Obama, contending

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that he and not Obama, was the African American. As he stated, “Barack Obama and I have the same race — that is, physical characteristics. We are not from the same heritage.” Keyes strengthened his claim further: “My ancestors toiled in slavery in this country. My consciousness: who I am as a person, has been shaped by my struggle, deeply emotional and deeply painful, with the reality of that heritage” (Swarns, 2004, n.p.). Similarly, during the 2008 presidential election campaign, Obama’s ethnic identity as an African American was challenged because of his African (Kenyan) roots. Some African Americans had questioned Obama’s African Americanness and identity, remarking that Obama “is not like us” and “is not as black or ‘black’ enough.” He was viewed as an “outsider” and so did not initially receive much support from the African American community. Neal Canon, the host of the National Public Radio program, Talk of the Nation, noted that many African Americans were questioning Obama’s identity, the depth of his blackness, and his description as African American (as cited in Logan, 2007). In response to those challenging his African American identity, Obama said, “I am African, I trace half of my heritage directly to Africa and I am American” (Swarns, 2004, n.p.). In 2007, Obama continued to defend and prove his African Americanness and his identity: “Don’t tell me I don’t have a claim to my ancestral name, African American.” In a display of his humor, he intentionally went late to a Black Caucus forum just to prove, according to him, that he was as “Black” or “African American,” as any of them in keeping the colored people’s time (CPT). Today, President Obama, the son of a Kenyan (African) immigrant, is referred to as the first African American president even though some African Americans continue to delegitimize his African American identity. In 2012, Morgan Freeman, a well-known African American actor, made the claim that Obama is not America’s first Black President; that he was not black enough. During the 2016 presidential primary, Ben Carson, a Republican presidential candidate, also alleged that Obama is not black enough—that his “AfricanAmerican” experience and Obama’s “African” experience are like night and day (https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/ 02/23/ben-carson-and-cornel-west-actually-agree-obamas-not-blackenough/). Other critics such as Cornel West, an African American university professor and Tavis Smiley, an African American talk show host, have also delegitimized and challenged President Obama’s blackness and claim to the African-American identity. In 2009, a White medical student, originally from Mozambique, Africa, and a naturalized American citizen, was bitterly challenged and

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confronted for claiming the African American identity. Paul Serodio was born in Mozambique and became a naturalized American citizen. According to him, “He was harassed, vilified, assaulted and suspended for identifying himself as a White African-American during a class cultural exercise” (Netter, 2009). Did Serodio have a right to name and selfidentify as African American? Swarns (2004) wrote about Abdulaziz Kamus’ similar encounter with native-born African Americans who bluntly told him he was not African American when he referred to himself as a member of the African American community. Kamus, an African with American citizenship, had lived in the United States for over two decades and sought social affinity and identity with the African American ethnicity. He explains: The census is claiming me as an African-American. If I walk down the streets, white people see me as an African-American. Yet AfricanAmericans are saying, ‘You are not one of us.’ So I ask myself, in this country, how do I define myself? (Swarns, 2004, n.p.).

When Kamus argued that he was an African and an American citizen and that that qualified him as African-American, he was bluntly told, “No!” This is the same kind of a disorienting experience that my 13-year-old son when he was told that he was not African American and wanted me to tell him what he was. While much of the discourse on the African American label and identity was occurring in some scholarly venues and the media, some individuals were also producing films and documentaries that further spurred heated commentaries through blogs and social media. For example, Kobina Aidoo, a public policy analyst who originated from Ghana and identifies himself as an “African non-American,” produced the film The Neo-African American (2009). In the film, references about native-born African Americans taking exception to “foreign Blacks” calling themselves African American are revealed. The film sparked heated discussions and arguments on the African American identity. Previously, in 2002, Mary Ann Watson, a professor of psychology at Metropolitan State College of Denver produced a video entitled Africans in America: The Unfolding of Ethnic Identity. In this video, she examines issues of African immigrant identity and the African American identity label and documents the controversy that has arisen. During the 2007 presidential election campaign, I watched ABC’s TV program, The View, where co-host Whoopi Goldberg, a native-born African American, defined who an African American is. She explained to her co-hosts and the

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audience that “we” (referring to herself and the other native-born African American co-host) are the “African Americans.” She pointed out that Sydney Poitier, for example, was not an African American, but a Caribbean American. In a qualitative study (Ukpokodu, in progress), 23 percent of U.S.-born African immigrant parents reported that they had been challenged and questioned by native-born African Americans for self-identifying as African American in their community of residence. Eighteen percent said they had been excluded from forums designated as African American. Recently, a 12-year-old U.S.-born daughter of African immigrant parents painfully expressed to me frustrations with her schooling experience when both educators and peers at her school labeled her as African, and was denied opportunities to resources available to African Americans. She said to me, “I was born in this country. I have lived here all my life. I am an American and also African by virtue of my parents’ ancestry.” When I asked her how she wants to be identified, she said, “I am American but I also have ethnicity, which is African American. This makes me African American.” Previous studies have suggested that first-generation Africans prefer to identify as African and Black, while their offspring often choose the preferable identity as African American (Awokoya, 2009; Waters, 1994). Within the last five years, I have made presentations on African immigrant ethnic identification and encountered native-born African American colleagues who took exception to the reference to African-born Americans as African American. At a conference, I made a presentation on African immigrants and their conception of ethnic identity. One nativeborn African American college professor in the audience took issue with the presentation and challenged me angrily. She took exception to both the data and the arguments I presented with the data. She argued that “the African American name or label is for “us” (meaning native-born African Americans); we have the history and the experience.” My counterargument was that I could choose how I want to identify myself; that as an African and an American citizen, I could legitimately claim and identify myself as African American. As the exchange progressed, she said, “No, you can’t identify as African American but you all can call yourselves Nigerian-American, Ghanaian-American, Liberian-American and leave it at that, and I don’t care about that, but don’t call yourselves African American.” This raises the question: who can name whom? What gives one person or a group the right to tell another person or group how to selfidentify in a multicultural, democratic society?

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In another case, I once attended an event at my institution (university) that involved a school-wide racial conflict that divided the faculty into two camps—White and Black—or what was referred to as the White/ Caucasian camp and the African American/Black camp. Racial slurs, blatant hostility, and tensions were all-pervasive. As an African-born faculty, I was caught in the web. Upon my arrival at the institution, I did not belong to either camp because I was defined as an “African,” “international,” and the “other.” I was an assistant professor at the time and in my first semester. I was housed in a department that was predominantly White. I was the only faculty of color in that department. However, the White faculty automatically viewed me as a Black/African American loyalist and suspect. I was excluded from discussions. I was in a space that was unwelcoming and cold (Ukpokodu, 2003). I experienced harrowing racial and ethnic microaggressions—subtle and non-verbal exchanges (Sue, Capodilupo, Torino, Bucceri, Holder, Nadal, & Esquilin, 2007). I was excluded, ignored, avoided, and denied access to resources, including emotional support. On the other hand, and ironically, the Black/African American faculty was disproportionately overrepresented in another department. The individual who was at the center of the conflict was a native-born African American, and understandably, was heavily supported by the African American faculty. Like the White faculty, the African American faculty saw me as suspect because they viewed me as the “other,” an African and an international faculty, and assumed that I was loyal to the White faculty camp because of my office location. Prior to the racial conflict, my African American colleagues had neither embraced me nor shown hospitality toward me upon my arrival at the university. My attempts to connect and build relationships with them had failed. This was ironic because I was excited to be at an institution that had an impressive, critical mass of Black/African American faculty, especially having moved from a university where I was the only Black in the School of Education. In fact, my native-born African American colleagues had labeled me “the daughter of the administration,” believing that I was favored by the central administration which they had alleged to be discriminatory against the African American faculty and community. Nevertheless, when the racial conflict in the unit escalated and news got out that the African American faculty had organized a meeting to strategize and protest the central administration’s discriminatory action against their African American colleague, I wanted to participate and be in solidarity with my “African American” colleagues. An African-born faculty at another unit had also heard about the racial crisis and the scheduled event. He, too, wanted to

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express his solidarity with the African American faculty. We went to the meeting together. As we took our seats, and even before the meeting could begin, a native-born African American colleague looked around and asked the question: “Are we all African American faculty?” This was directed at me and the other African-born faculty member. All but the two of us were native-born African Americans. Another African American faculty followed up with the comment, “Good question.” “Are we?” At this point, I chimed in, “We are all Blacks and this matter affects us all. Unfortunately, the crisis in the unit is a racial one—Blacks vs Whites. We are Blacks and we are here in solidarity!” This experience was a rude awakening and a disorienting experience for me. It conveyed to me that my African American colleagues did not see me as one of them. It illuminated for me that in their eyes, I was the “other.” They clearly communicated to me that I was not an African American. They had defined me as the “other,” just as my 13-year-old son had been defined as a non-African American and bluntly told he was African, and not African American. As I was working on this chapter, I was visited by an African immigrant family and her two children, ages 10 and 13. Both children had recently changed schools—from a public one to a Christian-based private school. Although the family and children are Muslims, they made a decision to change to a Christian-based private school because the children had had terrible and harrowing experiences at their former public school. Both children were U.S.-born and had lived all their lives in the United States, yet they were teased, harassed and even assaulted by their African American peers who defined and perceived them to be African. Like my 13-year-old son, these children were told that they were Africans and not African Americans. When I asked them how they identified themselves, they said they were Americans but that they would prefer to identify as African Americans. The children wanted their identity to reflect both their African ancestry and their U.S.-born citizenship and Americanness. They argued and felt that the label “Black” did not accurately reflect their Americanness, and that the African American label was more accurate and reflective, yet they were called Africans and immigrants by their nativeborn African American peers. The 10-year-old shared how he had gotten into fights with his peer when they told him he was African or immigrant and ESL learner and not African American.

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African American Identity “Copyright” and Diverse Views Given these cases, I revisit my earlier questions: Who can name or label the other? Who has the copyright to the African American identity name or label? What gives an individual or a group the right or legitimacy to exclude others from claiming an identity they have consciously constructed? Various arguments, for and against African-born Americans’ claim to the African American identity, have been advanced. Native-born African Americans claim that they represent a major ethnic group in America and they have the historical experience often known as the Black Experience: the collective experience of the legacy and vestiges of enslavement, segregation, Jim Crowism, struggles for emancipation and the civil rights movement, the marches, the double consciousness, etc. This explains why many of my native-born African American colleagues have been quick to say to me and other African immigrants, “You are African; you are not one of us because you do not know what we have been through. You have a global experience, not the Black American Experience!” As mentioned earlier, Alan Keyes, used this line of argument to challenge Barack Obama’s claim to the African American identity. For native-born African Americans, this shared history, culture, and experience trumps whatever arguments and justifications African-born American citizens have for their claim to the identity and label. Another argument by native-born African Americans is that while African-born African Americans know their countries of origin in Africa, native-born African Americans do not. They reason that they can only identify themselves in continental or ancestral terms. This is why they argue that African-born Americans should identify by their countries of origin. This was precisely the argument the colleague at my presentation had, and so felt validated and legitimized to tell me to identify as Nigerian-American and not as African American. While I appreciate this line of argument, it should not deny any individual his/her sense of expression and self-identification. Finally, another argument supporting the native-born African Americans’ exclusive claim to the label relates to the fear that African-born African Americans will take away resources and opportunities from them (Arthur, 2010; Swarns, 2004). For African-born Americans, the argument is that as Africans and Americans, they are African American and so have a right to claim African American as an identity of choice. In a study with African immigrants on ethnic identification in the United States (Ukpokodu, in progress), 69 percent of the participants preferred to identify as African

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while 19 percent preferred African American. However, when asked about their perception of how Africans with American citizenship should identify, 62 percent indicated that they can identify as African American, 31 percent said they should, 63 percent said they definitely should identify as African American, and 32 percent said they want to be called African American. When asked about how African-born children who are American citizens should identify, 48 percent said they are African Americans. Forty-eight percent of the participants actually indicated that their children identify as African American.

Discussion This chapter has provoked and unpacked the issue of African immigrants’ transcultural, transmigrant and transnational spatial existence and ethnic identification within America’s multicultural democracy. It aligns with the national discourse on inclusion and identity posed question: Who is an American? For African-born African Americans, this question is further complicated as their preference to identify as African American is questioned and challenged. Some scholars have downplayed the African American identity contestation between native-born African Americans and African-born African Americans. The argument is that African-born Americans are not claiming an African American identity (Clark, 2008; Diouf, 2005; Swarns, 2004). In fact, Clark (2008) mentioned that “there is little or no momentum among scholars or immigrant themselves about creating new identities for African immigrants” (p.171). I respectfully contend this view given that many immigrants and scholars have become intensely engaged in this discourse. It is true that until recently, many African immigrants were not concerned about their ethnic or social identity as African American. This is because they saw themselves as sojourners (Arthur, 2000; 2010) and so did not see America as their homeland. The goal was to come to America, achieve their immigration purpose, and return home. However, within the last three decades, the harsh political and economic realities in their homeland have challenged them to reconsider their decisions to return to Africa, and so the desire for permanent residency and citizenship in America has emerged. Today, it is estimated that about 47 percent of African immigrants are United States citizens. American citizenship has a tremendous impact on any immigrant; it affects one’s identity conception and self-perception. Conferment of citizenship generates symbolic meanings and a reassessment of self and membership within the macroculture and microcultures. One begins to define and conceive self and status differently. This is important given that

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social structures, events, benefits, recognitions, networks, and support systems are most often based on ethnic membership. These factors create a redefinition of one’s place and space. For African immigrants with American citizenship who choose to claim and identify as African American, it is a conscious decision. Thus, to be challenged and even bluntly told not to identify or claim the African American identity is construed as oppressive, dehumanizing, and socially unjust. This is particularly consequential for children and youth who experience disorientation as they are told that they are not whom they think they are. Most African-born and U.S.-born African children have the African American cultural experience even when their parents try to raise them the “African way.” Psychologically, children’s cultural identity-formation and development have significant impact on their personal well-being and academic performance. This is particularly critical for adolescents given that adolescence is a time associated with identity development, formation of relationships, and building healthy self-concept and self-esteem. Thus, children and youth may experience what Thompson, Anderson, and Bakeman (2000) call “acculturative stress” that may have negative impact on their personal and academic development. Postmen and Branscombe (2002) found that intragroup discrimination and rejection have a negative impact on an individual’s psychological well-being. Erikson (1963) and Tatum (1992) report that adolescence is the time children begin questioning their identity and their place in society or the world. Along with trying to find their place in society as Black adolescents, African immigrant children’s experiences with rejection, invalidation and disaffirmation of who they are can severely impact the ways they negotiate their identities in the school context (Okpalaoka, 2014). How do we move forward?

Way Forward Fostering Children’s Identity Awareness and Being Proactive Researchers have conceptualized a stage-based identity construction for ethnic groups within a multicultural democratic society (Banks, 2009). For African immigrants, it is not as clear or linear. Because most African immigrants come to the Western world with “racial innocence”, their racial/cultural identity is complicated. However, Rong and Brown (2002) suggest that immigrants experience a developmental identity that moves and shifts along a continuum from nationality identity (Nigerian or

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Ghanaian, for example) to a hyphenated one (Nigerian-American or Ghanaian-American), although it may depend on the length of residency in the host country. Previous studies have reported that most first-generation African immigrants prefer or choose to identify by their country of origin rather than African American due to the negative stereotypes associated with African Americans (Awokoya, 2009; Okpalaoka, 2014; Rong & Preissle, 1998). An increasing number now desires the African American identity. The argument then is that African-born Americans should have the right to choose to identify as they find fit and that their identity conception should not be subjected to dehumanization and disaffirmation. Every human being has a right and free will to develop a healthy identity that reflects the person’s conscious choosing. Realizing the issues, the dilemma and the disorientation they are subjected to when they identify as African American, I suggest that African-born and U.S.-born children and youth be guided about their transnational identity. This guidance will prevent them from the disorientation they will face when they are disaffirmed culturally. Because of the contestation of the African American label, it is suggested that African immigrant families and communities become proactive, deliberate, intentional, and systematic in preparing their children to negotiate and navigate their self-identification in their multicultural, transnational, and transcultural spaces. Although I argue that anyone should be able to identify as they feel comfortable, in retrospect I realize that I was not proactive enough in preparing my 13year-old son for the reality he eventually faced. As a teacher educator and a multicultural scholar who is committed to the values of diversity, democracy, access, inclusion, equity, and social justice, I am keenly aware of the impact that cultural, psychological, and social forces have on an individual’s wellbeing, identity, and self-actualization. While most African immigrant adults (citizens and non-citizens) are able to navigate and negotiate the cultural identity contestation, the same cannot be said for their children. The impact on the psychological, cultural and social development of African immigrant children and youth can be harrowing and devastating. As noted earlier in the chapter, I painfully observed my teenage children struggle with their ethnic identity. I felt the loss and pain in my 13-year-old son when he emotionally asked, “What are we? What Am I? Am I not African American?” Young children are less competent in negotiating their identity. African families and communities should create opportunities for children to develop strong African identity as well as encourage them to freely express themselves. They should be empowered to advocate for themselves and for their right to identify as African, American and African American.

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Building Bridges, Healing, Reconciliation and Seeking Common Ground While it is important to acknowledge that native-born African Americans, as descendants of Africa, have a right to claim the African American identity, I argue and agree with some forward-thinking historians and scholars who believe that the past and the present must be reconciled to foster inclusion of all so that new narratives are generated and new generations of African Americans are fostered. I particularly appreciate the wisdom of Ira Berlin, a leading historian of southern and AfricanAmerican life, in his work, The Making of African America (2010). His words are noteworthy: New circumstances, it seems, require a new narrative. But it need not—and should not—deny or contradict the slavery-to-freedom story. As the more recent arrivals add their own chapters, the themes derived from these various migrations, both forced and free, grow in significance. They allow us to see the African-American experience afresh and sharpen our awareness that African-American history is, in the end, of one piece (n. p).

Institutional Social Responsibility As already discussed in this chapter, the U. S. and other western multicultural democracies are growing in their diversity of immigrant population. Institutions, especially schools, have a moral imperative and political responsibility to ensure the successful education of immigrant children. P-12 schools must become more culturally responsive and supportive of African immigrant students so that they develop the knowledge, skills and values needed to become effective citizens in their transnational and transcultural spaces.

Need for Empirical Research on African-born Americans Much of the research on African immigrant issues—education, identity, and others—are often homogenized, fragmented and isolated. Often, research populations include those from the Caribbean and other Blacks with pockets of continental Africans. African scholars need to step up to the challenge of increasing research on African immigrants and their experiences.

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Need for Children’s Books (Fiction and Non-Fiction) There is a paucity of books on African immigrant children’s identity experiences that will be valuable to families and educators in supporting the identity development and affirmation of African immigrant children. In a research project, I searched for literature on African immigrant identity and was disappointed to find they rarely exist. I contacted two Africanborn colleagues with expertise in literacy education who lamented the dearth of such resources. There is a need for books, films, and videos that depict African immigrant children’s experiences of negotiating, renegotiating, and navigating their identities in America.

Conclusion The United States is, and has been since birth, a nation of immigrants. Immigration continues to be a reality today, President Trump’s executive orders notwithstanding. As more immigrants come in, and as more immigrant children are born, the cultural landscape and demography of the United States change and shift. Similarly, as more African immigrants enter the United States, and more African children are born and positions shift, the African American ethnicity changes and shifts. Many African immigrants are making the United States their home. Arthur (2010) writes that African immigrants are now transnationals who are redefining the concept of home and setting up “transnationalized diaspora lives” (p.3). As Kamus notes, “We are in a critical stage of defining ourselves, who we are as Americans. But one thing is clear: We are here and we are not going home. This is our home now. That is the reality!'' (Swarns, 2004, n.p.). Takaki (2009) also reminds us of this reality when he writes, “Demography is redefining who is an American” and what we are individually and collectively. Arthur (2000) tells us that the achievement of racial justice and equality for peoples of the African Diaspora is a collective cause that must be championed and embraced by all of African descent (native-born and foreign-born). His comment echoes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous caution: We must all learn to live together as brothers [and sisters]. Or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be (n.d, n.p).

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I call on scholars, leaders and communities of both native-born African Americans and African-born Americans to step up and take on the challenge of building a cohesive African American community and identity that are inclusive of all. In particular, I call on native-born and African-born scholars in the U.S. higher institutions of learning to lead the way toward an intra-ethnic healing and reconciliation, bridge-building and modeling. Specifically, we must undertake and advance the conversations that both the late James Baldwin and Chinua Achebe, renowned African American and African writers, began. Achebe engaged James Baldwin in a discussion in which he expressed his concern over the Black-on-Black hostility and aggravation, and called for Black solidarity. As he wrote: They [native-born African Americans and African immigrants] must work together to uncover their story, whose truth has been buried so deeply in mischief and prejudice that a whole army of archaeologists will now be needed to unearth it. We must be that army on both sides of the Atlantic. […] The intention to separate us must be confounded if we are to succeed (2009, pp. 66-67).

Naim Akbar, an African American psychologist, agrees that, “The only way we (Africans and African Americans) will ever begin to appreciate each other is to recognize and embrace our cultural differences” (as quoted in Mwakikagile, 2006, p. 240). This means that while not all African-born Americans choose to claim the African American identity or label, those who choose to do so must be respected and included. This group of African-born Americans is calling out for inclusion. Maxine Greene (1988) reminds us of the need to recognize that “there are always strangers, people with their own cultural memories, with voices aching to be heard” (p.87). Similarly, Nieto (2002) points out that, “as long as there are newcomers, as long as there are those who refuse to be included in a definition that denies them both their individual and group identities, the question of becoming American will be with us” (p.114). I join these scholars in calling on all of us of African descent—African-born and native-born African Americans—to come together to disrupt the nuances and obstacles that divide us and to create spaces that are inclusive. We must work to build solidarity where the humanity of African-born Americans is respected and dignified by legitimizing their right to selfidentification and ethnic membership. Greene (1997) urges us to recognize the “thousands of silenced voices still [to be heard], [the] thousands of beings striving for visibility; [the] thousands of interpretations still to be made, and the thousands of questions to be posed” (p.9). We must expand the boundaries of the African American identity, create spaces that are

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inclusive, and legitimize all identities so we can learn to negotiate and/or renegotiate our identities. More importantly, we must be open and empowered to unlearn much of what we have learned about each other, our histories, and substitute for it with a more inclusive narrative and understanding about us as descendants of Africa. We must recognize our common destiny, our invisibility, our marginalization, and our shared identity as Americans of the African diaspora and work together to erase the invisibility that divides and denies us our voice and legitimacy. Most of all, we must have hope and the will to do this. Greene (1997) urges us on toward this possibility: It is a matter of awakening and empowering today’s young people to name, to reflect, to imagine, and to act with more and more concrete responsibility in an increasingly multifarious world […]. The light may be uncertain and flickering; but teachers in their lives and works have the remarkable capacity to make it shine in all sorts of corners and, perhaps, to move newcomers to join with others and transform (p.10).

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6 THE CHANGING GENDER ROLES: AFRICAN DIASPORIC MASCULINITY REDEFINED AND NEGOTIATED DAVID MBURU

Introduction Historically, most African communities were patriarchal in nature. Men were placed in privileged positions of authority in family, society and in leadership. The division of labor was based on sex and age group. The indigenous African Education curriculum socialized children to be the kind of adults the society expected them to be in order for them to effectively and efficiently live in their environment (Sifuna & Chege, 2006). The main purpose of the indigenous education was to train the youth for adulthood within the society and to uphold the society's status quo by instilling in them accepted standards and beliefs governing correct behavior. Indigenous education tends to reflect the values, wisdom and expectations of the wider society (Ntamushobora, 2015; Collier, 2016). According to Franklin Bobbitt (1967), a lot of what is taught in the societal curriculum is done through socialization and it enables the learners to adapt to the adult world. People should never be taught what they are never going to use. In his view the female had a very different future than males and so they did not need the same sort of education that the males received. Boys, for example, whose needs were different from girls in terms of such matters as vocation, recreation and citizenship, were to be given a different course from girls. The girls’ education was to make them efficient house managers. Bobbitt was not in support of coeducation. John Dewey (2010) notes that education starts unconsciously almost at birth and continuously shapes the individual’s powers, saturating their consciousness, forming their habits, training their ideas and arousing their feelings and emotions. Schubert (1986) observes that some people hold

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that curriculum in any society or culture is and should be a reflection of that culture. The job of schooling is to reproduce salient knowledge and values for the succeeding generation. The hidden curriculum played a major role in the socialization of the children. Unlike in the explicit curriculum, the hidden curriculum is what students experience in the daily life inside and outside the classroom as they spend time in the hallways, athletic areas and administrative offices. It transmits to the students lessons that were not initially intended such as norms, values and beliefs conveyed in the classroom and the social environment. This includes the reinforcements of the appropriate gender roles and social inequality. The gendered nature of society is played out in the school environment. It is through these messages that girls and boys navigate their gender identities (Resnick, 2002). The African traditional society curriculum involved teaching children their gender roles in an all-embracing network of kinship in the adult world where boys were to be household heads and girls homemakers and future wives. What was taught related to the social realities and context in which the people lived. Learning through play and by imitation played a big part as smaller children followed the example of older members in the community. Children, therefore, learned the right observances on which the welfare of the individual and the clan depended and there was a marked division of labor. Boys learned through the activities which were appropriate to their sex, such as building huts, digging farmlands, and hunting. Boys also occupied a privileged position in the society and after the death of the father the eldest son inherited his position (Kenyatta, 1965; Collier, 2016). Girls participated in activities of the family and life in the home. They imitated their mothers’ cooking, grinding, and fetching firewood and water. In most African societies, house chores were left to women and girls. Girls in most communities had no right of inheritance. Men and boys were not allowed to participate in household chores of any nature and their participation was seen as a disgrace. Boys worked to enhance their physical strength and a boy who had been defeated in a number of physical strength games was labeled a weakling (Sifuna & Otiende, 1994). As children grew up in a patriarchal community, they learned that being a male meant being tough, masking one’s feelings, and being able to stand one’s ground in a fight. Males also learned that they were the head of the household, the provider, disciplinarian and protector. He had the role of protecting his sisters and the young siblings (Kambarami, 2006). On the other hand, being a female meant learning to obey, being quiet,

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clean, and able to recognize that one had no ground to stand on (Hooks, 1992). .

The mother educated all children in the early years, but later the father took over the education of the male children while the mother remained in control of the females. Once the male child learned how to walk, speak and count, he went to the father and other male elders to begin his training for manhood. The female child continued to be taught by her mother, assisted by other women in the community, and began to learn how to live and work as a woman in that community. The general rule of training was to establish a sexual dichotomy in most work activities in order to prevent girls from becoming ‘mannish’ and boys ‘womanish’ (Sifuna & Otiende, 1994). The division of labor between the inner (domestic) and the outer (public) spheres of responsibility was very clear, and wives had no right to make independent decisions (Pasura, 2008). In a patriarchal society, a woman was obligated to conform to existing social norms. For a man to show submissiveness to a woman or wife was to diminish that man’s masculinity. In the African society, parents favor sons over daughters and many families still embrace male supremacy (Narayan, Patel, Schafft, Rademacher, & Koch-Schulte, 2000). As in other traditional cultures, the son, not the daughter, inherits the family fortune. A boy was also severely punished for showing any weakness. This kind of male supremacy limits the imagination of many women in Africa. For instance, the cultural practice of male preference may contribute to denial of girls’ access to education and curtail their opportunities in life (Njogu & OrchardsonMazrui, 2006). In the Shona culture of Zimbabwe, once a girl reaches puberty all teachings are directed towards pleasing one’s future husband as well as being a gentle and obedient wife (Kambarami, 2006). All these cultural teachings foster a dependence syndrome where most women heavily depend on their husbands. For a more egalitarian society to be realized where all genders experience social justice, women’s visibility in education and workplace should also be realized. Education should be equally accessible to both men and women.

Theory and Methodology The aim of this chapter is to explore the changing gender roles of the African immigrants as they get assimilated in the new land. Gender roles and identities are more easily observed through everyday practices and

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extensive multi-sited observations which provide the most valuable insights into migrant men’s experiences of masculinity. Observations and informal conversations with respondents about the meanings of masculinity and a review of the relevant literature were used to collect data for this study. African men and women immigrants experience a transition from African to American constructions of gender role identity. Based on the tenets of Vygotsky (1978) activity theory, this transition must be studied in relation to surrounding phenomena and contexts, including the social institutions in which the immigrants participate and the cultural artifacts present in these contexts. Activity theory is an adequate conceptual instrument for the study of gender role identity because it is a practice theory. It considers an entire work-activity system and goes beyond just one actor user. The theory accounts for environment, history of the person, culture, role of the artifact, motivations, and complexity of real life daily activities. Vygotsky believed that human activities, or practices operate on two different planes; an interpersonal plane to be internalized by the individual and an intrapersonal plane that is an outgrowth of the process of internalization. Externalization occurs when an activity transitions from being internal into being external. The division of labor between the innerdomestic and the outer-public sphere was very clear, and wives had no right to make independent decisions. The study also uses the Marxist feminist theory in explaining the ways in which women are oppressed through the systems of patriarchy, capitalism and private property. According to Marxist feminists, women’s liberation can only be achieved through a radical restructuring of current capitalist economy, in which much of women’s labor is uncompensated (Ferguson & Hennessy, 2010). Engels (1884) argues that a woman’s subordination is not as a result of her biological disposition but social relations, and that men’s efforts to achieve their demands for the control of women’s labor and sexual faculties have gradually become institutionalized in the nuclear family. Radical and Marxist feminists also argue that the hidden curriculum can be used to reinforce traditional gender roles and the continuation of patriarchy and class inequality.

Data Collection and Analysis This study used qualitative research design. Data was collected through literature reviews, observations and direct interviews. According to Creswell (2013), qualitative research is involved with collecting an in-

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depth data information through observation and interviews and it brings out a detailed picture on why people act in certain ways and their feelings about their action. In order to identify and locate the participants, the researcher used an informal snowball technique where the initial participants suggested other participants whom the researcher contacted. Interviews were conducted with seven participants. There were three males and two females. The data was analyzed by coding and organizing it into distinct themes and concepts. Most respondents were willing to share their experiences but a few of them felt shy in sharing part of their private life.

Gender Construction Gender is a socio-cultural construct of female and male identity that shapes how individuals live and interpret the world around them. Gender is not natural, it is learned in society through direct and indirect means and it refers to both female and male (Richman, 2009). Hence, gender refers to the social attributes, opportunities, and relationships that exist and are associated with either being feminine or masculine. Gender is determined by the conception of tasks, functions, and roles attributed to women and men in society and in public and private life. Women as well as men shape gender roles and norms through their activities and reproduce them by conforming to expectations. Men and women can promote changes in gender relation (Akbari, 2008). Gender also determines what behaviors are valued, expected, and allowed of men and women in a given context. In other words, femininity does not exist independently of masculinity and gender affects and is affected by social, political, economic, and religious forces. Migration represents a drastic life change and gender roles and relations often shift in this process (Richman, 2009). According to Nielsen and Rudberg (1994), gender is an integral part of an individual’s identity construction and self-knowledge. Individuals do not “have’ gender. They are gendered through cultural socialization and through education. The fundamental level of gender identity is made clear to individuals through an awareness of biological differences and the varying ways others treat them. According to Beauvoir (1974), one is not born a woman, but rather becomes one. Moi (1999) further observes that a woman defines herself through the way she lives her embodied situation in the world, or in other words, through the way in which she makes something of what the world makes of her. Men and women are susceptible to changes according to their surroundings.

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Victorian and Colonial Era The colonial administration used models of Western education curriculum to propagate female inferiority, exploitation, and oppression that resulted in disproportionate marginalization of African women relative to their male counterparts. The presence of gendered community life in the African society provided the colonial administration and its predecessors, the Christian missionaries, with fertile grounds upon which to indoctrinate Africans about foreign divine designs that polarized arbitrarily, the feminine and masculine genders in favor of men (Sifuna and Otiende, 1994). The patriarchal system they favored provided opportunities and access to men while subordinating women to household duties. Missionaries also placed men in positions of higher status and gave them priority in religious and leadership roles, to the disadvantage of women. Thus, at independence men were better prepared and positioned to move into ruling positions, and the bulk of those positions went to them (Regan, 2012; Nchinda, 2014). These gender relations have continued even after the collapse of colonialism. Colonial employers in East Africa, for example, largely excluded women from wage employment. Women were trained to serve men as in the Victorian era and British etiquette with regard to marriage, family, and gender roles. They were trained in cake-making, needlecraft, and other domestic occupations that narrowed down to being a good wife who served her husband working in the civil service (Perkin, 1995; Chege & Sifuna, 2006). Women, especially married women and middle class women, were not allowed to work in public, only in their own households. Women were excluded from the public sphere of the state, lacking citizenship rights such as suffrage and, if married, the ability to own property (Walby, 1989). Husbands’ violence against wives was condoned. Cultural institutions, such as the church, supported the notion that a woman’s place was at home. According to Made and Mpofu (2005), the position of men and women in Zimbabwe, for example, can only be described in terms of unequal power relations that are still underpinned by a deeply-rooted system of patriarchal beliefs, norms and structures. During the colonial times, the autonomy of women was taken away and women mobility restricted (Barnes, 1997). This points out to a legacy of male dominance and power as an important aspect of gender relations in various households in the Zimbabwean history. During the Victorian period men and women’s roles were more defined than at any other time in history. Wives, daughters and sisters were left at home to oversee domestic duties while men worked outside

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the home (Perkin, 1995; Young, 1991). Historically, most women in Africa have not been working outside their homes. If ever a woman worked, it was seen as the inability of her husband to take care of her needs. Men are still mostly the sole bread winners and economically endowed in relation to women. The African woman was compelled by economic hardship and women’s customary productive roles to supplement household income through petty trade (Narayan et al, 2000; Pasura, 2008). In Africa, socio-cultural attitudes and expectations characterize successful womanhood in terms of feminine qualities of subservience and domestic roles (Sifuna & Chege, 2006). The Christian missionaries favored the exclusion of women from working outside the home, a tendency that resulted in the development of gendered curriculum in schools for boys and girls respectively (Trignor, 1976). Sifuna and Chege argue that the effects of the colonial and missionary gendering process that was entrenched and perpetuated through education and churches continue to be felt to date and the outcome is that most men and women have been taking different career paths and social positions in Africa.

Findings The African in the Diaspora According to Ndubuike (2002), African immigrant fathers are faced with many challenges that have reshaped, restructured, and transformed their gender roles. The acculturation process has increased women’s authority and reduced the authority of African immigrant men in the household and, sometimes, it has led to divorce in families. In Africa, most women experience increasing overdependence on male wages and they lack alternatives and opportunities to generate their own personal income. Many women often accept this as their destined way of life until their arrival in the United States where women have more rights and privileges, and then they begin to be assertive thereby upsetting their socio-cultural family structures (Musyoka, 2014). In the US, women redefine their roles to assert a measure of autonomy and independence from their husbands. Musyoka observes that many Kenyan men, for instance, reportedly found it unbearable to begin performing household chores, as those were generally considered women’s responsibilities. In Africa, the ‘African housewife’ was often compelled by a combination of economic hardships and women’s customary productive

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roles to supplement household income through petty commodity production, trade, or occasional paid work in addition to work on the family field as well. The African woman immigrant in the USA feels liberated from male domination. As Arthur (2000) explains, African women no longer define their marital roles exclusively in terms of providing maximum satisfaction and happiness to their husbands. A sense of collective egalitarianism enters the world of women, especially in their relationship with their husbands which means that the traditionally defined “feminine” activities are carried out by men as well. This in most cases creates a conflict. When men’s roles are directly linked to their income-earning potential, any threat to their earning potential becomes a threat to gender identity and spills into gender relations. A report by De Soto and Dudwick (1997) notes that men used to enjoy higher incomes and were considered the family breadwinner and household heads. When this is no longer the case, men feel displaced when their wives earn more than they do. Unemployed or underemployed husbands feel emasculated and angry (World Bank, 1997). Men who no longer have jobs expressed a sense of social impotence or the inability to fulfill their social important roles as breadwinners for the family. So strong is the tie between men’s self-worth and his earning capacity that it may be difficult for men to even acknowledge their dependence on women’s income. There is a sense of shame and guilt amongst men most times when their wives have to work to earn an income while they are stay-at-home husbands (Narayan et al., 2000). According to De Soto and Dudwick (1997), household members often unknowingly redefine gender roles as they take action to adapt to changing environments. These actions and opportunities are influenced by the broader institutional environment in which the household exists and interacts such as the state, the market and the community. The breadwinner of the family now becomes anyone who procures work, whether it is the husband or the wife. The bread-winner’s role goes with major decision-making at home and most of the time the person becomes a presumptive household head. In such circumstances some men will cope with the economic stress by adopting new roles in the household as women become the new breadwinners. Because many immigrants come to the United States for economic reasons, more women are inclined to enter the labor force to increase family income. In doing so, gender roles and power structures often

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transform in the United States (Richman, 2009). By entering the workforce, women gain leverage in their families because of their increased economic influence.

Gender Reconstruction and Negotiation According to Gilmore (1990), a great number of societies want to exhort men to display their masculinity by acting as real men. Gilmore argues that men are made, not born, and gender is a symbolic category which is culturally relative and potentially changeful. The areas of gender concern in this study are: child-care responsibilities, household chores, finances, and power hierarchy structure. Child-Care Responsibilities In Africa, most of the childcare responsibilities were undertaken by women with the help of the extended members of the family. In case one was unable to get a family member to assist, one would always acquire a house help. The family members helped in running simple errands like bathing, feeding the baby, laundry and cooking. A visit to most health clinics will signify this as virtually 90 percent of those in the queues will happen to be women accompanied by family members. Men rarely express fatherhood through childcare (Nchinda, 2014). Immigration to Western countries changes this scenario. In the US, there are no family members to help in childcare services and in the running of household errands. There are also no affordable house helps to step in, in case they are needed. The person who is available to assist in childcare is the father. Sometimes the roles are totally reversed, especially if the man is unemployed and the wife is the only breadwinner around. The father has to prepare the children for school and find his way to the health center (Nichinda, 2014). Gatama who has been in the U.S for the last two years shared his experience where he said that most of the things he had experienced while in the U.S were unthinkable back home. But Gatama was now ready to adjust to the new reality. Gatama goes to school part time while his wife works full time and sometimes she works for extended hours in a two-shift schedule. Their two children attend day care for a few hours and Gatama takes them to and from school. He says that the children feel closer to him than to their mother. Gatama cooks, feeds, and takes care of their children’s laundry and sanitary needs. If it were back home, a relative could have assisted or they could have hired a house help to do household chores. But after Gatama’s discussion with his wife, they found out that if

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they did that it would have been too expensive and unmanageable for them. With time, Gatama has come to enjoy what he does for their children and they have a lot to share together. This reality has helped most men to become better fathers as they are closely involved in their children’s growth and welfare. It is a reality that is not only unique in the US; it exists across the Western world. On moving to these countries, these fathers tend to reconstruct and adapt new cultural positions even for those moving from cultures where specific gender role differences were well articulated. Gender roles keep on changing and as men and women migrate to the U.S., women gain more autonomy and powers as they work outside the home and marriage becomes a shared partnership (Hondagneu-Sotelo, 1994). But unlike Gatama, Jakob who has been in the US for one year has not yet embraced his new role. Jakob and his wife work in different shifts so that at any given time there is someone at home to take care of their two children. In the absence of economic hardships, Jakob would opt for the status quo he was used to before migrating to the US. The

study findings show that being in the diaspora has brought about major gender role reconstruction in many families. Changing Household Chores Responsibility In Africa, most of the household chores are carried out by women (Pasura, 2008). In some communities, once a boy child is initiated into adulthood, the kitchen and the household chores are off the limit to him. In those communities, women who mostly stay at home carry out most of the household chores responsibilities like laundry, shopping, running household errands and house upkeep. In the U.S., the gender division of labor is different. Men have to readjust and participate in the household chores because women cannot manage on their own and the man is the only extra hand (Nchinda, 2014). An interview with Abayomi revealed these challenges. Abayomi said that once he moved to the U.S., he found himself doing most of the household chores while his wife was away working. Although he got used to them, he noted that he would not dare do the same kind of household chores back home. People would frown at the idea of a man going to the kitchen or taking care of laundry or babysitting once he got initiated let alone married. While Abayomi appreciated what he was doing

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at the time, he acknowledged that some people felt that there was a limit on how far one should go to avoid “misinterpretation”. Abayomi said that if it were back home, people would talk about it behind his back and they would say that he was “sat on by his wrapper”. This, he said, was a term used in Nigeria in reference to men who helped their wives at home doing household chores. The society viewed them negatively. But his wife was happy that while in the US he was in a position to help and that they had a lot to do together most of the time, unlike back home in Africa where he spent most of his time with what he called the “boys”, that is, his peers. In most homes in Africa, the perception regarding the household work reflects the firm belief in traditional gender division of labor (Narayan et al. 2000). But culture and traditions are not static. Economic hardship is forcing people in the US to adapt to new environments and in turn these adaptive actions are wrenching change in gender roles in households in subtle and obvious ways.

Finances: Bread-Winner and Role Reversal In the US, the patriarchal role of a man as the sole breadwinner is not tenable and at times due to the socio-economic set up, women may find themselves as the sole breadwinners. The traditional power structure is where a man acts as a provider and as a protector to his family. The ownership of family property further translates into the leadership role that a man holds in the society (Nchinda, 2014). In Africa, there is a big population of stay-at-home mothers, and situations where we have stay-athome fathers are rare. With the migration to the US, it is not unusual to find a stay-at-home father and the wife as the family’s sole breadwinner (Daniels, 2007). According to Pasura (2008), the Zimbabwean man was the one who used to bring in more money in the house and the woman did all the domestic work. There was no equality even in a situation where a man and a woman worked. When they both arrived back home from work, the man sat reading the newspaper while waiting for the meal being prepared by his wife. In an interview, Hannah pointed out that life can never be the same in the diaspora. She felt that in the US, one person cannot manage it alone. Hannah had been in the US for the last 9 years and, at times, she was the only one working. She found herself making most of the family decisions. Hannah had to balance the needs of the family with their (her) income, something that she never did back home in Africa. Whenever her husband got a job, they shared the household budget. But whenever a job was not

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forthcoming for her husband, he supported her by taking up some roles in the family housekeep or maintenance. Back home, her husband was the sole bread-winner. She was fully dependent on him. Hannah now feels more empowered as she is a participant in the family decision-making process. But Hannah further says that she still respects and takes into account her husband’s views on many issues. Comparatively, this position is consistent with a study by Cheung (2014) that was carried out among Chinese bakery sales-women, and another study that was carried out by Gill and Mathew (1995) among Punjabi families. Cheung’s study found that when the Chinese men lost their roles as breadwinners, they also lost part of their identity and selfesteem. In contrast, when female immigrants took on the breadwinners’ roles, they gained more freedom, self-esteem and status in the family. In many cultures the bread-winner’s role is associated with power and authority within the family unit.

Restructuring the Traditional Family Patriarchy The patriarchal family authority structure experienced in Africa through years of socialization goes through a major change in the diaspora. In Africa, husbands make most of the decisions in the family as they hold the instruments of power and they own most of the family property. These social norms are reinforced over the years through popular culture, radio, television, traditional art forms, proverbs, stories, customs, laws, and everyday practices (Narayan et al, 2000). An interview with Dunga affirms this scenario. Dunga who had been in the US for 3 years, feels that although an authoritative patriarchy in the US is untenable, he still feels the husband should have the final word in important family decisions. But the US societal structure has no room for a domineering supreme husband but a collaborative one. Family relations and family set-up take a totally new dimension and women’s voices are heard. Dunga says he is not ready to publically confess to his peers back home in Africa on his new roles in the diaspora which are in conflict with his traditional cultural roles where a man is the indisputable head of the family and makes almost all the family decisions single-handedly. Like Abayomi, he says that in a household the man should continue to give guidance while taking into account the views of his wife. Hannah and Betty agree with them but they further caution that men should not be allowed to take that advantage to slide back to their old behavior of single-handedly making all the family decisions.

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This position correlates with a study by Nchinda (2014) that finds that while in Africa women are mostly at home, in the diaspora most women are working and they share in the household duties. In the diaspora, both men and women hold the instruments of power. They take mortgage, own homes, have large investments and property. This has increased women decision-making roles and it has empowered them to take decisions that they would not have done in their countries of origin. This has redefined the gender status relationship in the diaspora. In the diaspora, most households are experiencing the waning of the authoritative patriarchal father figure (Pasura, 2008). In the African set-up, the husband makes the big decisions in investment and housing while the wife is responsible for the children and for the household, including shopping. In Uganda, men controlled the profits of women labor and restricted their access to household income, which prompted the saying that women plan the income but men plan the expenditure (McClean & Ntale, 1998). The change of gender roles where women become either breadwinners or co-breadwinners re-configures power relations within households.

Educational Impact Education has played an important role in improving the socio-economic situation of women. Individuals who acquire either or both education and employment are autonomous and hold a comparatively superior position in the household’s socioeconomic mobility. Some families in Africa are dissuaded from educating girls due to marriage. Female education is seen as a waste of money since it is like investing in someone else’s family. But in the US, the education of women has increased making them less dependent on their husband’s financial resources (Narayan et al, 2000). Hannah in an interview with the researcher expressed the same feelings. According to Hannah, in Africa, the unwritten rule is that boys should be more educated than girls. Boys are encouraged to marry girls with lower education. So in most cases boys have higher education than girls which translates to better jobs for them in government and in the private sector. Girls also sacrifice most of their time to contribute to domestic labor which is a major setback to their school enrolment. Hannah also felt that there was a higher dropout rate for girls from school than for boys due to pregnancy and early marriages. In case of poverty within the family, a girl has to sacrifice her place in school for her male siblings. But once in the US, Hannah was of the opinion that both girls and boys had equal

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opportunities for high school and university education. There were also many opportunities in the middle level colleges where girls can advance their education. Hannah felt that in Africa, there were fewer educational opportunities for women and girls to advance their education. Once a girl became pregnant or was married, there were limited opportunities for her to advance her studies as she was expected to concentrate on her marriage and in raising her children. Gatama, Jakob, and Abayomi expressed the same sentiments. They felt that girls should have equal opportunities in education acquisition in order to be more competitive in a new environment. Hannah’s position shows that women who are educated felt more empowered since education plays a significant role in the process of an individual’s emancipation in the host country. Hence, the rise in the number of highly-educated African women entering the workforce in the US and in other Western countries. These women feel empowered by acquiring higher education and higher salaries. This position correlates with a study by Abada and Tenkorang (2009) which examined the gender differences in university education attainment among the children of Canadian immigrants. The study found out that there was a higher number of immigrant women participating in higher education than men.

Male Vulnerability and Violence According to Hanmer and Saunders (1984), male violence to women is structured and enhanced by the lack of state intervention to stop it unless the violence is extreme and in inappropriate circumstances, for instance, on a woman by a stranger in a public place. In many households, the problem is often disguised, ignored, denied, taken lightly, and/or covered up under the guise of family privacy and cultural traditions. In most patriarchal societies, domestic violence is still promoted and accepted as a normal way of disciplining and controlling women (Ondicho, 2000). Women are also socialized to accept, tolerate, and even rationalize such violence in the name of culture. Many cases of domestic violence are, therefore, unreported and unpunished (UN Report, 2009). The unequal gender power relation in the household limits women’s choices and it is at the core of gender-based violence which reinforces women dependency on men. Davis (1994) argues that the social, political, and economic dependence of women on men provides a structure wherein men can perpetuate violence against women. Sometimes this violence depending on the prevailing social norms and structures, may even be

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“naturalized” by the victim and perceived as acceptable or normal. In most countries, women reported having little recourse when faced with abuse and threats to their lives and they never bothered to report the abuse to the authority (Ondicho, 2013). An interview with Jane, an immigrant, reveals the extent of this problem. She notes: If we were back home [in Africa] our lives would be different from our experiences here. At home men are not hesitant to inflict any form of violence on women. Some men are immune to women’s suffering. The police are very protective of men. I like it here because the laws are very clear when a man misbehaves. Everyone is protected including men.

Jane further says that men have become more tolerant and more patient. But Jakob notes that women immigrants “grow horns” once they arrive in the US and long to be assimilated in what he calls the “liberal American culture.” Jane and Jakob’s arguments correlate comparatively with a study by Richman (2009) that observes that many of the Mexican immigrant women stated that they felt more empowered in the US because there were laws to protect them against domestic violence which was a regular occurrence back home in Mexico where men used violence to run their homes. Pessar (2003) observes that women immigrants from Mexico felt more empowered as a result of working away from home and because of the domestic violence laws that protect them. In a study by Ondicho (2013), it was found that financial dependence was repeatedly cited as a major problem that made it difficult for women to leave violent relationships. Most women indicated that they were entirely economically dependent on the men in their lives. These unequal gender power relations not only render women powerless and vulnerable to male violence but also make it difficult for women to leave their abusers, and are thus trapped in abusive relationships.

Patriarchal Relations and Sexuality According to Walby (1989), sexuality is seen as an important patriarchal structure. Mackinnon (1982) observes that sexuality is to feminism what labor is to Marxism and it has a central and overwhelming significance. It is through sexuality that men are able to objectify and dominate women. Mackinnon does not merely argue that the sexual is the most important level of women’s subordination, but that it is through the sexual that women are constructed as women and men as men. Sexuality is the way in

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which genders are socially identified and constructed. Mackinnon observes that we can no longer ask “how important is sexuality for men’s subordination of women,” since these concepts are conflated. In an interview, Betty felt that women had no voice concerning their sexuality. This issue was still a taboo in the African set-up and it was rarely discussed in public. Most of the time, women views were suppressed and men made all the decisions on their sexuality as if they never existed. According to Betty, most women complained that men expected them to be ready for them and sometimes instead of passion, women were full of fear because they were not supposed to complain whenever they were mistreated on the issues of sexuality by their husbands. Some men treated women only as baby-making machines and they did not take into account their feelings. The African society expects a man to dominate in a sexual relation and their infidelity is condoned, while a woman with a roving eye was severely punished and sometimes ostracized from her family. Betty felt that there was a more egalitarian relationship in the US and that women have a voice over their body on matters of sexuality. The law is also hard on men who go astray as they heavily pay for their mistake through alimony. Hannah also agreed with Betty on this issue, stating that in Africa women had no power over their bodies but in the US, they were free to make their own decisions. This position correlates with a study by Jewkes and Morell (2010) that observes that in Africa, a man is expected to lead and control sexual relations and his female partner is supposed to comply without asking questions. Men also felt entitled to have relationships with other women and at the same time expected their wives to remain faithful. Richman (2009) observes that migration to the US brings about transformation in men and women’s sexual relations, from fear and objectification of a woman’s body to equality, pleasure and respect. It also shows a transformation of their power relations and equality as a couple with trust instead of only respect.

Discussion and Recommendations This chapter gives an overview of the challenges that African men and women in the diaspora go through as they try to strike a balance between their African culture and the liberalism of the Western culture. Further research on the adaptability, assimilation, socialization and the need for counselling before the immigrants migrate to the Western countries should

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be explored. The effects of this new change should also be tracked for the immigrants who opt to return back to Africa on how far they are able to blend their diasporic cultural experiences and their patriarchal traditions. An observation by this researcher found out that in most large African social gatherings, women and men tended to play the traditional gender roles. This brings about the question of whether the changes being experienced in the Western countries will last long enough to be realized when the immigrants return back home. The African families in the diaspora should also reevaluate their African marriage contract and adapt it to the new egalitarian society while upholding the sacredness and the value of the family in the African traditions as the center of the African culture. The study is significant as it shows that gender is not natural and it can be reconstructed for the good of the society. The main limitation is the small number of immigrants interviewed in this study. Efforts were made, however, to mitigate this limitation through conducting in depth interviews on the study participants and using extensive relevant literature.

Conclusion Gender roles keep on changing and as men and women migrate to the US, women gain more autonomy and power as they work outside the home, and marriage becomes a shared partnership. The African gender socialization and the hidden curriculum elevate patriarchy but in the diaspora this goes through a major reconstruction. African men are deprived the authority and autonomy which define adult male status in Africa and they are unable to assert undisputed control over their home and their wife. This study finds that in the diaspora, the cultural gender division of labor is not tenable and due to the families’ economic survival, gender role reversals are imminent. The socio-economic set-up demands a shared responsibility as families adapt to a new challenging environment. A family that rigidly upholds the cultural status quo is unable to survive in the new environment due to overwhelming economic and social demands. The source of patriarchal authority is economic power but in the diaspora this source of power and authority is shared and at times femininity takes over men’s traditional role in leadership, education, and power. Women are able to work outside the home and to own property, upsetting the traditional family patriarchy structure of male benevolence towards women. For women, the traditional marriage is structurally unworkable under diasporic conditions; for them diaspora represents a relative choice, opportunity and independence. It provides resources for

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social empowerment. In such a scenario, there should be more understanding of the two different worlds by both men and women borrowing the best of the two worlds and at the same time adapting to the reality of an egalitarian environment. The laws should also be able to protect everyone since this is a question of human rights and sexuality should not be used to dehumanize any of the genders. Education should also be used as a tool of empowerment. Equity and social justice should not be issues for women only but for both men and women. Unlike in the African culture where women are mostly invisible in the workplace and in the education sector, women’s visibility in the labor force and in education in the diaspora is being felt.

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PART 3 CONTEXTUALIZING EDUCATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP FROM THE AFRICAN CONTINENT

   

7 AFRICAN INDIGENOUS EDUCATION: THE CASE OF SOUTH AFRICA ZANDILE P. NKABINDE

Introduction Indigenous education in the context of South Africa is relevant to understanding the crisis in education caused by apartheid, and the inequalities that still exist in the country. For the new educational policies in South Africa to be effective, issues related to the role of culture, language of instruction, and indigenous philosophy and community in the education of South African youth and citizens must be fully addressed. The Bantu Education Act of 1953 which was implemented in 1955, ensured that Africans were subordinate to Europeans. Le Grange (2008) asserts that Black education is the responsibility of “White South Africa, or more specifically of the Boer nation as the senior trustee of the native, who is in a state of cultural infancy” (p. 401). It is clear that the Bantu Education Act completely neglected African cultures and the social realities of African communities within South Africa. This in turn, according to Woolman (2001), caused Africans to lose self-respect and love for their own race. According to Janheinz Jahn (1958), “Only where man feels himself to be heir and successor to the past, can he have the strength for [a] new beginning” (as cited in Jagusah, 2001, p. 113). Apartheid racist education hindered the academic progress of black people in South Africa. In apartheid education, blacks were rendered invisible by denigrating their history, culture and identity through the promotion of myths and racial stereotypes in its curricula and textbooks (Heaton, Amoateng, Dufur, 2014). The 1953 Bantu Education Act was specifically designed to protect the interests of White South Africans by denying Black South Africans access to the educational opportunities and resources enjoyed by White South Africans (Heaton et al., 2014).

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Therefore, the current disparities in academic achievement and access to educational resources in South African schools are not accidental. Since the early 1990s, during the transition from apartheid to democracy, some scholars have begun advocating for educational experiences that are culturally affirming for African children. Culturallyaffirming educational discourse is seen as being inclusive of African philosophy, African lived experiences, and the teaching and learning which uphold this philosophy (Higgs, 2008). An education that is both in tune with African culture, and celebratory of African cultural heritage rather than that of Europe alone, is seen as having the potential of improving educational excellence of African children (Manning, 2004). Moreover, such education erases Black African invisibility in all facets of education thus ensuring equity and social justice for all. This chapter is a conceptual development that aims to examine the post-apartheid educational challenges in a democratic South Africa and how the incorporation of African indigenous knowledge systems in the education sector will allow African learners to see the world from the perspective of their African cultures.

Theoretical Framework The problems now facing African education in South Africa are as old as the first encounter of the Black population with the European settlers. It is important to view these problems in their historical context in order to obtain a fuller understanding of the current educational state in South Africa. When formal education was introduced in South Africa in the early 1600s, the assumptions were that Africans were people without a history, civilization, and an educational system. The modern forms of schooling laid the foundation for cultural imperialism which, according to Mutekwe (2015), tended to denigrate many, if not all, forms of indigenous knowledge and educational systems. The racial philosophy of apartheid required all schools in South Africa to teach and to practice apartheid, making them both an instrument for, and a victim of, racism (Heaton, Amoateng, Dufur, 2014). This led to Africans being taught by strangers and being assisted to assume un-African and anti-African identities (Mutekwe, 2015). As a result of this deficit thinking, Africans were forced into denying themselves their own cultural heritage and to aspire to all that was Western. In this chapter, I use critical race theory to illustrate how institutionalized racism in South Africa has been historical, systematic and cumulative.

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Critical race theory, according to Delgado and Stefancic (2006), studies the relationship between race, racism, and power. Delgado and Stefancic identify the basic tenets of critical race theory as follows: first, racism is seen as ordinary and must be accepted as the usual way society does business. Therefore, if racism is a norm it also cannot be eradicated or cured. In the South African context, it became a common experience of the African masses in their everyday experiences. The second feature of racism is that of “interest convergence or material determinism” (Delgado and Stefancic, 2006). In South Africa, racism advanced the interests of the White ruling party who in turn held a belief that Black Africans were only good to serve the White race. Differential racialization and its many consequences were used in South Africa for both political and economic manipulation. Another tenet of critical race theory is that it is a social construction and thus subject to change. During apartheid, indigenous knowledge systems were viewed as primitive, pagan and heathenish (Jagusah, 2001). This view led to diminished self-esteem for many Africans. South African schools at all levels continue to perpetuate the myths of White cultural superiority to the present. Centuries of colonialism and many decades of apartheid taught South African Blacks that to speak a European language and to embrace the Western culture indicated sophistication and smartness, while to speak an African native language and to embrace the African culture marked stupidity and primitiveness. The ideology of White superiority has permeated all facets of life in South Africa from names, dressing, music, religion, and schools. Manning (2004) suggests that this false ideology of White superiority has entered the psyche of both Blacks and Whites in South Africa and has been internalized by both. Education shapes culture and is in turn shaped by culture. Education in South Africa has played a crucial role both in giving a definition to the ideology of White superiority and in manifesting it in various spheres. To better understand the need for indigenous educational approaches to Black South African education, it is important to provide some context about African educational systems and their disconnect with the apartheid system. In the following, I discuss some important concepts that pertain to or characterize African educational systems.

African Philosophy African philosophy is defined by Ramose (2003) as “a philosophy that is scientifically done the African way, by African authors in Africa on

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African issues within the African context of time and space to generate African doctrines” (p.116).

Indigenous Education Indigenous education is defined by Mushi (2009) as a form of learning in African traditional societies in which knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the people, were passed on from the elders to the children, by means of oral instructions and practical activities. Mushi explains that learning experiences were orally transmitted and knowledge was stored in the heads of elders. Indigenous education was characterized by practical learning. Banda (2002) notes that the principal objectives of an indigenous education were to: x Transmit and conserve the accumulated wisdom of the family, the clan and the ethnic group. This way, children considered as new members of the society, were helped to adapt meaningfully to their environment that was crucial for survival. x Mold character and moral qualities, develop physical aptitudes and combine manual activities with intellectual exercises. x Produce a fully socialized person, emotionally fit for all the challenges of life. After all, this was perceived as lifelong education. x Encourage the perpetuation of ethnic institutions like marriage; laws about different issues were expressed in proverbs, sayings of the wise, riddles and stories; language use and societal values which were handed down over the years from the preceding generations.

x Like Ubuntu, this type of education promotes interdependence, loving relationships, caring, mutual respect and commitment (pp. 910). Bantu Education The word “Bantu” in the Nguni group of languages such as Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele, and others means “people” (Arnold, 1981). These indigenous languages usually use the word “aBantu” to refer to people or the human race. However, the former South African apartheid government selected

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the term Bantu as an official term to refer to Blacks. Thus, in the context of the history of education in South Africa, a phrase such as “Bantu education” refers to the type of education that was designed for Blacks. The introduction of Bantu Education in 1953 was aimed at providing a separate and unequal education for the different races within South Africa. Another motive of Bantu Education was to inculcate in Blacks a sense of inferiority (Arnold, 1981). Hendrik Verwoerd, the then Prime Minister of South Africa, was opposed to the idea of Black children receiving an education, and concluded that Bantu Education’s emphasis was to be more practical, focusing mainly on manual skills (Commey, 2014). Arnold observes that the message was clear---Black carpenters, mine workers and artisans were to be trained for the White economy but not as professionals or thinkers who could threaten the status quo. Missionary Schools in Pre-Apartheid Period Before the passage of the Bantu Education Act of 1953 most African education was left in the hands of the missionaries. The entire enterprise of mission schools in Africa, according to Freedman (2013), stood at awkward, contradictory, crossroads because it was part of colonialism, yet it educated students who opposed colonialism. For example, the Fort Hare University in South Africa that was established by White Christian missionaries produced a number of African leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo of the African National Congress, Chris Hani of the South African Communist Party, Mangosuthu Buthelezi of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Robert Sobukwe of the Pan Africanist Congress, and Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe. Many other prominent South African leaders received their education in different mission schools in South Africa, including Chief Albert Luthuli, the Nobel Laureate, who attended and taught at Adams College that was founded by American missionaries (Freedman, 2013). Therefore, it must be pointed out that the mission schools, whether intentional or by default, played a major positive role in the education of Black Africans in South Africa. The missionaries who participated in the education of Africans during the colonial period were all driven by their beliefs in the educability of Black Africans and their capacity to be saved through Christ (Freedman, 2013). The context in which missionaries operated is described by Lewis and Steyn (2003) as “being influenced by their historical backgrounds, culture, understanding of reality, personalities, social positions, ecclesiastical traditions, personal context, motivation and ideologies” (p.101). In colonial times, mission schools dominated the education scene

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in most African countries including South Africa. A report by Elphick cited in Freedman (2013) noted that in the mid-1920s, mission schools in South Africa were educating more Africans (about 215,000) than state schools (about 7, 000). Hospitals and clinics were also built by missionaries in remote areas of Africa including South Africa, and many African lives were saved in this process. While Africans benefited from Western education, European governments and the missionaries used education to attain their political goals (Msila, 2007). Some African scholars saw Christian missionaries as collaborators in the plundering of African resources. Land was given to them at the expense of indigenous Africans, and in the case of South Africa, this land has never been returned to its rightful owners. Missionaries were also accused of promoting White supremacy both in their religious teachings and education in general. For example, Lewis and Steyn (2003) provide the following words of Sir George Grey, the Governor of Cape in 1855: We should try and make them a part of ourselves, with a common faith and common interests, useful servants, consumers of our goods, contributors to our revenue; in short, a source of strength and wealth for this colony, such as providence designed them to be. What, therefore I propose is, that we should fill it up with a considerable number of Europeans, of a class fitted to increase our strength in that country, and that, at the same time, unremitting efforts should be made to raise the Kaffirs [a derogatory terms for Blacks] in Christianity and civilization, by the establishment among them, and beyond our boundary, of missions connected with industrial schools, by employing them on public works, and by other similar means (p. 104).

Another shortcoming of this education was that it strove for the complete destruction of the African worldview (Jagusah, 2001). The education offered by missionaries subjected Black Africans to self-hatred and selfdestruction by despising their culture. After winning a majority in South Africa’s 1948 elections, Afrikaner nationalists imposed state control over mission schools which led to the passage of the Bantu Education Act of 1953. Missionary education was criticized for creating inappropriate expectations that clashed with life opportunities in the country (Moodie, 1994).

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Apartheid Education South Africa has an estimated population of about 49 million people occupying 473, 000 square miles (Gwalla-Ogisi, Nkabinde and Rodriguez, 1998). Education under apartheid was divided along ethnic, racial, and even regional lines (Compton, 2008). Prior to 1994, the South African education system comprised eighteen departments serving different racial groups (Nkabinde, 1997). Each education department was responsible for formulating its own policies along racial lines. The apartheid system of government divided its citizens along racial lines, with the highest group having the most rights and privileges and the lowest group the fewest. The racial classification was as follows: Whites comprised the immigrant Afrikaners (Dutch, English or people of European descent), Coloreds (people of mixed descent), Indians (from India/ Asiatics), and Africans (indigenous black people). In 1994, South Africa witnessed the collapse of the apartheid government and the birth of democracy. This political transformation led to the dispensation of a new educational system. The Aim of Bantu Education One of the deep-seated intentions of Bantu education as described by Arnold (1981) was to produce Black carpenters, laborers, and artisans who were needed by the White economy but not Black philosophers or thinkers who could provide the political leadership to challenge the status quo. Omolewa (2006) observes that colonial education in Africa had no respect for the desires of the colonized, and the schools were designed, not to meet the needs and aspirations of the indigenous population, but those of their colonizers. Omolewa (2006) argues that the colonial system did not function for the good of the colonized, who desired economic, social, and political emancipation. According to Herbstein (1993), Bantu Education’s aim of negative social engineering was designed to make Black school graduates incapable of competing on equal terms with their White counterparts. As a result of this strategy of deliberate inequity, there were high illiteracy rates, overcrowding, poorly maintained classrooms, high pupil-teacher ratios, high failure rates, insufficient funding, and low teacher morale among the Black population. It is vital, therefore, to note that the current state of education in South Africa is not accidental but is a continuation of past colonial educational disparities. Nekhwevha (1999) describes how the apartheid education in South Africa excluded the culture and language of the Africans from curriculum in order to keep them in a state of alienation. According to Jagusah (2001), this is because Bantu

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Education was specifically about cultural imperialism. Hailom and Banteyerga, as cited by Nekhwevha (1999), accentuate that: Africa today is full of challenges. Education is expected to be an effective tool in coping with these challenges. However, the existing education in Africa is the legacy of colonialism. It has been geared to meet and maintain colonial interests under the cover umbrella phrase “modernizing Africa.” What we see today is that the so-called “modern education” is not satisfactorily addressing the problems of Africa to meet the needs and aspirations of the African people…What is vividly observed is that African wisdom and knowledge [are] being systematically undermined…If Africa is to regain its place as the center of culture and civilization, it needs to rethink and reframe its education in the context of Africa and its problems and aspirations (pp. 491-492).

Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Post-Apartheid Education Masango (2010) describes indigenous knowledge systems as that knowledge which is held and used by a people who identify themselves as indigenous of a place based on a combination of cultural distinctiveness and prior territorial occupancy relative to a more recently-arrived population with its own distinct and subsequently dominant culture. Indigenous knowledge system (s) is sometimes referred to as traditional knowledge, local knowledge, indigenous knowledge, or traditional environmental knowledge. Jennifer Hays (2016) defines indigenous knowledge as: a body of knowledge built up by a group of people through generations of living in close contact with nature. It includes a system of classification, a set of empirical observations about the local environment, and a system of self-management that governs resource use (p. 197).

Before the arrival of the first European settlers in South Africa in 1652, Black South Africans were not exposed to Western type of formal education. Black South Africans had an informal education which was formulated and selectively implemented by the people (Abdi, 2003). Therefore, the indigenous system of education in South Africa, as elsewhere in Africa, is as old as the people themselves (McDowell, 1980). Precolonial education for Black South Africans was informal because societal values were orally passed from generation to generation. Indigenous education included education about attitudes, values, behavior, religion, and economic matters (South African Bureau of Racial Affairs,

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1955). Like many other Africans in Africa, South Africans valued their indigenous education in precolonial times (Nkabinde, 1997). This type of informal education was responsive to the needs of the African environment in which it was being implemented (Abdi, 2003). The goals, according to Nkabinde (1997), were to: develop obedience for the elderly and authority figures; develop certain survival skills such as farming, food gathering/preservation, and hunting; preserve the culture through oral transmission and making artifacts; show respect for the environment and other living things; foster communal values of sharing and protecting each other through family ties and extended families; develop cognitive skills for practical purposes; develop an understanding and respect of spiritual powers; develop moral well-being of individuals and adherence to social fairness (p.3).

These goals indicate that education was meant to enhance moral values, provide vocational training, inculcate codes of behavior, and give spiritual and cognitive foundations to individuals (Corby, 1990). This type of education was designed to mold individual minds in accordance with indigenous African values. Despite its limitations, this type of traditional education proved to be successful in ensuring that families, as well as communities, were engaged in the education of their members. Immediate family members, as well as communities, formed the cornerstone of education for the Black youth. Black African children learned about their environment, work, and society from the older members of the community (Christie, 1985). Children learned by performing tasks for their families or communities. This type of education was continuous, that is, from childhood to adulthood. For example, there were “initiation schools,” that ritually marked certain stages of development that were a part of people’s education (Christie, 1985). Historical events and important past traditions were never recorded but were learned orally through songs, storytelling, and poems (Christie, 1985). Children were taught early in life to follow directions from their elders in observing good moral behavior. Trades or survival skills were taught by adults in same-sex groups. Boys were taught male-related skills such as hunting, fishing, weaving, constructing homes, farming, and woodworking (Avoke, 1993). Girls were trained to be good mothers; consequently, good housekeeping skills were imparted to them. For example, girls were taught child-rearing skills, cooking, making clothes, preserving food, and making baskets and pottery. According to Funteh (2015) the implementation of traditional education in Africa was intimately integrated with the social, cultural, artistic, religious and recreational life of the people. Thus, schooling and education, or the learning of skills, societal values and norms, were all intertwined and

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integrated with other spheres of life (Funteh, 2015). The ultimate objective of traditional/indigenous education as described by Omolewa (2007) is to produce a person guided by wisdom. Indigenous education for Black South Africans did not begin with the arrival of Europeans in 1652, rather it was there before the first settlers arrived in the country. Omolewa (2007) argues that the widespread belief held by early foreign observers in Africa that Africa was a dark continent before their arrival, is actually false because the continent had already reached a high level of educational development that had evolved over time. The arrival of Europeans from the late 15th century onwards marked the beginning of formal Western education at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels that disrupted the traditional system and replaced it with the learning of European languages, literature, history, and philosophy, as well as the sciences such as mathematics, biology, physics and chemistry (Omolewa, 2007).

Modes of Integrating Indigenous African Education Omolewa (2007) identifies varied modes through which traditional African education is passed on such as: a) Learning through language: using the mother tongue, learners are usually introduced very early to the system of manipulating figures involving counting, adding, and subtracting. b) Learning through music and dance: Music and dance are fundamental to the African ways of life. They are introduced to equip the learners with the ability to function effectively in other areas of learning such as language acquisition, speech therapy, literacy, numeracy, and other related themes. They are given to learners to enjoy, thus providing them with an artistic outlet and a way to relax. c) Oral tradition using proverbs, myths and stories: The most significant information- gathering exercise for the traditional African mode of education is the oral tradition, namely, the collective testimonies and recollections of the past inherited from earlier generations, and transmitted in various forms of verbal testimonies. Oral tradition continues to be a reservoir of inexhaustible wisdom where Africans learn about their origin,

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history, culture and religion, about the meaning and reality of life, and about morals, norms and survival techniques. d) Learning through culture: culture is everything that characterizes a society such as language, technological artefacts, skills, knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, attitudes, ideas, behavior, laws, traditions, customs and values. It is a basis of identity which largely determines how people view reality. It functions as a lens of perception, influencing how people view themselves and their environment. e) Learning through religion: because the African has remained incurably religious, the young child is introduced very early on to the spiritual world of the ancestors and the Supreme Being, the Creator of the Universe. Music, dance and art are expressions of religion and a celebration of creation. f) Learning from elders: African traditional education encourages everyone to respect elders, to accept the values sanctioned by the ancestors, and to be honest, dedicated and loyal. Traditional leaders, because of their moral and religious authority, can influence their communities in achieving development goals that necessitate behavioral change. In most African cultures, the elderly are accorded a great deal of respect. g) Learning through specialists: There are specialists who teach various skills. There are divine healers; gold and ironsmiths; leather workers and weavers; wood workers; circumcisers; musicians; storytellers; historians, etc. h) Learning through specific names: Africans learn also through specific names, which often reflect the baby’s circumstances at the time of birth. These include ancestral, spirit, proverbial, and special names, and birth-related events. i) Learning through a holistic approach: Traditional education is not compartmentalized into disciplines but rather, it is highly integrated. The holistic approach as a strategy for teaching and learning is valid because the learner is liberated from the authoritarianism of the teacher, the curriculum and the institution.

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j) Learning by integrating theory and practice: Learning by integrating theory and practice addresses interdisciplinary explorations of how traditional Africans know what they want to know with regard to modes of inquiry in the arts, humanities, social sciences, sciences and their application in their day-to-day lives. k) Learning through traditional African science and technology: Africa has a relatively rich body of related science and technologies. This is embodied in the continent’s cultural and ecological diversities and has been used by Africans for thousands of years to solve specific developmental and environmental problems (pp. 597-605). Since the collapse of apartheid in South Africa in 1994, there have been many discussions about the disconnect between students’ home and schooling experiences. Ways in which Western knowledge and indigenous knowledge might be integrated in primary, secondary and higher education have been the subject of ongoing policy focus and reforms in South Africa. South African Blacks continue to experience a profound educational disadvantage. The disadvantage is evident in the high rates of educational failure for Black South Africans across various grade levels and in institutions of higher learning. The solution to this state of affairs could lie in the provision of culturally responsive, culturally relevant, and African-centered education. The implementation of indigenous education in South African schools will be one way of promoting social justice in public education. Numerous research studies concur that indigenous education theories are rooted in the cultural precepts, ideology, and pedagogy of African reality, and are designed to transform the experiences and performances of students to reflect their innate potential for excellence (Durden, 2007). Indigenous education grounded in the philosophy of Ubuntu has the potential to transform and enrich African worldviews. Lefa (2015) refers to Ubuntu as a capacity in South African culture that expresses compassion, reciprocity, dignity, harmony and humanity in the interests of building and maintaining a community with justice and mutual caring. On the other hand, Makwanyane cited by Mabovula (2011) defines Ubuntu as follows: Generally, ubuntu translates as humaneness. In its most fundamental sense it translates as personhood and morality. Metaphorically, it expresses itself in Umuntu ngumntu ngabantu (a person is a person because of other

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people), describing the significance of group solidarity on survival issues so central to survival of communities. While it envelops the key values of group solidarity, compassion, respect, human dignity, conformity to the basic norms and collective unity, in its fundamental sense it denotes humanity and morality (p.42).

Musaazi (2014) explains that: The primary goal of education is to harness and develop man’s [sic] talents and potentialities so that he can fulfil his moral, intellectual and material needs and contribute effectively to the general survival and development of society (as cited in Hapanyengwi-Chemhuru and Makuvaza, 2014, p.9).

In addition, Mabovula (2011) recommends the following measures in the implementation of the philosophy of Ubuntu: The revival of cultural activities. In some communities this is termed Ibuyambo (a Xhosa name for revival); the restoration of African culture. African culture is taken to mean the sum total of the ways in which a society preserves, identifies, organizes, sustains and expresses itself, the restoration of a shared sense of morality. Within the African societies, there is a shared sense of morality that is similar in many aspects and based on the key concept of Ubuntu; the restoration of public morality. In African communities public morality regulates the behavior and values of both the community and the individual who lives and achieves his or her full humanness within the community; the restoration of Ubuntu. Ubuntu includes the values of greeting everyone, sharing, generosity, hospitality, good manners, respect and protecting one’s dignity and others’ human dignity (p.46).

Letseka (2011) maintains that Ubuntu in education is perceived to be the African cultural capital that provides indigenous knowledge which is actually important for integrating African concepts of inclusion, equality and social justice in the educational system.

The Aims of Post-Apartheid Education Chisholm (1995) describes the aims of post-apartheid education as follows: In the first instance, it signaled a move away from the determination of policy by a White minority state for a Black majority; in the second, official state education policy, historically geared towards building a united White nation, was now re-oriented to redressing inequalities and ‘nationbuilding’ between White and Black; in the third, instead of being

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predicated on exclusion and denial of rights, social, political and educational policy became based on the principles of inclusion, social justice and equity (p. 50).

In addition to moving away from apartheid goals, the new South African government wanted to implement new goals that reflected democratic ideals (Makoni, Moody, & Mabokela, 2006). According to the report of the South African Consulate in New York, the South African Schools Act 1996 (Act 84 of 1996) provides for: compulsory education for learners between the ages of seven and 15 […], or learners reaching the ninth grade, whichever occurs first; two categories of schools, namely public schools and independent schools, and the establishment and maintenance of public schools on private property; conditions of admission of learners to public schools; governance and management of public schools; the election of governing bodies and their functions [and] funding of public schools (p. 2).

Post-Apartheid Educational Policies and Practices: Inequity and Social Injustice Geber and Newman (1980) observe that in the early years, education for Africans was seen primarily in terms of the labor they would provide. Then it became logical not to allow Blacks to have a say in the planning, structuring, and implementing of education (Molobi, 1988). Many schools for Africans were built during the first quarter of the nineteenth century throughout the Cape Colony. These schools were established and controlled by the missionary societies. The overseas missionary societies, primarily responsible for this undertaking, included the Moravian, London, Rhenish, Wesleyan, Berlin, Paris Evangelical, and Glasgow Missions, as well as the Church Missionary Society and the American Board Mission (Behr, 1978). Prior to 1953, the types of schools Blacks attended, as well as the content of what was taught, were different. These schools were mainly traditional missionary schools. In 1953, the Bantu Education Act (No. 47) was introduced, and the South African government imposed a system known as “Bantu Education.” This act widened the gaps in educational opportunities for different racial groups (Thobejane, 2013). According to this report, the concept of racial “purity,” in particular, provided a rationalization for keeping Black education inferior. According to Simon (1991), the introduction of Bantu Education in South Africa marked the origin of the crisis in Black education. This system was characterized by rote learning

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and a curriculum virtually unrelated to Africans’ aspirations or practical job qualifications (Johnson and Devlin-Foltz, 1993). Under apartheid, schools for Black students suffered from enormous underfunding that resulted in under-resourced and overcrowded schools (Kotze, Van Duuren, Afrika, Rkiep, and Abdurahman, 2009). In addition, when different world views collided, that is African indigenous and Western views, there were problems. Le Grange (2007) argues that for non-Western learners, interaction between two worldviews characterizes much of their school experience, complicating the learning process and potentially resulting in cognitive conflict or as the literature describes it, cognitive dissonance/ perturbation.

Curriculum Practices The transition from apartheid education to the current educational system in South Africa saw a gradual change from strict segregation to partial desegregation. Furthermore, there was a need for the rapid transformation of the school curriculum (Jansen, 2001). The adoption of a new curriculum was meant to redress past inequalities by addressing the laudable outcomes of skills, knowledge and values for social justice, equality and development (Mouton, Louw, & Strydom, 2012). Hence it was called outcomes-based education, described by Jansen (2001) as an approach to education which underpins the new Curriculum 2005. Mouton et al. (2012) define the new curriculum as having three design features: first, it was outcomes-based. Second, it was located in the notion of an integrated knowledge system. The third feature was the promotion of a learnercentered pedagogy. The introduction of Outcomes-Based Education ( OBE)was seen by many South Africans as a way to overhaul the old apartheid educational system. According to Msila (2007), the curriculum transformation was in line with the aims of the constitution which include the following: to heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights; to improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person; to lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law (p.151).

The implementation of Curriculum 2005, while it was meant to benefit the historically disadvantaged Black schools, ended up short changing them. The following implementation problems were cited by Mouton et al.

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(2012): “a complex curriculum policy; inadequate co-ordination and management; insufficient capacity in terms of staff and finance; inadequate teacher development; and limited curriculum development for teachers” (p 1215). Unfortunately, despite the good intentions that were entailed in the implementation of OBE, it created so much confusion and problems that it had to be scrapped.

Primary-Level Curricula In primary schools, the curriculum consists of language skills training, writing, arithmetic, and official languages. All of these are necessary because they are a gateway to literacy and numeracy skills. Africans are taught through the medium of their mother tongues until the end of higher primary education. In addition to their mother tongues, African children are required to learn English or Afrikaans. It is in the lower grades that children must be exposed to their African heritage. Children must not be separated from the life and needs of their community. Kisanji (1995), citing Verhagen’s experience in Africa, states: the African child at the end of the primary school years [was] lacking integration and exhibiting intellectual fragmentation and instability. Such a child’s basic introduction to Western values has been incomplete, and when he leaves school he belongs neither to the traditional African way of life nor to the Western world (p. 9).

Kisanji (1995) notes that the cultural alienation and destabilization of traditional values, life and cultural identity result from Western education. Indigenous education aimed at inculcating the values and skills required to function effectively in their environments is needed. This argument is affirmed by Woolman (2001) who suggests that education aimed at decolonizing the minds of children who had been alienated from their own culture by years of European domination is needed. The disconnect between learning about Europe and nothing about their own country has contributed to students’ low school achievement and high dropout rates. Many of these students leave school without acquiring sufficient literacy skills.

Secondary-Level Curricula Secondary education in South Africa gives learners a choice between a university, a professional certification, or vocational schools. The educational changes in South Africa in the early 1990s marked the end of

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Bantu Education. With the collapse of apartheid, education Curriculum 2005, sometimes referred to as Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) was introduced. The OBE, as described by Msila (2007), introduced new learning styles, initiating change from passive, rote learning to creative learning and problem-solving through active participation in the learning process. In addition, the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) was established in order to provide structure for the new curriculum. The NQF was meant to prevent learners from being trapped in any one learning situation by promoting movement between different areas and levels of education and training. According to Nekhwevha (1999), apartheid education promoted passive learning, rote-learning, teacher-centeredness, and rigid content based syllabi and curricula. In contrast, “OBE stands for learnercenteredness, democratic curricula/programs, active participation, critical thinking, reasoning, reflection and action” (p.500). Nekhwevha (1999) points out that one of OBE’s oversight is the absence of an understanding of African educational philosophy and culture. Most problems currently facing African schools such as high dropout rates, alienation and unemployment are partly caused by incompatible Eurocentric curricula. He contends that a curriculum drawing on a traditional African educational philosophy could reduce these negative factors. Curriculum reform has been modernized to make it more relevant to the needs of citizens of a developing country as well as a developing economy. The new curriculum has focused on formerly neglected skills such as mathematics, science and technology. The report by the Ministry of Education (2005) states that schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology called Dinaledi schools have been established as part of a National Strategy for Mathematics, Science and Technology. These school are aimed at: raising the participation and performance of Black learners (especially females) in Mathematics and Science at Senior Certificate level, providing high-quality education in the three subjects to all learners, and increasing and improving human resource capacity to deliver education in the three subjects (p.3).

Hewitt and Matlhako (1999) observe that “History is overwhelmingly being told not from a Black South African perspective but from that of White South Africans, and sometimes through the eyes of the dominant world intelligentsia, but rarely through the Black eyes” (p. 158). This trend is not only damaging to the African psyche but it keeps the Black South

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African in a perpetual position of intellectual dependency. South African history books continue to present a biased and one-sided view of South African history. That history is centered on the subjugation of Africans. The land theft, exploitation of African labor, and violence against the Africans by the settlers are always minimized. On the other hand, the historical achievements of Europeans are overemphasized. African historians need to be trained in order to promote African-centered interests as well as to prevent distorted history from being taught and perpetuated. The mis-education of Africans about their past history must be challenged. Current historical events leading to the end of apartheid must be taught in schools. As students are taught about authentic European history, it is fitting to have students in South Africa exposed to authentic African history, cultures, languages and achievements.

University-Level Curriculum Horsthemke (2009) argues that the South African higher education transformation debate must address issues of culture, identity, and African ways of knowing. In supporting the idea of incorporating these in the curriculum, Makgoba and Seepe (2004), suggest that the responsibilities connected with being an African university are served not only by adapting African scholarship to the social structure and the cultural environment of Africa but by also producing knowledge that takes the African condition and the African identity as its central problem. They state: The central issue for our universities today is an institutional transformation in higher education that will provide for the production of knowledge that recognizes the African condition as historical and defines its key task as one of coming to grips with it critically (as cited in Horsthemke 2009, p. 4).

Bantu Education was never intended to train Blacks for constructive roles in South Africa and African universities were not designed to train and produce productive and critical thinking intellectuals (Nkabinde, 1997). These institutions of higher learning ought to adopt new roles to meet the demands of a post-apartheid South Africa. Kaya and Seleti (2013) enumerate these demands: (a) creation of an African indigenous theoretical framework of knowledge to guide the integration process,

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(b) African scholars must develop theoretical and methodological framework for knowledge production, (c) research and academic linkages between African institutions is to be implemented, (d) academic and research activities are to be carried out in indigenous languages, (e) education provided in African academic research institutions must address the intellectual and research needs of the African people (p.32). They further contend that the integration of African indigenous knowledge systems into higher education has the following advantages: (a) it provides students with the opportunity to learn appropriate community attitudes and values for sustainable livelihood. (b) students will be able to learn through culture because African indigenous education is stored in various cultural forms, for example, folk stories, songs, folk drama, legends, proverbs, myths, etcetera. (c) involving community knowledge holders in research, teaching, and learning enables students to learn across generations hence making them appreciate and respect the knowledge of elders and other community members (pp. 34-35).

Recommendations The history of formal education in South Africa, like anywhere in Africa, has been dominated by Western concepts. Unfortunately, the imposition of Western values on Africa ignored indigenous knowledge systems and, according to Higgs (2008), it impacted African people’s way of seeing and acting in the world. In addition, African identity, to all intents and purposes, became an inverted mirror of Western Eurocentric identity (Higgs, 2008). This state of affairs has resulted in many attempts to reclaim the African identity. Such attempts include, but are not limited to, calling for the integration of indigenous African education by promoting African languages at all levels as a way of facilitating cultural identity.

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Historically, the state found it in its best interest to keep African learners mainly as recipients of Western ideas rather than creators of ideas based on their African environment. Indigenous ways of knowing should be integrated into the curriculum at all levels in order to ensure that students and teachers, whether indigenous or non-indigenous, are able to benefit from education in a culturally sensitive manner that draws upon, utilizes, promotes, and enhances awareness of indigenous traditions, beyond the standard Western curriculum of reading, writing, and arithmetic (Hamilton-Ekeke, Dorgu, 2015). The advantage of indigenous African education is further supported by Woolman (2001) who underscores that this type of education provides socialization for many youths who never attend formal schools. Horsthemke and Ensilin (2009) sum it well when they state that “those who are indigenous, African in an ethnic sense, and/or who have experienced the brutality and oppressiveness of colonialism and apartheid cannot but embrace African Philosophy of Education” (p.217). Failure to do so will amount to self-marginalization. Science education is also an important area in the education of an African child. Sir Percy Nunn, as cited by Omolewa (2007), notes that instead of chemistry, physics, and mechanics, the African must be taught biology because the operation of biological laws especially micro-biology laws are ever present to him/her. The negative impact of colonial education in South Africa can be reduced through the integration of African cultural values and indigenous languages into the educational system at all levels. Other factors to be considered according to Kaya and Seleti (2013) include: x The promotion of research and academic linkages between African institutions x The promotion of indigenous languages in academic and research activities instead of colonial languages such as English, French and Portuguese x The development of research and theory based on indigenous conceptual framework and paradigms x Forming partnerships with local communities in order to draw on their indigenous knowledge

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x Ensuring that education provided in African academic and research institutions is meant to address the intellectual and research needs of the African people (p. 32). Masango (2010) describes the reasons for the protection of indigenous traditional knowledge as a way of preventing the knowledge from being exploited or appropriated for financial gains by third parties. An example of this given by Masango is where the drug industries have derived prescription drugs from indigenous traditional knowledge plant species. Another example is that of using indigenous people as objects of Western scientific investigation. This victimization can be stopped by having indigenous people becoming scientific investigators themselves. Other African scholars are calling for an integration of an African educational discourse aimed at providing those forms of teaching and learning which are inclusive of African philosophy, African lived experiences, and the teaching and learning which uphold this philosophy (Higgs, 2008).

Integration of Indigenous Education There is an urgent need for South African schools to integrate indigenous education throughout the educational system in order to reverse the negative impact of apartheid education whose goal was cultural imperialism. In the hidden curriculum of apartheid education, there was a need to keep Black Africans in a permanent state of political and economic subordination (Msila, 2007). Indigenous education in South African schools will thus be able to address issues of social justice, human rights and inclusivity. It is through the integration of indigenous education that the remnants of unfair discrimination, as well as past human rights abuses based on ethnicity and race can be addressed in South Africa. The indigenous knowledge systems need to be incorporated into the educational systems as forms of emancipatory education (Msila, 2007). Unless African languages and African cultures are valued by Blacks themselves, then there is no hope for future generations. If the situation is not addressed sooner, African cultural and linguistic survival will be greatly compromised. Jagusah (2001) observes that the loss of one’s culture or being unaware of one’s culture leads one to lack a consciousness of his/her own self in the educative process, or to be critically unaware of the “other” in their context.

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Identity and the Language Policy The new constitution in South Africa recognizes eleven official languages and intends to ensure equality amongst these languages (Ndlangamandla, 2010). These languages include former White official languages of Afrikaans and English and African languages such as isiZulu, isiXhosa, isiNdebele, siSwati, Setswana, Sesotho, sePedi, Tshivenda, and siTsonga. A twelfth official language, Sign Language, has been added. Language policy, as it applied to the African population under apartheid, was designed in such a way as to promote ethnic identity while limiting proficiency in the official languages (English and Afrikaans) in order to limit access to employment (Henrard, 2002). The principle of mothertongue education was conveniently applied to further the political interests of division amongst all communities. Nekhwevha (1999) contends that one of the most challenging developments arising out of South African post-apartheid education system relates to the adoption of English as the medium of instruction in schools, technikons, colleges and universities. The new language policy in South Africa is in support of multilingualism. Fiske and Ladd (2004) identify the three principles for determining the language or languages of learning as: “(a) the right of the individual to choose the language of learning; (b) the right to develop the linguistic skills necessary for full participation in national, provincial, and local life; (c) and the need to promote and develop South African languages neglected under apartheid” (p. 64). In a new education dispensation, minority White schools are allowed to preserve their religious and cultural values and their home languages. Some of these schools use the language e.g. Afrikaans, in order to limit African access to education in certain areas of the country. While the South African constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of language, community schools have a right to choose the language of instruction. Tshotsho (2011) maintains that the South African Language Policy addresses the issues of status, access, equity and empowerment. A majority of former White schools do not teach African languages as a school subject (Lemon, 2004). African students whose home language is not Afrikaans and or English end up suffering academically. There is also a lack of native language–speaking subject advisors in these schools according to Akanbi (2009).

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The sad part is that even some of the Black middle class parents who send their children to these schools see African languages as unimportant. De Klerk (1999) notes that since the opening of all schools to all races in 1994, there has been an overwhelming rush to English-medium state schools. While school fees and other conditions used by these schools to control admission have been implemented in the past, some of the conditions have been lifted due to the pressure from the state. The influx of African children to well-resourced White schools has resulted in a loss of loyalty to the mother-tongue among the new generation of children. Lemon (2004) warns against this trend as it puts African children in danger of cultural alienation from their environment. Languages carry histories of the society, traditions and rituals of the group. By undermining African languages in the curriculum, African identity and heritage are also marginalized. Teaching children in their vernacular languages is critical to their cognitive, emotional, and socio-cultural development. Therefore, the maintenance of vernacular languages in South Africa is essential in avoiding the slow death of African languages, cultures and identity. Woolman (2001) claims that real literacy can only be taught in an African language and should extend to the entire population. According to Woolman, such mass education is seen as one way to counteract the elitism and class divisions created by Euro-centric schooling in South Africa. In support of the use of indigenous languages in the new educational dispensation in South Africa, Kunnie (2000) writes: Local languages, unlike the lingua franca, protect the weak from the strong; they give the mother-tongue speaker her first relationships to mother earth and the world; like the vegetation and topography, they are peculiar to the place. They give a person identity and a proper pride in herself and her heritage, on a scale small enough to comprehend. They confer a diversity and an independence of thought and vision in the unwielding conglomerate states…That is why they must be promoted and encouraged so that children in schools will have pride and not shame in the culture of their own family and community. And it is in the University that the creative forces are generalized and fostered to ensure that the schools will indeed promote that pride (p. 205).

The end of apartheid in 1994 meant also the end of linguistic discrimination. Instead of having only English and Afrikaans as official languages all eleven languages of South Africa were given the status of official languages. What this new language policy means in reality is still not clear. Currently, English in South Africa still plays a dominant role in education, administration, business, parliament and jurisdiction. English is a compulsory subject in all schools, and it is the preferred medium of

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instruction in most schools and tertiary institutions (the only other medium of instruction at advanced levels at present being Afrikaans) (Gough, 1995). Most middle class African parents are also interested in having their children taught in English, and not in their mother tongue. The reasoning behind this preference is that earlier exposure to the language would lead to career advancement. Mda (2004) asserts that: many African language speakers and other South Africans perceive English as offering greater socio-economic and educational opportunities and as potentially unifying a linguistically diverse nation. English represents advancement, while African languages are stigmatized as backward and useless languages not suitable for development (as cited in Ndlangamandla, 2010, p.169).

However, this kind of perspective is misleading because by elevating the status of English at the expense of African languages, South Africa is contributing to educational underdevelopment of the African child (Nkabinde, 2004). Knowledge has no linguistic boundaries and Africans must stop thinking that if schooling is in the medium of an African language, the children will be less prepared for the world of work. A strong correlation between cognitive development and the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction has always been known to professionals involved in the teaching field. Mesthrie (2006) provides the following efforts by the new South African government of empowering African languages: x Computer terminology is being developed in all languages x Research on telephone translation mechanisms is being undertaken x Resources are being allocated to the development of African languages x Smaller languages like Venda are becoming visible on television x There is a greater presence of African languages at least at an informal level in public institutions, centers for tertiary education, public spaces in cities, etc. x Musical traditions in a variety of languages continue to grow

x Tertiary institutions are being called upon to develop greater space for the use of African languages (pp. 155-156).

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Conclusion Infusing indigenous knowledge systems in the curriculum for South Africans in pursuit of an African philosophy of education will greatly contribute to erasing invisibility by promoting educational excellence and social justice. A report by Commey (2014) contends that the crucial cultural component missing in African schools is instruction in mother tongues. South African educational policies and curricula have begun to incorporate a new value system for the country, one that draws on both indigenous and Western worldviews in ways that are specific to the South African history and current context (Lazarus, 2006). South Africa continues to face many challenges as it tries to reconcile the benefits of both Western education and that of indigenous African education. Kaya and Seleti (2013) advocate for a system of teaching and learning that can combine both colonial and African indigenous education. These authors point out that presently, African children are either kept in their home environments, missing out on the modern aspects of education, or increasingly, forced into full-time formal schooling or missing out on the African traditional education. Woolman (2001) observed the incompatibility between Western competitive individualistic education and African traditions of cooperative communalism. Western formal education alienates Africans from their cultural values which are considered primitive and incompatible with formal education. Mazrui (1978), as cited by Woolman (2001), identified the need for young Africans to rid themselves of self-contempt without sacrificing any possibility of a scientific revolution. A dual solution of embracing both the indigenous African education and the Western formal education seems realistic. Kaya and Seleti (2013) encourage African intellectuals to close the gap created by over four hundred years of domination and marginalization of African people’s knowledge systems by downplaying cultural and intellectual contributions of non–western knowledge systems. There is still hope according to Kaya and Seleti, hope for South Africa since the traumatic history of apartheid has not completely destroyed the African intellectual, cultural and spiritual heritage. They note that indigenous institutions of knowledge production, conservation, and sharing such as initiation schools, indigenous games, agricultural systems, dances and songs, storytelling, proverbs, et cetera, still remain intact. The wealth of knowledge that still exists among the elders and other knowledge holders in African local communities demonstrates the vibrant intellectualism which African researchers and intellectuals should turn to.

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An integrated approach that will draw from both indigenous and Western world views will ultimately benefit African students at every level of schooling. This integrated approach will expose African students to both local and foreign influences and ideas, thus enriching their learning experiences. There is need thus to incorporate African indigenous knowledge systems in South African schools in order to make

its educational system effective. There is value in learning from multiple perspectives, including learning from the indigenous knowledge systems. This is well summed up by Mbabuike (2001) when he states: Any liberating pedagogy must incorporate what Ellen Langer describes as mindful thinking. In other words, a mindful approach to any activity has three characteristics: the continuous creation of new categories; openness to new information; and an implicit awareness of more than one perspective. Mindless, in contrast, is characterized by an entrapment in old categories; by automatic behavior that precludes attending to new signals; and by action that operates from a single perspective (p. 339).

It is the responsibility of African intelligentsia to create an indigenous philosophy for the South African educational system that will contradict apartheid racist ideologies rather than further complement and promote them. A new indigenous philosophy will help make a meaningful contribution to the South African educational system by reversing the inherited biases that still exist.

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8 EXAMINING KENYA’S SECONDARY SCHOOL EDUCATION: THE WORK OF EDWARD CAREY FRANCIS AT MASENO SCHOOL, 1928-1940 PETER OTIATO OJIAMBO

Introduction The growth of Kenyan secondary education cannot be written without discussing the contributions of its pioneer educators who laid its foundation. Among these pioneer educators, Edward Carey Francis’ (1896-1966) name ranks high. He was the pioneer educator and the architect of modern Kenyan secondary education. Commenting on his prominence in laying the foundation for Kenya’s education, Kipkorir (1980) writes: No educator influenced the destiny of the country more than he (Edward Carey Francis) did. He was one of the greatest educationist Kenya has ever had. By his own nation, Britain, he was honored by both crown and peers. He was awarded the OBE in 1949 and the Bronze Medal of the Royal African Society in 1964. In 1961, the Council of Makerere College elected him a Honorary Fellow. When he died the House of Representatives stood in silence—an honor usually reserved for its own members and Heads of State. (p.113)

Writing further on the significance of Carey Francis in the development of Kenyan education, Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s first VicePresident, gave the following reflection: Throughout the colonial period in Kenya, I came in contact with many British colonial personnel. Carey Francis was perhaps one of the very few whom I admired and respected even though I did not accept all that he stood for. The dedication with which he approached his teaching duties,

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and the genuine concern for his students earned him a high reputation throughout Kenya. (As cited in Charton-Bigot and Burton, 2010, p.93)

In the 34 years that Carey Francis served as a Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionary in Kenya, he was the headmaster of two African schools: Maseno School (1928-1940) and Alliance High School (1940-1962). Carey Francis’ name is synonymous with the latter which for several decades has been a leading Kenyan high school. It was his headmastership of Alliance High School (AHS) that cemented his legacy in Kenyan secondary education. But long before he took over the leadership of AHS, Carey Francis had already distinguished himself as an educator of great vision at Maseno School. It was here that his immense reputation as an inspiring leader and educator was built. Unfortunately, his work at Maseno School and his contributions to Kenyan secondary education have rarely been examined and as such have remained invisible. This chapter aims to erase this invisibility. The primary focus of the chapter is on Carey Francis’ family background and training; his entry into Kenyan education; his educational work and challenges at Maseno School and how these laid the foundation for Kenya’s secondary education; his transformative and complex educational leadership style; and the emerging educational lessons from his involvement in Kenyan secondary education. Since this chapter is grounded in educational biographical inquiry, it draws much of its literature from the genre and its place in educational research.

Biography and Educational Biography Defined Creswell (1998) defines the term “biography” as a portrait of an individual. According to him, biographies deal with an individual’s entire life. He writes that the interpretive biographical form of study “has elements that focus on a single individual; it constructs a study of the individual under study out of stories, and epiphanies of special events, situating them within a broader context, and evoking the presence of the author in the study” (p. 31). Kridel (1998) notes that it is difficult to build a comprehensive, all-inclusive definition of biography. He generally defines it as “the record of life” (p. 8). He observes, however, that this definition does not cater for the complexity of traditions, concerns, and methods entailed in biographies. In discussing educational biography, Kridel (1998) observes that the term denotes works of biographical subjects that are drawn from the field of education. Broadly viewed, these are individuals who worked or work in the field of education or have made significant marks in it. Educational

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biographies draw their structures from several disciplines and thus are complex research approaches given the varied disciplines they utilize.

Relevance of Educational Biographies in Educational Research Educational biographies are becoming an increasingly popular dimension of qualitative research to both researchers and the larger public (Denzin, 1989; Kridel, 1998). A number of educational theorists such as Kridel (1998), Creswell (1998), and Denzin and Yvonna (2000) have explored indepth the role of educational biographies in educational research. Their work provide various dimensions that well-structured educational biographies take. Educational literature from the African continent indicates that the field has been examined minimally. This is evidenced in the few educational biographical works today from Africa. Kridel (1998) observes that the interest in biographical works is important. He argues that it has the potential to bridge critical relationships among the balkanized research realms in the postmodern world. Many scholars from varied disciplines view biography as a method capable of reaching a larger audience and being able to address a wide spectrum of social, political, and economic issues than most other forms of inquiry. Denzin and Yvonna (2000) note that biographies have capabilities of touching familiar chords in readers because they encompass daily human occurrences. They argue that this is because they describe the way people faced living, how they met problems, how they coped with their varied crises, how they loved, competed, and performed things that all human beings do on a daily basis. Expounding further on Denzin and Yvonna’s argument, Creswell (1998) notes that biographies “help in understanding how and why something transpired; they illuminate action and reveal meaning” (p. 19). Exploring the lives of others through a biographical inquiry is seen as explorations into our own lives. Biographical studies allow for a personal reflection through the perspectives of others. They imply a greater sharing of lives, experiences, interests, and abilities. They negate the argument that literary and educational works stand on their own, without reference to their authors, sources, backgrounds, or contexts in which they arise or are written. Biographies are also seen as being vital in the expansion of human relations. Oates (as cited in Kridel, 1998) argues that biographies encourage the crossing of boundaries. She states that “by reading

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biographies, written and lived stories often we connect and we realize we are not alone, we can live with another human being in another age, we can identify with his [or her] journey through the vicissitudes of life” (p. 25). Beyond their capacity to reveal the origin of ideas and the existence of social possibilities, biographies are seen as providing space for societal change. According to Carr (1961), biographies are empowering and have many benefits to society. He writes that “biography, especially of the great and good who have risen by their own exertions to eminence and usefulness, is an inspiring and ennobling study” (p. 60). Carr sees the historical individual as a product and agent of the historical process, at once the representative and the creator of social forces which change the shape of the world and thought in society. Every biography, according to Coker (1987), adds to the sociological resources of mankind. It is seen as representing a survey and scrutiny of the past, compromises, observations, and instructions for future societal changes. In addition, it also has a dual purpose; it informs us about the specific and unique aspects of the subject and the context in which he or she functioned. Adeoti (1997) observes that throughout human history, there has been a recognition of men and women who have left significant footprints on human life. Their study has led to in-depth understanding of the complex and fluid historical, social, political and economic contexts under which they functioned. This implies that a biography serves as a focal device when individuals who might be of relatively little importance can be cited as a type or as a useful lead into issues and developments of a wider historical importance. It is vital to note that as interest in biographical studies grows in the academia, the methodology is becoming increasingly complex. Despite these complexities, biographical works have a lot to offer to researchers as they strive to decipher various societal phenomena. Kridel (1998) observes that “they go beyond mere collection of facts and preserving of information; rather, they inspire comparison. For instance, they raise questions such as, “Have I lived that way? Could I make myself live that way? Do I want to live that way?”” (p.11). They transcend boundaries of qualitative research and unite varied communities so that the universal understanding of societal events is created through a critical examination of a single human life.

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In the field of education, biographical studies present new prospects, possibilities and dimensions required for educational inquiry and thought. They provide new ways of examining the effects of the pedagogical process on students and educators. In addition, they help in explaining how educational policy manifests itself in the lives of individuals. This body of thought, therefore, calls for further research in the field of education in order to decipher various facets of biography in the context of educational research and practice. Looking at individual educators and their role in the development of education in their societies thus becomes an excellent starting point for trying to annul the complexities that are entailed in biography. It provides a possibility for their proper utilization in the educational field— hence, the aim of this study. This study thus becomes important in contributing further to a rapidly evolving area that has minimal research works from Africa. The study hopes to erase the invisibility of scholarship on African-centered educational biographies by highlighting the contributions of individual African educators to the development of education in Africa. This study endeavors to ascertain Ajayi’s (1990) arguments that some biographies can rise above the level of providing source material and become important essays in critical analysis of complex societal events and changes. Since this work fuses several historical elements, it has taken into consideration the general criticisms of biographical works by various historians who view biographies as having a tendency of promoting the cult of the individual at the expense of a well-balanced understanding of varied societal spheres. These scholars also view biographies as being complex in their analysis. It is important to note that although there are numerous works on the development of education in Kenya, few of them address the contributions of individual educators to the growth of Kenyan education and especially the work of Carey Francis. Apart from a few studies which discuss him with regard to AHS, limited attempts have been made to study his educational contributions to Kenyan secondary education, especially his educational leadership at Maseno School. This void becomes worthy of study when it is realized that Carey Francis was a pioneer Kenyan educator. The few written works on him by Greaves (1969), and Kipkorir (1980) only provide a frame of his involvement in Kenyan education that requires further examination.

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Theoretical Framework Transformational Leadership Theory Although theories of leadership are many, this study only utilized one--the transformational leadership theory postulated by Burns (1979). The study critically assessed Carey Francis’ leadership approaches using some of the key tenets of transformational leadership. Burns (1979) and Rost (1991) view transformational leadership as the cornerstone of an effective school leadership. Transformational leadership, according to Burns, occurs “when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality. Both provide mutual support for common purpose” (Burns, 1979, p. 20). This synergy of support makes transformational leadership moral and a powerful tool in individual and societal growth. Expounding on Burns’ views, Rost (1991), Bass (1985), and Foster (1986) present transformational leadership as a multidisciplinary phenomenon. Bass (1985) argues that it functions in three central ways: it represents the expansion of specific wants of the constituency; it is dialectical in nature, and has the power to exert energy. Foster (1986) asserts that transformational leaders recognize that their power is derived from the critical mass, and thus they do not wield power over their constituencies but rather they share it with them. There are four moral attributes of a transformational leader that have been identified by Rost (1991) namely: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. Idealized influence involves having a charisma, vision and behaviour that inspires others to follow. Inspirational motivation involves having commitment to goals and the capacity to motivate others to remain committed to them. Through intellectual stimulation, transformational leaders encourage their followers to be innovative in their work. Individualized consideration involves leaders having respect for and treating other workers as unique individuals. Burns (1979) notes that it is important for transformational leaders to engage their constituents in defining the nature of their realities through these four moral attributes. The philosophical foundation of transformational leadership is rooted in social interaction and critical consciousness. Foster (1986) gives four main characteristics that comprise the praxis of transformational leadership. According to him, transformational leadership should be: critical, transformative, educative, and ethical. He notes that “leadership is

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seen as a vehicle for social change which is transformative to some degree” (p. 69). This implies that transformational leaders critically challenge social conditions and create both social and societal change. Yukl (2002) and Leithwood (2007) observe that transformational leadership appeals to the moral values of followers in an attempt to raise their consciousness about ethical issues and to mobilize their energy and resources to reform institutions. They note further that in transformational leadership, followers trust, admire, are loyal, and respectful to the leader. The followers are motivated to do more than they are originally expected to do. They are induced to “transcend their own self-interest for the sake of the organization and higher ideals” (p. 253). Bass (1985) observes that transformational leaders possess varied transformational and transactional patterns. Leaders use both styles depending on the historical context in which they function. Supporting this notion, Foster (1986) argues that “leaders and followers are not categories with exclusive membership, followers will be leaders and leaders will be followers” (p.182). This thus means that transformational and transactional leaderships are distinct but not mutually exclusive processes; effective leaders use a combination of both. Despite immense benefits that transformational leadership offers, several studies in education point out some of its shortfalls; for instance, its potential for abuse of power and manipulation. This study took into consideration these shortfalls and the mutuality that exists between transformational and transactional leadership in examining the leadership traits of Carey Francis at Maseno School. From the reviewed literature, it is evident that there is limited research on African-centered educational biographies and how they illuminate a biography’s historical, social, political, and economic contexts. The reviewed literature indicates that although there are numerous works on the development of education in Kenya, few of them address the contributions of individual educators such as Carey Francis. Apart from the two works mentioned earlier that discuss him with regard to AHS, limited attempts have been made to study his overall contributions to Kenyan education especially at Maseno School. It is this gap that this study addresses.

Methodology The study utilized an interpretive educational biography genre. Creswell (1998) defines an interpretive educational biography as “the study of an

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individual educator and her/his experiences as told to the researcher or found in documents and archival materials” (p.47). Denzin (1989) notes that the genre “describes turning points in an individual’s life” (p.47). These accounts, according to Heibrun (as cited in Kridel, 1998), explore lesser lives, greater lives, thwarted lives, lives cut short, or lives miraculous in their unapplauded achievement. The study sought to address the following questions: x What forces caused Carey Francis to be involved in Kenyan education? Why and in what ways did he become involved? x How does Carey Francis’ educational work at Maseno School reflect Kenya’s historical educational context at the time? x What educational lessons emerge from Edward Carey Francis’s work at Maseno School? The following qualitative methods were used to collect data: examining written studies, and documents, and gathering information from audio-visual materials. From these sources, relevant information on the subject of the study was extracted and interpreted in line with the main research questions of the study. This required a careful examination of various materials and the piecing together of the information to create their interpretation. The methods assisted in contextualizing Carey Francis’ life history and involvement in Kenyan education. The justification for using written studies, documents and audio-visual materials was based on the time frame and financial constraints of the study. This was a short study that was conducted between July and September, 2015 to shed light on the portion of Carey Francis’ involvement in Kenyan education—Maseno School that had never been examined before. Since some studies involving larger interviews had been done on him with regard to his work at AHS, the mentioned methods of data collection were deemed sufficient to provide in-depth data that would make a comprehensive critical analysis of his overall contributions to the development of Kenyan education. My approach toward interpreting and analyzing data was aimed at generating Carey Francis’ educational biography and using biographical approaches to interpret it. This entailed examining the characteristics of a biography; my interpretation of it in terms of movement through time concerning Carey Francis’ life, education, involvement and contributions to the Kenyan secondary education; challenges he faced, and emerging educational lessons from his work. Analysis of the data was done through

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the biographical techniques of consolidation, description, reduction and interpretation. In the consolidation and description phases, I isolated themes based on the three major research questions of the study using general biographical frames. The themes covered included the early life of Carey Francis, his educational background and work, his involvement in Kenyan education and the interpretations of his work and contributions in all these frames. In the reduction phase, I categorized generative themes that emerged from examining the written studies, documents, and audiovisual materials that were similar or close to the isolated themes that emerged from the research questions. The generative themes I selected included Carey Francis’ family details, his education at Trinity College, his work at Cambridge University, at Maseno School and the larger Nyanza, and the challenges he faced. I sought to understand and interpret his involvement and contributions in these places by reducing the generative themes into sub-themes that emerged from them. This included examining forces that accounted for his involvement in Kenyan education, and why and how he got involved; his work at Maseno School and its reflection of Kenya’s educational historical context; and emerging lessons from his educational work at Maseno School. In the interpretation phase, I reconstructed the earlier-mentioned themes through the creation of an educational biography, in which the central themes served to guide and direct the plot of each of the sub- themes based on the main research questions. These three stages were implemented to create a structure for understanding Carey Francis’ involvement and contributions to Kenyan secondary education.

Findings The findings examined the forces that caused Carey Francis to be involved in the development of Kenyan secondary education, why and in what ways he became involved. They looked at his life prior to his involvement in Kenyan education (his upbringing, schooling at Trinity College, his work at Cambridge University and with the Boys Scouts and Choir) in order to shed light on his later life and career. In addition, they examined the challenges he faced at Maseno School in the early years, and his educational work at Maseno School and the larger Nyanza.

Background and Early Schooling Years Edward Carey Francis was born at Hampstead on September 13th, 1897. He was the first son of a middle-class London family and the eldest of four

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children. His family’s early life was difficult and because of frequent movements, his siblings did not form a close family bond. Greaves (1969) writes that “throughout most of his childhood days Carey Francis’s family lived an increasingly Spartan life. As they moved from house to flat, accommodation became difficult, and Carey Francis went to live, in comparative comfort, with aunts. Their relations were limited” (p.2). Carey Francis was educated at William Ellis School, Hampstead, and Gospel Oak in North London. Both schools were well known for their first-class teaching, co-curricular activities and progressive worldview. In both schools, Carey Francis showed extraordinary promise and leadership skills in academics and sports. He sat for his entrance examination to the preparatory school just before his seventh birthday, and his performance was a foretaste of his future academic prowess. Affirming this, Kipkorir (1980) notes that he led the entire class. It was clear from his early school years that Carey Francis had a talent in mathematics and was well supported by his parents and his mathematics teachers to nurture the gift. He progressed steadily in his academics and he was consistently on top of his class. Carey Francis’s success in academics did not match his skills in sports in his early years, and he did not participate in organized games until he was fifteen years old. Being aware of how students who were talented in academics were despised, he was convinced that it was prudent for him to excel and become a leader in sports. Speaking of how he developed progressively his abilities in various sports, Ngweno (2008) states that “he applied himself with absolute commitment to various sports such as cricket, football [soccer] and tennis” (Makers of a Nation Documentary, 2008). Due to his good performance both in academics and sports in 1915, he was made the head of the school and captain of football (soccer), cricket and tennis. In December 1915, Carey Francis sat for an entrance scholarship in mathematics at Trinity College and passed. His good performance earned him a London County Council Senior Scholarship. At this time, the First World War was at its apex when the time for him to report to college arrived. His scholarship was held on and he was drafted into the British Army that summer. He joined the Honorable Artillery Company, a very exclusive unit largely reserved for recruits from wealthy families. He was among the few recruits in the unit who were from humble backgrounds. He was sent to the Cadet School at Brighton, and in September 1917 he

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was commissioned in the Special Reserve unit. In October of that year, he was deployed to France.

Trinity College, Cambridge Years (1919-1928) Carey Francis came out of the war unharmed and was fortunate to be demobilized early. In January 1919 he took up his deferred scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge University. Although he joined the school in the second term, he was able to win a Senior Scholarship. He maintained high standards in his academics at Trinity College. Commenting on his academic excellence, Pars (1968) observes that he headed the list in the mathematical studies in the class of 1921 and received several awards for his academic excellence. In sports, Carey Francis also had some admirable success. His early promise at tennis was greatly enhanced. He captained Trinity College First VI and played in several matches. In football (soccer), he fared well. He won his place as wing half in quite outstanding teams which won the InterCollege Cup for three years. Apart from being active in academics and sports, he was also active in religious matters. He was a member of the Student Christian Movement (S.C.M) and the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (C.I.C.C.U). He identified with the latter because of its warm and energetic fellowships even though he had reservations about their theology. He was a strong advocate for a practical type of Christianity that served the poor. He was a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge University, from October 30, 1922. He resided in Peterhouse for about six years. He served as the Director of Studies in the Mathematics Department from 1922 to 1928. He was very young when he took over the post. Pars (1968) observes that when he arrived, one of the porters, taking him to be an undergraduate, attempted to have him fined for walking across the grass in the old court. He immediately established himself, however, as a brilliant and immensely popular lecturer. Speaking of Carey Francis’ teaching talents and his personal interest in the progress of his students, Professor W. H. McCrea of the Astronomy Centre of the University of Sussex who was one of his former students recalled that “as an undergraduate I did less well in a certain examination. Carey sent me a note indicating that I had great potential to excel in the field. His advice had great effect on my later career” (as cited in Makers of a Nation Documentary, 2008).

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Carey Francis was one of the original university lecturers when the faculty system was established at Cambridge in 1926. He served as Secretary of the Faculty Board of Mathematics Department. Because of his remarkable abilities, he was appointed the College Bursar. With the appointment of P. C. Vellacott as the College head, a major campaign was launched to reform the operations of the College. Carey Francis assisted in the revision of various statutes that governed the university and was instrumental in shaping its new administration. He carried out his duties with extraordinary speed, efficiency and excellence. His duties at Cambridge expanded further in 1924. In that year, he was appointed the College librarian. All these responsibilities demonstrate the trust and confidence that the College had in his leadership abilities and the quality of his work despite his position as a junior faculty. Additionally, he also spent a lot of time in church activities. At Peterhouse, Carey Francis set out from the beginning to get in touch with the poor students who came from the town and who participated in the choir. He became Peterhouse choirmaster since they did not have a leader. He set out from the beginning to improve their performance. Within a short time, both the choir and the football teams were doing very well. Beyond the choir, he also helped in the establishment of a Boy Scouts troop. Despite his heavy duties, he held scout parades twice a week. The troop won regularly in various events. Achievement in all these areas were typical of everything that Carey Francis did in his life. He pushed for excellence. Carey Francis had deep reverence for God. This was evident in his early years at Cambridge where he was actively involved in various religious matters. He believed in an ecumenical approach to Christianity. According to him, theology and church attachment did not matter so long as one was practicing the central tenets of Christianity. Speaking of his disciplinary strictness and stand on theological matters, Kipkorir (1980) states that “he suffered no half measures. He disliked theology. Theology to him was the instrument that a man might use to evade the decision of yielding himself fully to the service of God” (p.116). He viewed a Christian as someone who was endeavoring to be truthful in life. It was clear earlier on from his academic and administrative roles at Cambridge that Carey Francis was destined for greater achievements at the university had he stayed longer. His great promise thus as a mathematician was not fulfilled, not because of any lack of ability, but because there were other things that counted higher in his life. His heart had always been in

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the mission field—making a difference in people’s lives. His friends were not surprised when, in 1928, he left Cambridge and went to Kenya as a lay teaching missionary. His decision to go to Kenya can be traced to his earlier work with the choir and boy scouts at Peterhouse. It was in this regard that when he met a great friend of his in the C.I.C.C.U at Trinity and at the S.C.M camps at Bexhill who was working as a Youth Secretary of the Church Missionary Society (C.M.S), and would later be the Bishop of Liverpool, he told him, “You know me. If you see a job, say in African education, that I would be of some use at, let me know” (as cited in Greaves, 1969, p. 16). Speaking further of the motives that made him to go to Africa, Carey Francis noted, “I liked my job as a mathematics don, but I didn’t dream about mathematics. Probably my scouts had something to do with it. Working with them gave me great satisfaction. I believed I knew some things which would help Africans” (Makers of a Nation Documentary, 2008). It is clear from these statements that his purpose of going to Africa was to serve humanity. It was during this period in 1927 that Clifford Martin had a definite decision to make. A key C.M.S school in Kenya was in grave danger of being closed. The school was at Maseno. And had been founded in 1906. It was a boarding primary school with 200 students. Describing the state of Maseno School when Carey Francis arrived, Kipkorir (1980) writes: For some time there had been no qualified teachers on the staff. In October 1926 C.M.S had been reduced to appointing as the Principal Rev. Dr. John Stansfeld, a medical man, who, at the age of 72, had volunteered to go out at his own expense to serve in the Mission Hospital at Maseno. He had only been there a few weeks when to his astonishment, he was asked to take charge of the school. (p.114)

Stansfeld was a well accomplished and respected medical doctor but he had no experience in the field of education. It was clear from the start that his appointment was a temporary measure aimed at preventing the closure of Maseno School. When it became public that Carey Francis was going to Kenya, many of his friends and colleagues strongly tried to dissuade him from going but he was unmoved by their persuasions. He wrote, “I felt the need to go. I believed it was God calling me to do so” (as cited in Greaves 1969, p. 18). Although he was excited about the position, he was worried about the move and especially the severing of links with the boys’ choir and the scout troop. Their sense of loss with regard to his departure was poignant.

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Maseno School Years (1928-1940) Carey Francis left for Kenya on September 28, 1928 and became the Headmaster of Maseno School. At Maseno, he saw for the first time the Christian boarding school in Africa, as described by James Dougall in the 1930s - a medium of God’s revelation as a personal friend. Kipkorir (1980) writes that Dougall noted that “the men and women who live in daily contact with African students do actually, by their care, concern, fellowship reveal the love and will of God in our lives” (p.116). This was how Carey Francis conceptualized the role and mandate of Christian schools in Africa. From the beginning, he never lost sight of his primary work as a teacher and of his mission of shaping his students into productive members of society. He had unquestionable belief in the abilities of his students. He took students as materials and molded them. He took great care that they should have a rich, comprehensive and holistic education. Carey Francis arrived in Kenya on 26 October, 1928. For him it was a leap in the dark, and a journey into the unknown where, when in doubt, he was prepared to walk carefully, but when sure, he was certain to put his foot more firmly. Narrating his arrival in Kenya and the warnings he was given on how to conduct himself before Africans, he recalled: “When I arrived at Mombasa my luggage was rough and I began to straighten it. A well-meaning acquaintance advised me not to do so. To do any work myself would mean losing all prestige with the natives” (as cited in Charton-Bigot and Burton, 2010, p. 90). Carey Francis’ experience with the African youth was very different from the advice he had been given. He found them very industrious, disciplined and greatly engaged in their education. An early challenge that Carey Francis faced when he arrived at Maseno School was a serious shortage of staff. Dr. Stansfeld had left three months before. After a few weeks of his arrival, the meagre European staff dwindled to two- Carey Francis and Bob Hull. The African staff was about eight strong. Most of them were good workers doing remarkably well despite their minimal training and experience in the education field. Apart from the staffing difficulties, the literacy aspect of Maseno School was also very low. In the Kenya of those days, the emphasis on trade was seen as the most suitable education for Africans. Carey Francis detested it. At Maseno, the versatile Carey Francis also doubled up as an Inspector of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) schools in the entire Nyanza

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province. After settling in Maseno, he discovered its limitations when he set about remedying the most obvious weaknesses in all Nyanza province CMS and government schools—the lack of properly trained teachers, educational materials, and low pay. He sought from the beginning to build a strong teaching foundation and a teacher training program that could address some of these challenges. Because of the scarcity of teachers, Carey Francis was forced to teach as many subjects as he could manage. The vacuum in teaching materials enabled him to build an excellent collection of notes that he was later able to convert to textbooks both for the schools and the teacher-preparation programs. Due to Carey Francis’ approach to building teaching resources and hiring quality teachers, Maseno School within a short time began to do very well in primary school examinations that saw many of its students accepted at AHS for secondary education, or transition to vocational training programs. A decade later, he would start secondary education at the school after several requests had previously been rejected by the government. To enhance his work after his arrival at Maseno School, Carey Francis felt that it was important for him to know the local language, Luo, that a majority of his students and community spoke. Beyond learning Luo, Carey Francis also in the early years brought to Maseno School his interest in sports. From the start, he embarked on coaching Maseno’s football (soccer) team. The team’s performance rose fast within a few years. In addition, he also tried to build strong athletic and swimming programs.

Challenges at Maseno School in the Early Years Despite the tremendous progress that Carey Francis witnessed in his early years at Maseno School, there were several challenges. The first was the lack of teachers and staff to enable him carry out his educational mission and vision. The second was the lack of water. Due to water scarcity, students quite often were forced to go to various nearby streams to fetch water. The process was tedious and time-consuming. To solve the problem, Carey Francis’ first strategy was to ensure that the rainwater was properly harvested and stored in large tanks. Later, he built a dam that was able to provide water for the entire school. The third challenge for Carey Francis was getting teachers who shared his vision. The vital qualities he looked for in his faculty were a person who; was well qualified as a teacher, was a keen and “true” Christian, and liked students and teaching. Because of the limited financial resources that the school had, Carey Francis considered it an advantage if the person’s

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marital status was single. Most of his European colleagues measured well to these expectations even though they found his personality demanding. Carey Francis was a meticulous workaholic. He expected those he worked with to demonstrate the same. This was not easy for some of his colleagues, especially those who had families. From the beginning, he wanted to make Maseno School a center of academic excellence. For him, a school was not a shop to which students came with fees and expected in return to get food, a certificate, and a job at the end. His school would not be a place from which to receive but one to which all gave their service to God and society. These principles were the cornerstone of his leadership at Maseno School and later at AHS. Another challenge that Carey Francis faced in the early years was his attitude to female teachers. He, at times, was exceedingly strong and insensitive. Thiong’o (2012), in discussing this subject as an issue during Carey Francis’ days at AHS in later years, notes people always wondered how he could have abandoned a prestigious position as a university lecturer to accept a lowly position as a primary school head in Kenya. Was it just a missionary call to service or was there something more? The research findings provide little information on the reasons for Carey Francis’ dislike for women. It is vital to note that his approach to women and marriage was not narrow. He respected those Christians who were able to balance marriage and work life. It is due to this recognition that he accepted to be a godfather to many children at Maseno School. He cared for and loved many of them. Another challenge that Carey Francis faced in his early years at Maseno School was his relationship with the African staff. Although his impression of the African staff in the early years was optimistic and positive, this did not last long. He felt they loved money, constantly demanded higher wages and did minimal work. With time, this Christian attitude to money became one of his major weaknesses and on which he was mostly misunderstood. Affirming this, Charton-Bigot and Burton (2010) write, “His proposal that Europeans should be paid more because they were expatriates and had a standard of living developed over centuries, belied his own teachings on equality and devotion to ensuring that his students excelled in all spheres. It bordered on paternalism and racist fringe” (p. 158). Expounding further on Charton-Bigot and Burton’s thoughts, Thiong’o (2016) states, “Carey Francis’s Anglo-chauvinism was the weakest part of his character, and it blurred his vision at times. This was clearly seen in his views that no African student could enter Cambridge University on merit” (p.214). Carey Francis embodied other

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contradictions too. For instance, in a talk that he gave at a joint meeting of the Royal African and the Royal Empire societies in London on March 31, 1955, he stated that apart from Africans coming from poorer, less endowed homes, they were essentially the same as English boys with regard to intelligence, athletic prowess, industry, courtesy, courage, and trustworthiness. There were also some challenges with regard to the dress code. Carey Francis preferred teachers to dress in shorts and long stockings. African teachers detested this dress code. They viewed it, according to ChartonBigot and Burton (2010), as “a direct challenge to the dignity of educated Africans” (p.90). Education to them implied a degree of social status, an independence of thought and choice which they felt Carey Francis was denying them. Carey Francis himself maintained the dress code for years even when suits became official wears. Further, Carey Francis also had difficulties in dealing with his old students who were on his staff. He had a tendency to treat them as immature schoolboys who needed his guidance. This attitude epitomized the paradoxical nature of the colonial education. Bogonko (1992) notes that “this paternalistic attitude compromised the whole process of emancipation and autonomy. Whereas education was supposed to lead children toward adulthood, the colonial context in Kenya erected invisible barriers preventing Africans from becoming full adult citizens” (p.98). This caused resentment among many of them but was always resolved because of Carey Francis’ deep humility, spirituality and belief in open dialogue and forgiveness.

Educational Work at Maseno School and the Larger Nyanza Carey Francis played an instrumental role in laying a strong foundation for Kenyan primary and secondary school education in Nyanza. His work involved supporting and supervising several C.M.S schools throughout Nyanza. Describing the challenging administrative and funding issues in these schools during this period, Sifuna and Sawamura (2010) write that “most of them had low standards and little funding” (p.34). He visited schools in Nyanza frequently to check their progress and to explore ways of funding them, and occasionally could be found teaching in their rudimentary classes in vernacular with great enthusiasm. This example left an impressive mark on other headmasters who felt it was beneath their dignity to teach lower classes. It was from these schools that Maseno

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School drew its students and Carey Francis’ knowledge of them greatly helped in their selection process. Due to his steady leadership and improved academic standards at Maseno School, each year there were increased demands by students who wanted to be admitted to the school. Carey Francis did not like sending away unsuccessful students. Over the years, this was gradually resolved when he developed a fairer system of selection. He critically examined the background of each student, taking into account the schools they had come from, and their educational levels which he knew from first-hand experience. Without this kind of flexibility and scrutiny, the bright students from poor schools would never have been admitted to Maseno School. Carey Francis strongly advocated for an extension of secondary education for Africans. During this period, such an option was only available at AHS. He wanted Maseno School to provide secondary education. His early references to AHS were not favorable. He felt AHS’ approach to education was materialistic and that it lacked discipline and academic rigor. For years, he had strived to make Maseno School a place where students could receive high quality education. It was during this period in 1937, that he was invited to go to AHS as a headmaster. He declined the offer. He wanted to see secondary school education started at Maseno School. A critical look at Carey Francis’ educational work at Maseno School shows that he had a single-minded and spiritual devotion to work that gave him an inner stability felt by those around him. Kipkorir (1980), writing of his towering character, notes: His personality was stamped on everything: the grass that was always well trimmed; the tidiness of the body, mind and heart; every day prayers; the behavior of faculty and students. Dignitaries who came to the school put on an air of gravitas in his presence. It was not that he demanded obeisance. It was simply the way he lived his life. (p. 182)

Examining his success in retrospect at Maseno School, Carey Francis felt he had done well in his twelve years of headship. He took stock not with complacency but with thankfulness. He stated, “God has given us much success in buildings, games, discipline, examinations and in helping our students to love and serve him” (as cited in Greaves, 1969, p. 60). With the coming of the Second World War, Carey Francis began preparing for the worst. As things turned out, the war astonishingly made little

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difference to the school situation. It was in these circumstances that Carey Francis was requested for the second time to go to AHS. After some hesitation, he accepted the offer. It was a hard decision for him to make. He had been at Maseno School for twelve years and his roots were firm there. He loved the people and spoke their language. The school was at the top of its form and its reputation was firmly established. In accepting the AHS position, Carey Francis felt that God was calling him to greater service in Kenyan education since it was the centre of the highest learning in the colony for Africans. He noted, “I believe this is the way God tells me things, and I am going ahead in that faith as I left Cambridge” (as cited in Pars, 1968, p.369). On 1 September, 1940, he took over the headship of AHS from Georges. A. Grieve who had been at the school for fourteen years.

Summative Discussion of the Study Findings Despite the challenges that Carey Francis faced in his educational work at Maseno School and the larger Nyanza, he made several contributions to the field of education. First and foremost, a critical examination of his educational work affirm that he played an instrumental role in the development of secondary school education in Nyanza and later, the Kenyan nation. It can be argued that were it not for his educational work in Nyanza during this period, the growth of both primary and secondary education in this region would have lagged behind by the time Kenya attained its independence in 1963. The dedication with which he approached his educational work and the genuine concern he showed for his students earned him a high reputation in the region and inspired many educators. In addition, his efforts to establish quality education at Maseno School and his determination to increase student enrollments, provided access to the training of several Kenyan post-colonial teachers and leaders. He drummed into the receptive minds of African youth a spirit of service and leadership. Among the students who went through his hands at Maseno School were: Achieng Oneko, Joseph Otiende, Walter Odede, Oginga Odinga and W.W. Awori, who would later become leading lights in Kenya’s freedom struggle. There was also David Wasawo who would become one of the pioneer professors at the University of Nairobi, and Festo Olang who

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would later become the head of the Anglican Church among others (Makers of a Nation Documentary, 2008).

It is clear from the findings that Maseno School was a training ground for Carey Francis’ later involvement in Kenyan secondary school education. Right from his early arrival at Maseno School, he set out to ensure that African youths received holistic education. According to him, education was by no means aimed solely at satisfying personal aspirations but was supposed to serve the community. Beyond setting up a strong academic program, he emphasized the importance of co-curricular activities. To achieve his vision of a holistic education, Carey Francis felt it was imperative to establish a teacher training program at Maseno School in 1929 that could produce quality teachers. His work at Maseno School in this regard constitutes the early efforts to establish teacher-training programs in Kenya. He not only used Maseno School as a vehicle for training teachers but he also actively participated in the production of the teaching materials. He was also instrumental in professionalizing the teaching field. He insisted that those who got in it must be highly qualified, be excellent in their work, and be dedicated and caring to their students. It was in this regard that he was always at conflict with African teachers who demanded high wages and lacked commitment in their work. Carey Francis was a strong advocate of providing secondary education to Africans. It is impossible to discuss the development of Kenyan secondary school education without examining his contributions to it. Right from the start, he wanted Maseno School to be given secondary status and more academic subjects. It is imperative to note, according to Sifuna (1990, 2010), that this was against the recommendations of the Phelps Stokes Commission of 1924 that emphasized a labor-based education for Africans. Carey Francis’ constant demand and backing of African efforts during this period saw secondary school education started at Maseno School in 1938. He argued that this would provide African youths access to quality education and employment. All in all, from the study findings it is evident that Carey Francis felt he had done a splendid job at Maseno School and the larger Nyanza during the twelve years of his leadership. He felt he had achieved much with regard to establishing a holistic education system and firm administrative principles. This foundation left Maseno School in an excellent academic standing by the time he left for AHS in 1940. It is vital to note that this strong academic streak has been maintained at Maseno School to the present.

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Educational Lessons and Insights Several educational lessons can be learned from Carey Francis’ work at Maseno School and his contributions to the development of Kenyan secondary education.

Power of Transformative Leadership As a leader, Carey Francis exemplifies the power of transformational leadership. This is clearly evidenced in his dedication to the Kenyan education for thirty-six years. He worked to the best of his abilities amidst enormous challenges to transform Maseno School from a collapsing primary school to a center of academic excellence. His was a response to a higher calling, vision and mission. His singular determination, diligence, and commitment to Maseno School, his push to have secondary education started there, and his involvement in teacher preparation programs are a lesson that educational leaders who would like to make a difference in society can learn from. The process is demanding, challenging, and entails personal sacrifice, commitment, clear vision and leadership. His effective leadership at Maseno School resonates with Northouse’s (1997) view that the quality of headship matters in establishing a clear and consistent vision for the school to ensure its success in all domains.

Richness and Innovation Carey Francis’ rich, varied, and innovative academic and co-curricular programs at Maseno School illustrate the influence of a strong holistic education program to students’ later careers and their contributions to national development. This is evidenced from the involvement of several of Carey Francis’ old students in public service and their impact on Kenya’s national development in many spheres. His emphasis on holistic education at Maseno School is also evidenced in his efforts to ensure that Maseno School students excelled in sports, academics and spirituality. Thiong’o (2012) writes that “every student was required to negotiate the three sites that made the school ideal: the chapel for the soul; the playing fields for the body; and the classroom for the mind” (p. 137). It was this embrace of a holistic education that enabled Maseno School to excel in all areas. Carey Francis’ views on holistic education affirm Buber (2002) and Miller’s (2000) works. These scholars place strong emphasis on the need to offer a holistic education to students. They argue that students have an outer and an inner life that needs nourishment. Carey Francis’s

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transformative educational programs and ethos at Maseno School illustrate that it is possible to offer holistic educational programs that can transform a society. What is key is for educational leaders to be clear and comprehensive in their educational vision and programs. It is essential for educational leaders to recognize that the process is continuous and requires constant reinvigoration and creativity.

Belief and Commitment to Virtue-Based Education and the Teaching Profession Carey Francis’ work at Maseno School underscores the importance of virtue-based education and commitment to the teaching profession. Carey Francis saw virtue-based education and commitment to the teaching profession as the centerpiece of any significant educational process. He was an exemplar of virtue and commitment to the teaching profession and he urged his students and faculty to emulate him. It was this mantra in his leadership that earned him respect and integrity. His views on the vitality of virtue and commitment to teaching lend credence to Dewey (1938), Kohl (1994) and hooks’ (2003) call to educators to be committed to their profession and to strive to put frames of morality in education. The approach challenges educational leaders to lead with integrity, sincerity, and transparency as opposed to mediocrity, corruption, and sycophancy. It is the embrace of these virtues by Maseno School over the years that has made it a strong center of academic excellence.

Commitment to Community Engagement Carey Francis encouraged his students to link school to society. He urged his students to engage in community work. His thoughts resonate with works of Counts (1932) and Dewey (1938). For these authors, there is an intimate relationship between the school and community, and education functions well when it fuses the skills of the community with those of the educators. Counts (1932) asserts that, “until school and society are bound together by common purposes the program of education will lack both meaning and vitality” (p. 15).

Love and Care for Students Carey Francis’ emphasis on the significance of continued care in education is vital to educators. The findings indicate that Carey Francis deeply loved and cared for his students. He kept in touch with them during the holidays

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and on some occasions he visited them at their homes. In addition, he kept links with students after they had left Maseno School. His efforts in this regard affirm Noddings’ (2005) arguments that schools cannot achieve their wholesome academic aims and mandates without giving continued care and love to their students.

Implications and Policy Recommendations This study has several implications. First, it reveals that individuals play a significant role in shaping the history of their societies. Their study illuminates the social, cultural, political, and economic contexts of their communities, their challenges, and future prospects. This implication is inferred from the involvement of Carey Francis in the growth of Kenyan secondary education. On the basis of these findings, this study recommends that there is need for scholars of African education to examine further the contributions of African educators to the process of education and change in Africa. Specific attention should be paid to less known educators whose contributions are significant but yet undocumented. The study findings reveal that there is need for school administrators to use transformative leadership approaches that promise success in all areas. This implication is inferred from Carey Francis’ educational leadership style at Maseno School. Because of his transformational leadership approach, he was able to transform Maseno School from a failing school into a center of educational excellence. It is this approach that made him reinvigorate, change, and expand the academic and co-curricular programs at Maseno School. Through his innovative and holistic educational approaches, he inspired and transformed many of his students’ lives. Many of them went on to make significant contributions to Kenya’s development in various spheres. He led by example and both his colleagues and students admired his charisma, inspiration, intellectual stimulation, virtues of work, dedication, commitment, and integrity. On the basis of these findings, this study recommends that it is important for school heads to establish transformative educational structures that can empower students to bring change to school and society. This demands commitment and competence from the school head. The findings also reveal that there is need for school leaders to make a strong commitment to their administrative work. School heads are expected to take lead in the school governing process and create a

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harmonious learning environment that develops habits of integrity and service in students and faculty. This demands the giving of time and talent to the process. This implication is drawn from Carey Francis’ leadership approach that insisted on commitment and hard work from teachers and students. Based on these findings, this study recommends the need for school heads to be committed to their school leadership work. By and large, the study shows that there is need for educational institutions to develop strategies that permit continuous reinvigoration of educational programs to enable them address the critical needs of a society. This implication is drawn from Carey Francis’ continuous reinvigoration of Maseno School’s academic and co-curricular programs and his efforts to make it an excellent institution. On the basis of these findings, this study recommends the need for educational institutions to constantly marry their educational theory and practice. This requires a continuous review of educational programs and linking them to societal demands.

Further Research Based on the findings and implications of this research, this study recommends the following areas of further research. First, there is need to examine further the historiographical significance of various African educators and their contributions to the growth of African education. Attempts should be made to pay attention to unknown educators who have made significant contributions to the process. Second, there is need to investigate the correlation between the quality of African education and its ability to address societal needs. Third, there is need to assess the kinds of students that an effective African education system is expected to produce. Fourth, there is need to investigate the relationship between school leadership and learning outcomes.

Limitations of the Study The study had several limitations. First, biographical studies done on African educators were limited. Second, there were few works written on Carey Francis and none on his educational leadership at Maseno School. Due to limited time and financial reasons, the study only used available written studies, documents, and audio-visual materials to collect data. The study thus lacks some insightful details that would have enriched the study further had other additional methods been utilized in data collection.

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Conclusion From the discussions in this chapter it can be deduced that Carey Francis’s greatest contributions to the Kenyan secondary school education lay in his work as an educator. In all his work, he was first and foremost a teacher. In accepting to go to Maseno School in 1927, he left a potentially promising mathematics career at Cambridge University to become a primary school teacher—a very interesting and dramatic career move that would have been taxing enough for any academic. There were a variety of reasons for his decision. Two main ones stand out. First, from the Christian approach he took in all the decisions he made, he was “called” to humble service. This was clear in his devotion to work. Secondly, from his determination to ensure that his students excelled in their studies and life, it was evident that he enjoyed working with them. Kipkorir (1980) states that “he was fatherly with them and molded them like clay: they were biddable” (p.157). As a transformative educator, he cared deeply for his students. He regularly visited their homes to understand their needs. He went to great lengths to ensure that his students matriculated to high school or got good jobs after their studies. Further, Carey Francis was also interested in the community life. He interacted frequently with neighboring communities near Maseno School and spoke to them in their native language. From his transformative, innovative educational and administrative approaches at Maseno School, the chapter illustrates that Carey Francis was a man of deep intellect that was supported and directed by an intense personal faith. Everybody recognized in him outstanding leadership abilities, devotion to work, dedication to principles, and to an upright Christian life. His single-minded devotion to these ideals gave him an inner stability whose weight was felt by those around him. Affirming this, Anderson (1970) writes that “he was sure on his objectives. It was clear he wanted to serve the poor. His work and empathy touched the heart of the nation” (p.27). The chapter illustrates that Carey Francis was a legendary virtuecentered educator. As a strict disciplinarian, he was well known for his powerful personality and penchant for character and obedience. He insisted on impressing upon his students and staff his own way of life, code of behavior and etiquette. Although noble in his education mission, his approach to education was elitist. He vehemently opposed a masseducation model which he described as “casting pearls before swines” (Kipkorir, 1980, p.157). This model argued for elementary and low-level

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practical education for as many youths as possible. He advocated instead for the “tree-structured model”- where academic education was offered to a few, but to a relatively high standard. This approach denied many Africans an access to education, as Ssekamwa & Lugumba (2001) note. The chapter accentuates that although Carey Francis played a significant role in laying the foundation for Kenya’s secondary education, some of his achievements ought to be examined through the lenses of the colonial education policies and mentalities that, according to Charton – Bigot and Burton (2012), agreed that “higher education had to be given to Africans provided that literary education was seen as a means to building up character and not as an end in itself” (p. 87). With regard to the former, much of Carey Francis’ educational efforts during this period were guided by the framework of Phelps-Stokes Commission of 1924. Although the commission was expected to provide equitable and quality education to Africans, this was not the case. Despite his great and transformative educational work, the study findings show that Carey Francis depicted some aspects of transactional leadership. Although humble, he was a powerful educator who believed in official authority. His difficulties in getting along with his African colleagues stem from this transactional leadership trait. Having convinced himself that the African staff was selfish, he was intolerant to their legitimate requests. This approach prevented him from acknowledging that the only solution to African problems was a political action and that it was vital for them to be independent. This narrow view made him retire from AHS in 1962, a year to Kenya’s independence. After three decades of dedicated service to Kenyan education, Carey Francis passed away on July 27th, 1966, while on duty at Pumwani High School. The news of his death stunned the Kenyan nation. An estimated crowd of about six thousand gathered for a short grave-side service to bid him farewell on July 29th, 1966, at AHS grounds. The whole ceremony had the markings of a state funeral with politicians across the political divide united in grief, illustrating that even in death as he had been in life Carey Francis remained a symbol of national service and unity. I would like to end this chapter with the words of Cardinal Lavigerie, the founder of White Fathers, written in memory of Carey Francis to capture his contributions to Kenyan secondary education. He wrote: “It is indeed difficult to minimize his defects, but one ends up regarding them as defects befitting a giant. He is not a man to be examined under a

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microscope. His contributions and impact on Kenyan education were immense” (as cited in Greaves, 1969, p. xiv). Affirming Cardinal Lavigerie’s words, Thiong’o (2016) notes “although he could be obstinate, even quick to judge, […] there could never be any doubt about his selfless devotion to the lowly, the youth and contributions to Kenyan education. He was a great educator” (p.175). It was in this context that this study sought to examine Carey Francis’ place in the development of Kenyan secondary education in order to erase his invisibility and to shed light on his contributions to the Kenyan education. Through the examination of his contributions to the Kenyan education system, the study sought to contribute to the larger unexamined, under-researched and invisible field of African-centered educational biographies and to spur more research interest in it to give it visibility.

References Adeoti, E. (1997). Alayande as educationist 1948-1983: A study of Alayande’s contribution to education and social change. Ibadan: Educational Books. Ajayi, J. F. (1990). History and the nation and other addresses. Ibadan: Spectrum Books Ltd. Anderson, J. (1970). The struggle for the school: The interaction of missionary, colonial government and the nationalist enterprise in the development of formal education in Kenya. Nairobi: Longman Kenya Limited. Bass, B.M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free Press. Bogonko, S. (1992). A History of modern education in Kenya. Nairobi: Evans Brothers Limited. Buber, M. (2002). Between man and man. London: Routledge. Burns, J. M. (1979). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row. Carr, E. H. (1961). What is history? London: Pelican. Charton-Bigot, H., & Burton, A. (2010). Generations past: Youth in East African history. Athens: Ohio University Press. Coker, F. (1987). A lady: A biography of Lady Oyinkan Abayomi. Ibadan: Evans. Counts, G. S. (1932). Dare the school build a new order? New York: The John Day Company. Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design. California: Sage Publications.

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Denzin, N. K. (1989). Interpretive interactionism. Newsbury Park: Sage Publications. Denzin, N. K., & Yvonna, S. L. (2000). Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Touchstone. Foster, W.P. (1986). Toward a critical practice of leadership. In J. Sythe (Ed.), Critical perspectives on leadership (pp.39-62). London: Falmer Press. Greaves, L. (1969). Carey Francis of Kenya. London: Rex Collings Ltd. hooks, B. (2003). Teaching community: A pedagogy of hope. New York: Routledge. Kipkorir, B. (1980). Biographical essays on imperialism and collaboration in colonial Kenya. Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau. Kohl, H. (1994). I won’t learn from you: And other thoughts on creative maladjustment. New York: Free Press. Kridel, C. (1998). Writing educational biography: Explorations in qualitative research. New York: Garland Publishing. Leithwood, K. A. (2007). The move toward transformational leadership. Educational Leadership, 49(5), 8-12. Miller, J. P. (2000). Education and the soul: Toward a spiritual curriculum. New York: State University of New York Press. Ngweno, H. (Producer). (2008). Makers of a nation Documentary. Nairobi: Nation Media Ltd. Noddings, N. (2005). The challenge to care in schools: An alternative approach to education New York: Columbia University Press. Northouse, P. G. (1997). Leadership: Theory and practice. London: Sage Publications. Pars, Leonard. J. London Math. Soc., 43(1968), 368. Rost, J. C. (1991). Leadership for the twenty-first century. New York: Praeger. Ssekamwa J.C., & Lugumba, S.M.E (2001). A History of education in East Africa. Kampala: Fountain Publishers. Sifuna, D., & Sawamura, N. (2010). Challenge for quality education in Sub-Saharan African countries: New York: Nova Science Publishers. Sifuna, D. (1990). Development of education in Africa. Nairobi: Initiatives Publishers. Thiong’o, N. (2012). In the house of the interpreter: A memoir. New York: Pantheon Books. —. (2016). Birth of a dream weaver: A writers awakening. New York: The New Press. Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in organizations. Englewood, NJ: Sugar Hill Records.

9 EDUCATION FOR A ROBUST SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION OF AFRICA: RETHINKING CLASSROOM SPACES IN K-12 SCHOOLS MICHAEL NDEMANU

For a sustainable economic and political growth to prevail in Africa, it is important to begin addressing the underlying problem of educational quality. Africa’s P-12 educational systems are becoming antiquated because we have not kept pace with the current scientifically- supported educational practice that prepares citizens in industrialized countries for socioeconomic and political buoyancy. On the contrary, our current systems contribute to the current political stalemate and economic stagnation in many countries across the continent. This chapter articulates the importance of reconfiguring classroom spaces in crowded African public schools in ways that can promote active learning geared toward more transformative educational outcomes for the individual students and for the society as a whole. The United Nations’ eight Millennium Development Goals (2006) cannot be accomplished without a major overhaul of the education systems in developing countries. One of the vital steps toward revamping the education systems in these countries is reconfiguring the classroom spaces with an ultimate goal of promoting meaningful transformative educational outcomes. Drawing from current research on classroom space and studentcentered pedagogy, this chapter argues and conceptualizes transformative classroom spaces that embody the following: movable desks and chairs, well-structured storage space, controlled temperature, windows, doors, ceilings, lighting, wall-charts that express students’ ideas and not only

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teachers’ ideas, basic classroom supplies for all, as well as ample open space for easy movement of students from one learning station to the other (Jones, 2000). Barrett et al. (2015) found that the improvement of a physical learning space can boost students’ academic performance by up to 16 percentage points. Rethinking the ways learning spaces are designed does not only ameliorate the learning outcomes; it can also curb school drop-out and increase students’ intrinsic motivation. Overhauling traditional row-style seating could be a major step toward disrupting and breaking teachers’ stranglehold on teacher-centered pedagogy. Such a disruptive thinking approach would lead to a major shift from a teacher’s all-knowing authoritarian teaching role in the classroom to a facilitator of studentcentered learning (Freire, 1970; Dewey, 1963). Redesigning a class space and seating arrangements to respond to different learning objectives allows students to move from one learning station to another and not sit in one spot facing the teacher throughout the day. This multifaceted approach to seating arrangement is critical to making schooling not only worthwhile but also more enticing for all children given that students’ emotional wellbeing is also being addressed. Therefore, students should be empowered through mutable classroom organizational settings to explore, discover, construct, and create new knowledge all the time. By so doing, students will be instilled with the virtues of creativity, imagination, problem-solving, innovation, and invention which are catalysts to economic buoyancy and political growth in major industrial countries. If high quality education systems are put in place in Africa, the continent will become more socio-economically and politically stable and the world will begin to view the continent as an asset. One major step toward the attainment of high quality education is not only aligning the curriculum to the prescribed standards, but also restructuring the classroom setting in ways that maximize learning outcomes for students. Reconfiguring the traditional row seating to different seating arrangements that reflect the objectives of every given lesson promotes pedagogic engagement between teachers and students. Although no classroom seating arrangement is perfect, it has to be meticulously thought-out since it defines the quality of learning students experience in each lesson. Any sustainable effort to erase the invisibility of Africa must begin with the embrace of high-quality educational reforms that include eclectic classroom seating reconfiguration as a transformative pedagogic approach that can lead into a well-educated citizenry and a more productive workforce capable of competing effectively in the global

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economy. It is only when more multinational corporations begin to establish more industrial or business plants in African countries without importing labor from Western countries, that Africa can boast of projecting its visibility in the intercontinental political and socio-economic pedestal. High-quality education is an inevitable antecedent to this kind of broad-based socioeconomic and political transformation of a society.

The Problem Studies on contemporary pedagogic approaches and learning theories underscore the importance of conducive physical classroom spaces and child-centered pedagogy for effective learning. Yet, there are not many published studies worldwide that focus on classroom physical environment and its impact on the educational outcome of a child in African countries. After over half a century of formal education following European colonialism in Africa, the organization of physical spaces in public schools across the continent has remained stubbornly onedimensional and unchanged. I have observed that the students generally sit facing their teacher who stands in front of the classroom facing the students as he/she lectures, dictates notes or writes them on the chalkboard for the students to take them down in their notebooks. In this learning environment, students are expected to be quiet and be good listeners when the teacher is teaching. They are strongly discouraged from interacting with their peers. This kind of classroom environment advertently or inadvertently promotes passive learning. In a nutshell, many classroom organizations in public schools in Cameroon in particular still mirror the Victorian Age classroom settings in Britain. Traditional row seating arrangement favors teacher-centered pedagogy. It is the most common classroom arrangement around the world because classroom sizes tend to be larger in poorer countries (Samoff, 2007). The primary goal of the governments in these regions is the opening of schools to educate the populace for basic literacy and numeracy skills. For instance, in most African countries, free and compulsory education does not extend beyond the 7th grade. Even when education is not mandatory beyond the 7th grade, unemployment among the college-educated citizens is still astronomically high. Thus, as the number of high school and college graduates increases, the demand for professional and service jobs will only grow. If nothing is done to improve the quality of education that children are receiving in public schools, the graduates will continue to be less innovative and dependent on public

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service jobs. It takes so many years for scientifically-supported innovative instructional strategies to penetrate most educational systems across the African continent. For example, special education, just like studentcentered pedagogy, is still a dream in many countries. Children with special needs in many African countries still do not have access to the same quality of instruction as their peers without disability (Moodley, 2016). If special education has not yet gained a lot of currency in the educational arenas on the African continent, it should, therefore, come as no surprise that student-centered pedagogy, championed by John Dewey in the early 1900s, which has contributed to a major paradigm shift in the way children are educated in most Western countries is yet to make any major in-road into the educational systems across Africa. Stagnation of pedagogy and curriculum is tantamount to stagnation of knowledge production which also means stagnation of the political, economic, and social development of a country. This multi-layered stagnation has contributed to the invisibility of Africa given that the traditional pedagogy which is undergirded by the survival of the fittest ideology is still commonplace across the continent. The students who go on to pursue postsecondary studies successfully in Europe and North America tend to be the cream of the crop who would thrive in many adverse conditions. The strength of any modern society lies in the quality of education to which its citizens are exposed without which that society would remain invisible to the outside world in terms of positive epistemological contributions to the quality of life.

Literature Review There have been several approaches to organizing classroom spaces for student active and transformative learning. Denton (1992) shares effective classroom space-planning insights that can promote student effective learning. In his article, he shares pictures of different seating arrangements for better traffic control so that students can walk around the room from one activity to the other with ease. The pictures also display models of different types of desks and how they can be set up differently. However, the author places more emphasis on classroom arrangement for better mobility and control and very little is said about interactive learning. Some reputable classroom practitioners, as it will be shown in the subsequent paragraphs, have also shared their thoughts and practices on some popular blogs about seating arrangements. For example, some educational webpages offer advice on how to arrange the class seating in ways that ease teachers and students’ mobility around the classroom. The

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Tesolclass.com webpage, in particular, discusses different types of seating in a classroom, such as the U-Shape and cluster seating, pros and cons of every seating arrangement, the interactions among students in different seating formats and the kind of atmospheres that certain seating arrangements create. Meeks et al. (2013) posit that there is a correlation between students’ seating location and seating types with academic performance. They argue that different aspects of seating arrangement impact students’ attention span, active involvement in class activities, level of comfort in class, and direct access to the chalkboard. These aspects of seating arrangement could include the distance between the student and the teacher as well as between the student and the chalkboard. Burda and Brooks (1996) assert in their study that students who sit in close proximity to the teacher tend to have a stronger academic self-esteem. There are opportunities for academic growth that occur for the students when they are not sedentary facing one direction throughout the year. Wannarka and Ruhl (2008) investigated classroom setting factors such as classroom management strategies for students with behavioral problems and effective instructional engagement strategies. They found that in the classroom, things like lighting, temperature, noise, and seating arrangements affected the atmosphere of the classroom and influenced the behavior and academics of students. It was found that seating arrangements can have major positive and negative impact on student behavior. It can determine whether or not a student will engage in academic activities during class time; and whether or not they will choose to disrupt the class or go off-task to talk with their peers. Dunbar (2004) focuses on safety in classroom arrangement. He discusses ways to arrange the seating in the classroom to promote safety for both students and teachers as well as foster appropriate classroom behavior.

Instructional Benefits of Meticulously Planned Seating Arrangements A classroom seating arrangement that is good for the teacher is not always necessarily good for the students. Teachers should strive for a balance between the students’ interests, needs, and their achievable goals. The pedagogy that maximizes students’ learning outcomes tend to be studentcentered and encompasses interaction among students and between students and teachers. In teacher-centered classrooms, teachers tend to

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position themselves in front of the class, otherwise known as the “action zone.” The nearer a student is to the action zone, the more he/she benefits from the instruction but the further a student is from this zone the less attentive and participative he/she becomes in class (Willits News, 2015). Thus, the notion of assigning back seats to taller students is inherently punitive because not only do they become disengaged in the learning process, they tend to be the ones who get punished for disrupting the class. The best way to handle a classroom seating arrangement is to avoid seating students in rows and embrace a combination of seating strategies which include seating in circles, semi-circles or U-shape, cluster, rug, etc. (see figures 1 to 4). Teachers need to use their professional judgment to determine which seating arrangements are most rewarding to students in terms of behavior and academic performance. Seating type and seating location can impact the quality of learning in any given classroom considering that students’ attentiveness, engagement, and visibility to the instructor and the board can be influenced by their seating location (Meeks et al., 2013). Since teachers spend seventy percent of their time in front of the classroom in the traditional row seating arrangement (which is the dominant classroom seating format), students seated in front of the classrooms tend to reap the most academic benefits from teachers (Szparagowski, 2014). Because students seating in front ask more questions and receive more quality feedback from the teacher, they tend to develop higher self-esteem for academics than their peers who are seated at the back (Wannarka & Ruhl, 2008; Kaya & Burgess, 2007). To curb sedentariness, teachers have to engage students in different learning activities which entail transitioning from one lesson to another with the possibility of also walking away from their seats to another seat in the classroom either for individual work or group work. Two or three breaks per day are not enough to keep students constantly alert and engaged in challenging educational activities. The ideal is to make a classroom environment nurturing and home-like, if not better. In this case, learning is always taking place even when it does not look like there is anything educational coming out of the momentary side activity a student engages in before joining peers in an assigned task. If we agree that knowledge production comes in all shapes and that the role of teachers is to instill the skills that are requisite for prolific knowledge production, then we cannot afford to be so restrictive of what kind of knowledge a child should acquire. Thus, a classroom that confines students to any one seating arrangement is restrictive of what counts as knowledge and is prohibitive to student creativity and inventions.

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In any given classroom, there are students from a variety of cultural backgrounds ranging from race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, language, family, sexual orientation, socio-emotional development, (dis)ability, and learning styles. Their cultural background experiences shape the kind of knowledge they acquire outside the schoolhouse. That knowledge can be of tremendous benefit to the student and his/her classmates if the teacher employs the best pedagogic tools to bring forth this out-of-school knowledge into the forefront of learning (Moon, 2004). As a teacher, think of an interesting story that you once shared with your students and most of them related to it. Imagine if you had given them a written task based on that story. How do you think students who related to the story would have performed in the task compared to those who could not relate to it? An interactive classroom that maximizes possibilities for students to share their in-school and out-of-school knowledge could be a catalyst for new knowledge production. The new knowledge could be the key solution to some of the world’s pressing problems.

Methodology The methodology of this study encompassed researching secondary data published on classroom seating arrangements around the world. I came to the painful realization that little attention has been paid by education researchers to classroom seating arrangements. When the search was expanded to primary sources, several school websites and teachers’ blogs emerged. On these websites and blogs, schools and teachers took pride in sharing their classroom settings and seating arrangements as well as the pedagogic benefits of each seating arrangement. Drawing from those blogs, websites, and personal classroom photos taken while visiting a school in Cameroon, the primary data on classroom seating arrangements has been subdivided into row-style seating, U-shape seating, cluster-style seating, and rug-style seating. There are obviously several other seating arrangements but I found these most relevant and practicable in the African school context. As an African-born scholar who has taught on both the African continent and North America, I chose the seating arrangements that are most suitable in the African school setting based on the classroom spaces and the class sizes. I chose to include the photos of each of the classroom seating arrangements in order to make the illustrative knowledge easily transferrable for teachers. The websites for each of the seating arrangements described have been provided so that readers could visit the various sites to explore the options they offer to make teaching and learning more engaging, inclusive, creative, and interesting.

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Findings Different Classroom Seating Arrangements While working laboriously to produce a cohesive and coherent curriculum for a class, teachers should pay attention to the seating arrangement as an effective way to attain their various lesson objective. How the seats are arranged in every lesson impacts the students’ learning outcomes. The seating configuration may change hourly, daily, or weekly depending on the teaching goals the teacher wants to reach. The seating arrangement cannot be one-size- fits-all. Here are the seating arrangements with their merits and demerits. While working laboriously to produce a cohesive and coherent curriculum for a class, teachers should pay attention to the seating arrangement as an effective way to attain their various lesson objective! How the seats are arranged in every lesson impacts the students’ learning outcomes. The seating configuration may change hourly, daily, or weekly depending on the teaching goals the teacher wants to reach. The seating arrangement cannot be one-size- fits-all. Here are the seating arrangements with their merits and demerits.

Row-style Seating This is the traditional seating model that is as old as formal schooling itself. It is the least effective classroom seating arrangement in terms of transformative learning outcomes; yet it is the most popular seating lay-out around the world. It is popular because of its affordability and pedagogic simplicity. It is affordable because the kind of pedagogy practiced in rowstyle seating room is generally teacher-centered; and since the teacher’s role is to teach, and sparingly to facilitate, far many students can be taught by one teacher in one classroom than in any other seating format. The students all sit facing the teacher and the chalkboard. In some large classrooms, there is an elevated podium for the teacher to stand to ease his/her visibility to students and vice versa. With this model, it is difficult for teachers from secondary school upward to develop robust professional and academic rapport with students because of limited interaction in class activities. In fact, some teachers complete an academic year without knowing many of their students’ names which is quite devastating from a pedagogical standpoint. The students sitting further behind are not only excluded from the zone of action but may not hear teachers who are not loud enough. With this model, students do not have a lot of opportunities

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to ask questions since addressing everyone’s question may lead to teachers not having enough time to cover the scheme of work from which standardized test questions are drawn. This model advertently or inadvertently prioritizes passive learning over active learning. It produces generations of timid and introverted graduates who may be very good at memorizing and regurgitating facts but not good at critically and assertively espousing their perspectives on various issues. One would think when a desk seats three students as in Fig 1b, it gives students the opportunity to work together. Unfortunately, it is not often the case because the teachers do not design their lessons with collaborative mindsets. They do not believe students have any knowledge on anything to share with their peers. Affordable but movable classroom chairs and desks should look like the one in Fig 1a. They can be placed in rows but they can also be reconfigured to suit the desired class lesson. They have the same length, width, and height. They are not haphazardly designed in a way that obscures visibility for some students seating behind, and obstructive in a way that makes walking between rows difficult.

Courtesy of LEARN NC,” http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/2800 Figure 1a: Row-style seating

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Figure 1b: Row-style seating, a private elementary school in Cameroon (my personal camera)

U-shape Seating This form of seating as shown in Figure 2 is good for small class sizes whose student teacher ratio is less than 1:28. It promotes interaction between the students and the teacher. It also makes class discussions lively because everyone is visible. It promotes assertiveness which tends to benefit introverts in the long run. Behavior issues are drastically minimized since everybody can be seen by the teacher. In this seating arrangement, nearly everyone is in the “action zone” where knowledge acquisition is maximized unlike the row seating arrangement where only those sitting in front are in that zone. The only two downsides to this model are that it may not be very effective for lower grades since the students may not be able to engage their peers in complex discussions for a sustained period of time. Considering that we are looking for effective classroom seating arrangement that can still manageably seat about 30 students, U-shape may not be very suitable for large class sizes. It is not suitable when the teacher student ratio is more than 1:24. Overall, it

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remains one of the best interactive class seating models that provide visibility for equal class participation to all learners (Amplivox, 2014).

Courtesy of LEARN NC,” http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/2800 Figure 2: U-shape-style seating

Cluster-style Seating Cluster-style seating is predicated on learner-centered pedagogic philosophy. Students sit in clusters and can work cooperatively, collaboratively, and individually. The teaching philosophy behind cluster seating is that students learn best by being actively, and not passively, involved in the learning process. It is also based on the belief that students also learn better when they are provided the opportunity to work both independently and interdependently. Cluster-style seating, as shown in Figure 3, offers the opportunity for students to do both. It requires meticulous planning and supervision to ensure learning is taking place otherwise the students may be constantly off-task. It is not suitable for large class sizes when there is only one facilitator to guide students by walking from desk to desk to ensure that task-driven learning is taking place. Teachers who have been used to row-seating arrangement should be ready to tolerate a fair amount of noise in cluster style-seating since the students cannot cooperate or collaborate without talking.

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Courtesy of Trevor Nelson of Plymold-4-seat-wall-style-cluster http://www.plymolddealer.com/ Figure 3: Cluster Seating

Rug-style Seating In addition to making a classroom cozy, inviting, and organized, a whole group seating on a rug provides a relaxing opportunity for students to transition from prolonged seating on the chair to the rug, thereby marking a shift from one lesson to another. It is an excellent seating setting for literacy and game activities. While some rugs are education neutral, others are decorative. Some decorative rugs embody educational elements such as numbers, shapes, animals, and colors. They come in various sizes. So, teachers should take into consideration their typical class size as they set out to purchase a class rug. Some teachers prefer rugs with squares so that they can avoid disruptive behavior by assigning each student a seat on each square spot on the rug. Rugs and pillows make a classroom homelike and comfortable for learning. The rug seating is recommended for lower grades. It is important to keep in mind that it may be challenging to sit many students in a smaller rug without complaints of shoving, pushing, and refusal to share their spaces. However, every problem that arises could

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be a teachable moment for every eclectic teacher. It could be a moment to teach the values of care, generosity, peace, and unity.

Courtesy of Reagan Tunstall’s Teaching, http://www.tunstallsteachingtidbits.com/2012/08/classroom-tour-2012-2013.html Figure 4: Rug-style Seating 

Implications Need to Reconfigure Classroom Seating Making furniture easily movable allows for diversification of seating arrangements that are attuned to different lesson plans. Varied seating plans also increase the attention span of students (The Weatherford Democrat, September 8, 2015). Bennett and Blundell (1983) have reported the contradictory nature of class seating arrangements and the pedagogic approaches some teachers employ in delivering their lessons. In the traditional classrooms, the seating arrangement tends to be permanent. Whether the lesson requires an interactive task or an independent silent task, the seating arrangements are not altered. It is commonplace to see students sitting in front of the class to be stretching their necks as they turn to see who is speaking to the teacher from the back. U-shape seating is the best solution to such a problem since it makes everyone participating visible not only to the teacher but also to peers during class discussions. It is important for students to read each other’s body language as they speak

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so as to determine the extent to which their contribution is being received. It may or may not be resonating because of the voice pitch and as a result, the speaker has the possibility to pitch up or down their voice without any interruption from their teachers or peers. Eye contacts and body-language feedback permit speakers to make adjustment instantly and not later. To eschew from only teaching to the tests, educators need to reconfigure their classroom seating arrangement so that their students can begin to make sense of why they are enrolled in school and why their own knowledge as well as that of their peers count, too. As Darling-Hammond (2015) argues, students need to be taught analytical skills to become investigators of new knowledge so that they can figure out solutions to unresolved perplexing societal problems. There is a massive expansion of new knowledge which is completely different from the kind of knowledge that was produced in the wake of industrial revolution and thereafter. If classroom instruction is still delivered from the industrial revolution mindset, it would not be well-equipped to meet the needs of a contemporary society. To create an educational environment that is conducive for a transformative learning, educators and educational stakeholders have to begin to think of most effective ways of learning that go beyond memorizing textbook contents and reproducing them in the examination to earn a certificate. According to Lyman and Varian (2003), University of California Berkeley researchers, “Print, film, magnetic, and optical storage media produced about five exabytes of new information in 2002. Ninety-two percent of the new information was stored on magnetic media, mostly in hard disks” (p.2). Five exabytes of information is comparable to five hundred million new libraries in print collections. The increase in new information means new kinds of jobs are being created. The advancing technologies have led to an increase in oil drilling such as fracking. It has led to an expansion of solar energy and wind turbine to generate environmentally friendly energy. While new jobs are being created, traditional jobs in the coal mining sector and other environmentally-unfriendly energy producers are being lost owing to tougher environmental regulations. Any country that chooses to stick to the past and not innovate its educational system to prepare the society to meet the current needs of the society is doomed to fail. A classroom seating has to be arranged in ways that promote individual and collective thinking, imagination, and brainstorming. This should constantly be put to test; that is, bouncing back and forth between theory and practice to determine the most effective learning outcomes. Teachers can make this kind of learning to occur if they are not only

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provided the pedagogic skills to teach creatively but also the kind of furniture that is movable and conducive for different lesson goals. As Darling-Hammond so eloquently stated last year during a panel discussion in Washington, DC: Unlike in past eras, there is no set body of knowledge we can transmit in carefully defined dollops throughout 12 years of schooling that will fully prepare our young people to meet their futures. The mission for schools can no longer be just to "cover the curriculum" or "get through the book." It must be to prepare students to work at jobs that do not yet exist, creating ideas and solutions for products and problems that have not yet been identified, using technologies that have not yet been invented (Rosales, 2015).

Education policymakers in Africa have to be thinking in the foregoing direction because there is no specific amount of knowledge that can be taught that will get students ready for the explosion of new knowledge. Thus, to prepare students for current and future knowledge, they have to be taught to be critical and creative thinkers so that they can apply those skills in solving new problems and in working in new and unanticipated fields. Those new fields are being created by other human beings who were imbued with creative and imaginative skills at an early age. The very first step in preparing African students to become critical thinkers and problem-solvers of anticipated and unanticipated problems is by changing the ways students are taught. One of those changes must start with a paradigm shift in the classroom-seating arrangement because such a shift also orchestrates new world order for teachers which entails rethinking their instructional goals and specific lesson objectives. If African students must not face the chalkboard all day long, their teachers will be compelled to figure out what students should be doing in cluster, U-shape, and Lshape seating arrangements. It is these different and alternating seating configurations that orchestrate intense learning activities since they promote knowledge gained through individual meditation and imagination, group thinking, brainstorming, and collaborative project- and problembased learning. Students who learn in this kind of environment are constantly actively involved in deeper learning and analytical thinking. They are more likely to be major problem-solvers upon completing school. African countries that educate their citizens in such transformative ways are more likely to count on the expertise of their citizens in solving local problems rather than depend on foreign governments and international non-governmental organizations in solving their local problems.

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Comfortable Classroom Space A beautiful classroom environment can be a highly inviting space for learning. With an exponential economic growth of the middle class in Africa, children are increasingly finding their classroom environments discomforting and unlivable as compared to their own homes. It is very rare to come across a home in Africa that does not have a door or a window. The windows and doors are put in a house to prevent intruders from entering and to keep the house warm when it is cold. However, many schools, especially primary schools in many parts of Africa, have no doors and windows. How would students want to spend a whole day in a place that looks like a prison? What kind of message is the government sending to its young citizens? I taught in a secondary school in the Far North province of Cameroon, a Sahel region, bordered in the North and East by the Republic of Chad and in the West by Nigeria. Owing to the aridity of this region due to the advancing Sahara Desert, it was extremely hot. There used to be a period in the dry season in which students would not come to school because of the unbearable heat. Those who even dared to show up in school in the morning left by midday because that was the peak of the heat. The temperature would go up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. No classroom had a ceiling fan let alone an air conditioner. Only the principal’s office had an air conditioner. Although most of the students were born and raised in this region, they all felt unease with the excruciating heat and little or no breeze. The students who were more likely to miss school because of the inclement heat were those who came from homes with air conditioners and other better means to control the heat. With the excessive heat, most classes became rambunctious thereby causing teachers to mete out sanctions that only exacerbated overall school drop out. Thus, students were being penalized for the discomfort caused by heat in their classrooms. Chaos was and remains the order of the day during the dry season (summer) in the North and Far North regions of Cameroon. In a region where the government has struggled to attract students to enroll and complete primary education, one would think the government officials would make the learning environment more comfortable and conducive in order to attract more children to enroll and remain in school. Many classrooms did not have enough desks and benches. In fact, at the beginning of the year, one classroom in which I taught French had just

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three desks. Girls brought large loincloths to sit on to avoid dirtying their uniforms while boys stood or sat on the cemented floor. The students placed their notebooks on their laps to write on. Although most of these children were coming from working class families, their home environments were, for the most part, better than those of the schools they were attending. Looking at the dejected condition of the buildings, and the absence of classroom furniture, students could easily deduce that the school administration and the then Ministry of National Education did not value them as equal citizens. If the administrators could not work in such harsh conditions, why subject students to them? Students are supposed to learn in an optimally comfortable environment, and not in a hostile one that is not conducive for learning complex concepts. Were it not for the sake of meeting friends and playing during recess, many children in lower grades in particular would not want to go to school owing to the unsettling school characteristics which are not very different from makeshift schools for refugee children in the camps. What if these students had air conditioners or, at the very least, ceiling fans, in their classrooms? What if they had enough chairs and desks for everyone to sit on and write? What if each school had a small class library with a variety of books, a comfortable reading corner for individual and group readings, some plants and flowers that they can take care of and monitor their growth, live fish in a transparent portable pool, and birds in a cage which they could take turns to feed? What if they had storage areas, and wall pictures that reflect the themes of the weekly lessons? What if the classrooms had an artwork corner where students took pride to display their creative work? It should be obvious to anyone who has been a student to understand that students learn better when they are in a safe, comfortable, and relaxing environment. In a poorly furnished classroom, nothing entices students and teachers to be there. Changing wall charts and photos trigger new questions and new conversations which contribute to new knowledge. Having the same wall charts and pictures yearlong only dispirits students, and engenders boredom and academic disengagement. Decorations on the class bulletins or walls of the classroom can signal a very positive message that the teacher is sending to his/her students. Decorations contribute to the creation of warm classroom dynamics which tend to promote a positive attitude toward schooling in general. It can also spark meaningful conversations in the class about the meaning they make of the decorations, art display, and the stories associated with the information on the class bulletin and art display. When students are involved in the decorations, they take ownership of the classroom

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(Bucgolz & Sheffler, 2009) and strive to be regular and active participants in protecting their interest which is the classroom and all what it embodies. Information on the bulletin board should be constantly updated to reflect the current learning activities in the class. Ideally, the update should be weekly. Depending on the grade level, students can be placed in groups and given the responsibility to take turns in posting on the bulletin boards. Comfortable, appealing, and varying classroom set-up does not only benefit the students, it also benefits their teachers. Teachers’ absenteeism in public schools has been one of the most worrisome issues plaguing the education sector in many developing countries in general (Kremer et al., 2005; Kunar, 2016). According to Foldesy and Foster (1989), most of the reasons attributed to teachers’ absenteeism in the United States are age, marital status, tenure, gender, job level, stress, family size, experience, unions, and salary. Little attention has been focused on teachers’ stress related to the environment in which they teach. The environmental factors that dissuade students from being regular in school could also contribute to the absenteeism of their teachers. If the classroom environment is not inviting for students, it is less likely to be inviting for teachers. Teaching can become very relaxing over the years after the teacher has spent years amassing a wealth of instructional resources and learning activities that empower students to learn individually, cooperatively, and collaboratively while the teacher assumes the full role of a facilitator. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that no matter the good intentions of a teacher to offer his or her students the best education, the teacher cannot adopt some of the wonderful ideas that are proposed here if the classrooms do not have enough furniture to accommodate every child who needs a chair and a desk. Also, the teacher is less likely to be energetic and enthusiastic every day in an unbearable heat or cold. The government must identify ways to control the temperature in schools so that children and teachers can have the requisite comfort to work in persistently and effectively. If the air conditioner is good for the governor and other government officers around the country, it is even better for teachers and students who have to teach or learn challenging concepts with limited educational resources under unfriendly weather. There is an increasing attention that is being paid to information technology in public schools across Africa (Porter et al., 2016) which can boost students and teachers’ comfort levels in school settings. Unfortunately, such efforts are still so miniscule in some countries to the extent that some scholars may think nothing is being done with respect to teaching computer

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literacy skills to students. A classroom with a multimedia corner that has high-speed internet can lead to a radical change in the way teachers teach and students learn. Imagine a social studies teacher teaching about volcanic eruption to students who have never heard or seen it. Using diagrams could be helpful in explaining the concept but those who find the concept foreign to them would have to memorize the teacher’s description or textbook definition to pass the exam. What if the students were shown not only a photo but a video of a volcano erupting? Their quality of understanding would be many folds better than a diagram and a photo. The students would likely understand the eruption process easily and its causes. They will be able to explain the concept verbally and in writing with ease as well as the consequences of the eruption to the environment and to humanity. Most of the suggestions made in this chapter so far could be costeffective especially in schools which already have most of the comfortable and movable furniture and only need a paradigm shift in the way teachers use them. Making individual table-chair for each student could be expensive since many classrooms are currently furnished with long heavy wooden benches and desks. These kinds of furniture need not be discarded abruptly. They would have to be phased out through a gradual process of substituting the old cumbersome desks with single chair-desk furniture. By so doing, the changes would be incremental and the government would have little or no excuse for not agreeing to carry out changes to the physical classroom environment. The same argument applies to installing air conditioning units in all the classrooms located in cities that have access to electricity.

Limitations of the Study It would be presumptuous to claim that this chapter is based on a comprehensive study of every classroom setting in a given country in Africa. It is a truism that the traditional row-style seating set-up is commonplace in government primary and secondary schools across the African continent. There is no gainsaying that getting rid of the bolted desks and benches as well as restructuring the classroom seating to increase teachers’ eclecticism in instructional approaches could be an expensive investment in the short term. Nonetheless, from a futuristic standpoint, the continent stands to reap immeasurable socio-economic, political, and civic benefits from educational reforms that encompass making furniture that promotes learner-centered pedagogy as it is the case in most industrialized countries.

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Conclusion A classroom seating arrangement is one key area of progressive educational practice that teachers have all the powers to execute with little administrative bottlenecks. Teachers can complain of limited school supplies for effective teaching, but they have little excuse to give for providing students top-down lectures in a classroom with all students facing the chalkboard except for the fact that large class sizes and immovable furniture could circumscribe their flexibility of a classroom seating arrangement. In developing countries, the major impediment to this innovative and transformative classroom seating planning could include limited financial resources to recruit more teachers since class sizes under this model would have to be much smaller than they are currently. Also, the challenges of breaking away from the stranglehold of traditional ways of teaching and the prevalence of long heavy desks that are attached to benches could be some of the stumbling blocks to this model. This chapter is important because even when teachers want to reconfigure their class seating, they seldom know how to go about it. Owing to the multiplicity of learning styles, cognitive abilities, and individual interests of learners compounded with the variability of the subject matter and the lessons, a seating arrangement cannot be static. It must be alternated to accommodate all the differences in curriculum content, pedagogic approaches, and diversity inherent in every student body. Thus, different class tasks should dictate the seating arrangement. If the teacher wants students to work independently on a predefined task, their seats should be set in a way that minimizes dependence on peers (Wannarka & Ruhl, 2008). Collaborative tasks in the classroom, for instance, require face-to-face interactions among peers in the form of a cluster group-seating while tasks that are designed to promote independent thinking are suited for row seating and the U-shape format. Instructional tasks that are delivered through a dialogic and transactional type of pedagogy (Knight-Abowitz, 2000) require a classroom seating in the form of a circle or a U-shape given that it is important for the teacher and the rest of the class to see the faces of every student speaking. There is a general belief in economic circles that if a business person wants more customers to patronize his or her business, lower prizes and availability of products would not be enough. The orderliness, tidiness, and coziness of the business from the windows and doors right into the interior of the business could make the most impression on the customers. If parishioners are raising millions of dollars for the construction and

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decoration of their places of worship, what does that say about the human beings’ desire to live comfortable lives? The same logic should be applied to schools and classrooms. Increasingly, many private firms and colleges are making their businesses and campuses more appealing for potential customers and college students respectively. Many people would not want to patronize any store or restaurant with leaky roofs. Yet, we tend not to apply a similar logic when it concerns the quality of infrastructure and facilities that school children are compelled to spend most of their day in learning. In the wake of gaining independence from several European countries in the late fifties and early sixties, African governments identified formal education as a priority investment for their citizens. It had hitherto been left solely in the hands of the missionaries during colonialism. These missionaries did their best in educating an infinitesimal number of Africans in a few areas where they could afford to establish schools. When Africa emerged from the stranglehold of colonialism, it accelerated the literacy rates of its population to boost economic growth. It was no small task. It gave priority to access primary education followed by secondary education years later. Although there are so many schools that have been opened by various African governments since independence, the educational systems lack quality infrastructure and a transformative pedagogy. This chapter on classroom seating reconfiguration is one of a series of publications that will address education quality in Africa. If governments want students to become life-long problem solvers, selfreflective, and self-directive, then reconfiguring classroom space and seating should be a critical first step in the pedagogic shift across the African continent. One cannot begin to talk about learner-centered pedagogy in the classroom when the seating arrangement is designed for teacher-centered pedagogy. And if the latter is still the pedagogic approach that is being prioritized in African classrooms, it means that active learning among students is not taking place. If priority is not being given to active learning, it means it would be difficult for knowledge transfer to take place. The quality of education is determined by the extent to which learners apply what they have learned in the classroom in real-life situations. Hence, an education for a robust socio-economic development is one that is actively involved in promoting not only knowledge acquisition but also knowledge transfer to different contexts. The first step toward achieving transferrable skills is predicated on classroom seating arrangements. Transforming the quality of African education promotes socio-economic development, good governance, and political stability. A high-quality education improves the overall quality of life of the citizens

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because it contributes to sound personal judgment in the decision-making process. When a high-quality education contributes to the economic development and political stability of a country, it shines a spotlight on that country thereby paving the road for other countries in the continent to experiment with that model in their own countries. Considering that the quality of an educational system is often judged by the productivity of its graduates, more non-African countries could begin to turn to Africa for further studies, labor, and investment when they discover the talents of African-educated workers or students. Although many African students do well in their overseas studies, there are still possibilities for them to improve if their schools provide them more opportunities for cooperative and collaborative learning. There are not many ways other than education to erase the invisibility of Africa to the rest of the world given that education impacts every aspect of humanity.

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10 EDUCATION AND EMPOWERMENT: A SCHOOL GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE RICHEST AND OPEN TO THE POOREST TERESA WASONGA

Introduction Access to quality education in Kenya, as in many developing countries, is limited by poverty, gender, poorly-equipped schools, corruption, weak institutions, and malleable policies (Wasonga, 2013; World Bank, 2005). Though the government has invested heavily in basic education in general, the intended goals for improved living conditions, healthy livelihoods, and opportunities for socio-economic and cultural development have not been realized by many Kenyans, especially those living in poor and in marginalized areas (Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR), 2008; 2015; Sawamura & Sifuna, 2008). A World Bank (2005) report argues that state actions and policies in developing countries magnify rather than attenuate poverty and inequalities. For example, the confluence of a fiercely competitive educational market-place, malleable educational policies, poverty, and marginalization in Kenya has produced a system of education in which vulnerable children living in urban slums and in rural, semi-arid and arid areas, start and end up in the lowest performing schools. Because these schools have limited resources, their academic, socioeconomic, and cultural development opportunities are reduced thus resulting in a low quality education (Wasonga, 2013). In another report, World Bank (2012) indicates that 46% of the 43 million people in Kenya live in poverty with employment rates at 66% and 49% among men and women respectively. Twenty percent of the population live on less than $1 a day, a figure that is below the Kenya national poverty line. The entire earnings of most Kenyan households living in rural areas cannot provide enough food on a daily basis, with

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food prices reportedly higher than those of Germany and the United States of America. Poor Kenyans present the worst cases of malnutrition, poor health, poor sanitation, and poor access to education (Irungu, 2012). Though Kenya is reported to be on the path to economic growth, over half of the population lives in poverty, with Kenya ranking 145th of 187 countries on the Human Development Index, a measure of development in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment, and standards of living (International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), 2010). The rural poor makes 70% of those living below the poverty line, with rural women being the most vulnerable casualties of subsistence farming, and access to social and economic assets. Rural women have a higher level of illiteracy than men (Ibid). This is despite findings by IFAD that women and young people have greater potential for contributing to socio-economic development and progress, especially if they are educated. UNESCO (2012), in a report on education in Kenya, identified the following facts: 1) One million children were still out of school in Kenya. While this is almost half the number in 1999, it is still the ninth highest of any country in the world. 2) Primary education is not of sufficient quality to ensure that all children can learn the basics. Among young men aged 15Ǧ29 years who had left school after six years of schooling, 6% were illiterate and 26% were semiǦliterate. The figures are even worse for young women, with 9% illiterate and 30% semiǦliterate after being in school for six years. 3) The proportion of semi-literate or illiterate women after six years of schooling has worsened in recent years: in 2003, 24% were in this situation, compared with 39% in 2008.

The report adds that poor girls have far lesser chances of making it to secondary school than boys despite the elimination of tuition. Why? When indirect costs of schooling are 12 – 20 times higher than family incomes in a patriarchal society where girls and women are subordinated to men, secondary education is often out of reach among poor households, and in particular for girls. In other words, even though education is, and has been, marketed as the socio-economic and cultural equalizer, the system has not been so with indigent people. Research shows that even those “who do complete five or six years of basic education, the quality and relevance of the provision appears to be low with many leaving without having achieved a functional level of literacy and numeracy” (Hardman, Ackers, Abrishman, & O’Sullivan, 2011, p. 1). These people soon become invisible in society. Erasing invisibility through basic education, especially among the marginalized in developing countries, is neither achievable nor sustainable

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without effective schools, educational systems that deliver quality education, and contextual sound research (Yu, 2007). In analyzing research on school effectiveness in developing countries, Yu (2007) found that outcomes or recipes for school improvement were inadequate because they were not only derived from non-experimental data, but were mostly specific to research contexts (developed countries) or based on concepts found in developed countries. African education remained invisible in these contexts. For these reasons, this chapter intends to make visible ongoing work at an all-girls’ high school in Kenya with a focus on local context, experimentation, innovation, and excellence in educational outcomes. I seek to uncover the various school features or institutional characteristics that enable children to benefit from opportunities that schools offer beyond traditional elements (academic achievement, pedagogical practices, and curriculum). Considering the inequities embedded in the Kenyan educational system and perpetuated by the schools, I show how a particular school is working towards erasing invisibilities and inequalities. Data that informs this study was gathered through engagements in the school, observations, interviews, and reviews of school documents.

Conceptual Framework Yu (2007) questioned the usefulness and relevance of school effectiveness research and practices that are derived from developed countries when transferred to developing countries. Even though a review of literature indicates that some ideas emerging from school effectiveness research are generally applicable to schools anywhere, Yu argues for consideration of uniqueness that comes with context, culture, and politics especially in SubSaharan Africa. School effectiveness research in South Africa and Tanzania (Harber, 1993; Harber & Trafford, 1999) found that democratic school management is a significant actor in school effectiveness. In their view, schools should be democratic first to be effective. Democracy in this context is defined by institutional structures and organizational cultures that engage all stakeholders through a collaborative governance. It involves the formation of, and the election to, student representatives or councils, the practice of democratic decision-making, and the development of leadership and responsibility. In their research, student engagement in school governance was found to leverage the process of change and to function as a means to improve school effectiveness, leadership, and the learning environment

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(Harber & Trafford, 1999). Earlier, Lockheed and Levin (1993) proposed three elements in creating effective schools in developing countries – 1) necessary inputs that include curriculum, instructional materials, quality time for learning, and teaching practices that promote active learning. 2) Facilitating conditions that include community and parental engagement; school-based professionalism in leadership, collegiality, commitment and accountability; flexibility and adapting to local needs such as curricular relevance; and organizational and pedagogical flexibility. 3) The will to change and act. These concepts have informed activities at the school under study.

Education in Kenya The Basic Education Act in Kenya (Parliament of Kenya (PoK), 2013) stipulates that every child in Kenya has a right to a “free basic education.” “Free”, as defined by PoK, means that “no public school shall charge or cause any parent, or guardian to pay tuition fees for or on behalf of any pupil in the school,” and “basic education” refers to “pre-primary, primary and secondary school” education (PoK, 2013, p. 238). Because the term “free” is limited to tuition, many children from disadvantaged backgrounds do not access primary and especially secondary school education because of auxiliary costs that include boarding fees, books, school supplies, uniforms, and personal effects. The current structure of the education system in Kenya is 2:8:4:4 (2 years of Pre-Primary, 8 years of Primary, 4 years of Secondary schooling, and 2-4 years of college/university education), and while primary schools are free and generally within a walking distance in most parts of the country, pre-primary schools hardly exist in rural areas and are not free. Secondary schools and specifically quality secondary schools are not free and rarely within a walking distance, a significant disadvantage to girls who have been found to be more sensitive to distance. The latter is a significant disadvantage to girls who have been found to be more sensitive to distance (Alderman & King, 1998) and are more likely to experience gender violence on the way to or from school. Overall, the ratio of primary to secondary schools abrogates access to secondary education for the poor and powerless. For 26,000 primary schools, there are only 6,500 secondary schools most of which are single sex boarding schools (Republic of Kenya, 2005; Glennerster, Kremer, Mbiti, & Takavarasha, 2011) and far too few to accommodate all the students graduating from primary schools.

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The bottleneck to secondary school for the poor is further complicated by a high-stakes national examination, the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE). Performance on this examination determines both the access to, and the quality of the secondary school attended. Admission to a secondary school depends on a student’s score. Students scoring below 200 out of 500 points on KCPE are not likely to proceed to secondary school irrespective of how poorly their primary school is resourced. Public secondary schools are stratified in a hierarchical tier system - National, County, and District. In this order, national secondary schools are superior, prestigious, coveted, and well-endowed unlike district and county secondary schools. The higher a student scores on KCPE, the higher the likelihood of attending a national school and the lower a student scores, the higher the likelihood of attending a poorly-resourced district school or not proceeding to high school at all. Researchers have noted that the scores on KCPE depend largely on the quality of primary school attended (Njoka, et al., 2012; Sifuna, 2007). In the years between 2003 and 2007, KCPE scores among students attending private well-resourced primary schools were, on average, 50 points higher than those of students attending public primary schools (Glennerster et al., 2011). It is clear from these findings that students who attend poorly- resourced public primary schools cannot compete fairly for places in national schools, and are most likely to end up in the poorly-resourced district secondary schools. As fate would have it, students from poor backgrounds who perform well enough to join the national schools hardly make it there unless their stories are carried by the national newspapers and receive positive responses from sympathizers. Such cases are far too familiar in the national news media (Jelimo, 2014; Namuliro & Inyangi, 2014). Ongwae (2014) reports one of those cases: Seated on a rock besides [the] rubble of what used to be her late parent’s house, Robi sobs with her admission letter in her hand. Failing to join her dream school is the 3rd dilemma the 15-year-old is facing. She had been rescued from female genital mutilation, rescued from a forced early marriage, and then orphaned. Now she was looking for a Samaritan to hold her hand and lead her to a secondary school.

Like Robi, thousands of deserving children who have done their best in very poorly- resourced primary schools have to rely on the sympathy of strangers to attend a secondary school. Although there are far more girls needing help because of poverty and family set up, for every 5 cases picked up by the media, only one is a girl’s story. On average, households in Kenya spend 55% of their annual earnings on secondary education (Glennerster et al., 2011), a price that is out of

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range for many Kenyans (IFAD, 2010). In 2013, the Kenya secondary school Net and Gross Enrollment Rates were 39.5% and 56.2% respectively, while the transition rates from primary to secondary education was 76.6% (Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), 2013; 2015) an improvement from 50% in 2009 (Ministry of Education, 2010). A report on access and quality of education (Glennerster et al., 2011) makes the case that poverty is the main barrier to transitioning from primary school to enrollment in secondary education. Students from poor/rural Kenya are further disadvantaged by language. English is the medium of instruction in the upper primary and secondary schools; in the rural areas, children at the lower primary (grades 1-4) level are taught in their mother tongue or in Kiswahili (the national language), making English their third language. Without adequate resources these students are not likely to gain proficiency in English to compete fairly in the national examinations that are administered in English. Researchers have also noted that Government intervention in education (free primary and the elimination of tuition in secondary schools) has expanded access at the expense of quality, leading to poor learning conditions and poor performance (KIPPRA, 2013; 2015; Njoka, et al, 2012; Oketch & Rolleston, 2007; Sifuna, 2005). Government comprehensive policies, funding, strategies, or practices that would provide quality education for all children as promised in the Kenyan Constitution and the Children’s Act have been short in coming. For example, Glewwe, Kremer, & Mouline (2009) explicate the ambivalence in Kenya education system. It is: a centralized, uniform education system [that] makes it very difficult to serve the entire population, given the great heterogeneity in the educational and economic background of students in a setting where education has expanded rapidly. The historical legacy of colonial education in Kenya, and the political economy of Kenya in the post-independence period, may have produced an education system that favors the most advantaged students instead of the typical Kenyan student (p.113).

The dreary efforts by government in providing adequate quality schools have also created opportunities for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), including religious societies, local and international philanthropies, and private citizens to establish schools in addition to providing resources, facilities, and financial assistance to the poor. These opportunities, albeit commendable, are far too few in relation to the needs for a good secondary education that would improve transition to colleges and universities which according to KIPPRA (2015) is at

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13.5% and 2.2% respectively. Given this background, this chapter captures the efforts of individuals who have designed and built an all-girls boarding school in Kenya as a model serving both disadvantaged and middle class students together.

The School The school, Jane Adeny Memorial School (JAMS) (named in honor of one of the founders’ mother), is located in Muhoroni District, Kisumu County, Kenya. The efforts leading to the establishment of the school started with the formation of a non-profit group called “Sango Association” in the greater Chicago, IL, area. The goals of the Association include providing access to secondary education among high-performing students, especially from high-poverty homesteads. After seven years in operation, an evaluation of the outcomes revealed that the boys were succeeding at a much higher rate than the girls even where they had similar entry scores (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education-KCPE). It was noted that poverty had a much greater deleterious effect on the girls, a fact that has also been supported by research (KIPPRA, 2013; Duflo, Dupas, & Kremer, 2011; Swamura & Sifuna, 2008; Aldermam & King, 1998). A study by Mensch and Lloyd (1998) in Kenya found that factors considered under opportunities to learn – chores, homework, tutoring, punishment, sex ratio, and class size – had slightly different and negative effects on girls. Girls were also found to be more sensitive to the quality of, and the distance to, school. Therefore, in the quest to mitigate such factors and their effects on both the access to, and the academic achievement at school among girls, considerations led to the idea of building a private all-girls’ boarding school with liberty to experiment and implement new and different ideas in educating young girls. The vision, like that of Horace Mann, was a school “Good enough for the richest and available to the poorest.” With such a school, it has been possible to bring together affluent and poor children. For example, Machris and Allevar attended JAMS together. While Machris comes from an upper middle class family, Allevar is a poor orphan. Allevar lost her mother when she was 10-years old. Her father who was a laborer at a local factory was often sick and so her uncle helped her through primary school. At the end of primary school, she scored high enough on the national exam (KCPE) to attend a national school. Her father took all his savings (ksh. 8000 or $100) to the national school, but this was far less than what the school required to admit her. They took the money and asked him to go back and get the remaining Ksh. 28,000

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($350). Allevar’s father, who had lost his wife, job, health, and all his savings, now lost his mind. He died two years later. Allevar,’s desperate situation was discovered by one of JAMS’ employees who then made it possible for Allevar to attend JAMS alongside Machris. JAMS is a boarding school that provides an inspiring and empowering educational environment for vulnerable girls to learn and acquire valuable skills needed for their future lives. At JAMS, stakeholders begin with the end in mind—a willingness to be self-reliant, take initiative, and find creative solutions to personal and community problems. The major focus of the school is a student-centered pedagogy that empowers students with the following skills, among others: goal-setting, emotional and self control, prioritizing-setting, logically self expression, self and human value, and conflict resolution. Leadership development for all students and teachers (whole school leadership) is experienced through opportunities to co-create educational and social experiences. Learning experiences are designed to gradually grow into apprenticeships and responsibilities that prepare students for career and personal success. The overarching goals of the school are: to create an interactive, active, creative, enriched, and collaborative learning environment; to empower students to take charge of their learning, personal development, and molding of their future, to implement innovative and effective pedagogies, to promote sustainable development, to promote socio-cultural and economic responsibility including basic skills for leadership and entrepreneurship among students (School Manual). These goals are achieved through: broad leadership capacity starting with students then moving out to teachers and community, sustained engagement, and collective experiences of ambitious instruction not commonly found in typical Kenyan schools. In addition, international organizations—Sango Association and Friends of JAMS Kenya—have made it possible for bright girls living in poverty to access an educational environment with resources that place them on a path to full potential culturally, academically, physically, socially, and spiritually. They are empowered to transform their future. How does this work? First, the school provides a safe and orderly setting where teachers and students are encouraged to collaborate, take risks, share narratives, and connect deeply with each other on a human level (Hooks, 1994). Collaboration is achieved through team work, thereby sharing accountability and encouraging risk-taking activities. Through interviews, it was noted that teachers and students engaged in

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experimentation with new ideas, pedagogies, extra-curricular activities, and business projects. Both teachers and students, in sharing life experiences, find commonalities that enable them to empathize and live harmoniously. Harmonious co-existence is rooted in the values of respect, dignity, empathy, cooperation, and interdependence that comes from democratic school management and student empowerment. Students have voice through student governance and the absence of corporal punishment, while teachers have a duty to live by example showing respect as they facilitate learning. This type of co-existence has enhanced opportunities for learning about self and others, about collective responsibilities for innovation, and about sustainable development. In Venter’s (2004) words, co-existence “promotes common good of society and includes humanness as an essential element of human growth” (p. 149). Co-existence as a community value system has influenced social conduct enabling children who have experienced loss and hardship to develop new relations, tenacity, and grit, and to find hope. Emerging from interviews with both students and teachers was the fact that sharing personal background information has transformed collective experiences of loss, poverty, abuse, and hardships into wisdom, new knowledge, and a hope for the future. In place of corporal punishment, opportunities for counseling, for free and open expression, and for selfreflection and choice are provided to foster a sense of dignity and worth. In addition, basic needs including resources for personal use, academic work, and spiritual development are made available to all students irrespective of background. Based on Mensch and Lloyd’s (1998) work and on our own findings working with girls and boys from disadvantaged backgrounds, it is essential to equalize the living and learning environments by providing more resources for the disadvantaged. For this reason, supplies necessary for enhancing student welfare are provided, including beddings, personal school attire (uniform, socks, sportswear, and weekend dress), all curricular textbooks, and additional assistance if the students need shoes, slippers, towels, and transportation. Provision of basic needs creates an environment in which all students have the opportunity to participate in all of school activities. As a private school, JAMS does not receive any form of subsidies or assistance from the government. This means that the school’s management team has to find new, different, and creative ways of using and generating resources to sustain school operations. Together with the principal, teachers, and local entrepreneurs, students at JAMS engage in incomegenerating projects that so far include vegetable farming, bread-making,

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poultry, fish-farming, dairy-farming, green-house farming, and tailoring. Food production activities have so far lowered the costs of feeding, increased reliability, and enhanced food quality. Though the idea behind these projects is sustainability, the major practical purposes for student engagements are: 1) opportunities to enhance academic achievement; 2) opportunities for students to apply their learning and develop skills for making contributions to society; 3) opportunities for career development; and 4) catalyst for entrepreneurship. Teachers spend a great deal of time working with students to reinforce learning, while students who are advanced in academic subjects tutor those who are struggling. Student leadership is strong. Students are invited to debate and make decisions on issues that affect their lives in school including school policies, school meals, elections of student leaders, topics for debate, co-curricular activities, daily duties, and hiring of teachers. The absence of corporal punishment has allowed students to be inquisitive, independent-thinking, and self-confident in and out of the classrooms. Unlike many girls in Kenyan schools, students at JAMS wear trousers as part of their uniform, and this has led to a change in attitude, whereby they clearly view themselves as capable as boys. This change in attitude is attributed to the general perception that women who wear trousers in Kenya are associated with positions of power including being peers of powerful men, powerful politicians, and/or leaders in organizations. Certainly, the wearing of a pair of pants has translated into positive perceptions about self and of feelings of empowerment. In addition, every girl is a leader because of the responsibilities they assume every day, specifically in identifying and finding strategies to deal with both personal and school issues.

Capacity Development at JAMS JAMS was built to cultivate a capacity for innovation and creativity that would impact the lives of the most and least vulnerable girls together. Living and learning together, these girls from different backgrounds share social and human capital, develop both strong and weak ties (Granovetter, 1973), and form relationships that are likely to see them build the necessary capacity to influence each other now and in their future endeavors. While innovation and creativity are noble goals, executing them requires capacity-building that begins with individual students and then extends to teachers and the community. Culturally, we found that it was more difficult to change teachers’ attitudes to think more

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progressively about students. Based on research and experiences in both organizational leadership and counseling, the initial focus on innovation and creativity was on empowering students by giving them voice, resources, and safety through a policy that prohibits corporal punishment in the school. Following this, the focus shifted to organizational factors that improve capacity-building for the whole school, such as co-creating distributive leadership, resourceful environment, sustainable high reliability, and collaborative and engaged ambitious teaching and learning.

Co-Creating Distributive Leadership In a study on leading schools successfully, leadership was found to be a complex web of activities initiated by the school principal in a supportive role, through establishing a framework for co-creating decisions, initiatives, purposes, designs, or ideas to meet the vision of the school (Wasonga, 2014). The big idea in co-creating leadership is the collective responsibility for inputs and outcomes through proactive and dynamic processes of engaging the knowledge and relationships of all stakeholders. We argue that leadership that is constructed in dialogue with students does not only cultivate shared values around the school vision (Drago-Severson, 2012; Furman, 2007; Harber, 1993); it also encourages “broad involvement, collaboration, and collective responsibility reflected in roles and actions” (Lambert, 2003, p. 3). Co-creating leadership at JAMS encompasses acts of empowering students, teachers, and staff so that they inform, value, and fulfil their contractual obligations, meet the needs of the organization, and are able to look beyond personal interests for the betterment of themselves and the institution (Santamaria & Santamaria, 2012). Empowerment emerges from the deliberate practice of egalitarian dispositional values that facilitate collective functioning. These values include collaboration, active listening, patience, humility, trust, dignity, interdependence, and empathy (Murphy, Hunt, Wasonga, 2004; Venter, 2004). The values define the leadership practice at JAMS as service to others, allowing both teachers and students to make the most of the strengths and weaknesses of self and others (De Pree, 2004; Dufour & Eaker, 1998). While teachers are invited to take the lead in guiding and facilitating opportunities for students to interact, learn, improve, and demonstrate learning, students are invited to take leadership responsibility for their learning (organizing their study time, tutoring, and group work) and campus life. Senior students educate incoming students on the mission and the vision of the school, and the symbolic and cultural

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meanings of the school logo – an African pot, book, and pen. The pot is symbolic of the versatility and hard work of African women and womanhood while the book and pen represent the tools for modernity that are just as versatile as the pot. Internalizing the mission, vision, and the symbolism of the school logo has resulted in a culture of hard work, collaboration, and the ethic of care. Students, teachers, and staff deliberate on the mission, vision and logo as the guiding principles for a culture of high expectations and ethical social behavior. Students develop leadership skills as they take charge of operations in their dormitories, classrooms, library, dining, laboratory, and the entrepreneurship projects. Student leaders, including the head girl and prefects are elected by their peers in a democratic process supervised and confirmed by teachers. Student leaders, as servant leaders, guide and represent, not supervise or discipline their peers. They lead by example and are not exempt from manual work; instead they do more. The principal and teachers work with students in making leadership decisions (Nonoka & Takeuchi, 1995) that cultivate respect and democratic principles. Discipline among students at JAMS is estimable and students are encouraged to speak out, ask questions, and make constructive contributions to school governance. Debates and voting based on the voting guidelines and the requirements of the Kenyan constitution are used to help the students make informed decisions about the school as they learn about the democratic processes. For example, the first group of students admitted to the school was invited to debate and vote on whether or not they should keep long hair. Their vote to keep short hair has become the policy. In subsequent years, students have voted to select the “outstanding student,” the head girl and prefects, in addition to deciding the kinds of entertainment they engage in, their meals, and the school chores, among other things.

Resourceful Environment Jarrett, Wasonga, and Murphy (2010) found that institutional conditions impact outcomes. Compared to low performing schools, teachers in high performing schools experienced better conditions of work including ingrained democracy, quality relations, and evolving power. In addition, leadership at high performing schools has been found to be broad and inquiry-based, with high levels of participation among teachers (Lambert, 2003). In abundance in high performing schools are resources for

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leadership skillfulness and opportunities for leadership participation (Lambert, 2003; Nonoka & Takeuchi, 1995). Data gathered during school visits in Kenya indicated that the majority of schools, especially those located in rural and urban slums, lack the basic resources and conditions that favor leadership skillfulness and stakeholder participation (Wasonga, 2014; 2013). Many schools are not safe and orderly for interpersonal connectedness. Students, especially girls rarely have a voice in school. They often are silenced with corporal punishment or by shame stemming from their poverty. School decisions impacting students are devoid of their input; instead, decisions are made by a few selected and sometimes manipulated, parents or guardians under the guise of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA). On the contrary, JAMS was created with consideration for student welfare, student dignity and value, and personal connectedness. For these reasons, resources for personal use, academic work, extra-curricular activities, health and nutrition, decisionmaking, and spiritual development are made available at the school level. Notable resources at the school include the library with over 4,000 books, a well-furnished dining hall, spacious dormitories with bathrooms and toilets, a science room, spacious classrooms, a beautiful school compound, a balanced nutrition, a deworming program, and entrepreneurial activities. All of these resources not only convey value to students, they are credited with enhancing the living and learning environments. The installation of a solar and grid power, and of pipe-borne water have immensely improved conditions for living and learning. In addition, the availability of teacher housing has significantly improved the welfare of teachers. The absence of corporal punishment has created an environment where students exercise the freedom of expression, question and challenge school practices, take risks, care for one another, and interact amiably among themselves and teachers. Such interactions are known to awaken critical consciousness and yield new learnings that inspire students to creatively transform their worlds (Freire, 2003). Their (teachers and students) energies are well channeled because of opportunities to engage in extra-curricular activities including entertainment, volunteer work, and erecting a school building. In effect, students, teachers, founders, and supporters of the school have cocreated a learning environment with requisite variety of resources for favorable social and academic learning outcomes. The school has emerged as a place students call “home,” with a capacity for innovation, amalgamation of experiences, and a support system for social, physical, academic, and leadership development.

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Sustainable High Reliability The entire school system is built on trust and on strong interpersonal relationships with stakeholders including the local community. The support from local and international communities and organizations are integral to the school’s physical development, the availability of academic and personal resources, and the provision of professional development. From the start, the goals of financial and environmental sustainability were at the center of development strategies, specifically in the areas of energy, water, food production, and student and teacher/staff welfare. Sustainability and reliability at school level are necessitated by the unpredictable, unreliable, and unstable socio-economic and political environments in Kenya. Self-reliance and local production of consumables and services are the surest way to ensure reliability and quality. Currently, JAMS relies mostly on solar power for energy, to power the water borehole and rain-catchment system for water, gardens (greenhouses) for vegetables, school dairy for milk, and school-run poultry for eggs and meat. Bread is also made at the school. Hundreds of trees are planted every year to mitigate the use of trees for firewood and to improve the environment. These on-going sustainability projects have so far proved useful in saving costs, providing a healthy diet, a reliable electricity, a safe natural fertilizer for plants and vegetables, and safe water for the campus. The social systems approach (Getzels & Guba, 1957) of interdependence has enhanced efficiency, reliability, and the quality of our inputs, processes, and outcomes. Sustainability projects also support the school’s educational mission and students’ career success. The projects serve as “laboratories of practice” providing structured experiences through which students learn and internalize ways of doing (Shulman, 2007, p. 562). These projects provide important opportunities for students to view work in situ as they work alongside professionals, and develop skills for careers and entrepreneurship. It is rare for girls to get these kinds of training opportunities in the labor market, yet, as Bosire and Etyang (2003) and KIPPRA (2013; 2015) report, the majority of small scale entrepreneurs in Kenya are secondary school graduates. This sector of the economy is significant in Kenya. Micro or small enterprises contribute 20% GPD and 72% of employment (Osoro, Makoro, Nyamongo, & Areba, 2013). Even though a World Bank (2009) report indicated that youth unemployment (60% in Sub-Saharan Africa) in developing countries is a major economic and social problem, little is done to enable young adults acquire marketable skills that would enable them seek jobs or start their own

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micro-enterprises after secondary school education. JAMS is offering young women opportunities to acquire skills as they engage in school sustainability projects. Monetary outcomes from sustainability projects are used to support the education of needy students. In other words, these students work for their education - a form of empowerment. Positive experiences with the current micro-enterprise sustainability projects at JAMS and the future that we envision for the students (selfemployment), together encourage innovation, expansion of current microenterprises, and diversity of activities. As the numbers of students increase, so is/will the need to continue to serve the neediest students. In anticipation of the growing need, the school is focusing on building capacity for sustainable high-impact, high-income generating microenterprise activities.

Collaborative Ambitious Teaching and Learning Fullan (1999), in his writings, recognizes that collaboration is not about consensus or like-mindedness; rather it is the diversity and interdependence in thoughts and ideas that are engaged in resolving complex problems. Such diversity and interdependence were found to catalyze creativity, innovation, and development (Prahalad & Krishnan, 2008). In schools, as found by Little (1990, p.519) that engage in “joint work” where teachers use cooperative learning, success was enhanced both for their students and their own work. At JAMS, there are high expectations of every student based on benchmarking with highperforming schools (national and provincial schools). To facilitate high expectations, students are required to collaborate in studying topics a head of lesson time (flipped classrooms) so that they are able to engage actively with teachers in thought-provoking critical discussions during lessons, with teachers showing empathy and helpfulness in the classroom (Lampert, Boerst, & Graziani, 2011). To enhance student success, standards for performance are set for teachers and students with policies that limit teacher autocracy. Learning for students is reinforced and internalized by applying academic knowledge to authentic problems collaboratively with teachers. Lamper et al. (2011) call this process ambitious teaching which is described as a collective undertaking supported by common goals of critical consciousness, resourcefulness, and a thoughtful and open intellectual engagement. At JAMS, ambitious teaching is made possible by providing adequate academic materials, including curricular text books, in the ratio 1:1 for every subject,

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laboratory supplies, supplies for teachers, and library books at school level as opposed to requiring students to provide such by themselves. In many schools in Kenya, teachers tend to be autocratic, mostly working independently with very limited resources in very competitive environments. Reflective practices and shared vision that lead to coherence and consistency needed for innovation in teaching and learning (Lambert, 2003) are rarely used due to time constraints, lack of training, competition to top the charts, limited resources, and lack of collaboration within and across subject areas, or schools and among teachers. Teachers do not share aspects of student life and learning (good or bad) that would inform them as a collective for appropriate intervention. And because students’ academic and personal resources come mostly from their families, those with access to privilege, status, and money have a lot more resources for acquiring school materials. In visiting schools in Kenya, it was noted that limited resources at school levels, especially in district schools that educate children from impoverished backgrounds, tend to negate innovative pedagogy such as ambitious instruction. At JAMS, time is scheduled for teachers to engage collaboratively across subjects. Teachers participate in discussions about the performance of each student, exams, grading criteria and grades, and student advising. Twice in a semester, teachers come together and collaboratively share experiences they have had with every student, reflecting on strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. In this process, they share perspectives of, and experiences with, the same student; they learn new viewpoints about the same student; and they create a plan for assisting individual students to reach their potential. Such collaboration has yielded new structures of relationships between and among teachers and students; informed strategies of dealing with student performance and behaviors; enhanced capacity of teachers to meet student needs; and increased understandings of issues that students face. Students are no longer anonymous and interventions commence as soon as an issue is identified. Students, like teachers, are engaged in collective experiences of learning that prepare them for success now and beyond secondary education. Every student belongs to various groups depending on interest in an academic subject, extra-curricular activities, and personal interests and needs. In some groups, a student is the expert; in others, the student may be an amateur. Through these collaborative peer groups that involve dialogue, arguments, conflicts, and negotiation, students develop selfconfidence, self-esteem, and long term friendships. Competition is

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collective and individual and group excellence is recognized. In the groups, students help each other to uphold high standards in both academic performance and character.

Why girls? And why a school good enough for the richest? According to KIPPRA (2013; 2015) and Glennerster et al. (2012), education is recognized in Kenya and universally as a major path by which individuals realize better and more productive lives, and as one of the primary drivers of national economic development. For both boys and girls, education leads to increased earnings, opportunities, and choices (USAID, 2008). USAID also found that educating girls uniquely produces many additional socio-economic gains that benefit the whole society. These benefits include “increased economic productivity, higher family incomes, delayed marriages, reduced fertility rates, and improved health and survival rates for infants and children” (p.3). Levine, Levine, and Schnell-Anzola (2012) report that UNICEF has come to the conclusion that schooling girls benefits not only themselves, but their future children as well, hence a “double dividend” on investments in girls’ education (p. xvi). In addition, the literacy and language skills that girls acquire when they attend school, irrespective of the quality of the school, have been found to enable them function more effectively in bureaucratic institutional environments; enhance demographic transition with low birth and death rates; inspire greater utilization of health care and family services; develop better comprehension skills and, therefore, able to access and assimilate information in the community or use community services effectively; enhance communicative socialization and become more able to tell a coherent story when seeking services; and diminish child morbidity (Levine, et al., 2012). In other words, the schooling of girls all girls is better for society and essential for health and human development. In establishing a democratic social system approach to educating girls at JAMS, the focus has been, and continues to be, inclusive of access, retention, quality, and development of life skills. Why? In the current practice, “education has not conferred the skills and knowledge that are the source of the hoped-for greater earnings, better health, and more engaged citizenship” (Levine et al., 2003, as cited in USAID, 2008, p.3) especially among girls in developing countries; instead, approaches to access, quality, equity, and gender parity in education have tended to focus on enrollments. As found in Zambia, a lack of quality education is a major barrier that keeps girls from reaching their potential in contributing to the

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health and socio-economic development of the nation (Levine et al., 2012). In Kenya, the “inequality in educational attainment and genderbased division of labor” has relegated women, mostly between the ages of 15-24, to informal low-paying jobs at the rate of 87% (KIPPRA, 2015, p. 30). For these reasons, deliberate efforts are made at JAMS to pay special attention to the quality and relevance of educational experiences with the purpose of improving retention, achievement and achievement rates, and the utility of knowledge and skills after school. It is recognized that girls make half of the world’s population; they have existential value, and they are the pathway to competence of children (through schooling and maternal behavior) (Levine et al., 2012). Because of the role girls play in society, the quality of their schooling is critical in developing countries where girls cannot always count on public infrastructure and community resources to meet the maternal, familial, and socio-economic demands placed on them (Levine et al., 2012). Based on recommendations of USAID (2008), JAMS is determined to address the four dimensions of the Gender Equality Framework: equality of access, equality in the learning process, equality of educational outcomes, and equality of external results. The school is designed as a democratic system with a focus on innovative ways of educating girls for a prosperous future and to inspire improved educational experiences and practices in Kenya. JAMS’ approach to equality of access is to find and enable girls living in remote villages, literally girls that are left behind, to get to school. Instead of waiting for these girls who have no means to come to us, JAMS seeks them out. In other words, the school facilitates access for girls who would otherwise not attend a secondary school. Through Sango Association, Friends of JAMS Kenya, and philanthropic individuals, scholarships are available to cover tuition, boarding, and transport for the neediest girls to the extent possible. Without these scholarships, these girls would not attend a secondary school despite demonstrating that they have the ability to succeed. Equality in the learning process is achieved through ambitious collective experiences of teaching and learning described earlier. The absence of corporal punishment, and the presence of amiable relationships, culture of caring, provision of personal and academic materials, and an atmosphere that encourages thoughtful and open discussions, were found to be empowering factors enabling the girls at JAMS to value themselves and to enjoy the pursuit of education. The school offers a curriculum that covers all of the subjects recommended by the Kenyan Ministry of Education and taught by highly qualified teachers. The girls experience

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opportunities to learn, explore, engage, and discover their talents through academic and extra-curricular activities and engagement in entrepreneurial projects. Teachers and students work together “for social change generating social and psychological power greater than the sum of their individual efforts” (Guinier & Torres, 2002, p.141, as cited in Santamaria & Santamaria, 2012, p. 6). For example, students review and help improve each other’s essays in the presence of the teacher, they teach others in the subject content in which they are strong, and they organize in groups for enhanced learning. The pursuit of education without a focus on quality education outcomes penalizes students, especially marginalized ones, because they cannot compete fairly in the academic and/or labor market. Therefore, at JAMS, high expectations are required of every student and teacher, and resources are provided to support these expectations. A non-traditional collaborative relationship has replaced the autocratic traditional teacher/student relationship, and a system where learning is assessed and evaluated collaboratively and outcomes are used to improve the teaching and learning processes in readiness for national examinations is instituted. Materials for test preparations and general reading to improve English language proficiency are made available. These are tutorials to help girls who have attended very poorly-resourced primary schools. Consistent collaborative discussions about students and collective responsibility for interventions maximize opportunities to reach students in different ways. The collective knowledge about every student means that relevant interventions are done sooner and better. All of these efforts are focused on enhancing both the quality of learning experiences and the outcomes. The importance of the quality of external results cannot be over emphasized. USAID (2008) defines quality of external results as access to goods and resources, and one’s ability to contribute to, participate in, and benefit from economic, social, cultural, and political activities. To prepare girls at JAMS for quality external results, the school functions as a laboratory of practice providing opportunities for girls to: apply skills learned in academic classes to authentic problems through complex projects; engage in income generating micro enterprises at the school including poultry, dairy, fish and vegetable farming; interact with professionals in various fields; and develop leadership, management, and entrepreneurial skills. These practices prepare them for quality external results and success in the society to which they will be part of after school, irrespective of their backgrounds.

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All of the above have not come without challenges. In general, research has identified traditional challenges in educating children from under-resourced families in Kenya. As stated earlier, these include poverty, authoritarian school leadership, corruption, inadequate resources at school, low expectations, irrelevant curricula, teacher shortages, and inadequate teacher preparation, among others. However, because the work presented here focuses on the operations of a school whose purpose is to achieve positive external outcomes, different challenges were noted. They include, 1) resistance to change among teachers. Teachers are reluctant to let go of corporal punishment, acknowledge student voice, and embrace progressive pedagogies. They hold dearly to the traditional methods of teaching; 2) lack of commitment and slow acceptance of authority and responsibility. Teachers believe that they are employed and paid to teach and they rarely notice the connection between their commitment and student success; neither do they recognize the success of the school as their success. This has led to a high turnover among teachers; 3) inadequate parental involvement for many reasons ranging from absentee parents and guardians, and a lack of understanding by parents of the importance of their engagement in school matters. Lackluster parental involvement has created difficulties in getting students appropriate help when there is not enough information about a student’s background especially in cases of health problems; 4) students’ attitude to familiar policies. Students come to JAMS conditioned to expect and accept corporal punishment. They find it difficult to respond adequately to alternative remedies like counseling or self-discipline; 5) lack of adequate resources to meet the needs of all students. There is a shortage of trained personnel to deal with issues of abuse and sexuality, general health, and mentoring; and 6) predominance of passive as opposed to active learning in the classroom. Most students think that it is the responsibility of the teachers to teach, and that students are supposed to listen quietly and learn from them. These challenges impact the ability to erase invisibility especially among girls from under-resourced families, many of whom may not access university studies for lack of financial resources despite a successful high school completion.

Conclusion In this chapter, I showcase the power of agency and difference making in the lives of children, especially the invisible and powerless indigent ones. Innovations at JAMS are changing the concept that children from underresourced families enter school systems from unequal backgrounds,

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receive unequal experiences, and exit with low or unequal outcomes (Ainscow, Dyson, Goldrick, & West, 2012). At JAMS, there is a deliberate effort to provide resources so that girls, irrespective of their backgrounds, can experience a rich educational environment and are empowered by knowledge and skills to take advantage of opportunities for tangible choices in the market place and in higher education. Such opportunities are creating an impact and are changing students’ lives, the lives of those around them, and the future generations. Since the past of children from disadvantaged backgrounds cannot be changed because those occurrences had already taken place, the major goal for JAMS and those interested in the future lives of all children is to change the trajectory of the future for these girls by providing opportunities through access to quality educational experiences with external outcomes that maximize their potential after graduation. Specifically for developing countries, it is our belief that the education of girls is one of the most impactful long-term investments. JAMS serves as a model of what can be done to create visibility, improve equity, enhance social justice, and achieve educational excellence for children coming from under-resourced families.

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11 NEW FRAMINGS OF COLLECTIVE FUTURE: REFLECTIONS ON THE POSSIBILITIES OF AN INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AFRICAN EDUCATORS GEORGE J. SEFA DEI

Introduction I have taken the opportunity to serve as a facilitator for a ‘Visionary Session’ on the inaugural and historic conference of the International Association of African Educators (IAAE) to make contribution to this collection devoted to the intellectual pursuit of African Education. What I reflect on are ideas that came to mind when I received the honor to facilitate this session among my esteemed colleagues. In this chapter, I have not ‘lost sleep’ in the endless debate about how we define our collective identity, specifically on the question of who should belong to an International Association of African Educators. Rather, I am more interested in shared causes and fighting to achieve collective goals. I would expect a reader to take these reflections in the way of how a particular academic piece sits with someone. It is a fact that there is an urgency for such an Association. At the end of the day, the important thing is what the members of the body do for the African community both in the diaspora and the homeland, fighting to erase our invisibility and achieve educational excellence and social justice. A reader may also share the politics even if they are not African.  I come to this discussion from the position of an African Scholar in the Western academy who is studying, teaching and researching in the general subject field of education, specifically researching questions of race and anti-racism, social justice and equity, and anti-colonial theory and practice. I see a need for an International Association of African Educators to serve

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our disciplinary and collective academic, social and political interests as African peoples, but more importantly, the Association’s role in assisting the professional and academic development of its members and the African community both in the diaspora and in the homeland. I believe taking up ideas and practices that speak to issues of social justice, equity and educational excellence in academia is critical and these lofty goals are also very much tied to addressing issues of faculty trajectories, studentfaculty relations, professional growth and development within conducive academic climates, environments and cultures. Our professional growth and development as African learners, scholars, practitioners and researchers are intertwined with consideration of equity and social justice in academia and our disciplinary preoccupations.

Why do we need an International Association of African Educators? To this question, I would reply why not? Why are there Associations for other groups and other subject areas? After all, what really matters is what our intents, goals and purposes are, and our preparedness to be part of a collective to advance certain causes. It is my basic contention that African peoples come from communities. The idea and power of collectivity has always been ingrained in our cultures. We form associations to protect, defend and advance mutual causes and interests. We form associations because these collectivities are relevant for our collective survival. We form associations because as African intellectuals, we may operate in very hostile environments that require coming together to pass on history and knowledge, to lay foundations on which to build, and to lead the young. We form associations to pass on intergenerational knowledge. Although the discussion has implications at the continental level, I must confess I make my interventions from/with the diasporic lens.  One does not become a member of a group without having some ideas as to what this belonging will mean for the person’s own lived experiences and the way we exercise our agency in life. Many times, associations are seen as positive in terms of the mutual benefits that accrue to members. In this essay, I share some personal reflections as an African-Canadian scholar in a Western academy and what it means to be engaged in community-building for self and collective survival and intellectual growth by belonging to an International Association of African Educators. This is not just an academic undertaking. It is personal and political. I engage in some questions: What does it mean to have a professional

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association of African educators and on African education? What do such professional associations bring to the intellectual development of African educators? What does it take to grow membership of the Association? What should be the target goals, benefits and the strategies to ensure success? Are there some cautionary points of note? How do we address class, gender, race, sexuality and other cleavages as important dimensions of the African identity in the evocation of “community”? How would such an Association articulate ‘relevance’ and ‘debt to community’? What does an International Association of African Educators offer by way of leadership, and specifically, collective leadership to its community?

Locating the Self and Politics I offer a brief personal profile not in the spirit of arrogance but as learning moments from which to lodge my belief in the power of community and associations. I write as an African-Canadian male academic and community worker whose scholarship and political activism have been interwoven over three decades. I have been involved in many community organizations playing roles of leadership, and assisting in offering solutions to the many daunting challenges faced by Africans in diaspora. Like many others, I commit myself to a combination of community work with professional activities. There is an academic and political reason for doing this. I am still grappling with the thought that notwithstanding any academic and community accolades Black scholars have received, our communities are still in search for an effective leadership that will help transform our collective lives.  As I write this chapter, I can only recall in one of my visits to Ghana (my country of birth) a song by one of the country’s foremost highlife artistes, Daddy Lumba, which was gaining wide popularity at the time. The song, “Yentie Obia” (We will not listen to anyone) was played by all the radio stations and hardly would one walk any distance without hearing someone singing it. The song was an instant hit. It is a song about someone who is tired of the complaints and ingratitude of people claiming that he has not done enough, notwithstanding all his sacrifices, philanthropy and social contributions. So this man has decided, for now, that he will not listen to anyone anymore, but only do what pleases him. I liked the song for the beat, and one can easily share the frustration of the “fed-up” individual. But I am also troubled by the full meaning of the words of the song. Reflecting on this song, my discomfort comes from a life as an academic/community worker. As African peoples brought up in

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families and communities, I do not think we can afford the luxury of thinking in such highly individualistic ways.  As a graduate student in the Western academy, I realized the importance of belonging to a community/association. It was a place for support and spiritual healing. I also realized that the academy can be a lonely place for certain bodies. One needs to have some supporting mechanism like collectivities/associations that bears our mutual interests and academic and professional goals.There are many colonial hierarchies that script human lives in the academy. These hierarchies play out in knowledge production, interrogation, validation and dissemination. The hierarchies play out in terms of what is deemed valid or not valid. The support and mentorship that emerge from a collectivity is necessary. While this may not address the individualism of the academy, community bonding also offers a counterpoint to those who want to survive. Such support and mentorship from belonging to the group go a long way in enhancing individual professional growth, especially for the racialized academic.

Theoretical Framework To start with, the essay is framed within an anti-colonial, anti-racist and Afrocentric interrogation of leadership. The anti-colonial is a theorization of colonial and neo-colonial relations and the aftermath, and the implications of imperial structures on processes of knowledge production, interrogation, validation and dissemination; claims to Indigeneity and Indigenousness, and the recourse to subjective agency and politics (Dei, 2000). It is argued that knowledge must purposively serve to challenge colonial imposition and help the learner to be decolonized. This decolonization involves a reconsideration of the totality of the relations of people and the land and spaces on which we live or occupy (see also Biermann, 2011). ‘Colonial’ is understood as not simply ‘foreign or alien’, but more profoundly as ‘imposed and dominating’(see also Dei and Asgharzadeh, 2000). Knowledge is a power relation affecting groups different in the social and intellectual context. When married to an antiracist discursive lens, the emphasis is on race identity and how such identity is linked to schooling and education. The saliency of race marks itself in practices of anti-Black racism that negate, devalue and silence the experiences of Black/African, Indigenous and racial minorities in the academy. Race as such is deemed consequential in schooling and education. The recognition of a race/racial identity is coming to a socio-

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political consciousness of oneself and place in the Western academy. Such identity shapes how we make sense of our experiences, as well as, how they connect to everyday lived realities. Similarly, the African-centered paradigm provides a space for African peoples to interpret their own experiences, their own terms, worldviews and understandings rather than being forced through a Eurocentric lens. As argued elsewhere (Dei, 2017b; forthcoming) an African-centered perspective is about developing an African worldview emphasizing the centrality of African culture, agency, history, identity and experience. The African subject through this perspective becomes the materials of her or his own histories, stories, and experiences (see Asante, 1991, 2003; Mazama, 2001; van Dyk, 1996; Ziegler, 1996). Bringing an anti-colonial reading to an African-centered knowing and knowledge-base contributes to the sharpening of the politics of intellectual engagement for African peoples. Among the theoretical suppositions of Afrocentric anticolonialism is the insistence that the transformation of Africa/n realities must start with the issue of re-conceptualizing education, e.g., asking new questions about the what, how, and why of education. Current schooling and education are essentially a colonizing and oppressive experience and any attempt at transforming African educational systems calls for taking an unequivocal anti-colonial stance. This stance can be liberating, affirming and ensuring that we become resistant to colonizing and imperializing knowledges. The chapter borrows from Indigenous African philosophies and cultural knowings and their pedagogic, instructional and communicative relevance for understanding a collective Black/African leadership. There is an Akan proverb of Ghana which states that “when lost, go back to the departure point”. “Sankofa”, in its literal meaning of “go back and fetch” or the Cabralian sense of “return to the source,” is an epistemic voicing of Indigenous knowing as we seek to challenge the universalizing of Eurocolonial modernist thought. It is maintained that as Africans, we need “a turn in the mental African universe” (Kiti, 2013) not only to help re-center our Indigenous cultural understandings and our relative social positionings (e.g., where Black/Africans and our knowledge systems stand in relation to others and other bodies of knowledge), but also to reclaim the rich intellectual tradition of African leadership. The learning objective is to develop more radical and positive solutions to African problems and challenges through an understanding of a collective leadership and advocacy. Today, the postmodernist thinking requires us to complicate our existence, identities, histories and cultures. We may contest, but also

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affirm, Black/African and Africanness and what these mean. Nonetheless, Black scholars, as part of the collective African leadership, can no longer shy away from the responsibility to contribute to build, create and sustain our complex communities as we seek to produce knowledge on and about ourselves and our realities. For African scholars the collective work “to become ourselves again is one of the major tasks prescribed by history” (Hountondji, 1997, p. 12). 

Theorizing the Collective from Diasporic Situatedness As argued in a forthcoming paper (Dei, 2017a), African scholars in the diaspora, must express a common African intellectual character rooted in a set of clear principles. In my reading, there is no requirement for a shared physical space as a precondition. As with Rasta who took up slave chants of “back to Africa”, the centering of Africa needs not imply a physical return to the source since, as Amilcar Cabral notes, we must bloom or flourish where we are planted. It is about a shared history and affinity however fictive. Clearly, both the issues of ‘relevance’ and the concept of “debt” to ‘community’ are contested, not least of which certain extortionate and rejectionist criticisms of those Black educators/scholars who do/would not perform a hegemonic narrative of what it means to be Black. However, I see such collectivities/associations as pushing an intellectual agenda that has no force compliance. After all, the search for academic excellence, as has been defined in the Western academy, is not enough for our Black/African communities, and for us, as Black educators/scholars. There are some luxuries and privileges of academic grandstanding in the academy that we cannot afford.  There is a need for an articulation of a vision and a theoretical prism about the ways we build strong African Associations as foundational building blocks for the promotion of African critical thought and academic politics at this critical juncture in our history when the question of Africanness, Blackness and anti-Blackness has surfaced in powerful ways (see also Dei, 2017c). The African existence is continually under assault. We are continually being asked to prove that we exist and matter. If we are not being asked to validate ourselves, our histories and experiences are easily discounted. The education of our youth is a continuing challenge for the school systems. Not everyone who studies the African subject matter brings an embodied and ethical connection to his/her work. There is a cry to lead a critical scholarship to study, understand and teach about our communities in a sense of collective knowledge production with these

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communities themselves. African scholars exist as members of their own communities. African scholars are also charged with the responsibility to come out with solutions to our own problems. We are asked to pioneer new analytical systems for understanding our own communities. These responsibilities are huge and in many ways they also offer a justification why we need associations like the one for the study of African Education. There is too much time often spent intellectualizing on what really a community means and who belongs to such communities. Such questions prevent people from acknowledging that they are already a part of communities. A great example would be the classroom where we can all develop ideas by listening to our colleagues as we are all in communities. It is as if our differences and contestations undercut any alluding to “community” since valid knowledge differences do not have to be seen as a way to separate people or disintegrate communities. To the contrary, differences expressed in view-points, perspectives, opinions, etc. can actually strengthen communities. I argue for an African intellectual leadership and advocacy — a form of leadership that acknowledges membership in, and indebtedness to, the African and the global community across space and time, as well as leadership that is not inhibited by what some might call the intellectual gymnastics of poststructuralism and postmodernism (see also Dei, 2017a forthcoming).  Clearly, there are challenges. For example, a critical theorization of leadership responsibilities of Black academics is an important entry point in the formation of an International Association of African Educators; we must acknowledge the challenges we confront in relation to an Africancentered vision, theory and principles in an African academic leadership. An African intellectual leadership itself must proceed to identify and understand the exact nature and complexity of problems and challenges we confront in the task of spearheading ideas of our collective existence and community well-being. Such a leadership must seek the ethical and active participation in antiracist, anticolonial struggles from the standpoint of an African self and collective identification and the power to define ourselves. Such a leadership must offer a vision of just exactly how we come to disrupt the normal economic, cultural, social and political workings of Whiteness and African consciousness in the academy (Dei 2017a, c; see also Mutua, 2006 in a different discussion). A leadership in forming an Association for the collective well-being of African educators must engage with the ideals of African local cultural knowledges. Indigenous African cultural knowledges reward the values of

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community, social responsibility, collective belonging, mutual interdependence and subordinating individual ambitions to achieving the welfare and well-being of the group. It does not mean that the concept of an individual and personal ambition is absent from Indigenous African cultures. What is emphasized is an understanding that the community and group supersede the interests of the individual. Individual hard work, merit and accomplishments are welcome but must be assessed in terms of the community well-being. In other words, we live within communities and without the community there is no individual. The community provides a supporting role and context for individual advancement, and individual accomplishments must also benefit the community. The idea of a ‘competitive individual’ is shunned in favor of a ‘cooperative one’. This is the essence of community and social responsibility (see related works by Boateng, 1980; Letseka, 2000; Adeyinaka & Ndwapi, 2002; Agyarkwa, 1974; Busia, 1969: Fafunwa, 1982). While these values are not the sole ownership of African peoples, they are values that local communities have through time cherished, albeit in current circumstances there is a corruption of individualism, competitiveness, self-promotion, and personal greed and lust for power and authority. This is not romanticism and mythicism. It is a recognition of the multiple ways of knowing about our worlds. Social difference has always been a site of contention when speaking about local knowledge. In the case of claiming African-centered knowledges, the question of gender and the patriarchal nature of knowledge cannot be swept under the carpet. In effect, how gender, class, sexuality, and ethnicity intersperse and intersect discussions of a collective African Indigenous collectivity is significant to broach. A Black/African Indigenous leadership while conveyed as a collective can, as a matter of fact, be an assemblage of knowledges of a heterosexual, masculine, male, able-bodied membership. Within associations the question of difference means many things e.g., different aspirations, realities, conditionalities, expectations and ambitions. This is why it is imperative that the evocation of community in any association becomes attentive to difference. Acknowledging difference is being able to work with tensions, and conflicts. There are competing claims to membership that present challenges for an association. Hence, the search for a genuinely Black/African-centered Indigenous leadership must be an anti-domination project, one committed to the existential wholeness and well-being of Black/African peoples and their varied communities expressive of their material, emotional, cultural and spiritual well-being.

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The Question of “Added Value” to Our Scholarship and Work What do professional Associations bring to the table? I will turn now to address the advantages of having collectivities such as an International Association for African Educators that seek mutual agendas and interests. I will highlight a couple of strengths of an Association for the purpose of conversation, which is not intended to mean these are all the strengths one can think of. First, there is the question of “strength in numbers”. Being a collective in an Association brings together a diverse group of people with shared and sometimes disparate interests. The idea is that the Association is around to defend certain interests of its members and to promote certain causes. When a group decides to form an Association, its effectiveness emerges not simply for the articulated goals but the willingness of members to see themselves as a collective mass pursuing a common purpose. The members give support to each other. The strength in numbers lies in the fact that the Association is much more than the sum total of its individuals. This is why it is always a concern when an Association cannot grow its membership. The large number speaks to the Association reaching a larger body and the body also seeing shared benefits from the Association which makes it strong because members would defend the Association as a group. A weak Association is often defined by its dwindling membership when people do not see any benefits of belonging and therefore do not take up membership. What this means for an International Association of African Educators is ensuring that there is good membership and that this membership constantly grows in part because of the relevance of the group. It also means membership understands why it is relevant to belong to such a collective. The question of access to relevant information, belonging to support networks, and cultivating personal and professional attributes that ensure social and academic success are vital to the African scholar in the academy. Addressing this challenge is more than a question of leadership. It is also about membership responsibility. It is known that any society, community or Association is as good as its membership. Given that the field of education is very broad, for an International Association of African Educators to be international it must draw on a broad membership that has a wide spectrum across geographical spaces but also disciplinary backgrounds. Second, a professional Association is also effective and appealing to its membership if it cultivates a powerful ability for information-sharing and communication-flow among members. Hence, sharing knowledge and expertise may be one reason people would belong to an Association; its

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effectiveness is also dependent on the Association’s sharing information and knowledge among its members. Information and communication are the engine of an Association. They are part of how an Association constantly redefines itself in terms of mission, agenda and vision. Communication-flow removes mistrust and keeps membership in focus in terms of what it is that brings the collective together. Part of the information and communication flow is the Association being able to articulate its mission and agenda to its members, allowing members easy access to information that can help them in their own professional development and growth. Scholars may join an Association to seek peer support and mentorship. In other cases, scholars want to have a voice in their respective disciplines and may be able to define the intellectual agenda as it affects their communities. When it comes to African scholarship, we have a long history of others defining this scholarship. The African voice is continually silenced in the academy. Having an Association may allow its members to find their voice especially if it is the case of the marginalized voices in the academy. It allows the voice to be heard and to be at the forefront of defining agendas. An Association may fall when its ability to share information and allow communication-flow is suspect. In such cases the Association is not able to communicate its relevance to its members and neither is it able to define and articulate the need to have the Association in the first place.  Third, the process of seeking validation, acknowledgment and recognition is always problematic and tension-filled in the academy. The academy has its hegemonic/dominant ways of knowledge production, interrogation, validation and dissemination. Many times dominant bodies have been assigned discursive authority and authorial control in speaking about or on behalf of the ‘Other’. Particularly, scholars from marginalized communities are constantly in a struggle to make their voices heard. Africans in the Diaspora are not always recognized for their earned excellence and if they are, it is usually by using an Eurocentric yardstick. Forming an Association to define and defend Africans on these problematic issues is a necessary political struggle for the marginalized, disadvantaged and colonized bodies in the academy. It is an attempt to create and authenticate our own validation on our own terms. So the questions become: Why should we not have an Association that helps us articulate our own sense of validation and recognition in hostile climates? Why do we not validate and recognize our own existence? What are the spaces that we can create to foster our agenda for recognition and validation? The politics of recognition requires that we belong to groups and communities that would support each other’s work in scholarship,

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research, teaching, learning and community service. If certain procedures and structures are put in place to further these goals, these become an added value to the importance of the Association. To give an example, an International Association of African Educators could come up with its own journal that helps publish intellectual works of their own scholars and inclusive of others, working with well-articulated notions of academic excellence that may not be necessarily Eurocentric. We might define existing understandings of excellence broadly which is not a watering down by us of multiple and different ways of knowing. In some way, having an International Association of African Educators should be read also as an attempt to validate the study of African education in its own right and within the academy. The visibility that such an Association gives to the area of scholarship becomes a sort of recognition and validation of the importance of this area of scholarship in the academy. Fourth, support and mentorship are a key area of need that justifies the existence of professional associations in the academy and any institutional setting, particularly for bodies still struggling for a sense of belonging (see also Yosso, 2005; Ewing, 2008; Bernier, Larose & Soucy, 2005). We have young and new African faculty not to mention undergraduate and graduate students joining the ranks of the academy every year. Those with the privilege of history have a responsibility to mentor the up-and-coming African scholars. Mentorship, sharing, reciprocity and “giving back” are strategies to decolonize the study of Africa. Mentorship is also a two-way process and it is reciprocal and benefits collective membership. An Association maintains its credibility and significance in the eyes of its members when it becomes a space and linchpin for mentoring members. In such a case the International Association of African Educators is expected to make a conscious effort to focus on practical strategies of academic mentorship for young African/Black/racialized and Indigenous scholars in our educational institutions. It can help create avenues for information sharing as part of the mentorship. During its annual conference or in its regular correspondence with membership, the Association will lead discussions guided by some key questions: How do senior scholars and young academics and students work together in the spirit of knowledgesharing, reciprocity and ‘giving back’ to each other? How do senior colleagues assist their younger counterparts or colleagues to develop the necessary academic profile that ensures success in the academy (e.g., dissertation completion, course essay writing, refereed publications, teaching, research, promotions, etc.)? What does it mean to create a ‘community of learners’ or ‘academic communities’ in our institutions of higher learning? How do we groom young scholars into positions of power

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and authority in our institutions? What does it take to academically collaborate successfully? What are the perils, joys and desires of mentorship and collaboration? How do senior educators and students find time to share, assist and mentor younger colleagues and students in the spirit of reciprocity? Most critically, how do African scholars service their communities, especially advocate for families and their children? There is a need for us as African educators/scholars to develop genuine reciprocal relations and a co-relational status with ourselves and communities, and to co-produce knowledge in ways that are mutually beneficial to ourselves and our communities. This project is only successful through mentoring and mentorship programs that have institutional support, community backing and the commitment of senior faculty and student colleagues who sit on the accident of history and its attendant privileges structured along lines of race, class, gender, sexuality, [dis]ability and other axis of difference. We must see a sharing of knowledge through critical mentorship as a project of reclamation, not about a nostalgic past, nostalgia from a geographical belonging or inclination. But reclamation is about using knowledge to rejuvenate our historical and spiritual selves. What we seek to reclaim was/is never lost. It is always there wanting and waiting to be rediscovered or found. In effect, through academic mentorship and sharing of knowledge we begin to develop a sense for an authentic self as African scholars and Africanists. Fifth, is the concern for particularly local Indigenous/colonized and racialized scholars to be at the forefront in the search for new analytical systems for understanding our own communities (see Yankah 2004; Nyamnjoh, 2012). If we are to meet this charge we also have to ask about the paradigms with which we do our work. For an International Association of African Educators, the pursuit of knowledge from an African-centered perspective as part of the search for solutions to African problems is critical. The Association must be African-centered in its outlook. The raison d’etre for this is not difficult to articulate: Unless we are in a mode of academic denial or historical, cultural and intellectual amnesia, there is a large body of African indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing that have not been taken up, or at best been marginalized, in the academy. If we are serious in subverting dominant knowledges and bringing such knowledge to the fore of academic discussions, nobody but ourselves and associations obstensibly set up to promote our scholarship should be the leaders and vanguards. As I have noted in another context (Dei, 2010, 2014a) when it comes to studies about Africa a key question for us is: How do we re-imagine scholarship about Africa differently to drastically change the colonial and re-colonial foundations of some of our

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disciplines? This question gestures to the way African experience is spoken usually with metaphors of darkness, emptiness, innocence, and the need for an imperial savior. Our humanity is continually denied (see Taiwo, 2004). Africa becomes synonymous with failure, disease, violence, corruption and moral decadence. This is what others have referred to as the “mocking of Africa” (Sekyi-Otu, 2010). Warsame (2010) writes about problematizing and contesting the flattening and cheating Africa of its landscapes, fluid identities, specificities and complexities by asking how are we all complicit in this?[see also Dei, 2010]. I think an Association pursuing scholarship about Africa that fails to flesh out our complexities and contradictions just as we speak about what unites us as a community is equally guilty of the misrepresentations about Africa. Working with this idea requires one to be humble. The Association must be a place to continually challenge silences around the question of African identity and must support scholars/learners to connect our identities to knowledge production. The Association must also be a place to move beyond the conception of African identity steeped in Euro-American hegemony and dominance (Dei, 2010; 2014a). But it is important that we also articulate a full understanding of what African-centered knowledge truly means. This is significant given the often misguided attempts to interpret what this body of knowledge means using Eurocentric lens. For those who seek to understand African centering the continent, her cultures and peoples, we have that intellectual responsibility to posit the theory of African-centered knowledge as counterpoint to hegemonic knowledge that masquerades as universal knowledge. As has been argued the African-centered paradigm provides a space for African peoples to interpret their own experiences on their own terms, worldviews and understandings rather than being forced through Eurocentric lens (Asante, 1991; 2003). African-centered perspective is about developing an African worldview that connects African cosmologies and spiritual ontologies to epistemes. This worldview as a system of thought is shaped by the lens of Africology stressing the centrality of culture, agency, history, identity and experience (Asante, 2003). It is also a worldview that theorizes Africa beyond its physical boundaries, meaning the body of knowledge has relevance beyond the continent to the diasporic context. Consequently, an African-centered education would stress the notion of shared and contested cultures, the importance of centering learners’ shared and competing histories, identities and experiences, and focusing on the learners’ individual and collective agencies to bring about change in personal, social and community lives. Culture is critical to knowledge production and pedagogy. In fact, cultural paradigms shape

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knowledge and our epistemologies of coming to know. As a theory of knowledge, the African-centered perspective works with the notion of ‘centeredness’ of the learner in her or his own learning in order to critically engage knowledge. A culturally-grounded perspective that centers African/Indigenous, and local peoples’ worldviews help resist the dominance of a Eurocentric perspective (see also Dei, 2017b). It is a claim of the intellectual agencies of African subjects.

Responding to Challenges In this final section of the chapter, I highlight a few challenges for an International Association of African Educators, namely setting goals and priorities. How does an Association set up its priorities? Given the divergent and contesting interests involved in coming into a collective, the ability to set and define priorities and what becomes a focused task is always critical. I will highlight two important goals for an International Association of African Education. First, is the question of growing its membership by sustaining its relevance and focusing on the question of academic mentorship. The second is community and international linkages and partnerships. These are interrelated. Each of these has its own challenges. Hence, in the discussion, it is also vital to put a gaze on how an International Association for the Study of African Education can address such challenges. 

Faculty/Faculty/Student Research, Writing and Teaching Mentorship In a recently released book (Dei 2017c) I have addressed the question of Black scholars and academic mentorship. I reiterate some ideas here. An important goal/objective is to identify the areas of investigation that enable the Association to fill important gaps so as to be attractive to a membership. The ability to respond to questions as why and how we need to grow the membership of the association; who should be targeted; what is the target goal; what are the strategies to achieve and what are the potential benefits for members, are good questions to continually occupy ourselves with and are healthy questions to ask. Some of the issues discussed earlier about mentorship, pushing African-centered perspectives, sharing vital information for the academic and professional growth of members, etc. are part of setting important agendas and priorities for an Association. There is also the urgency of increasing membership. An Association is a community because it has growing membership. It is the

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membership that gives the Association its face and visibility. A conscious campaign of publicity and information-sharing to make the Association known to a large community is a practical strategy to embark upon. Holding an annual conference with cutting edge themes and drawing on key thinkers in the field are helpful. Individual members can each charge themselves with the responsibility to bring the Association to their colleagues, friends and communities. A commitment to bring about new members to the annual meeting of the Association is usually productive. Recruitment drives using mass mailing and the internet to reach academic departments and professional bodies are significant. Maintaining a data base that allows the association to see who is in the membership, what expertise they bring and how the association can call on individuals to offer their knowledge and skills, whether in mentorship, connecting researchers, consultations and advice on matters affecting the community and/or its professional growth and academic scholarship is important.  There is also the question of cultivating a sustainable academic mentorship program in an Association. Mentorship is a learning process whereby younger and new faculty, staff and students are led into the academic culture through the guidance, knowledge and assistance of older and established faculty, staff and students (see Palmer, 1998; Hao, et al., 2012; Philip et al., 2010, Black et al., 1987). In broaching mentorship, I am suggesting a new intellectual framing that implicates an International Association of African Educators beyond the conventional way the academy does business. The academy is not just a physical place. It can be a social space. One does not have to be physically located and in contact with other faculty and students for mentorship to happen. It is an undeniable fact that given the weak representation of racial minority faculty in our academies in the West, the university can be a lonely place for African scholars and graduate students. This is more the reason why an International Association of African Educators must creatively take advantage of existing opportunities and to think through ways of enhancing the faculty experience for its members. How can an Association fill the gap in terms of what is missing or lacking in our academic institutions for the African Scholar? We may lament the fact that the faculty of color are underrepresented in the Western academy. But how can the formation of an Association take up this challenge and render itself useful in terms of stepping in to respond to what the absence of faculty diversity entails for individual faculty professional development and career growth? In other words, the Association can become that critical mass the lone African scholar/faculty of color misses in his/her respective institution.

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Academic mentorship can include collaborative work in publications, conference presentations, networking within the academic profession and other information flow and tutelage to get a foot in the door with teaching experience, design courses etc. (see Cropper, 2000; Davidson, et al., 2001; Detsky & Baerlocher, 2007, in related contexts). There are some mentorship steps and strategies the Association can promote. For example, it could encourage a buddy system that pairs up young and established faculty as a mentorship practice. Such mentorship can be pursued through correspondence where faculty share ideas, seek advice and engage in collaborative research and publication activities, including joint conference presentations. Steps usually taken at the departmental level of individual faculty mentorship at academic institutions can be emulated at the level of Association. For example, the idea of a monthly-speaker series in the department of a university where faculty make presentations, sometimes with students, on on-going work/projects can be brought into the activities of an International Association of African Educators. At its annual meetings, the leadership of the Association can encourage panel sessions of faculty and students working collaboratively together, and also ensure that during meeting times, open spaces/slots are in place for senior colleagues to meet junior faculty on a one-to-one basis to learn about issues they are contending with. Under the mentorship of a buddy system, younger or new faculty could be assisted with exemplary practices of graduate student supervision, helping them learn the ropes from experienced faculty, including the transfer of research skills as in research methodologies, guidance and brokering collaborative international partnerships between universities with respective faculties. Some points that could be covered are: lecture delivery with senior faculty, sharing practices of teaching styles, course developing, how to handle large classes, preparation of course outlines, and getting published. Such mentorship collaborations are not only beneficial to new, young and the recently hired faculty but also senior colleagues can also benefit knowing about the challenges confronting new faculty given the dynamics of the contemporary student population and the new topics under investigation. The academy everywhere insists and prides itself on ‘publish or perish’. Publishing is a mark of academic growth and maturity. Publishing also demonstrates the ability of a scholar to create independent ideas and thoughts and further add to existing knowledge. Clearly, there is joy in publishing (e.g., seeing a name behind a publication; basis of awarding merit, pay increases in many institutions). But for the new scholar, publishing is not just making the mark and joining the ranks. It is also creating that independence as a scholar worthy

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of note. Many scholars may join an International Association for African Educators with this goal in mind. The question is how does a new scholar get there? An Association of scholars can facilitate a process to assist upcoming scholars to seek advice from established publishers, search for support networks and form study groups that partner faculty with other students in joint publication projects. This is all in the context of collaborative work for mutual benefits.  Within the academy and other professional settings there are opportunities for faculty-to-faculty and faculty-to-student mentorships through institutional research programs that can go underutilized. In order to increase research capacity and research innovation from its faculty and graduate students, many universities have instituted a research excellence capacity development initiative, sometimes managed by the University Research Office. Such a program is intended to support the development of highly competent and confident young researchers who have solid and innovative research plans. The program has also served as a way of attracting, developing and retaining young researchers. In some instances universities have used such a program to help address the problem of an “ageing research-productive cohort”; accelerate the development of the next generation of top researchers in their respective fields; support transformation of the research cohort; improve the number of publications in high-impact factor journals, thus enhancing the quality of research published by academic researchers. These possibilities exist outside the university through external funding agencies. It is not surprising that at times not all faculty, senior graduate students and post-doctoral candidates are aware of such university and external research funding initiatives. Sometimes a new faculty/graduate student may require assistance to access these programs and/or making formal submissions. It does not hurt for a group like an International Association of African Educators to think through ways to assist its membership to take full advantage of such avenues and opportunities in their workplaces and/or in external markets. There could be information sharing sessions, sessions providing assistance in grant application submissions, a list of external funding sources available to members in the subject field etc. This is all part of the membership and the Association making itself useful to members. This whole area of faculty-to-faculty and faculty-to-student research collaboration is about mentorship of students and younger/newer scholars as future researchers. The joint faculty/student research endeavors are part of training future researchers. Faculty enlisting the assistance of graduate students to put proposals together (e.g., students doing literature search)

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and becoming partners in research, empowering graduate students to come up with viable research projects for investigation, hiring students on research projects, allowing students to use part of research material for their dissertation, and co-publishing research findings with students do not all have to be restricted to university working relations. An International Association of African Educators can put in place a mechanism to carry through such objectives under the mandate of the Association through its mentorship program that pairs faculty and senior graduate students. Academic mentorship through the International Association of African Educators must, in effect, seek to enhance the student experience. This means, for example, encouraging graduate and senior undergraduate students’ involvement in the Association through conference travel assistance, allocating space for student papers and poster sessions, a student seat on the Association’s Executive Board, and instituting awards for best student papers presented at annual conferences. Having job fairs at its conferences provides young researchers with ways to learn the ropes of the teaching profession. It also means allowing the students to have leadership roles and preparing the young to take over when the current generation of scholars retires or leaves the field. We should see all this as more than role-modeling but as strengthening capacity-building for the Association’s leadership itself. Enhancing the student experience will also cultivate in young learners the expectation of giving back and reciprocity which many times lack in the academy. This reciprocity and giving back will ensure that future scholars also see the value and importance of mentoring those who come after them and pass on their wealth of knowledge and expertise to the generation yet unborn. In the current academic climate, these mentoring strategies, if geared at promoting critical scholars challenging conventional/dominant knowledges of the academy, can perhaps help arrest the cultural power of neo-liberal capitalism to domesticate oppositional scholarship and counter knowledges upending the status quo. The whole area of teaching mentorship is a huge concern and can be an area for improving and enhancing the learning environment for students. One does not have to be in the same academic institution to carry on these responsibilities. An Association can be a space for dialogue on academic matters serving as information-sharing. It is important for the Association to hold sessions on strategies about designing and co-teaching courses. Mentors and mentees can have discussions on: What do we want our students to acquire at the end of the course or a teaching session? How do we get that knowledge across or how do we get there with our students?

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How do we catch the attention of our students? How do we resolve classroom tensions? What are some of the successful teaching strategies? Having electronic discussions that explore ways to ‘manage course delivery’ and maximizing classroom interactions of learners to ensure effective learning and thinking through questions are all helpful. Similarly, mentorship for academic supervision is particularly crucial. The whole area of team work is vital. It may involve collective mentorship, buddybuddy system, co-supervision strategies, and shared responsibilities among doctoral committee members. It could come in the form of mentors assisting mentees in graduate supervision, feedback on students’ work, expectations of students and supervisors, best practices of graduate supervision, and ways to also mentor students for academic success. The Association could set up a task force to assist its members in many of these issues by coming up with strategies to achieve certain goals to enhance the student and faculty life of its members. Senior colleagues can share their wisdom on such questions as: What does it mean to supervise students? What are the roles and responsibilities of the supervisor? What goes into making critical decisions on the selection and the continuum of advising and supervising students? On the ownership of knowledge, discussion can include assistance on crediting sources, and what defensible work is. Basically, enhancing students’ experience is primarily about improved support and time in the completion of studies. It is also about developing and understanding clear students’ trajectories while in the program and establishing procedures for students’ progress-monitoring (e.g., an ‘Annual Student Progress Review Form’ to be completed and signed by both supervisor and students, identifying academic progress and challenges, and how to be addressed). It also includes establishing supervisor/student meetings (e.g., meetings held once a month, setting expectations, developing an agenda for such meetings), and stressing to students the importance of keeping timelines (e.g., coursework, comprehensives, thesis proposal and ethics, fieldwork and data analysis, write-up, format/schedule for submission of chapters). It is also about providing feedback and reporting schedules (e.g., 2-3 weeks maximum for turn-around of submitted works, providing written feedback and also having a face-to-face meeting, encouraging students to bring a tape recorder to their meetings and to work delicately to create a relaxing atmosphere for students during such meetings). There is also the mentoring of the writing phase (e.g., working with the field data, going through drafts before submission to committee, when professional editing is sought, intellectual property rights and plagiarism, developing the

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culture of crediting sources, setting examples through co-publishing, and citing your students’ work). 

Building Bridges with our Local, External and International Communities An Association of minority scholars whose academic, research and political mandate seeks to build bridges with the community is a strength. There are times when as African scholars we study our communities from a distance. This has often led to mistrust, cynicism, alienation and a perception of intellectual elitism by our varied communities. We are perceived as not always taking up the causes of our communities in our universities. And there can be that disconnect between the African scholars and the Black community. We may be accused of “taking up spaces” within our institutions while forgetting the community struggles that opened our institutions for us to be where we are. As African scholars, we cannot simply dismiss these charges or treat them as misinformed or unfounded. If there is that perception we must address it. An International Association of African Educators has a responsibility. These are conversations to be heard and this moves beyond the individual African scholar to implicate us as a collective. It is about making ourselves relevant as a collective body. The challenge can be addressed on multiple fronts. An invitation to bring the community into the academy is one. Taking our work and existence into our communities is another. I have insisted that in the treacherous climate and environment of the Western academy (where rugged individualism is rewarded through a ‘dog eat dog’ mentality and a coloniality of hierarchies), the African scholar needs the spiritual backing and emotional support of the community to maintain relevance, sanity and authenticity (see Dei, 2014b). Notwithstanding these pressures, an International Association of African Education encourages and supports such faculty-student research team projects, which help foster a climate of a broader community outreach, thereby enhancing teaching, research and service collaborations with communities. The Association itself must do community outreach and involve the community in its academic and professional pursuits. The community is not homogenous but we must be able to identify local communities we want to partner with. Such partnership ensures that we are able to identify major challenges and interests of our own communities. The community becomes a part of our work and there is a sense of collective ownership of knowledge.

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How does an International Association of African Educators define its responsibilities to the Mother Land? The Association should be thinking about its contribution to graduate students’ training and mentorship in Africa. An important learning in doing collaborative work in Africa and, particularly, working with local colleagues and students is the importance of knowledge-sharing, reciprocity and ‘giving back’. This requires the ‘outsider’ scholar/researcher finding time to share, assist and mentor colleagues and students in the spirit of reciprocity. For example, a repeated request from African colleagues is for those of us in the diaspora to maintain professional contact and assist particularly emerging scholars (senior doctoral students and young faculty) in publications so that they also develop their careers as young scholars and researchers. Members of the Association should be developing long-standing affiliations with African educational institutions to facilitate our mutual professional and academic development. It is intellectually and politically limiting simply to read scholarly interactions as a one-way track. African scholars in the diaspora can assist in many ways, not simply by taking up full-time appointment with African institutions and/or be based solely on the continent. There is a need for ‘brain circulation’ and one way African scholars in the diaspora can assist in African educational development is making our expertise available to students, faculty and colleagues on the continent. The Association can pay attention to the production, interrogation, validation and dissemination of knowledge about Africa to challenge colonial, imperial and colonizing knowledges. There is a broad spectrum of converging interests around social, economic and development issues. This calls for a collective dialogue among scholars and students in these spaces. As Zeleza (2005a) long ago exhorted, we must find collective ways to deal with the 'book famine' (i.e., shortage of recent publications such as journal articles) on the continent, especially in the current climate of economic hardships and dwindling publishing outlets. This is crucial in breaking away from the entrenched relations of domination and dependency that epitomizes African scholars and Euro-American publishing outlets. This is critical if we are to define our problems, articulate home-grown solutions, and direct and control the study of Africa (see also Zeleza, 2004; 2005b). Interactions with other Associations on the continent, including expansion to reach continental membership, provides, possibilities to enrich our collective academic training, research, teaching and particularly, theoretical scholarship as it pertains to scholarly publications on Africa. Increasingly, universities in the Global North are reaping the benefits of international education. But there must be institutional credibility for what we do, and

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an International Association of African Educators can give us that credibility.

Conclusion I conclude with some more questions. As we move forward in the coming years, the International Association of African Educators will be facing more global challenges: What are the goals and purpose of an International Association of African Educators in a globalized context? In what ways can the Association assist its members to pursue education that enhances their academic and professional development and assist their own communities to find solutions to pressing problems? An Association must be driven by the needs and concerns of the membership that belong to the collective. The Association maintains its relevance by being responsive. It must be cutting edge in terms of being on top of the current issues and debates shaping the field. It must advance an anti-colonial knowledge that challenges the culture of hierarchies that masquerades in the Western academy. It must provide an important space to mentor and shadow our students and scholars to ensure a sustained contribution to global knowledge. I staunchly believe that any academic association for African scholars must assist in reframing education and also engage the cultural knowledges of its members to help subvert the internalized colonial hierarchies of conventional schooling. African educators must employ the multifaceted ways that communities, scholars, and students can enact transformation at all levels. To become meaningful and engaging, an International Association of African Educators must pursue the possibilities of decolonized education. It is only then can an Association continue to meet to celebrate its relevance. After all, no one wants to meet to celebrate a groups’ irrelevance.

Acknowledgements I want to thank the Organizing Committee of the inaugural and historic Conference of the International Association of African Educators held at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, US on September 25- 26, 2015. It was a privilege to be invited to lead its ‘Visionary Session’. I thank members present for some of their ideas shared at the gathering. Thanks to Arezou Soltani of the Department of Social Justice Education for reading through and commenting on an earlier draft of the paper as well.

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CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

Mercy Agyepong is a doctoral candidate in the Educational Policy Studies program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from SUNY-Geneseo, and a Master’s degree in Sociology of Education with a concentration in Social and Cultural Studies in Education from the New York University and a second Master’s degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. Ms. Agyepong’s research interest is in sociology of race, urban education, and immigration. She has written several book chapters and articles in these areas. Her dissertation research focuses on the racialization and Identity formation of 1.5-and 2.0generation Black African students, and the effects of Africanness and Blackness on their educational experiences and academic achievement. Gordon Brobbey is currently a doctoral student in the Department of Teaching and Learning in the College of Education, University of South Florida, Tampa FL. He is also a Special Education teacher in Pasco County Schools in Florida. Gordon’s research interests include educational access for disadvantaged populations (including minorities and students with special needs), special education teacher evaluation, and teacher education preparation. George J. Sefa Dei is a Ghanaian-born Professor of Social Justice Education and Director of the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE/UT), Canada. Professor Dei’s teaching and research interests are in the areas of Anti-Racism, Black and Minority Schooling, International Development, Anti-Colonial Thought and Indigenous Knowledges Systems. Professor Dei has received numerous national and international recognitions. These include the Carnegie African Diasporan Fellowship (2015-2016), University of South Africa, [UNISA] honorary ‘Professor Extraordinarire, Molefi Kete Asante Institute Distinguished Fellowship, the 2016 Canadian Education Association (CEA) Whitworth Award for Educational Research, and a traditional Ghanaian chieftaincy. Alex Kumi-Yeboah is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice at the University at Albany – State

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University of New York. His research interests include examining mediating cross-cultural factors (educational, social, psychological, sociolinguistic) that impact on the educational advancement of Black immigrant students in U.S. schools. He also studies cross-cultural collaboration and diversity contexts in online education. He has published a number of book chapters and articles in these areas. His current research projects include exploring African immigrant students’ multiple worlds, academic and social experiences in both online and traditional school environments. Margaret Khumbah Mbeseha holds a PhD in Special Education from the University of Wisconsin –Madison. Prior to her PhD. program, she earned an M.Ed. in Rehabilitation Counseling from Penn State University; an M.Ed. (Special Education) from the University of Jos, Nigeria; and B.Ed. Educational Administration and Foundations from the University of Buea, Cameroon. Her teaching and scholarly interest include inclusive practices and policy in education and equitable and quality education for all. She has published a number of book chapters and articles in these areas. She is an internationally recognized consultant and designer of educational services and programs for children and youth with developmental disabilities. She is the founder of the first Inclusive School in Cameroon that provides special education services to children with disabilities/special needs. David N. P. Mburu formerly a lecturer at the Department of African and African American Studies, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, holds a BA, an MA and PhD in Education Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Before joining the University of Kansas, he worked at California State University, Sacramento at the Center for Peace and Conflict Resolutions, Kenya Ministry of Education and as a public high school teacher in Kenya. His main areas of research interest included: gender issues in education, interdisciplinary studies and research, curriculum and instruction, comparative education, instructional strategies and models, HIV/Aids and Education, East African culture, Swahili language and literature. Michael Takafor Ndemanu is an assistant professor of multicultural education, social foundations, and curriculum theory in the Department of Educational Studies at Ball State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Indiana at Bloomington. His research focuses on transformative education, English learner pedagogy, transnational education, translingual literacy, social justice, and peace education. Dr. Ndemanu is the 2015 recipient of Lee

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Cooper Core Curriculum Award from the University of Southern Indiana. Dr. Ndemanu is also the Executive Director of the Global Institute of Transformative Education (GITE), a U.S.-based non-profit firm designed to improve the quality of teaching and education in developing countries. He is the Secretary of the International Association of African Educators. He is co-convening a World Conference on Transformative Education in July 2017 in Buea, Cameroon. Zandile Nkabinde is an Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education, New Jersey City University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Utah in Special Education and Educational Administration, an M.Ed. from Harvard University in teaching curriculum and learning environments and a B.Ed. from the University of Zululand, South Africa. Her research interests include educational inclusion for children with behavior disorders, effective instruction of students with behavior disorders, high stake testing and its impact on minorities and persons with disabilities, empowering parents of special needs children from culturally diverse backgrounds, international special education, emerging interventions for students with autism, and graduate and professional training in special education. She has written and published several works in these areas. Dr. Nkabinde was awarded in 2016 a Carnegie Diaspora Fellowship Program to work on a co-curriculum development of Special Education at the University of Kabianga, in Kericho, Kenya. Peter Otiato Ojiambo is an Associate Professor in the Department of African and African-American Studies at the University of Kansas, USA. He holds a Bachelor of Education degree specializing in Kiswahili and Religious Studies, a Master of Philosophy degree majoring in Sociology of Education from Moi University, Kenya; a Master of Arts degree in International Affairs focusing on African Studies; and a Ph.D. in Educational Studies from Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education, Ohio University. Before joining the University of Kansas, he taught at Ohio University and the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. His research interests include African-centered educational biographies, comparative education, educational leadership, education and democracy, non-western educational thoughts, educational critical theory, learning, teaching, administrative and curriculum theories, relational and care theory, school and society relations, and African languages pedagogy. He has written and published several papers and book chapters in these areas. He is the author of Perspectives on empowering education (2014).

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Patriann Smith-Tobias is an Assistant Professor of Language, Diversity, and Literacy Studies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas Tech University. Patriann’s work emerges at the intersection of language, culture, literacy and multicultural teacher education and draws primarily on sociocultural, sociolinguistic and acculturation theories to examine the ways in which cross-linguistic and cross-cultural differences intersect, clash and collide to impact literacy teaching and learning for culturally and linguistically diverse learners across local, national and international contexts. Linda Tsevi is a lecturer and coordinator of the Center of the School of Continuing and Distance Education, College of Education, University of Ghana, Legon. She has an M.Phil. in Adult Education from the University of Ghana, Legon, MSc in Education, focusing on higher education administration from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and a PhD in Educational Administration and Policy Studies from the State University of New York at Albany. Dr. Tsevi’s research interests include the educational experiences of immigrant and international students, quality assurance, partnerships, cross-border and affiliation issues in private higher education institutions. Omiunota N. Ukpokodu is a Professor in the Division of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She teaches courses in multicultural education, urban education, social justice, and social studies. Her research interests include quality teacher preparation, critical multicultural education, global/citizenship education, immigrant education, transformative learning and pedagogy, culturally responsive teaching, and social justice pedagogy. Dr. Ukpokodu has numerous publications including articles, books and book chapters. She is the author of You can’t teach us if you don’t know us: Becoming an Ubuntu, responsive, and responsible urban teacher (2016, Peter Lang) and co-editor of Contemporary voices from the margin: African educators on African and American education (2012, Information Age Publishing). Dr. Ukpokodu has received several awards including the 2011 National Association for Multicultural Education Equity and social Justice Advocacy Award, 2007 Fulbright-Hays Scholars’ Award (South Africa). She is the founder and founding president of the International Association of African Educators. Teresa Wasonga is a Fulbright Scholar and a Professor in Educational Leadership at Northern Illinois University. She is also the recipient of 2017 MU College of Education Alumni Outstanding Professional

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Achievement Award. She is co-founder of an all-girls boarding secondary school in her native country Kenya (the school educates indigent girls who would otherwise not have access to secondary education). Her research interests are in the areas of school leadership with specific focus on democratic leadership, school improvement, and social justice, institutional factors that determine success and/or failure in secondary schools in Kenya, and resiliency and educational policies, and their impacts on vulnerable populations of East Africa. She has published widely in these areas.