Narrative Ethnographies of Diverse Faculty in Higher Education: “Moral” Multiculturalism among Competing Worldviews

Lynn Wilder; David Sanon; Cecil Carter; Michael Lancellot

doi:10.29333/ejecs/76

Authors

Lynn Wilder Florida Gulf Coast University
David Sanon
Cecil Carter Florida Gulf Coast University
Michael Lancellot

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/76

Keywords:

higher education, diverse faculty, multiculturalism, moral, integration, narrative ethnography

Abstract

Since the Civil Right Movement in the United States, African Americans and other diverse students have forged through “integrated” educational systems to terminal graduate degrees. Some studies suggest racial integration in U. S. schools made White participants less prejudiced toward others, although the data showed that after schooling, many Whites again lived (and still do) in segregated neighborhoods with separation in places of employment, churches, and social groups (Wells, Holme, Revilla, & Atanda, 2004). One diverse participant in this study asked whether, after decades of integration, there has been any real progress, citing excellent educational experiences with all Black teachers within the all Black schools where he grew up. Is it truly progress for diverse students when they are bussed across town to be treated as minorities in mostly White schools? More diverse students do graduate from college; however, the diversity rate of professors is still abysmal. This study reports the contextual experiences of three African American (one an administrator) and one Latina faculty member with decades of experience in the public educational system and as they engaged in the culture of higher education struggling with a moral multiculturalism—whether worldviews (therefore free speech) could be morally determined and whether they as diverse faculty truly belong and are truly respected.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Allen, W.R., Epps, E.G., Guillory, E.A., Suh, S.A., Bonous-Hammarth, M. (2000). The black academic: Faculty status among African Americans in U.S. higher education. The Journal of Negro Education, 69(.05), 112-127.

Banks, J., Cookson, P., Gay, G., Hawley, W. D., Irvine, J. J., Nieto, S., Schofield, J. W., & Stephan, W. G. (2001). Diversity within unity: Essential principles for teaching and learning in a multicultural society. Phi Delta Kappan, 83(3), 196-203. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/003172170108300309

Behar, R. (2003). Translated woman: Crossing the border with Esperanza’s story. Boston: Beacon.

Berger, P. L. (1966). The Social Construction of Reality. New York: Penguin Books.

Bittman, B. L., & Russell, W. B. (2016). Civic education in united states: A multiple regression of civic education scores from the national assessment of educational progress. Research in Social Sciences and Technology, 1(2), 1-23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46303/ressat.01.02.1

Brice, A. J. (2012). Minority recruitment and retention for universities: Bilingual special education faculty. Multicultural Learning and Teaching, Volume 7, Issue 1, ISSN (Online) 2161-2412, DOI: 10.1515/2161-2412.1100, April 2012 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/2161-2412.1100

Byker, E. J., & Marquardt, S. K. (2016). Using critical cosmopolitanism to globally situate: Multicultural education in teacher preparation courses. Journal of Social Studies Education Research, 7(2), 30-50.

Center for Strategic Diversity Leadership & Change Inc. (2010). Florida Gulf Coast University: Campus climate and culture study. Madison, WI: Williams.

Citamak, Y. & Yigit, H., I. (2012). From Student's Table to Teacher's Desk. International Journal of New Trends in Arts, Sports & Science Education, 1(2), 1-7.

College Factual, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/florida-gulf-coast-university/student-life/diversity/

Collier County School District (2014). Retrieved from; http://www.collierschools.com/about/fastfacts.aspx

Cooper, J. (2009). A disturbing trend. Diverse issues in Higher education, 26(9), 20-21.

Cora-Bramble, D. (2006). Minority faculty recruitment, retention and advancement: Applications of a resilience-based theoretical framework. Journal of Healthcare for the Poor and Underserved, 17, 251-255. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/hpu.2006.0057

Corona, R., Velazquez, E., McDonald, S., Avila, M., Neff, M., Iglesias, A., & Halfond, R. (2017). Ethnic labels, pride, and challenges: A qualitative study of Latinx youth living in a new Latinx destination community. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 4(1), 1-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/67

Creswell, J. W. (2006). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Damgaci-Koc, F. & Aydin, H. (2014). An Analysis of Academicians’ Perceptions of Multicultural Education: A Turkish Experience. The Anthropologist, 18(3), 817-833. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09720073.2014.11891614

Davis, D.J. (2008). Mentorship and the socialization of underrepresented minorities into the professoriate: examining varied influences. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 16(3), 278-293. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13611260802231666

Denzin, N. & Lincoln, Y. ( 2011). The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Los Angeles. CA: Sage.

Dooley, E. (2003). Increasing the number of ethnically diverse faculty in special Education programs: Issues and initiatives. Teacher Education and Special Education, 26(4), 264-272. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/088840640302600403

Edwards, J. B., Bryant, S., & Clark, T. (2008). African American female social work educators in predominantly White schools of social work: Strategies for thriving. Journal of African American Studies, 12, 37-49. doi:10.1007/sl2111-007-9029-y DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-007-9029-y

Ersoy, E. (2015). Assessment of Adolescent Perceptions on Parental Attitudes on Different Variables. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 3(5), 165-176. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v3i5.929

Ersoy, E. & Deniz, M., E. (2016). Psychometric Properties of the Gifted Students' Coping with Anger and Decision Making Skills Scale. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(15), 121-128.

Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (2014). Retrieved from: http://fcir.org/2012/02/12/poverty-homelessness-rising-sharply-among-florida-students/

Gay, G. (2010). Culturally Responsive Teaching. New York City, NY: Teacher’s College Press.

Goodlad, J. I., Soder, R., and Sirotnik, K. (1990). Moral dimensions of teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Gubrium, J. F., & Holstein, J. A. (2008). Narrative ethnography. In N. Hesse-Biber & Leavy (Eds.), Handbook of emergent methods (pp. 241-264). New York: Guilford.

Hughes, A.K., Horner, P.S., & Ortiz, D.V. (2012). Being the diversity hire: Negotiating identity in an academic job search. Journal of Social Work Education, 48(3), 595-612. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5175/JSWE.2012.201000101

Kaya, I. & Aydin, H. (2014). Pluralism, Multiculturalism and Bilingual Education [Çoğulculuk, Çokkültürlü ve İkidilli Eğitim]. Ankara: Ani Press.

Kayes, P.E., & Singley, Y. (2010). Time for community colleges to lead on diversifying faculty. Diverse Issues in Higher education, 27(17), 18.

Kopish, M. A. (2016). Preparing globally competent teacher candidates through cross-cultural experiential learning. Journal of Social Studies Education Research, 7(2), 75-108.

Lafer, S.(2014). Democratic Design for the Humanization of Education. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 1(1), 6-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/11

Langellier, K. M. (2001). You’re marked: breast cancer, tattoo, and the narrative performance of identity. In J. Brockmeier & D. Carbaugh (Eds.), Narrative and identity: Studies in autobiography, self, and culture (pp. 145-184). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.1.10lan

McKinley, B.J. (2003). The implementation of diversity in predominantly white colleges and universities. Journal of Black Studies, 34(1), 72-86. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934703253679

McMurtrie, B. (2016). How to do a better job of searching for diversity. Chronicle of Higher Education, 63(3), p. A20-A-25.

Murchison, J. M. (2010). Ethnography Essentials. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Myers, S.L., & Turner, C.S. (2004). The effects of PhD supply on minority faculty representation. The American Economic Review, 94(2), 296-301. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/0002828041301614

National Center for Educational Statistics (2015). Retrieved from: https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=61

Obiakor, F. E. (Ed.) (2007), Multicultural special education: Culturally responsive teaching. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Obiakor, F. E., & Wilder, L. K. (2003). Disproportionate representation of culturally diverse students in special education: What principals can do. Principal Leadership, 4 (2), 16-21.

Prater, M. A., Cramer, A., Wilder, L. K., & Carter, N. J. (2016). Diverse teacher candidates’ perceptions of and recommendations for a special education preparation program. Multicultural Learning and Teaching, Vol. 11(2), 232-251. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/mlt-2016-0005

Prater, M. A., Wilder, L. K., & Dyches, T. T. (2008) Shaping one traditional special educator preparation program toward cultural competence. Teaching Education, 19, 137-151. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10476210802040765

Reichert, W.M. (2006). Recruiting & retaining underrepresented minority doctoral students in biomedical engineering. Liberal Education, 92(3), 52-55.

Shostak, M. (2000). Return to Nisa. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Smith, G. A., & Cooperman, A. (2013). What happens when Jews intermarry? Pew Research Center. Retrieved from: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/11/12/what-happens-when-jews-intermarry/

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (2014). Retrieved from: http://www.sacscoc.org/documents/DiversityStatement.pdf

Subervi, F., & Cantrell, T., H. (2007). Assessing efforts and policies related to recruitment and retention. Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, 62(1), 27-46. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/107769580706200104

Tarman, B. (2016). Innovation and education. Research in Social Sciences and Technology, 1(1), 77-97. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46303/ressat.01.01.4

Tarman, B. & Acun, I. (2010). Social Studies Education and a New Social Studies Movement, Journal of Social Studies Education Research. 1(1), 1-16.

Tedlock,B. (2011). Braiding narrative ethnography with memoir and creative nonfiction. In. N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

The JBHE Foundation. (2002). Almost no blacks in academic psychology: Does the pipeline defense hold water? The Journal of Blacks in Higher education, 34, 48-49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3134114

The School District of Lee County. (2011). The school district of Lee County: Cycle 2 enrollment 2010-2011.Retrieved from: http://www.lee.k12.fl.us/info/pdf/Student%20Diversity%202010-11.pdf

Thompson, C.J., & Dey, E.L. (1998). Pushed to the margins: sources of stress for African American college and university faculty. The Journal of Higher education, 69(3), 324-345. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.1998.11775137

Turner, C.S.V. (2002). Diversifying the faculty: A guidebook for search committees. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Turner, C.S.V., Myers, S.L., & Creswell, J.W. (1999). Exploring Underrepresentation: The case of faculty of color in the Midwest. The Journal of Higher education, 70(1), 27-59. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.1999.11780753

UNESCO (2017). UN documents gathering a body of global agreements: Universal declaration on cultural diversity.

Retrieved from: http://www.un-documents.net/udcd.htm#2.

Vázquez-Montilla, E., Wilder, L. K., & Triscari, R. (2012). Ethnically diverse faculty in higher education: Belonging, respect, and role as cultural broker. Multicultural Learning and Teaching. Retrieved from: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/mlt.2012.7.issue-1/issue-files/mlt.2012.7.issue-1.xml DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/2161-2412.1097

Vega, W., Yglesias, K., & Murray, J.P. (2010). Recruiting and mentoring minority faculty members. New Directions for Community Colleges, 152, 49-55. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/cc.427

Wells, A. S., Holme, J. J., Revilla, A. T., & Atanda, A. K. (2004). How desegregation changed us: The effects of racially mixed schools on students and society. Retrieved from: http://cms.tc.columbia.edu/i/a/782_ASWells041504.pdf

Wilder, L. K. (2012). White voice in multiculturalism: Belonging, respect, and role as cultural broker. Multicultural Learning and Teaching. Retrieved from: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/mlt.2012.7.issue-1/issue-files/mlt.2012.7.issue-1.xml DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/2161-2412.1103

Wilder, L. K., Rotz, E. J., & Sonntag, A. W. (2010). Addressing homelessness in urban schools. Retrieved from: http://ea.niusileadscape.org/docs/FINAL_PRODUCTS/NIUSI/onpoints/addressing_homelessness/addressing_homelessness.pdf

Wilder, L. K., Vázquez-Montilla, E., & Greene, J. (2016). Introduction to the special issue, Unmasking the faces of diverse university students and professors through narrative ethnography. Multicultural Learning and Teaching, 11(2), p. 151-158. https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/mlt.2016.11.issue-2/issue-files/mlt.2016.11.issue-2.xml DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/mlt-2016-0007

Wilder, L.K. (2014). Reflections on a moral multiculturalism and post-modern thought. In J. Bakken (Ed.), White Voices in Multiculturalism. Boston: Elsevier Science.