scholarly journals Fostering sense of belonging : a multi-case study of black male retention initiatives.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarrod Druery
Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 490
Author(s):  
Yan-Feng He ◽  
Chie-Peng Chen ◽  
Rung-Jiun Chou ◽  
Hai-Feng Luo ◽  
Jin-Xiong Hou

Over generations, economic development has accelerated traditional settlements in Taiwan while losing traditional culture. In Hakka villages, this is manifested in the changes in defensive spaces, the ‘spirit of place,’ and land use. Although some progress has been made through research into related issues, a correlated view has been missing. To explore the connection between the ‘spirit of place’ and defensive spaces in Wugoushui, a traditional representative settlement in Taiwan, this paper probes three questions: What are the changes in defensive spaces? What are the changes in the spirit of place? What are the connections between them? Taking the sixteen criteria of secure defensive space as the theoretical foundation, through more than a year of structured observations and in-depth interviews with ten representative residents, and based on context analysis and site analysis of the information collected, this paper has concluded that, although the actual functionality of Wugoushui settlement’s spiritual, behavioural, and physical defences have disappeared, cultural characteristics related to the settlement traditions, including religious beliefs, trust, sense of belonging, street network, nodes, institutions, territory, and social networks, constitute a concrete manifestation of the defensive space and the spirit of place as of today. This research contributes to developing a theory of the relevance of the spirit of place to the defensive space of settlements from a sustainability perspective and improving the cultural preservation and land management of traditional settlements.


2021 ◽  
pp. 107808742110215
Author(s):  
Felipe Link ◽  
Andrés Señoret ◽  
Felipe Valenzuela

Current urban neoliberalism processes have shaped and changed contemporary cities, including the local scale’s built environment and social relations. This article aims to study how such transformations affect local sociability by analyzing the effects of neighborhoods’ morphology and socio-demographic characteristics on different forms of interactions and how they affect the sense of belonging. Taking the Metropolitan Area of Santiago, Chile, as a case study, we gathered secondary data on urban morphology and surveyed ten neighborhoods to measure sociability patterns. The results obtained from multilevel logistic regression models show that time living in the neighborhood and public pedestrian space is the most critical factor affecting neighborhood sociability. Moreover, instead of local ties, public familiarity is the form of sociability with the most substantial effects on a sense of belonging. We conclude that recent neighborhoods, formed by neoliberal urbanization, tend to discourage neighborhood sociability and a sense of belonging.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Crestani ◽  
Jill Fenton Taylor

PurposeThis duoethnography explores feelings of belonging that emerged as being relevant to the participants of a doctoral organisational change study. It challenges the prolific change management models that inadvertently encourage anti-belonging.Design/methodology/approachA change management practitioner and her doctoral supervisor share their dialogic reflections and reflexivity on the case study to open new conversations and raise questions about how communicating belonging enhances practice. They draw on Ubuntu philosophy (Tutu, 1999) to enrich Pinar's currere (1975) for understandings of belonging, interconnectedness, humanity and transformation.FindingsThe authors show how dialogic practice in giving employees a voice, communicating honestly, using inclusive language and affirmation contribute to a stronger sense of belonging. Suppressing the need for belonging can deepen a communication shadow and create employee resistance and alienation. Sharing in each other's personal transformation, the authors assist others in better understanding the feelings of belonging in organisational change.Practical implicationsPractitioners will need to challenge change initiatives that ignore belonging. This requires thinking of people as relationships, rather than as numbers or costs, communicating dialogically, taking care with language in communicating changes and facilitating employees to be active participants where they feel supported.Originality/valueFor both practice and academy, this duoethnography highlights a need for greater humanity in change management practices. This requires increasing the awareness and understanding of an interconnectedness that lies at the essence of belonging or Ubuntu (Tutu, 1999).


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-49
Author(s):  
Jennifer Grace

Using a Critical Race framework, this study examined black male perceptions of their sense of belonging in U.S. public schools. The author conducted semi-structured interviews with ten black males who had been expelled from schools. Findings reveal perceptions of a stark discrepancy in the quality of education provided at schools that are predominantly black vs. schools that are more racially diverse. Furthermore participants describe school as a hostile environment for black males citing microaggressions, isolation, and verbal abuse as indicators. Based on the findings, practical recommendations for supporting the educational experiences of black males are offered.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 290-310
Author(s):  
Lamont D. Simmons

While the literature is replete with studies on persistence among students across academic majors, few studies examine the nature of persistence among Black males enrolled in baccalaureate social work programs. This qualitative study offers some insight into how a sample of four Black male graduates from an accredited baccalaureate social work program persisted toward degree attainment. Three themes emerged from this study: (a) family encouragement and support, (b) sense of belonging, and (c) presence of Black male professors. Findings suggest the need for social work educators to consider programmatic initiatives acknowledging the role of families in persistence efforts, facilitating connectedness, and recruiting Black male professors or other Black male mentors.


2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 360-371
Author(s):  
Loraine McKay ◽  
Heather Manning

Preservice teachers enter university with a range of personally held beliefs related to inclusive education and themselves as educators. This article reports on one case study from a larger qualitative research project. The study examined a preservice teacher’s perceptions of herself as an inclusive educator as she approached the final year of her undergraduate degree. Data included a metaphorical representation of being an inclusive educator, and two semi-structured interviews held 6 months apart. The use of collage and a structured written response completed the data set. Evelein and Korthagen’s model of core reflection and Voice-Centred Relational Method were used to analyze the data. Analysis exposed the dissonance between the layers that separate the preservice teacher’s core qualities and the environment. Data are presented using I-poems and discussed using the emerging themes. The consequences for her emerging identity as an inclusive educator and sense of belonging in the profession are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 5128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Zdon-Korzeniowska ◽  
Monika Noviello

In the modern economy, there is a significant increase in interest in tourism, both at the level of states, regions, communes and individual places. Tourism is seen primarily as an opportunity for economic development, but also for social development and activation of local communities. Well-managed tourism can become a way to preserve and protect the natural, cultural and historical heritage of specific places or regions by exploring and nurturing it. Heritage elements become, on the one hand, attractions around which unique tourism products are created, and on the other hand, a kind of distinguishing feature of a given place or region, based on which local communities build their identity and sense of belonging. The concept of creating regional tourism products could integrate these two factors, i.e., tourism and heritage. The article presents the concept of a regional tourist product on the example of the Wooden Architecture Route (case study).


2020 ◽  
pp. 0013161X2092589
Author(s):  
Rosa L. Rivera-McCutchen

Purpose: This article presents a case study of a successful Black male public urban school principal, offering a counterstory to discourses of failure in urban schools. I build on scholars’ work in critical caring, the Black principalship, and radical hope to call for an expansion of narrow frameworks of effective school leadership to include an ethic of radical care within urban school leadership. Method: This study represents a counterstory in the tradition of critical race theory, centering the voice and perspectives of a Black male urban school principal. Using ethnographic research methods, this case study was based on prolonged and embedded engagement in the field including observations, informal and formal interviews, and document review. Data were collected and analyzed over a 2-year period. Findings: Five components of effective school leadership emerged from analysis of the data that, taken together, can be described as a radical care framework. These components include the folowing: (a) adopting an antiracist, social just stance; (b) cultivating authentic relationships; (c) believing in students’ and teachers’ capacity for growth and excellence; (d) strategically navigating the sociopolitical and policy climate; and (e) embracing a spirit of radical hope. Conclusion: In addition to highlighting the power of counterstories in educational leadership research, this study reinforces the critical need for leadership preparation that is grounded in antiracism and social justice, and comprises all aspects of an ethic of radical care. Furthermore, the study points to the need for targeted recruitment of Black and Latinx school leaders, particularly in urban contexts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Hughes ◽  
Debra Cureton ◽  
Jenni Jones

In 2019, a diverse, post-92, Midlands university implemented a new, hybrid third space role called the ‘academic coach’ (AC) to support its mission towards to support its mission to make its educational provision fully accessible to all its students, to retain them and to ensure their success to support its mission to make its educational provision fully accessible to all its students, to retain them and to ensure their success of all its students. Since a sense of belonging to their institution is such a powerful influence on students’ sense of wellbeing, their development of an academic identity and their resilience in the higher education context, with consequent positive impact upon their retention and success, this role is devoted to the pastoral care and personal tutoring of levels three and four students. This case study considers the journey of the AC in defining and shaping this new role and offers the ACs’ perceptions of their influence on the experience of students at levels three and four by enhancing collaborative and learning relationships within the wider university.


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