EXAMINING SENSE OF BELONGING AND CAMPUS RACIAL DIVERSITY EXPERIENCES AMONG WOMEN OF COLOR IN STEM LIVING-LEARNING PROGRAMS

Over the last decade, fem-vertising, Girl Power rhetoric, feminist consumerism and commodity feminism have proliferated in advertising. This study analyzes key literature regarding how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and cause marketing incorporate postfeminist and neoliberal theory into marketing campaigns to encourage women to consume brands as a sign of their independence and power. This research, conducted as qualitative focus group analyses, examines how groups of racially diverse collegeaged women define feminism and the modern empowered woman, how they connect and react to advertisements using women's empowerment as a selling point, and how they feel about the portrayal of race in these advertisements. Through this research, it became clear that race matters when discussing these advertisements. Definitions of feminism depended on participants' race, and racial diversity in the advertisements was a powerful motivator, especially for women of color. The advertisements using feminist rhetoric were deemed empowering, but not feminist, and participants were ultimately skeptical of corporations promoting feminist politics. However, they struggled to imagine a better alternative, and accepted that it was their responsibility to purchase from companies that represented their values. Overall, participants reinforced the use of a neoliberal lens to understand postfeminist advertising. Keywords: commodity feminism, postfeminism, neoliberalism, cause marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), intersectionality

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Insights into the Sense of Belonging from Women of Color: Interconnections of Cultural Competence, Expectations, Institutional Diversity, and Counterspaces

JCSCORE ◽

10.15763/issn.2642-2387.2019.5.2.32-65 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 32-65

Author(s):

Annemarie Vaccaro ◽

Holly J. Swanson ◽

Melissa Ann Marcotte ◽

Barbara M. Newman

Keyword(s):

Academic Success ◽

Latin American ◽

Women Of Color ◽

Sense Of Belonging ◽

Structural Diversity ◽

Institutional Diversity ◽

First Semester ◽

Predominately White ◽

Human Need ◽

The U.S

Belonging has been described as a basic human need (Strayhorn, 2012) associated with academic success. Yet, research suggests that students from minoritized social identity groups report a lower sense of belonging than their privileged peers. Data collected via a grounded theory study offer qualitative insight into the development of belonging for Women of Color during their first semester at a predominately white university. In this paper, we use the term Women of Color, as described by Mohanty (1991) to refer to the “sociopolitical designation for [women] of African, Caribbean, Asian and Latin American descent, and Native peoples of the U.S. [and]… new immigrants to the U.S.” (p. 7). Rich student narratives reveal previously undocumented interconnections among the development of a sense of belonging, cultural competency, unmet expectations, lack of compositional and structural diversity, and campus counterspaces.

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Sense of belonging of sexual minority students participating in work-integrated learning programs

Education + Training ◽

10.1108/et-06-2020-0156 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Maureen T.B. Drysdale ◽

Sarah A. Callaghan ◽

Arpan Dhanota

Keyword(s):

Minority Students ◽

Sexual Minority ◽

Sense Of Belonging ◽

Well Being ◽

Minority Status ◽

Integrated Learning ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Content Type ◽

Learning Programs ◽

Work Integrated Learning

PurposeThis study examined sexual minority status on perceived sense of belonging and compared sexual minority students and exclusively heterosexual students as a function of participating in work-integrated learning (WIL).Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional, quantitative design was used with participants grouped by sexual minority status and participation in WIL.FindingsSexual minority students (WIL and non-WIL) reported lower sense of belonging than exclusively heterosexual students (in WIL and non-WIL). Sexual minority students in WIL also reported significantly weaker sense of belonging compared to non-WIL sexual minority students suggesting that WIL presents some barriers to establishing a strong sense of belonging for sexual minority students.Originality/valueThe findings provide evidence for developing programs to ensure all students are in a safe environment where they can develop and strengthen their sense of belonging regardless of minority status. This is important given that a sense of belonging impacts mental health and overall well-being.

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Epilogue

Degrees of Difference ◽

10.5622/illinois/9780252043185.003.0010 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 165-172

Author(s):

Kimberly D. McKee ◽

Denise A. Delgado

Keyword(s):

Graduate School ◽

Women Of Color ◽

Sense Of Belonging ◽

Sense Of Self ◽

Indigenous Women ◽

Resisting Oppression

Weaving together the chapters in Degrees of Difference: Reflections of Women of Color and Indigenous Women on Graduate School is a commitment to demonstrate how women of color cultivate community and a sense of self, while simultaneously resisting oppression and microaggression in order to survive and thrive in a space that was never meant for them to succeed. The Epilogue calls attention to how the contributors exist in conversation with one another, unleashing their inner feminist killjoy as they speak to the sense of alienation experienced as a result of lack of understanding faced within cohorts, departments, and families. At the same time, these women reveal the mechanisms that allowed them to find support in friends, colleagues, and mentors in order to negotiate imposter syndrome and develop a sense of belonging in the academy. The conclusion illuminates strategies that women of color employ as they resist attempts of further marginalization within the academy.

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Racial Diversity and Sense of Belonging in Urban Neighborhoods

City and Community ◽

10.1111/j.1540-6040.2011.01374.x ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 373-392 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Zheng Wu ◽

Feng Hou ◽

Christoph M. Schimmele

Keyword(s):

Sense Of Belonging ◽

Racial Diversity ◽

Urban Neighborhoods ◽

Independent Effect ◽

National Belonging ◽

Intergroup Contact Theory ◽

Visible Minorities ◽

Variable Approach ◽

Group Belonging ◽

The Relationship

This study examines the relationship between the racial composition of urban Canadian neighborhoods and national belonging and in–group belonging. The study employs multilevel data and an instrumental variable approach to estimate differences in sense of belonging between individuals from racially heterogeneous and racially homogenous neighborhoods. The study demonstrates that residential exposure to racial diversity has an independent effect on belonging, after adjusting for individual– and neighborhood–level variables that could confound this relationship. National belonging is strongest in heterogeneous neighborhoods, although this effect of diversity is nonsignificant for visible minorities. In–group belonging is weakest in heterogeneous neighborhoods, but this effect also reflects the attitudes of whites. The primary conclusions support intergroup contact theory, which suggests that exposure to racial diversity is an important mechanism for reducing intergroup antagonisms and promoting a cosmopolitan sense of belonging.

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The Shaping of Postcollege Colorblind Orientation Among Whites: Residential Segregation and Campus Diversity Experiences

Harvard Educational Review ◽

10.17763/0017-8055.85.4.609 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 85 (4) ◽

pp. 609-645 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Uma M. Jayakumar

Keyword(s):

White Students ◽

Racial Diversity ◽

Racial Justice ◽

Cumulative Impact ◽

Diversity Experiences ◽

Campus Diversity ◽

Racial Context ◽

Colorblind Ideology ◽

White Habitus ◽

White Adults

In this article, Uma M. Jayakumar investigates the cumulative impact of experiences with segregation or racial diversity prior to and during college on colorblind ideological orientation among white adults. An analysis of longitudinal data spanning ten years reveals that, for whites from segregated and diverse childhood neighborhoods, some experiences in college may increase colorblind thinking, while others may facilitate a greater understanding of the racial context of US society. Segregated white environments, or white habitus, before, during, and after college are associated with whites' colorblind ideological orientations, with negative implications for racial justice. Campus racial diversity experiences can play a role in diminishing the influence of white habitus but are not necessarily doing so. In other words, the challenges of addressing colorblind orientation are greater for white students from segregated neighborhoods and high schools who also tend to choose segregated white campus environments and are less likely to engage across race lines while in college. This study speaks to the need for more direct interventions addressing colorblind ideology among white college students. The findings suggest that racial diversity and integration are potentially disruptive but insufficient conditions for unlearning harmful colorblind frames.

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