Kirwan Institute Brown Bag - April 2010
April 2, 2010 - The Nigrescence of African American and Black South African youth: A cross cultural exploration of the role of Racial Socialization on Developmental Wellbeing
By Alvina (Khosi) Kubeka, PhD
Alvina's dissertation was a comparative analysis of how racial identity and religiosity influence the developmental outcomes of African American and Black South African youth. She explored the reciprocal relationship between racial and faith identities, as informed by family and community contextual factors, and how they influence mental health, self-esteem, educational performance and risk-related behavior. The analysis draws on social psychological and sociological theories of race and ethnicity as well as religiosity.
Alvina employed qualitative methods (in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations) to capture the youths’ perceptions, experiences, and interpretations in order to better understand the role of culture in how racial identity and religiosity inform youth developmental outcomes of interest.
Her presentation at Kirwan will draw from some of the themes that emerged from my dissertation project. In particular, the focus will be on the findings regarding processes of racial identity formation and perceptions and their implications for youth as they navigate their changing worlds.
Alvina Kubeka is originally from Johannesburg, South Africa. Her tertiary educational training began at the University of Cape Town where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Social Work in 1999. She then moved on to Stellenbosch University and earned an MPhil in Social Research Methodology in 2003. She recently earned a PhD in Sociology from Ohio State University.
Her research interests are primarily in issues affecting the developmental well being of youth, particularly youth of colour both in South Africa and the United States. Over the past couple of years, she has worked on projects that deal with issues such as the impact of violent exposure at home among Black South African youth as well as the impact of religiosity on sexual, and other risk-informed behaviour among African American youth.
April 21, 2010 - Indigenous Movements, Citizenship and the Re-Shaping of Bolivia
By Fernando Unzueta, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Location: 33 W. 11th Avenue building, room 101
The current political situation in Bolivia is defined by the results of the recent elections, where Evo Morales, an Aymara cocalero or coca-peasant and leader of the cocalero unions was elected in 2005 by an ample majority (54%) and re-elected as president in 2009 by an even wider margin (64%). How did an Aymara become president of Bolivia, a country where the state has been characterized by its colonial practices, social and racial hierarchies? How did the MAS, Morales’ political party, a largely indigenous political movement established in the 1990s reach such a plurality of votes? I will explore some of these questions and the related issues of changing notions of citizenship and nationality in light of a) a long-term history of indigenous resistance to colonial and post-colonial domination and the shorter-term rise of indigenous movements in the recent decades; b) some of the recent constitutional changes; and c) continuing ethnic and regional tensions.
Fernando Unzueta is associate professor and chair of the department of Spanish and Portuguese. He holds a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin and his research focuses on 19th-Century Latin American literatures and cultures. He is currently working primarily on two projects, one on the formation of subjectivities, and another on early Bolivian newspapers.
For more information, please contact Elsadig Elsheikh or Rajeev Ravisankar.
