Black Mens Studies. Serie McDougal III
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well-intentioned researchers, affected by the problem orientation, engage in a kind of thinking that is closely related to what some researcher call risk factor research (RFR) (Seixas & Wade, 2014). Dupree, Gasman, James, and Spencer (2009) assert that everyone experiences risk or vulnerability; it’s a part of the human experience. Risk is not something that is a fundamental part of Black maleness. Some Black males experience greater levels of risk than other demographics in various segments of society and at various points throughout the life course (Dupree et al., 2009). According to ←xvi | xvii→Seixas and Wade (2014), RFR is research with the purpose of identifying various socio-environmental factors that lead to problem behavior and outcomes. One of the limitations of RFR is that the interactive effects of risk factors across different social systems are rarely studied. Another limitation of RFR is that insufficient attention is given to cases where Black male youth are resilient despite their exposure to risk factors. Research models need to examine the role that protective factors (family and community relationships and personal coping skills) play in moderating the relationships between risk factors and social outcomes. Protective factors can, in some cases, decrease the likelihood of or prevent poor outcomes. Without an understanding of protective factors, well-studied risk factors are of no practical use to change agents or service providers who work with Black males (Seixas & Wade, 2014). However, an understanding of risk and protective factors expands our sight because it can be used for the purposes of designing interventions and better institutional services. This is the strength of using power as a guidance system for research on Black males.
Importance of Social Context
Perhaps the most devastating feature of the problem-oriented approach to scholarship is that Black males themselves can start seeing themselves through this lens as promoted in media as well as gender literature (Ford, Marsh, Blakeley, & Amos, 2014). Even service providers of Black men (teachers, doctors, police, and politicians) can engage in deficit thinking. Deficit approaches routinely avoid discussions of socio-environmental constraints and fantasize the existence of a post-racial reality. But there are deficits that lie in social structures, policies, and institutional practices (Howard, 2014). For example, if Black male students did poorly in all schools, the problem might be sought in the Black males themselves (Jackson, 2008). But, because they do well in good schools, the problem must also be sought by examining the educational system itself.
Ubuntu
The philosophy of Ubuntu offers some guidance for research on Black males. The term itself is a verbal noun referring to human beingness as a process by which one’s humanness is constantly unfolding (Ramose, 2002). Per Ubuntu, people are being human when they affirm their own humanity by maintaining humane relationships with others and their environment (Ramose, 2002). Ubuntu philosophy suggests that knowledge in the hands of a human being must be used to affirm humanity. Maat, in Kemetic cosmology, is the concept that governs what Nobles (2006) describes as the relationship between the knower and the known. Similarly, Maat refers to truth, justice, cosmic regulation, universal balance, order, and moral uprightness (Obenga, 2004). Thus, the purpose of knowledge (in the classical African sense of the word) is to affirm humanity by advancing the condition of the collective (Nkulu-N’Sengha, 2005). As such, knowledge about Black males should affirm their humanity and the humanity of people of African descent in general. Affirming Black male humanity means conducting research that is ethical, and that Black males are worthy of research, grounded in valid inquiry about their lives. Moreover, it means they are worthy of research that can be used to better understand and enhance their own lives and the lives of the Black community. Morial (2007) wrote that empowering Black males to reach their full potential is an economic and civil rights challenge that must be solved to ensure the well-being of the African American community and the nation.
To ensure the future of Black men, researchers should engage in self-reflection and question their own motivations for conducting research (Hsin-hsin & Coker, 2010; Nápoles-Springer et al., 2000; Parrill & Kennedy, 2011; Strauss et al., 2001). Researchers should (1) be prepared to explain how their research might benefit Black males and the Black community; (2) examine whether or not they are conducting research for money, status, or privilege, and how that might affect the validity of their research; (3) be aware of the interacting roles that race, class, sex, and gender oppression play in their research; and (4) be aware of the history of research with African American men and African Americans ←xvii | xviii→in general and their legitimate concerns, and; (5) identify their own preconceptions about Black males, how they acquired these ideas, their validity, and how they might affect the quality of their research.
Seeing Black Men and Boys’ Experiences as Unique and Multidimensional
This book’s focus is on investigating what is unique about being male and of African descent. This focus is necessary, in part, because research that compares Black males’ experiences with those of White people and Black women sometimes misses the unique experiences of Black maleness (Strayhorn & DeVita, 2010). Moreover, researchers risk reaching false conclusions that what benefits or harms Black women also harms or benefits Black men. Not all Black men share the same experiences, or at the same levels, and all have unique intersections of factors in play, different than for non-Black males. Littles, Bowers, and Gilmer (2007) explain:
A concrete example of this dilemma is the initiative, Moving to Opportunity, which gave mothers vouchers to move from areas where the poverty rate was 40 percent to areas where it was 20 percent. The moms did better, the girls did better, but the boys did worse. Moving to opportunity and countless similar efforts demonstrate the need to develop research specifically targeted to the unique situations of Black men and boys in the United States. (p. 14)
Although there is a significant body of historical research on Black men, it has seldom been studied from a clearly defined sex/gender perspective (Clarke-Hine & Jenkins, 1999). The sex/gender perspective is key because sex and gender are fundamental parts of how human beings organize and make meaning of their social realities (Hoppe, 2002). Building on the work of Dancy (2012), this chapter explores the interactive experience of being Black and male at the intersection of history, culture, family, sexuality, politics, economics, education, health, and justice.
Black men’s studies is the systematic, culturally and historically grounded study of the lives of Black men and boys for exploring, describing, explaining and advancing Black communities. It includes the study of Black manhood and masculinities. Some use the terms Black manhood and Black masculinity interchangeably. Recognizing that there are numerous definitions of each, there is a generally qualitative distinction between the two (Dancy, 2012). In this text, manhood refers to the principles, values, and beliefs that men develop or accept, while masculinity refers to the observable actions that men use to express or manifest manhood. Therefore, Black masculinity lends itself more easily to the study of performances or behaviors and other material manifestations of manhood. According to Williams (2014), Black manhood is related to Black masculinity studies but goes beyond fixating on outward behavioral expressions, enactments, and performances (Williams, 2014). Instead, Black men’s studies makes Black males’ humanity and personhood the point of departure for scholarly investigation. Its objectives are:
• To guide the development of holistic and balanced information for a better understanding of the diversity and multidimensionality of men and boys’ humanity
• To humanize men and boys through approaches to studying their lives that provide context to their thought and action
• To offer an approach to studying their lives that affirms the self-conscious ways of addressing and creating their owned realities
• To offer a supplementary lens of analysis to further enrich the critical study of Black women, families, and communities
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• To inform the development of thought, practice, and institutions to help males protect themselves against anti-Black male forces in all forms
• Ultimately, to guide the development of knowledge that advances men and boys, their families, their communities, and peoples of African descent in general
A holistic framework for studying Black males (and Black life in general) recognizes the intersection of multiple