Fantasies of Ballin': The Educational and Occupational Aspirations of Homeless Youth of Color

• In Event: 63.018 - Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

One of the most marginalized populations of students in the U.S. is homeless youth. The National Center for Homeless Education (2010) estimated that over 1 million school-aged youth were homeless in the 2009-2010 school year, a 41% increase from 2007-2008. While scholarship is clear about the substantial risks that face these young adults, we know little about how they plan to overcome the day-to-day challenges they face and make a successful transition to adulthood, and how education may or may not play a role. The purpose of this dissertation study is to explore how homeless youth of color make sense of their educational experiences (formal and informal) and occupational futures given their self-proclaimed intersecting identities (i.e. race, class, gender, homeless status). In particular, I investigate the youths’ past school experiences and present educational status, examine the supports and obstacles to the youths’ expectations and aspirations, and consider how their futures are influenced by their group affiliations and institutions.
This year-long study set in the suburbs of a major metropolitan area employs ethnographic methods (i.e., semi-structured interviews and participant observations) to capture the complex, situated experiences of homeless youth. Data comprises 25 homeless youth, 12 nonprofit organizational staff, and over 150 hours of participant observation. My method of analysis involved an iterative process between data collection, coding, and memo generation as informed by grounded theory and constant comparative analysis.
Several findings emerged from the analyses. The youths’ identities, particularly the intersections of race and gender, shaped their professed aspirations of “ballin”—or living extravagantly and aggressively—in distinct, albeit fantastical ways. The homeless youth formed three distinct subcultures based on their aspirations, social identities, and past experiences—the Homeboys, the Sistergirls, and the EmoCores. These subcultures provided (mostly unvalued) social capital and a sense of belonging.

I also found that school members (via youth and staff renderings) and non-profit staff interacted with these three subcultures in significantly different ways, essentially shaping the educational and occupational goals of homeless youth through formal and informal means. These institutions encouraged the idealistic ambitions of Black boys; they tempered and diminished the realistic and economically viable ambitions of the Black girls. And they bolstered the pragmatic aspirations of the White youth. Because of the precarious social positioning and the intersection of the multiple marginalized identities of these homeless youth, the Black boys and Black girls are most positioned to obtain occupations that reproduce their ascribed social status, while the White youth are poised to improve their socioeconomic conditions.
This research will be crucial in furthering scholarly understanding of how the intersection of race, class, and gender-based identities impact the educational outcomes and life chances of youth who are experiencing poverty or are marginalized along several different dimensions. It also has the potential to inform teaching practices and changes to public education policy, in particular, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

Author

• Shanta R. Robinson, University of Chicago