Defying the Odds: The Power of Resistance for Students of Color in the Ronald E. McNair Program

• In Event: Roundtable Session 19
  In Roundtable Session: Power and Resistance in and out of School Settings

Abstract

The purpose of this proposal is to explore the ability of students in higher education to resist oppressive forces and successfully navigate the higher educational pipeline. This paper draws upon the Cultural Wealth Model (CWM) (Yosso, 2005) along with data collected from Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Scholars Program participants. This study looks at how participants enhanced and developed resistance capital through their program involvement. This proposal illustrates how communal influences contribute to the development and sustaining of resistance capital, one of the six forms of capital presented in the CWM. Findings reveal that through participation in the McNair program students increase their resistance capital, which empowers them to persist to graduation and graduate school.

Authors

• Jonathan Butler, University of Missouri - Columbia

• Amalia Zuleyman Dache-Gerbino, University of Missouri - Columbia

• Grant McClintock, University of Missouri

• Rhodesia McMillian, University of Missouri - Columbia