Braids, Glasses, and (Black Guy) Nerdiness: An Intersectional Counterstorytelling of Black College Men's Stereotype Management in Mathematics

• In Event: Narratives of Gender and Its Intersections as They Influence Identities and Participation in Mathematics

Abstract

With nerd culture ascribed with notions of whiteness, subordinate masculinity, and failed social success (Bucholtz, 2001; Englash, 2002), Blerd (or Black nerd) is the embodiment of an identity in which Blacks disidentify with nerd culture through hybrid performances of nerdiness and “cool pose” of Black masculinity (Akil, 2012). Extant research has documented the masculinization and racialization of mathematical ability – a common indicator of perceived smartness and thus nerdiness in schools (Author, 2017b; Martin, 2009). The racialized and gendered nature of nerdiness, therefore, taxes Black men with the burden of stereotype management, or “tactical response[s]... along overlapping paths of racial, gender, and mathematical identity development” (McGee & Martin, 2011, p. 1354), to be academically successful without having their masculinity, Blackness, and more specifically, Black manhood delegitimized. To illustrate, this paper presents findings from a study of eight college students of color’s mathematics experiences to illustrate variation in Black men’s negotiations of their Black masculinities with mathematics success in constructing Blerd identities.

The two Black men, Francis and Nathaniel, in their first year of pursuing mathematics-intensive majors at a large, predominantly white university are the focus for this analysis. Counter-storytelling methodology from critical race theory, the “telling the stories of people whose experiences are often not told (i.e., those on the margins of society),” (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002, p. 32) was adopted to construct analytical narratives (counter-stories) of their high school and college mathematics experiences. The counter-stories were triangulations of the Black men’s reflections in mathematics autobiographies, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group. Intersectionality theory (Crenshaw, 1991) guided the analysis across the counter-stories to highlight trends in the Black men’s stereotype management and detail variation in constructions of their Blerd identities in mathematics.

Francis and Nathaniel saw themselves as having “natural talent” for mathematics; however, differences in the representation of Black men in their high school mathematics classes shaped the contrast in their feelings of needing to prove themselves academically. Both Black men limited their classroom participation for different purposes in managing their status. Francis “wasn’t so inclined to participate” unless peers were struggling, thus giving them a chance since he was already perceived as the “smarter Black kid.” Nathaniel’s non-participation protected his more vulnerable status as neither the most or least smart student from teachers’ “rude answers,” or negative appraisals of his mathematical ability. Dress and appearance played a role in the Black men’s embodiments of their Blerd identities. While Francis embraced wearing glasses that made him look “incredibly nerdy” and get teasingly called “Urkel,” Nathaniel viewed styling his hair in braids and wearing baggy jeans as ways that he “represented” in mathematics classrooms and produced his own form of coolness by not “looking like he’s smart but he really is.” Extending prior research on successful Black men’s racialized mathematics experiences (e.g., Berry, Thunder, McClain, 2011; Stinson, 2008), these findings illustrate two Black men’s unique performative constructions of Blackness and masculinity and, therefore, address the need for exploring co-constructions of Black masculinity and mathematics identities (Author, 2017a; Terry, 2010).

Author

• Luis Antonio Leyva, Vanderbilt University