Bridges and Barriers: Cultural Capital, Communication, Food, and the Postsecondary Preparation of African American Teenagers

• In Event: Black in the Ivory: Exploring Supports, Pathway, and Transitions

Abstract

The purpose of this presentation is to explore relationships between and among culture capital, communication, and postsecondary preparation for African American high school students. The overarching investigation from which these data emerged sought to determine how various aspects of a culturally relevant, postsecondary preparatory program influenced students’ college and career aspirations and choices. Throughout the three years of an intervention study, food facilitated the communication patterns and topics of discussion between the adolescents and adults associated with the program. This presentation challenges educators to recognize and interrogate the cultural hegemony associated with postsecondary preparation and encourages school personnel to be more creative in ways they seek to acknowledge and associate value to diverse types of cultural capital.

Author

• Nicole E. Holland, Northeastern Illinois University
  Presenting Author