Ebb, Flow, and Eddy: Toward a Race-Reimaged Approach to Academic Buoyancy

• In Event: Asset-Based Approaches to Centering Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Motivation Research

Abstract

This study race-reimaged academic buoyancy—students’ ability to bounce back from “everyday” challenges—by centering Black students’ self-articulated definitions of academic adversity and overcoming. Four Black undergraduate students participated in phenomenological interviews focused on their personal experiences of buoyancy. Results from the Academic Buoyancy Scale and a mapping activity added further nuance, with analysis suggesting the need for two distinct forms of buoyancy: “Flowing” buoyancy (overcoming adversity to achieve predetermined goals) and “Ebbing” buoyancy (changing goals when adaptive responses do not yield desired outcomes). Evidence also suggests that a race-reimaged buoyancy would acknowledge (1) the kinds of adversity experienced (2) the often-blurred boundaries between minor and major adversity and (3) that adaptive coping may not yield traditional markers of success.

Author

• Samuela Mouzaoir, Michigan State University