Achievement Through Identity: Rethinking Afrocentricity and its Impact and Relevance on Academic Achievement and Identity Development for African Americans in K-12 Public Schools
Researchers have analyzed the consistent underachievement of African American children in America's K-12 public schools for decades, and so far a number of hypotheses for this underachievement have surfaced, such as University of California-Berkley anthropology professor John Ogbu's cultural opposition theory, author John McWhorter's theory of an African American culture of "anti-intellectualism," and the popular conception of a supposed "Eurocentric" educational system that excludes the teaching of African and African American history and contributions to society. This third point gave rise to the rhetoric surrounding Afrocentricity and the need for it in public schools as a way to combat academic underperformance.
School:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Department:
Print Broadcast Journalism & Political Science
Research Advisor:
Dr. Barrington Edwards
Department of Research Advisor:
African American Studies/History
Year of Publication:
2004