Student Development Theory II

CSSA 553

Yuana Ates Marwa Al Khamees Rachel Navratil


Context and Contextualizing
Student Development Using
Critical Theory
● Context when critical theory applied
(Kincheloe & McLaren, 2011) : scholars
must only address the context; presume it
as a significant influence on development
● Critical framing of context: context is always
tied to larger structures of inequality and an
analysis of power
● The importance of contextualizing: “impetus
to think about social inequality, relationality,
and power relations in a social context” ;
“being aware that particular historical,
intellectual, and political contexts shape
what we think and do” (Collins & Bilge, 2016,
p. 28).
 “Researchers must contemplate why they are
Autobiographical ●
engaged in the study” (p. 39)

Rendering ● “Such rendering illuminates why I turn to the

question” (p. 39)
● Qualitative researchers are the instrument of
analysis - their interests, values, experiences,
Jones, S. R., Torres, V., & Arminio, J. L. (2014).
Negotiating the complexities of qualitative research in and purpose influence the analysis
higher education fundamental elements and issues (2nd ● Autobiographical insight - imperative for the
ed.). New York ; Oxfordshire, England: Routledge. user of the research to understand more about
the research context
● Relational criteria:
(a) Social identities
(b) Researcher positionality
(c) Power relationships and their influence on
persons oppressed by social power structures
(d) Reflexivity
 Basis of understanding the authors’
“Where I Am From”, ●
perspectives

“Where I Am Now” ; ●
●
To acknowledge the spaces they are today
Antonio Duran’s contextual narrative: Dialogic

Journey Through engagement with the questions and

consideration that emerge when examining
Different Spaces ●
context in student development.
New insights on the influence of context and the
importance of contextualizing to understand
student development.
● Recognizing the relationship between
individuals and the larger structural, cultural,
political, and historical contexts
 Provides a new perspective on contexts
Use of Critical Theory ●
● Critical Race Theory and intersectionality -
power based definitions of context
● Challenges educators to consider how
society is structured around historical and
contemporary legacies of inequality.
● Contribute to the dismantling of structure of
domination through social change
 “It’s those with more power, those from dominant
Question 1: groups that are privileged by that definition of
Who Gets Privileged in context because they’re benefiting from these
larger structure” (S. R. Jones)
Current Assumptions of
● Theory and higher education research
Context? frequently fails to consider how experiences
that occur outside of colleges and
universities influence the development of
students
● Critical perspective: asks us to challenge a
collegiate-only space and context and to
understand students’ life histories with an
explicit focus on how power systems may
be affecting students’ development
 Learning environments without
Question 2: ●
consideration of power and identity -
How Does Context privilege students for whom they were
created
Affect Developmental ● It is necessary to explore how campus
environments affect individuals as it
Dimensions Differently? pertains to cognitive, interpersonal, and
intrapersonal domains of development
(Kegan, 1994)
● Strong focus on cognitive growth
Disembodied spirit - >Developmental costs
-> interpersonal and intrapersonal domains
● “Was this space meant for me?”
 1. Ask more direct questions on the role of
Question 3: contexts play in a student’s life
How Do You Measure 2. Analyze systems of power and narratives
In research: different perspectives between
Context? researcher and participants
3. Consider methodological and ethical
complexities of investigating power-based
construct
 Groups across identities can come together
Question 4: ●
to effectively change policies and structures
Who Can Shape ●
at an institution
“We might not be able to change the world,
Context? How Does but we have spheres of influence that we
can influence” (p. 183)
This Happen?
Reflection
How does your understanding of
context using critical theory influence
your work in student affairs?
 As noted by Jones and Stewart (2016), the focus on
Social Construction of social identities in the second wave of student

Identities development theory’s evolution “necessitated a view

of identities as socially constructed because social
identities are anchored in group memberships that are
influenced and mutually constructed by larger societal
Ch 10 contexts” (p. 20).

● Understanding identities as socially constructed

means recognizing the role of systemic
oppression in the formation of one’s meaning-
making
● Societal and contextual definitions of what
identities mean may change across time and
location.
(Re)Constructing a Construction

● Perceptions of one’s social identities are

constructed through interactions with others,
both inside and outside one’s social identity
group
● The identities are shaped by systems of
power and historical context through which
those groups move
● Oppression informs identity, it does not co-
exist with it
“Broke but Never
Broken” “I am a Black, queer, cisgender, college-educated,
disabled woman, and I am a survivor.

This act of self-identification is vital for me as a

political act of intentional visibility.”
Rethinking With Theory

● Young (2011) pointed out in her definition of social groups and how they are formed, we become who we
are through mutual arrangement with the community (or communities) to which we belong.

● Young’s discussion foregrounds a psychosocial approach to identity that occludes hegemonic systems of
socialization as a factor in how identities are socially constructed.

● Critical-postconstructuralist paradigm (Stewart, 2017) redefines identity and what social construction can
mean. In other words, this view claims that social identities are inherently unstable and therefore should not
be used to inform resistance to power structures.

● Neither theoretical perspective is sufficient. Blending the two allowed us to recognize individual and
collective agency to “co-create,co-challenge, and co-resist existing power structures”
 Facilitating Social
(Re)Construction of
Identity ● Mentoring as Other-Mothering

● Community Engaged Praxis

 In what ways do our own social
identity groups further the acts of
othering and oppression?
Discussion
 “Authenticity...Such as being
Complexities of genuine, becoming more self-
Authenticity aware, being defined by one’s
self rather than by others’
expectations . . . and critically
Ch 11 reflecting on self, others, and
relationships in context”
(Kreber, Klampfleitner, McCune, Bayne, & Knottenbelt, 2007, pp. 40– 41).
 Authenticity and Identity Development

Authenticity- A key component of identity development includes the development of

core identity, the foundation of one’s identity, and an authentic sense of self (Baxter
Magolda, 2001, 2008; Chickering & Reisser, 1993; Erikson, 1968).

● Is authenticity contextual?
● Is constantly negotiating identities and managing the perceptions of others, is that
an authentic way to live?

These questions encourage explorations into how external judgements confirm legitimacy or
invalidate one’s authentic self (Abes, 115).
 Decolonizing Authenticity
Significant complexity within HOW authenticity is judged for Indigenous and peoples..

● For Native and Indigenous communities colonized by the United States, specifically Native Americans,
American Indians, Native Alaskans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, of authenticity have not only
applied the concept of self but included justification of nativeness based on definitions and policies created
by the U.S. government.

● Regarding Native American tribes or “Indians,” beginning in the mid-1800s the U.S. government, under the
Jackson administration, sought to implement policies to assimilate individual tribal nations to create “large,
easily manipulated political-social units” or “monolithic tribes”

● The implementation of these federal policies included the government defining who was legitimately
classified as an “Indian” in order to receive entitled benefits.

● ...Resulted in legalized genocide for Indigenous communities as requirements are based on proving blood
quantum (degree of ancestry) and genetic descent (Kauanui, 2008) through the establishment of blood
quantum thresholds.
 Frameworks:
Decolonization - Five stages exist: (a)
Assimilation and rediscovery and recovery, (b) mourning, (c)
dreaming, (d) commitment, and (e) action.
Colonization
Tribal Critical Race Theory (Tribal Crit)- Expose
the inconsistencies in structural systems and
institutions . . . [to] make the situation better
“For Indigenous peoples, “being colonized was— for Indigenous students” (Brayboy, 2005, p.
is— a violent process” 441).

(Marshall, 2011) Indigenous Knowledge System- Traditional

knowledge and cultural practices in which
Native people experience and relate to the
world.
Discussion Reflect on your own authenticity….

How is your authenticity influenced

through external factors (culturally,
socially, politically etc)?

In your student affairs practice, how

can you decolonize authenticity?
 Why This Matters & Final Thoughts

Erasure and Reclamation: There are currently no theories that focus on the development of Native or
Indigenous students within the U.S. collegiate setting.

Why This Matters:

● Western schooling has been used as a tool of assimilation for Native and Indigenous children. Western
schools have been sources of trauma, violence, and harm for many Native people (Trask, 1999).

● Concepts of self-definition and authenticity need to be broadened and troubled to allow for greater fluidity
and attend to the ways in which external forces frame and influence self-concept (e.g., government
definition, community definition) and the impact colonization and assimilation have on concepts of
authenticity.

Call To Action: For professionals in higher education, whether Indigenous or not, it is critical to ensure
understanding of the ways that the community, government, and campus culture affect concepts of examine
our own biases to disrupt the perpetuation of intertribal, violence and the delegitimization of one’s conception
of self. standards of individual, family, authenticity. It is essential to -nation, and -community violence and the
delegitimization of one’s conception of self.
 References

Abes, E. et al., 2019. Rethinking College Student Development Theory Using Critical Frameworks. Stylus Publishing, LLC. ProQuest
Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/osu/detail.action?docID=5884055.
Horse, P. G. (2005). Native American identity. In M. J. Tippeconnic Fox, S. C. Lowe, & G. S. McClellan (Eds.), Serving Native
American students (New Directions for Student Services, No. 109, pp. 61– 68). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Jones, S. R., Kim, Y. C., & Skendall, K. C. (2012). (Re-) framing authenticity: Considering multiple social identities using
autoethnographic and intersectional approaches. Journal of Higher Education , 83 (5), 698– 724.
Jones, S. R., Torres, V., & Arminio, J. L. (2014). Negotiating the complexities of qualitative research in higher education
fundamental elements and issues (2nd ed.). New York ; Oxfordshire, England: Routledge.
Kauanui, J. K. (2008). Hawaiian blood: Colonialism and The Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity . Raleigh, NC: Duke University
Press.
Kreber, C., Klampfleitner, M., McCune, V., Bayne, S., & Knottenbelt, M. (2007). What do you mean by “authentic”? A comparative
review of the literature on conceptions of authenticity in teaching. Adult Education Quarterly , 58 (1), 22– 43.
Satz, R. N. (1975). American Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era . Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
Trask, H. K. (1999). From a Native daughter: Colonialism and sovereignty in Hawai’i . Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press.