“I live both lives”

Abstract

This research incorporates theories of intersectional identities, place identity, and critical geography to synthesize a conceptual framework for “double consciousness” in students from a racialized city attending an engaged college in that city. Through 21 phenomenological interviews with resident-students, two themes about the city related to stereotypes and civic engagement emerge. In the interviews, students tell personal narratives of transcending these stereotypes and express responsibility for success among future generations from their city. The study identifies the critical need for service-learning practitioners in higher education to be aware of and sensitive to portrayals of the community, particularly related to issues of racialization, civic engagement, and student development. We propose additional lines of inquiry that will improve our understanding of place identity and service-learning.

The students that made these statements grew up and live in a segregated city that is stigmatized for its poverty, violence, and minority composition relative to its surrounding suburbs (Massey & Denton, 1993). They attend a college in that city (as resident-students), and this college is deeply engaged with their communities. This research incorporates three theoretical frameworks (intersectional identities, place identities, and the racialization of place) to synthesize a conceptual framework of “double consciousness” (Du Bois, 1903; Hickmon, 2015) related to resident-students’ need to transcend stereotypes of their city while simultaneously feeling a burden to ensure future generations of residents have better opportunities than those afforded to them. Resident-students who come from a majority-minority city and that are attending an institution that is deeply engaged with their home community inhabit this dualism.

Much of the current research on service-learning and community engagement focuses on students’ identity development (Bringle, 2017). However, Bringle (2017) also acknowledges that identity development and multiple identities “might be further complicated when students come from communities in which they are doing their service” (p. 83). Siemers, Harrison, Clayton, and Stanley (2015) remark that research on and practice of service-learning is place-neutral, “diminishing the complexity of identity issues for students who might already be in and of communities with whom they partner” (p. 101). The present study examines these claims to better understand how engaged universities influence resident-students’ multiple identities and perspectives relative to their sense of place (Proshansky, Fabian, & Kaminoff, 1983; Relph, 1976). We approach this work from a critical geography lens given the socially constructed reality of the racialization of the place at play in this work (Bonam, Taylor, & Yantis, 2017; Bonnett, 1996; Inwood & Yarbrough, 2010; Whitehead, 2000). We define resident-students as university students who spent significant time growing up in the host city of the university in this study. In connecting the words “resident” and “student” via a hyphen, we are borrowing a dyad from Bringle, Clayton, and Price’s (2009) SOFAR framework for research on service-learning. For the purposes of this research, we employ broader definitions of service-learning and civic engagement consistent with Jacoby’s (2009, 2014) definitions that encompass both curricular and co-curricular experiences, including student-led experiences.

This research contributes to our understanding of the role of place in service-learning. It also critically examines the intersectional identities of students of color from racialized cities that attend engaged universities and offers perspective on the role of place identity to describe a double consciousness shaped by stereotypes and engagement with their city. The implications for this work are to better prepare service-learning educators for engaging diverse communities with respect and sensitivity to how the community is portrayed while drawing community engagement practice into a broader discourse related to the roles of race and place in shaping identity.

Theoretical Framework

Methodology

To answer our research question, we choose a qualitative, phenomenological approach. Brown and Hale (2014) state that the qualitative research approach is used to answer questions that “have to do with context, environment, and holistic assessment of a situation or problem” (p. 137). According to Marshall and Rossman (2016), “phenomenology is the study of lived experiences and the way we understand those experiences to develop a worldview” (p. 153). Furthermore, van Manen (1984) describes the phenomenological approach as an attempt “to gain insightful descriptions of the way we experience the world” (p. 39). Because we seek to identify these resident-students’ experiences with place identity in a racialized city and society, a critical phenomenological approach is best suited for this study (Fanon, 1952; Henry, 2004; Salamon, 2018).

Findings

The main purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of resident-students attending an engaged university in their home community to understand if and how their place identity changed. We find that resident-students inhabited two, simultaneous identities of student and resident consistent with a double consciousness. Two major themes emerge from the data related to the experience of being from the city that explain this double consciousness: stereotypes of the city and engagement in the city.

Place Identity as a Double Consciousness

The two major themes, stereotypes of the city and civic engagement in the city, represent points of divergence for resident-students’ identities. A conceptual framework for place identity as a double consciousness is presented in Figure 1. This diagram purposefully forms the shape of a home, reflecting the importance of that symbol in many of our resident-students’ experiences. This home’s foundation is a racialized landscape, structuring the resident-students’ identity and interaction with others inside and outside of the university (Bonam et al., 2017; Inwood & Yarbrough, 2010).

Figure 1.

Place identity as double consciousness.

In this formulation, the resident-student’s identity is represented as the circle in the center. The relationship between stereotypes of the city and the individual represent ways in which the individual’s identification with the place are attenuated, indicated by the dashed line going from stereotypes to the individual. However, these individual’s counternarratives are represented as a dashed line going back to the stereotypes, diminishing the effects of the stereotypes of the city on their place identity. Relevant out-groups are seen as a force that increases the stereotypes, indicated by the solid line in that direction (Belanche et al., 2017; Bernardo & Palma-Oliveira, 2016; Bonam et al., 2017). These out-groups’ interactions with the city mutually reinforce the racialization of place through a bidirectional relationship.

The bidirectional relationships between the individual and civic engagement in the city in Figure 1 represent the influences that service-learning and civic engagement have on the resident-student’s place identity but also that their place identity influences how they engage with their city. Passing the torch is seen through the arrows going from civic engagement to the future generations in a positive relationship (solid line) and from the future generations to the stereotypes in an attenuating relationship (as indicated by the dashed line); we see future generations also positively influence the resident-student’s identification with place. These actions represent a kind of counternarrative that restructures the experiences for youth in response to the racialization of the city.

Discussion and Implications

This research investigated the place identity of resident-students to uncover a conceptual framework of double consciousness because previous scholarship theorized that such a dualism may exist (Bringle, 2017; Hickmon, 2015; Siemers et al., 2015). This research adds to our understanding of that theoretical foundation by systematically describing and critically examining the patterns present in our phenomenological case study: one related to stereotypes and one related to civic engagement. We find intersections of the influences of relevant out-groups, future generations of Camden youth, and racialized cities that relate back to our themes and research question reflecting an intersubjective lived experience of being a Rutgers–Camden student from Camden. These findings have implications for the field of service-learning and draw the service-learning field into a broader discussion of the ways race, place, and identity interact to structure experiences in communities of color from a critical geography perspective.

Consistent with Hickmon’s (2015) double consciousness, we see resident-students embodying two distinct positions: student and community member. This pattern is in line with the concept of identity salience (Jones & McEwen, 2000). In the synthesis of double consciousness, we see that for many resident-students, changes in place identity and how they understand their self in the world shifts to accommodate these dual positions. To that end, we find that place identity forms and changes as an outgrowth of societal patterns around our resident-students but also resulting from the social interactions of students (Jones & Abes, 2013). We also find evidence of meaning-making and self-authorship in comments from students like Gabrielle, Marta, and Adrianna about their place identity and other constructs, consistent with the theoretical framework of the reconceptualized Model of Multiple Identity Development (Abes et al., 2007). Furthermore, by applying an intersectional lens, this research “places the experiences of people of color at the center as the core of any analysis” (Jones & Abes, 2013, p. 158), which is essential for critical interpretation of this double consciousness (Mitchell & Rost-Banik, 2017).

Du Bois described double consciousness as a veil that persons of color live behind, one that inhibits the process of self-identity development given conflicts arising between “the macrostructure of the racialized world and the lived experience of racialized subjects” (Itzigsohn & Brown, 2015, p. 231). We see that resident-students discussed their personal experience framed by how they perceive others see their lives. From the quotations in the introduction, Anna discusses “what other people think” or “expect … a Camden resident to do,” while other interviews discuss the “media” portrayal as dominating non-resident perceptions. This reflexive comparison to others echoes a pervasive, implicit bias felt by residents of the city, wherein overt racial stereotypes are replaced by coded references to Camden and its residents (Bonam et al., 2017). Resident-students also discuss stereotypes held by other service-learners and their professors that reinforce the racialization, so resident-students spoke of a strong desire to reconcile public perceptions with their own experiences and to prove stereotypes wrong—often taking this on as a personal goal or responsibility (Rawls, 2000). These counternarratives challenge the dominant narrative that negatively constructs the city as “bad” to reflect the lived reality of resident-students in their community and at their university (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002).

The propensity for resident-students to give back to their community is in line with Du Bois’s belief that a duty to one’s community is the way to overcome the incompleteness in identity that double consciousness causes for people of color (Rawls, 2000). Du Bois believed that commitment to Black community would allow individuals to transcend these internal separations and assert themselves in oppressive contexts (Itzigsohn & Brown, 2015). This commitment, or duty, to community is frequently mentioned by resident-students as a desire to “influence the community,” to “equip” or “pass the torch” to a future generation.

Resident-students can find great value in their civic activities, and these activities give them a sense of purpose (Yeh, 2010). We observe that civic engagement opportunities occur in different venues (campus, local organizations, etc.; see Appendix). For at least half of the sample, students identified engagements that were not university related. The overwhelming majority shared one or more of the engagements they had with their city’s youth (early ages through high school). How resident-students chose to engage reflected a counternarrative to the prevailing stereotype of the city and its residents, attempting to restructure the experience for the next generation of youth.

However, for curricular service-learning in particular, we find evidence that resident-students feel a double burden of serving the community and representing the community, consistent with Hickmon’s (2015) account and discussions of race and gender issues raised by Chesler and Vasques Scalera (2000). They often confront fear, racism, or misunderstanding from their classmates in these environments (Mitchell et al., 2012). Service-learning practitioners should continue to work to ensure a culturally aware practice that forefronts how the community is portrayed when facilitating both the service and the reflection activities. Practitioners should identify and interrupt systems that replicate racialized constructions of place and the perceived deficits of those places.

Faculty may find value in collaborating with student supportive services on the campus as suggested by Engstrom (2003). Such partnerships may include tapping into units responsible for offering workshops that help all students explore their assumptions and their understanding of stereotypes about places and people they will engage with. Such partnerships can validate resident-student experiences: ensuring that the burden of the double consciousness does not push them away from participation (Green, 2003) and avoiding their experiences being either ignored or “spotlighted” in the classroom (Carter, 2008). Service-learning research should continue to examine its whiteness (Bocci, 2015; Butin, 2006). We also recommend that service-learning researchers continue to examine place identity as a construct that is influenced by and influences civic activity.

To conclude, we wish to share another observation from Gabrielle, whose comment about living both lives gave us the title to this article. Referencing the impact of this research, she says “that’s the importance of [your] study … hopefully when you guys put it together, you guys really express the points of the goods and negatives that everybody projected … it can help people change the perception on things.”

Notes

We wish to acknowledge our classmates in Dr. Stephen Danley’s Qualitative Methods class in the fall of 2017 and Michael D’Italia who aided us in collecting the data used in this article. Our adventure together in the class was challenging and memorable. We also are grateful to the anonymous reviewers at the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning and attendees at the 2018 International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement for their recommendations and critical feedback.

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Authors

THOMAS A. DAHAN ([email protected]) earned his PhD from the Public Affairs/Community Development program at Rutgers University–Camden in May of 2019. His dissertation examines the community impact of service-learning using nationally representative data from the 1990s through the present. He holds a Master’s in Teaching, Learning and Curriculum from Drexel University and a Bachelor of Political Science from the University of Florida.

KATHRYN CRUZ is a PhD student in Public Affairs, Rutgers University–Camden. She studies critical environmental justice, land tenure, and race and resistance. She is currently working on her dissertation exploring trauma and restoration in urban agriculture in the Philadelphia region. In addition, she is an Adjunct Professor at Eastern University in the Sociology Department teaching courses related to social stratification, inequality, and social justice.

SIS. ANETHA PERRY is a PhD student in Public Affairs, Rutgers University–Camden. Sis. Perry was raised in Camden, New Jersey, with research interests including community development and empowerment. She was recognized as the Department of Public Policy and Administration “Ph.D. Student of the Year” in 2016.

BRIAN HAMMELL is a PhD candidate in Public Affairs, Rutgers University–Camden and a US Air Force intelligence analyst whose research interests include the influence of drug policy on community outcomes of health and well-being. He is currently working on his dissertation, which is looking at community and economic development effects of marijuana legalization in Colorado.

STEPHEN DANLEY is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Administration, Rutgers University–Camden. Dr. Danley is an urban ethnographer who focuses on the intersection of participation, protest, and power. A Marshall Scholar and Oxford DPhil, his work focuses on the experience and strategy of protest, community responses to policy experiments, and the structures or systems necessary to facilitate participation. He is a BrandeisENACT Fellow, a scholar-activist, and an advocate for local knowledge and civic engagement as foundational to both urban policy and urban universities.

Appendix