“I live both lives”: Exploring Double Consciousness in Resident-Students at an Engaged Institution

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. I think it has strengthened my relationship with the city, especially the way I used to feel in high school about it. How I just kinda wanted to get out and be above, or do things differently than what most people expected me as a Camden resident to do. I think coming [to college] here really made me realize that there’s nothing to run from here. Everything that I love and want to be around I can find it right here in my city so it’s really made me realize that it is a great place regardless of what people think. –Anna I feel like it’s really good to give back to your community because if you won’t, who else will? Like right now I’m in Jumpstart, and I’m a leader and the kids, I teach the kids, and there’s this program at Jumpstart ... that help us give ... a minority to get a head start in life, teaching them literacy, and reading sessions and things like that, and I feel that’s really good, it’s helping us help the generation that is coming up to be more well equipped. –Marta 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