Navigating the U.S. Educational System: Perspectives of Kenyan Immigrant Students labelled with Dis/abilities and their Families

Black African immigrants from Kenya, like other immigrants, value school. They consider education as a mechanism of upward mobility. School is considered as the key to a better life that would provide access to social mobility, and economic stability for immigrant families as they settle in their new home. But unknown to immigrant students and their families, is that schools are not immune to ongoing socio-political issues in society. I argue that schools can be locations of reproducing colonial violence and oppression. This dissertation empirically examines the phenomenological experiences of eleven Black Kenyan immigrant students labelled with dis/abilities and seven Black Kenyan immigrant mothers about their experiences with the U.S educational system. I explore the socio-cultural and historical context of the U.S. educational system that is imbued with multiple oppressions, including racism, linguicism, and ableism and how these manifests in the lived experiences of Black Kenyan immigrant students labelled with dis/abilities and their families. I animate this work with critical theories such as postcolonialism, a raciolinguistic perspective, and disability critical race theory (DisCrit), grounded in intersectionality. The study captures robust narratives, by engaging in iterative data collection and analysis. I employ, multiple qualitative methods and sources, including in-depth phenomenological interviews and participant generated photography, eco-maps and cartography to explain the educational experiences of Black Kenyan immigrants in U.S. schools. This study brings out a variety of lived school experiences, that for the most part, have impacted the scholarship of Black Kenyan immigrant students labeled with dis/abilities, a legacy of the colonial experience that still holds sway in the postcolonial world. This dissertation has demonstrated the grip that coloniality has on the present and the need for the U.S. schooling system to do better in supporting Black Kenyan immigrant students labelled with dis/abilities and their families.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Kansas

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Nyegenye, Sylvia Nabwire

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Annamma, Subini A
• Kurth, Jennifer A

• Special education
• African studies
• Education
• Ableism
• Anti-Blackness
• Dis/ability
• Kenyan Immigrants
• Postcolonialism
• Raciolinguistics

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright held by the author.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

http://dissertations.umi.com/ku:17816

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kuscholarworks.ku.edu:1808/39202