Community and cultural resilience in Bluefields, Nicaragua: An ethnographic study of Creole people
Open Access
- Author:
- Sausner, Erica Beth
- Graduate Program:
- Educational Theory and Policy
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 14, 2018
- Committee Members:
- Mindy Kornhaber, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Mindy Kornhaber, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Dana Mitra, Committee Member
Kai Arthur Schafft, Committee Member
Nicole Webster, Outside Member - Keywords:
- Nicaragua
Creole
cultural resilience
community resilience
marginalized youth
Afro-descendant
culture
critical ethnography - Abstract:
- This critical ethnographic study examines the cultural resilience of Afro-descendant Creole people (research question 1), and the community resilience of Bluefields, Nicaragua (research question 2). Semi-structured interviews, participant observations, ethnographic field notes, informal interviews, and focus groups are engaged to study Creole culture and civil society organizations (CSOs) that serve Bluefields’ youth. Fleming and Ledogar (2008, p.3, citing Healey (2006)) link and define community and cultural resilience as: “the capacity of a distinct community or cultural system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change so as to retain key elements of structure and identity that preserve its distinctness.” The findings include 5 components of Creole cultural resilience. Networks of care and “minding,” extended family relationships, identity formation in families, parenting, and social control over physical presentation and reputation were crucial cultural components passed between generations. Four additional findings address the second research question, and clarify the roles that CSOs play in supporting community resilience. CSOs’ foci, the holistic nature of their work, the links between CSOs and individual identities, and convivencia (living togetherness) support Bluefields’ community resilience. The 9 findings, associated with 2 research questions, are lenses into the Bluefields community. Similarities between Creoles and other marginalized groups throughout the world strengthen cultural resilience literature. The findings related to community resilience cast additional light on networks as supportive of community resilience and call for further investigation into this realm. The goal of the work is to offer a starting place for conversations around culture, resilience, and community development with links to education policy that draw upon the ethnographic literature expansion offered in these findings.