Being Black in a Sea of Color: A Phenomenological Study Exploring Black Students’ Racial Experiences at an AANAPISI and Emerging HSI

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Charles Lu
Ajhanai Channel Inez Newton

Abstract

This phenomenological study used semi-structured interviews with 13 Black college students attending a university that is both an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) and emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) to explore their racial experiences using symbolic interaction theory.  Findings demonstrate that despite attending a minority-serving institution, Black students felt a cultural mismatch with their Asian and Latinx peers and the values of their campus.  Being a minority within a minority-serving institution, they also experienced being invisible and hypervisible simultaneously.

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