We're Helping Them but We're also Helping Ourselves: Transformational Processing of African American Boys in an Afrocentric Service-Learning Journey to Ethiopia

The history of educational inequality in the U.S. is well documented. Researchers have identified deleterious consequences of learning in a Eurocentric educational system (Boutte and Strickland, 2008; King and Swartz, 2014) and health benefits of internalizing Afrocentric worldviews for students of African descent (Burbanks et al., 2020; Chipungu et al., 2002). Critical international service learning has shown promise in addressing needs of African American learners (Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2017; Boyle-Baise, 2007). However, it hasn’t been studied in combination with place-based pedagogy connecting participants' heritage and location in ways that affirm identity. Ethiopia, the only African soil that defeated colonization, plays an integral role in the freedom narrative of the African diaspora. This exploratory case study investigated how eight African American male adolescents processed their experiences on a two-week Afrocentric Critical service-learning program in Ethiopia. Data were from participants’ journal entries, interviews, and pre and post questionnaires. Using qualitative data analysis framed by Whaley and McQueen’s Cognitive-Cultural Model of African American Identity for Black Youth (CMAI; 2010, 2017, 2020), themes revealed that each of the identified processing domains—cognitive, behavioral, and emotional—experienced its own transformation. This study offers a new application of the CMAI, demonstrating how the framework can be expanded to account for the identified social roles that evolved and mediated participants’ transformational processing. Findings illustrate how participants engaged in critical reflection, identity reconstruction, and advocacy, contributing to a deeper understanding of how Afrocentric education and place-based pedagogy can facilitate transformational learning. Conclusions provided insights into participant processing that can inform future program design of Afrocentric curriculum/education and critical international service-learning initiatives for African American male adolescents. This study also expands the application of the CMAI by demonstrating how place-based Afrocentric service learning facilitates transformative identity development through evolving social roles.