title: I/We narratives among African American families raising children with special needs.
abstract: This paper examines a statistics debate among African American caregivers raising children with disabilities for insights into the work of "African American mothering." Using ethnographic, narrative and discourse analyses, we delineate the work that African American mothers do--in and beyond this conversation--to cross ideological and epistemological boundaries around race and disability. Their work entails choosing to be an "I" and, in some cases, actively resisting being seen as a "they" and/or part of a collective "we" in order to chart alternative futures for themselves and their children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Southern California, 3601 Watt Way, GFS 120, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1692, USA. jacobshu@usc.edu
authors.forename: Lanita
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lawlor
authors.forename: Cheryl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mattingly
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D017028:Caregivers; D002648:Child; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D006801:Humans; D016487:Parenting / Q000208:ethnology*