CSU Fullerton assistant professor aims to better understand the experiences of Black foster youth in navigating and overcoming anti-Blackness in education
Brianna Harvey, assistant professor of sociology at Cal State Fullerton and an alumna of the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies, has been awarded a $34,341 grant in support of “Challenging Anti-Blackness in Education: Amplifying the Voices of Black Foster Youth Students Through Counter-Storytelling,” a new study aiming to uplift the educational experiences of Black foster youth currently enrolled in a four-year public university. The project is funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for the California Child Welfare Indications Project initiative through UC Berkeley’s Transition-Age Youth Research and Evaluation Hub.
“This grant is especially significant to me because it springs from my experience working with the UCLA Guardian Scholars program and is an expansion of the research I conducted during my dissertation at UCLA,” Harvey says. “It is providing me the opportunity to interview Black foster youth across Southern California to better understand their experiences navigating and overcoming anti-blackness within their K-12 schooling journey. I’m super excited to have the chance to uplift the voice of a marginalized student community so we can find ways to combat the disenfranchisement they face in educational environments.”
Harvey’s study employs BlackCrit, a critique of white supremacy and limits of multiculturalism, and a Black Storywork framing to explore the tools and strategies of resistance used by Black foster youth to subvert anti-Black policies and practices encountered during their primary schooling. The project employs focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and art-based methods to highlight Black foster youth collegians’ narratives of strength, liberation, and resistance.
The research offers insights into the educational experiences of Black foster youth and the challenges they face within the K-12 system. By identifying tools and strategies to subvert anti-Black policies, Harvey hopes the research will inform the development of more inclusive and supportive educational policies and practices and further a broader conversation on social justice and equity.
“Understanding how these students navigate and overcome obstacles can inform efforts to create a more equitable educational environment for all students,” Harvey says.
The research also aims to address a notable gap in existing literature on the under-researched topic of the educational experiences of Black foster youth. Harvey’s interdisciplinary research focuses on understanding how carceral systems perpetuate anti-Blackness through policies, practices, and mechanisms of control, impacting the lives of Black youth and their families. Using qualitative inquiry rooted in community, she aims to combat oppression by creating liberating spaces. Her earlier research interrogates the collusive partnership between schools and the foster system, highlighting the ways mandated reporting, exclusionary discipline policies and carceral practices impact the experiences of Black foster youth inside and outside of schools.
Harvey earned her Ph.D. in education in 2023 at the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies in the division of Urban Schooling. At UCLA, she was the recipient of the Inaugural Scholarship for the Study of Black Life, and the UCLA Education and Information Studies Award for Black Excellence. Harvey is also a recipient of the Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship.