Black aesthetics in children\u27s literature

The purpose of my research is to show that although many African American children’s books have been used as “race texts” to give children insight into race relations of the past, many are important in that they preserve the Black dialect and encourage child activism and social change. Black aesthetics are most beneficial in that they educate children about not just race but about the African American oral tradition of Black dialect. They also provide children with a strong foundation in Black aesthetics, which prepares them for the higher forms of Black aesthetics found in African American adult literature. Not only is African American children’s literature just as political as African American adult literature, but it also preserves the Black dialect. Most important, African American children’s literature adds diversity to the study of children’s literature in that educators, parents, and librarians are better able to teach and appreciate its aesthetic value. Thus, my research project will reveal how African American children’s books are not just “artifacts of race” but “artifacts of aesthetics.

A Transcendental Phenomenological Study of Christian Leaders\u27 Competency Development Experience: Prepared to Equip the Laity

Research indicates that missional or nondenominational U.S. churches may include more than 60,000 such churches, representing at least 12 million followers (Thumma, 2020). Additionally, some ministry leaders predict denominational affiliation will wane over the next decade (Earls, 2021a), as will the training and other support they offer. The purpose of this phenomenological study will be to assess and understand the experiences of missional ministry leaders after participation in a structured or unstructured competency development program and their ensuing dynamic engagement in ministry. Dynamic engagement will be defined as fully engaged and intentional (MacFarland, 2019, para. 1), as evidenced by implementing a plan to cultivate disciples. Missional Christian ministry leaders in attendance with the researcher at workshops and seminars have communicated issues with fundamental deficits in leadership preparedness due to a lack of or insufficient training. Research exploring leadership development programs abounds. Pedagogical models for preparing ministers who serve outside larger religious constructs seem lacking. A two-phase qualitative methodology, including an online demographic survey and a subsequent inductive one-on-one interview, will be employed. Husserl’s view of essence will guide this study (Creely, 2018). Within a Husserlian (1970) orientation, this researcher will interpret the essence of the participant’s lived experiences as their sense of the phenomenon under review. According to Husserl’s (1970) theory, essence is a variable reflecting the qualities of a thing and the particular observer (Ross, 2006; Williams, 2001). Moreover, as those qualities exist in a substance, they thereby make that thing what it is, individually, by the observer (Ross, 2006; Williams, 2001)