ABSTRACT
The idea that the educational experiences of young black women of African Caribbean origin are shaped by the demands of their female centred society has remained an uncontested assumption in British educational research. It manifests itself in the pervasive belief that young black women are motivated to succeed in school primarily through their identification with their ‘strong black mothers’. However, this idea appears to be the outcome of widespread common-sense idealizing about the matrifocal nature of African Caribbean society rather than qualified academic research.
