ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 analyses how the empowerment and enrichment participants gained from ‘familial capital’ is transferred into educational contexts to enhance their educational prospects. Drawing upon community cultural wealth, familial capital as a distinct form of cultural capital possessed by Black families. This embodies forms of family support – namely high expectations, inspiration, encouragement, emotional support – and aspirational capital – the desire to be ambitious despite structural and economic barriers. Emotional support often takes the form of instilling confidence, this then acts as a drive for success which is manifested in their educational desire e.g. self-awareness, resilience. Additionally, the family acts as advisors – providing advice on how, as a young Black male, to successfully navigate through education i.e. sharing guidance, tactics and strategies on schooling etiquette.
Consistent with the literature on the role of family in achieving educational and personal success the young Black males in the two studies talked about the indispensable role of the family and intergenerational aspects in shaping their educational and personal careers. A crucial difference in this chapter from existing studies is developing an understanding of the role of the family in fostering and sustaining a ‘turnaround narrative’ which traverses educational settings.
