Chapter 4: Nyeisha’s Mother: An Ethnographic Examination of Urban Schooling and Adopting a Resource Orientation Toward Social Capital

Nyeisha’s mother, Ms. Crawford, is a mother of six, soon to be seven children. Three of her children, including Nyeisha, attend Baker School¹. Ms. Crawford is at Baker School several days a week. Despite this, Ms. Crawford is described by Nyeisha’s teacher, Ms. Smith, as a “waste.” In this chapter, I consider why Ms. Crawford’s interactions with school personnel do not function as social capital that can be leveraged for her and her children. I argue that this is because of a deficit orientation that schools and the individuals within them have toward students and parents in the community. I suggest that taking a resource orientation toward families is a more effective way to engage them and develop bilateral relationships. The paper begins by discussing key theoretical concepts and then overviews the research methods. I then present a case study of Ms. Crawford and discuss her interactions with school personnel. The chapter demonstrates that for Ms. Crawford’s interactions to result in positive benefits (i.e., function as social capital), a shift in the way parents’ efforts are interpreted in schools needs to occur.