Date of Award
2020
Degree Type
Open Access Dissertation
Degree Name
Education, PhD
Program
School of Educational Studies
Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair
Kyo Yamashiro
Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member
Dina Maramba
Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member
William Perez
Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member
Victor Thompson
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2020 Samara I Suafoa
Keywords
college-going decisions, grid iron capital, Grid Iron Myth, Native Hawaiians/Other Pacific Islanders, Polynesian Pipeline, student-athletes
Subject Categories
Education
Abstract
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) high school student-athletes are highly sought after by collegiate athletic programs across the country, creating the Polynesian Pipeline phenomenon (Johnston, 1976; Tengan and Markham, 2009; Uperesa, 2014; Vainuku and Cohn, 2015). However, the college graduation rates of NHOPIs remain comparable to those of other minoritized communities. Utilizing an adapted conceptual framework of college access (Ogbu, 1990; Tierney and Venegas, 2009) which argues that college-going decisions are impacted by multiple environmental influencers, this study examines the role of the Polynesian Pipeline one of those contextual factors in the college choice process for NHOPI student-athletes. Furthermore, this study hypothesizes that the Polynesian Pipeline substantially influences the college-going decisions of this specific population of student-athletes due to the unique forms of capital it offers. Designed as a qualitative study, phenomenology is used to accentuate the NHOPI student-athlete voice, which has been critically underexplored. Using purposive sampling, participants were initially identified through NHOPI community athletic organizations as eleventh and twelfth grade NHOPI student-athletes. Thereafter, snowball sampling was used to identify additional participants. Lastly, themes were derived from demographic survey and one-on-one interview responses. Findings suggest that the Polynesian Pipeline is a significant contextual factor within the college choice process for NHOPI high school student-athletes which heavily impacts their attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions about going to college. Additionally, findings argue that for this unique population, the intersectionality of race and athletics should be considered during the college choice process.
ISBN
9798641808048
Recommended Citation
Suafo'a, Samara Iusitina. (2020). Reimagining the Polynesian Pipeline Phenomenon: An Intersectionality of Race & Athletics in the College-Going Decisions of Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander High School Student-Athletes. CGU Theses & Dissertations, 648. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/648.
