Improvisation as a Concept for Understanding and Treating Violent Behavior among African American Youth

VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: This paper by Pierce and Singleton introduced the concept of improvisation to better understand and treat violence among African-American youth. METHODOLOGY: The authors employed a non-experimental critical review of the literature. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: The authors argued that African-American youth employ a strategy of improvisation to achieve their goals. They defined improvisation as "the means of making do with what one has, using the resources immediately available" (p. 445). According to the authors, African-Americans were forced, due to limited resources, to use the strategy of improvisation throughout their history in the United States. First, African-Americans in the days of slavery employed several improvisational strategies. Slaves developed their own language to preserve their cultural heritage. They performed the role of the 'happy slave.' They also used spiritual gatherings as a mechanism to develop and maintain some sort of social support network. During and after Reconstruction, the environment remained hostile for African-Americans in the United States. Again, their access to the means of achievement was limited. The improvisational strategies commonly employed in this time were to script or plan interactions with whites and to develop and maintain their own social support networks. The authors argued that throughout their history in the U.S., African-Americans learned that the future was unpredictable and learned to focus on short term goals to survive, i.e., they learned to become oriented to the present rather than the future. According to the authors, both of these lessons contribute to the violence common among African-Americans. However, the authors acknowledged current lessons that also contribute to the prevalence of violence. First, it was argued that African-Americans deny their feelings and experiences, hence, losing some of their empathic ability. Second, it was argued that African-American youth learn to mimic conventional behavior just to get by. Third, the authors contended that games such as 'dozens' are improvisational techniques that enables the youth to practice defending themselves in unpredictable situations. According to the authors, each of these improvisational strategies helped many in this community cope with the limited opportunities available to African-Americans in the U.S. AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS: The authors suggested that the concept of improvisation could not only help shed light on violence committed by African-American youth but could serve as a guide to construct meaningful and cost efficient intervention strategies. In general, the authors suggested that role playing exercises, accompanied by analyses of performance, could help young people come to grips with their fears in certain everyday violence-provoking situations. Moreover, they suggested alternative, non-violent improvisational strategies could be identified and practiced. The authors argued that such role playing could also help develop empathy by having individuals play victims. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) Juvenile Offender Juvenile Treatment Juvenile Violence Violence Treatment African American Violence African American Offender African American Juvenile Minority Group Violence Intervention Violence Causes Violence Treatment Literature Review Social Organization Sociocultural Factors Socioeconomic Factors Environmental Factors History of Crime-Violence Racism Racial Factors 10-03