Barbershop: A Haven for Black Men to Learn and Grow Together - Essay Sample

Introduction

Barbershop has led to the creation of a community of practice, which is a community that is formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor. In essence, a community of practice comprises of people sharing similar concerns or passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they continue to interact (Wilson, Kaboolian, de Jong, & Stuart, 2017). This definition is especially true for black men, who find barbershop as a haven. According to Dr. Ravenell, barbershops have created a community where black men can find peace, where they don’t have to worry about how the rest of the world perceives them. Barbershop helps in providing a sanctuary for black communities, a place where they feel safe and socially connected, as well as a place where society keeps watch over the others.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Besides hair care services, the barbershop is perceived as an area where black people can be vulnerable and talk about important issues in the community. Barbershop provides a community space where people can play games, talk politics, local gossip, and community affairs. The community of practice that has resulted from Barbershops has provided an avenue through which black men can access healthcare. Studies have shown that most black men die disproportionately from diseases that can be prevented (Alsan, & Wanamaker, 2018). This trend is a result of increased resistance among black males to visit the medical office, as they perceive it as cold and uncaring. According to Dr. Ravenell, such men would rather trust their barber with their medical concerns than a doctor.

It is based on this notion that community outreach in the medical field has been created through the development of programs such as the Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program (BBHOP) aimed at promoting health and preventing illness among the black men. The BBHOP programs have managed to reach approximately 10,000 men nationwide through grassroots volunteer-driven efforts (Murphy, Moore, Wright, Gipson, Keeter, Cornelious, & Murray, 2017). This type of intervention has leveraged on different concepts about communities to engage participants in the intervention. These concepts include space, people, shared values ad institutions, interaction, distribution of power, and social systems under the community created by the barbershop.

The BBHOP program takes advantage of the barbershop as a space in a community setting, where unfettered dialogue takes place to promote health. This community space provides an opportunity for free interaction between people, openness, and frank communication. It, therefore, acts as a conduit through which activities can take place regardless of the personal health knowledge of the barber. The openness and trust depicted in the barbershop date back before the Civil Rights era, where black men would congregate for confidant and candid discussions. This brings about the people component of a community, which has been used to the success of the BBHOP program. Since pre-Civil Right eras, black men as people are known to meet in barbershop and share as a community with similar goals and passing through the same economic conditions and challenges. Thus, the effectiveness of barbershop-based outreached programs is not beholden to the experience of a specific barber per se and can transcend the individuals involved. The very true nature of barbershop makes it a unique community setting that invites men from different backgrounds, and has their hair care services without discrimination, judgment, prejudice, or expectation.

The community of practice created through the barbershop has shared values and interests that they pursue in the domain. The members, therefore, engage in joint activities and discussions aimed at helping each other and for sharing information. This engagement finally results in relationships between different individuals, enabling them to learn from each other (Kirkpatrick, 2019). The relationship goes to the extent of standing with each other in times of crisis and celebrating together outside the barbershop. In essence, the members of the community interact frequently and learn from each other. Such a community does not have a clear designated leader, and in most cases it is the barber who takes the mandate of leading others. The health organization can leverage on this and the established trusted networks to reach out to black men and avail medical services to them with ease.

Medical practitioners can take collective responsibility for managing the knowledge required to be spread among the black men using the aspect of the social system of the community and by recognizing that with the appropriate structure and information, barbers are at the best position to achieve the set medical goal (Kirkpatrick, 2019).

Doctors can also use this community to create a direct connection between learning and performance, or putting into practice, since of the community members also participants in other community, which can help in spreading the information. The tacit and dynamic nature of knowledge-creating and sharing in healthcare, including the more explicit healthcare aspects can be shared based on the trust established. Besides, the Formal structures that may hinder communication in a community are not present in the case of a community of practice created by the barbershop. This means the establishment of connections among the people across the community.

References

Alsan, M., & Wanamaker, M. (2018). Tuskegee and the health of black men. The quarterly journal of economics, 133(1), 407-455.

Kirkpatrick, W. (2019). Barbershop blood pressure program: A quality improvement project.

Murphy, A. B., Moore, N. J., Wright, M., Gipson, J., Keeter, M., Cornelious, T., ... & Murray, M. (2017). Alternative locales for the health promotion of African American men: A survey of African American men in Chicago barbershops. Journal of community health, 42(1), 139-146.

Wilson, D., Kaboolian, L., de Jong, J., & Stuart, G. (2017). Barbershops and Preventative Health.