The lived persistent meaning of abrupt, permanent separation from a black, female nanny during early childhood: A phenomenological psychological study

Examination of the Black nanny/White male charge dyad is not the subject of psychological studies past or present save for Goldman's (2003) study that examined the experience of White males raised by Black nannies in Apartheid south Africa, employing a free association narrative method; data were analyzed in their thematic and narrative aspects. The present study investigated the lived persistent meaning of abrupt, permanent separation from a Black, female, live-in nanny during early childhood. Three participants responded to the prompt: "Please describe in detail what it was like to be permanently separated from your nanny." Transcripts provided data that were analyzed using the phenomenological psychological method of Amedeo Giorgi (2009) within which a series of steps included discriminating meaning units and analyzing each meaning unit for the purpose of revealing the psychological aspects of the ways each participation lived through the experience of the phenomenon, separation and seeking a synthetic structure thereof. The results indicated a common psychological structure comprised of six constituents: a) the establishment of a long-term relationship; b) a precipitating event; c) helplessness; d) shame, anger, and resentment; e) unrealized expectations; and, f) feelings of ambivalence. These findings contributed to a psychological understanding of the meaning of separation for participants and its common, long-term, enduring affects. It is hoped that this contribution will draw scholars' interests to this area of study and encourage consideration of the conflict in consciousness that a White male child may experience when the responsibility for his care and nurturance is placed in the hands of a qualified, capable other very early in his lifetime, a capable other whose love and care are extended to and received by him but not recognized as such by parents who perceive nanny's role as employee only-- dispensable and easily forgotten. In this highly specialized relationship, separation is not casually accepted. There is a wide range of possibilities for studies in this area, leaning towards the surfacing of meanings that for psychological subjects may prove to be historical, social, and/or political. The dearth of studies in this area may mean that many white males suffer in silence.