Exploring Black American Flourishing Through the Arts and Humanities: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Prior literature has shown that arts & humanities (A&H) engagement enhances flourishing; however, much of the existing literature has focused primarily on White American samples, creating a lack of evidence around the impacts of A&H on Black American flourishing. Furthermore, despite significant evidence demonstrating the impact of the arts on psychological, physical, and interpersonal flourishing, there is a lack of evidence focusing on the relationship between A&H and other key flourishing dimensions, such as transcendent or collective flourishing, that are salient within Black American communities. A scoping review was conducted to provide a comprehensive summary of literature connecting A&H to Black American flourishing across psychological, physical, interpersonal, collective, and transcendent dimensions of flourishing. Results: of this scoping review (n = 114 studies) revealed nuanced relationships between A&H engagement in Black Americans, including the impact of culturally relevant A&H engagement. Additionally, the review identified gaps in the literature regarding the study of the impact of A&H on transcendent flourishing in this population.