Mixed Race Studies

Reactions in the Field: Interviews with Helping Professionals Who Work with Biracial Children and Adolescents

University of Cincinnati
2002
277 pages

Michele Neace Page

A dissertation submitted to the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTORATE OF EDUCATION (Ed.D.)

The number of interracial couples and marriages are growing in the United States, and it is expected that the number of biracial children will also increase. It is estimated that within five years, a third of America’s youth will be the offspring of an interracial relationship (Synder, 1996). The future design of support services to meet the needs of the biracial population is obviously crucial.

The literature review has revealed a lack of training of helping professionals and a framework for identifying and understanding biracial populations. Counseling professionals have recognized the need to increase research in the area of working with biracial children, but no previous study has gathered information from helping professionals in the field.

This study was designed to explore the knowledge, skills, attitudes and expectations of professionals who work with biracial children. Twenty male and female participants were interviewed from various helping professions including social work, mental health and school counseling. Each participant was required to have two years work experience with biracial children. Data was collected through a structured interview. Years of experience for helping professionals ranged from two to twenty-five with 85% of the respondents being Caucasian.

Helping professional’s top concerns for working with biracial adolescents and children were a lack of training, real-life experiences, awareness or comfort with identity, and acceptance of biracial children by others. The expectation for the future professional development and growth included the desire for more interaction of all people within their community.

This study supported the identified area of need in previous literature regarding a lack of training and experience. Long range sociopolitical issues appear to be upcoming issues for biracial individuals as well as the desire of helping professionals to be better prepared and supportive to biracial children and adolescents.

Table of Contents

• List of Tables
• CHAPTER I Introduction and Review of the Literature
  • Introduction
    • Statement of Problem
  • Review of the Literature
    • Characteristics of Biracial Children
    • Commonalities and Differences for Adolescent Biracial and Monoracial Children
      • Developmental stages
      • Physical Characteristics, language and socioeconomic status
  • Identity
    • Cultural influence on identity
    • Family influence on identity
    • Peer influence on identity
    • Counselor Education and Training Issues
      • Helping professionals working with biracial children and adolescents
      • Counselors education and training with biracial children and adolescents
      • Multiculturalism in counseling
      • Multicultural competency training
    • Challenges of Counseling and Working with Biracial Children
      • Knowledge
      • Skills
      • Attitudes
    • Summary
    • Research Questions
    • Significance of the Study
      • Increasing Biracial Population
      • New Issues in the Helping Professions
      • Recognizing the Need to Act
• CHAPTER II Methods
  • Population and Sample
  • Design of the Questionnaire
  • Procedures
  • Approaches to Recruitment
  • Securing Permission to Conduct the Study
  • Recruiting Participants
  • Data Storage
  • Conducting the Interviews
  • Data Analysis
• CHAPTER III Results
  • Initial Analysis
  • Data Analysis Steps
  • Sample Demographics
  • Experience Working with Biracial Children
    • How Do You Get Ready to Work with Biracial Children?
    • What Special Training has the Counselor Obtained
    • Attitudes Regarding Working with Biracial Children
    • Expectations for the Future
  • Summary
• Chapter IV: Summary, Discussion, Future Implications
  • Summary
  • Discussion
    • Basic of Problems and Issues for Biracial Adolescents and Children
    • Factors most Important When Working With Biracial Adolescents and Children
    • Comfort With Biracial Children and Adolescents
  • Limitations of the Study
  • Helping professional perspectives
    • Sample Size
    • Sample Selection
    • Survey methodology
  • Future Implications
    • Implications for research
    • Implications for Training Counselor Education Programs
    • Implications for Practice
• REFERENCES
• APPENDIXES
  • Appendix A: Informed Consent Letter
  • Appendix B: Interview Questionnaire (Part I)
  • Appendix C: Interview Data

List of Tables

• 3.1: Degrees Held by Helping Professionals
• 3.2: Helping Professionals’ Customary Practices When Working with Any Child or Student
• 3.3: Helping Professionals’ Customary Practices Working with Biracial Child or Student
• 3.4: Difficult Issues when Working with Biracial Children
• 3.5: Special Training Obtained by the Helping Professional for Work with Biracial Children
• 3.6: Areas Where More Knowledge or Information Is Needed
• 3.7: Of the Sorts of Biracial Children Who Come to Your School/Community Center, Which Do You Think You Understand the Least Well and Have (Or Would Have) the Most Difficulty Working With?
• 3.8: Biracial Children’s Needs Versus Monoracial Children’s Needs Regarding Their Passage Through Puberty
• 3.9 In the Next Ten Years, What Trends Do You See in the Your Community Regarding the Prevalence of Biracial Children?

Read the entire dissertation here.

Racial Socialization of Biracial Adolescents

Kent State University
May 2006
158 pages

Ja’Nitta Marbury
Marbury & Associates, University Heights, Ohio

A dissertation submitted to the Kent State University Graduate School of Education, Health and Human Services in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose in conducting this research was to develop grounded theory regarding the racial socialization process of Biracial adolescents who were the offspring of an African American father and a European American mother. The participants in the study were eight European American mothers of Biracial adolescents ranging in age from 10 to 17 years old. This study was conducted in a qualitative format using individual and focus group interviews to gather data. The study was conducted to lay the foundation for the development of grounded theory on the Biracial socialization process. The grounded theory foundation developed from the results was the Biracial Socialization Spectrum. The Biracial Socialization Spectrum is a tetrahedron with the dynamic process as the base, side one representing the Black/African American parent spectrum, Side two representing the White/European American parent spectrum, and side three representing the Biracial Socialization Spectrum.

Table of Contents

• ACKNOWLEDMENTS
• LIST OF FIGURES
• LIST OF TABLES
• I. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW
  • History of Biracial People in America
  • Politics of a Biracial Identity
  • Biracial Childhood and Adolescence
  • The Development and Socialization of White Adolescents
  • Racial Socialization
    • Black Racial Socialization
    • Biracial Socialization
  • Parental Racial Socialization Messages
    • White Racial Identity
• II. METHODOLOGY
  • Purpose of the Study
  • Researcher Description
  • Research Design
  • Participants
  • Procedures
    • Individual Interviews
    • Focus Groups
  • Data Analysis
  • Limitations
• III. RESULTS
  • Recruitment
  • Participants
    • Gayl
    • Ananda
    • Kalpana
    • Bridgette
    • Patricia
    • Sandy
    • Ella
    • Sharon
  • Demographics
  • Individual Interviews
  • RQ₁: Research Question 1
    • IQ₁: What does the term Biracial mean to you?
    • IQ₂: What do you think being Biracial means to your child?
  • RQ₂: Research Question 2
    • IQ₃: What strategies, if any, of parenting a Biracial child are you using?
    • SQ₃: How do you process both negative and positive cross-racial encounters with them?
    • IQ₄: How does your child respond to the socialization methods you have tried?
    • IQ₆: How does your family aid in the socialization of your child?
  • RQ₃: Research Question 3
    • IQ₅: What impact does the difference in physical characteristics between you and your child have on how you socialize your child?
  • Focus Group Interview
    • Member Checking
  • Emerging Themes
  • Data Triangulation
    • Peer Reviewers and Researcher
    • Peer Reviewers’ Perceptions
    • Researcher’s Perceptions
  • Delimitations
• IV. DISCUSSION
  • Convergent & Divergent Socialization Process
  • Grounded Theory
    • Biracial Socialization Spectrum
  • Conclusions
    • White Racial Identity
    • Acceptance
    • Family of Origin and Immediate Family Acceptance
    • Social Political Environment
    • Implications For Counselors and Counselor Educators
  • Recommendations
  • The Intention Behind the Study
• APPENDICES
  • APPENDIX A: WHITE RACIAL IDENTITY EGO STATUSES
  • APPENDIX B: DIVERSEGRAD-L LIST-SERV POSTING
  • APPENDIX C: INTRODUCTORY LETTER
  • APPENDIX D: DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONNAIRE
  • APPENDIX E: INFORMATION INDEX CARD
  • APPENDIX F: PEER REVIEWING CONSENT FORM (PARTICIPANT)
  • APPENDIX G: PARTICIPANT CONSENT FORM
  • APPENDIX H: AUDIO AND VIDEO TAPE CONSENT FORM
  • APPENDIX I: STRUCTURED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
  • APPENDIX J: PEER REVIEWING CONSENT FORM (PEER REVIEWER)
  • APPENDIX K: RESEARCH QUESTION 1: INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW
  • APPENDIX L: RESEARCH QUESTION 1: FOCUS GROUP
  • APPENDIX M: RESEARCH QUESTION 2: INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW
  • APPENDIX N: RESEARCH QUESTION 2: FOCUS GROUP
  • APPENDIX O: RESEARCH QUESTION 3: INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW
  • APPENDIX P: TREE NODE DIAGRAM FOR RESEARCH QUESTION 1
  • APPENDIX Q: TREE NODE DIAGRAM FOR RESEARCH QUESTION 2
  • APPENDIX R: TREE NODE DIAGRAM FOR RESEARCH QUESTION 3
• REFERENCES

List of Figures

1. Methodology flow chart
2. Biracial Socialization Spectrum
3. Parental Spectrums (Side 1 & Side 2 Tetrahedron)
4. Dynamic process

List of Tables

1. Participant Education Level
2. Participant Marital Status
3. Participant Annual Household Income
4. Demographic Information Listed by Participant

Read the entire dissertation here.

Comparing Biracials And Monoracials: Psychological Well-Being And Attitudes Toward Multiracial People

Ohio State University
2008
108 pages

Peter J. Adams

DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University

The study of biracial individuals and their unique experience has been limited. As biracial individuals increase in number, understanding their experiences will become more important to psychologists and mental health professionals.

The purpose of the study was to compare biracial individuals and monoracial individuals on measures of psychological well being, ethnic identity, and attitudes towards biracial people. The present study examined one general research question and
three hypotheses:

• General Research Question & Hypotheses
  • Will scores on measures of ethnic identity, individual self-esteem, collective self-esteem, subjective well being, and attitudes toward biracial children significantly differ between biracial and monoracial groups?
  • Bracey, Bamara, and Umana-Taylor’s (2004) results on self-esteem and ethnic identity will be replicated in this study on adults.
  • When compared to monoracial individuals, biracial individuals will have significantly more positive attitudes towards biracials
  • A positive relationship exists between psychological well being and attitudes towards biracials for biracial individuals.

Participants completed a web-based survey from an undisclosed location of their choosing. Participants were solicited from various multicultural and professional psychology list serves and through Ohio State University’s Research Experience Program.

Results indicated that biracial adults appear to be as psychologically well adjusted as their monoracial counterparts. Results even suggested that biracial adults have more realized ethnic identities than their monoracial counterparts. Bracey et al.’s (2004) results were replicated in the present study (biracials were found to be as psychologically well adjusted as monoracials). Also, a positive relationship was found between biracial individuals’ psychological well being and their attitudes towards multiracial children. Support for the second hypothesis was not found – biracial individuals in the study did not have more positive attitudes toward biracials than their monoracial counterparts.

Implications of the findings along with the limitations of the study are discussed. Recommendations of future research are also given.

Table of Contents

• Abstract
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Vita
• List of Tables
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Literature Review
  • 2.1 Ethnic Identity
  • 2.1.1 Biracial Ethnic Identity
  • 2.2 Psychological Well Being
  • 2.3 Attitudes Towards Biracial Individuals in America
  • 2.4 Summary, Hypotheses, and Research Questions
• 3. Method
  • 3.1 Participants
  • 3.2 Instruments
    • 3.2.1 Demographic Questionnaire
    • 3.2.2 Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM)
    • 3.2.3 Collective Self-Esteem Scale (CSES)
    • 3.2.4 Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE)
    • 3.2.5 Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS)
    • 3.2.6 Attitudes Toward Multiracial Children Scale (AMCS)
    • 3.2.7 Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR)
  • 3.3 Procedure
  • 3.4 Data Analysis
• 4. Results
  • 4.1 Descriptive Statistics
  • 4.2 Correlations
    • 4.2.1 MEIM and the AMCS
    • 4.2.2 CSE and the AMCS
    • 4.2.3 RSE and the AMCS
    • 4.2.4 SWLS and the AMCS
    • 4.2.5 BIRD and the AMCS
  • 4.3 MANOVA
• 5. Discussion
  • 5.1 General Research Question
  • 5.2 Hypotheses
  • 5.3 Other Finding of Interest – Correlational Findings
  • 5.4 Limitations
  • 5.5 Conclusion and Future Directions
• List of references
• APPENDICES:
  • A. Survey Solicitation Letter
  • B. REP Solicitation Letter
  • C. Debriefing Page
  • D. Survey Introduction
  • E. Consent for Participation
  • F. Demographic Questionnaire
  • G. Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure
  • H. Collective Self-esteem Scale
  • I. Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale
  • J. Satisfaction With Life Scale
  • K. Attitudes Toward Multiracial Children Scale
  • L. Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding

List of Tables

• 4.1 Breakdown of Participants Based on Sex, Age, Racial Categorization, and Interracial Romantic Relationships
• 4.2 Breakdown of Caucasian Participants Based on Sex, Age, and Interracial Romantic Relationships
• 4.3 Breakdown of Monoracial Minority Participants Based on Sex, Age, and Interracial Romantic Relationships
• 4.4 Breakdown of Biracial Participants Based on Sex, Age, and Interracial Romantic Relationships
• 4.5 Descriptive Statistics for Measures and Age

Read the entire dissertation here.

Being Raced, Acting Racially: Multiracial Tribal College Students’ Representations of Their Racial Identity Choices

University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
September 2010
208 pages

Michelle Rene Montgomery

DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies

In recent years, many studies have clearly documented that mixed-race people are currently engaged in the process of self validation (DaCosta. 2007; Dalmage, 2003; McQueen, 2002; Root, 1996 & 2001; Spencer, J, M., 1997; Spencer, R., 2006a; Thorton, 1992). There is not a lot of empirical research that examines how schools influence the racial identity of multiracial students, in particular mixed-race students that identify as Native American. Even more troubling is the lack of literature on experiences of mixed-race students using racial identity choice as a social and political tool through race discourse and actions. The aim of this qualitative case study was to look at the relationship between the racial agency of multiracial students and the larger white supremacist social structure. The research questions addressed in this study are as follows: (1) How do the formal and informal schooling contexts shape the identity choices of multiracial students? (2) How do the identity choices of multiracial students conform to an/or resist the racialized social system of the United States?

This study was conducted at a tribal college in New Mexico with selected mixed-race participants who identified as Native American, or acknowledged Native American ancestry. At the time of data collection, the school enrollment was 513 students, representing 83 federally recognized tribes and 22 state recognized tribes. The presence of a multi-racial body of students created a unique contributing factor of multiracial participants for a broader understanding of mixed-race experiences in cultural and traditional learning environments. The study was conducted using qualitative case study methodology of mixed-race students interviewed in the last weeks of the fall semester (pre-interview) and once during the last few weeks of the spring semester (post interviews). Mixed-race students were asked to discuss nine group sessions during the spring semester their lived experiences that influenced their identity choices. The sample for this study represented mixed-race participants from various tribal communities. In an eight-month time period of the study, nine participants were interviewed and participated in-group sessions. Of the nine total in sample, two were male, seven were female; three were Native American/white, two were black/white/Native American, three were Hispanic/white/Native American, and one were Hispanic/Native American.

From my analysis of the nine participants’ mixed-race experience, three overarching themes emerged: (a) racial(ized) self-perceptions, (b) peer interactions and influences, and (c) impact on academic experiences. Of the nine participants, how a students’ race was asserted, assigned, and reassigned appears to be determined by being mixed-race with black versus white or non-black. According to the participants, this particular tribal college did not provide a supportive or welcoming environment. As a result, students were highly stratified based on experiences tied to their phenotype and racial mixture; the more “black” they appeared, the more alienated they were. In the classroom, there was often a divide between black/Native mixed-race students versus white/Native mixed-race students, similar to the differences between monoracial white and black student experiences. As a result of dissimilar experiences based on mixedness, there were group association conflicts during their schooling experiences that included feeling vicitimized when their whiteness did not prevail as an asset or being alienated due to blackness. The study also found a clear distinction between the mixed-race black experience versus the mixed-race with white experience based on phenotypic features. Overall, mixed-race with black schooling experiences indicated situations of racial conflict. The findings of this study have policy implications for tribal colleges and other institutions to develop programs and services to help mixed-race students identify and bond with their learning environments.

Table of Contents

• CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
  • Introduction
  • Statement of the Problem
  • Purpose of the Study
  • Significance of the Study
  • Research Questions
  • Definition of Key Terms
  • Overview of Methodology
  • Limitations of the Study
• CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
  • Introduction
    • The Politics of Multiracialism
    • Empirical Research On The Identity Politics of Multiracial Students40
• CHAPTER 3 METHODS
  • Focus of the Research
  • Research Design
  • Research Participants
  • Setting
  • Portrait of Participants
  • Data Collection
  • Data Analysis
  • Ethics
  • Validity
  • Trustworthiness
• CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS OF MIXED-RACE EXPERIENCES
  • Theme One: Racial(ized) Self-Perceptions
    • Identity Politics of Blood Quantum
      • Black/Native American Experience
      • Non-Black/Native American Experience
    • Summary
    • Self-Perceptions of Race Being Asserted, Negotiated and Redefined
      • Non-Black/Native American Experience
      • Black/Native American Experience
      • Non-Black/Native American Experience
        • Black/Native American Experience
        • Non-Black/Native American Experience
    • Disadvantages: Mixed-race Identity Choice
      • Black/Native American Experience
      • Non-Black/Native American Experience
    • Advantages: Mixed-race Identity Choice
      • Non-Black/Native American Experience
    • Summary
  • Theme Two: Peer Interactions and Influences
    • Perceivable Differences
      • Non-Black/Native American Experience
      • Black/Native American Experience
    • Summary
    • Surviving the Losses
      • Non-Black/Native American Experience
      • Black/Native American Experience
    • Summary
  • Theme Three: The Impact on Academic Experiences
    • The Role of Tribal Colleges
    • Schooling Experiences
      • Black/Native American Experience
      • Non-Black/Native American Experience
    • Summary
• CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION
  • Discussion
    • Major Findings
      • Research Question #1
      • Research Question #2
    • Summary
    • Recommendations
      • Administrators
      • Faculty and Staff
      • Future Research
      • Conclusion
• APPENDICES
• APPENDIX A CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH
• APPENDIX B PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONNAIRE
• APPENDIX C FIRST PARTICIPANT INTERVIEW
• APPENDIX D SECOND PARTICIPANT INTERVIEW
• REFERENCES

Chapter 1: Introduction

Introduction

Dark brown skin with wavy hair, I am accustomed to being asked, “What are you?” Often I am mistaken for being reserved despite my easy, sincere grin. My facial expression perhaps does not show what I have learned in my life: reluctant people endure, passionate people live. Whether it is the glint of happiness in my eyes or what I call “using laughter to heal your soul,” my past experience as a mixed-race person has been significantly different from my current outlook on life. I am at ease with my lived experiences, very willing to share and even encouraging others to probe more into my racialized experience. Like many mixed-race people, I experienced an epiphany: disowning a need to belong and disengaging from the structure of race has given me the confidence to critique race discourse.

I identify as Native American with mixed-race heritage. I am mixed-race black/white, Native American, and mixed-race Korean/Mongolian. My father is mixedrace black/white and Native American, and my mother is mixed-race Korean/Mongolian. We are enrolled members of the Haliwa Saponi Tribe. When I was growing up, my father taught me that I am a multiracial person. So, I can personally relate to the idea that monoraciality does not fit my multiracial identity or those of other multiracials in our socalled “melting pot” society.

However, countless numbers of times I have been raced in ways that have forced me to choose a group association. My own experiences illustrate how racial designation and group association plays itself out in society, including in classroom learning environments. My siblings and I grew up in a predominantly mixed-race Native American community in northeastern North Carolina that included black, Native American, and white ancestry. I attended a rural high school that contained mixed-race black/Native American, mixed-raced white/Native American, monoracial blacks, and monoracial white students. It was not unusual for mixed-race black/Native American and monoracial blacks to create close group associations, which were exhibited through social interactions that occurred when sitting together in the cafeteria, classrooms, or in designated lounging areas around campus. However, mixed-race white/Native American students, especially those who seemed phenotypically white, did not want to be associated with monoracial black students. Most mixed-race white/Native American students created group associations with monoracial white students. As a brown complexioned multiracial person in this racially polarized environment, I was placed in a situation where I had to choose a group association to keep mixed-race black/Native American and monoracial black students from viewing me as acting white. On the other hand, the mixed-raced white/Native Americans and monoracial whites viewed my actions as acting black.

Because of my Korean and Mongolian ancestry, I was not perceived phenotypically as a true member of the black or Native American groups. My Koreanness caused friction between me and the monoracial black and mixed-race black/Native American groups with which I most commonly associated because it gave me an inroad to the white/r groups that they did not have. Because I did not acknowledge and challenge my advantage, I allowed myself to be used as an agent of racism. This happened in a number of ways. For instance, monoracial white and mixed-race Native American groups asked me to sit with them in the cafeteria, but they did not invite monoracial blacks and mixed-race black/Native Americans. And I accepted their invitation. As a consequence, the group with which I most associated viewed me as a race traitor, as a racial fraud. And I felt like one, too. I am ashamed that I actively participated in the denigration of blacks, which is the most denigrated part of my own ancestry. A multiracial person with black ancestry who accepts not being identified as black in an effort to subvert white privilege (i.e., resisting racial categorization as a way of challenging the notion of race) can actually be reinforcing it, as was the case for me. The problem is how the context and meaning of being a race traitor or committing racial fraud arises out of and is bounded by the social and political descriptions of race. Both social and political constructs are then used as a justification for policing the accuracy of racial identification or political alliance. In most instances, being cast as a race traitor, or as an alleged racial fraud, is a constitutive feature of the dynamics of the informal school setting, and is further developed in the formal schooling setting Since racial identity is a social and political construct, it requires meaning in the context of a particular set of social relationships. In a tribal college setting, the identity politics of blood quantum often influences the multiracial experience of students (i.e., learning environment…

Read the entire dissertation here.

Home and Identity for Young Men of Mixed Descent

Queen Mary University of London
2009
319 pages

Akile Ahmet

Mixed descent identities span ethnic, religious, and cultural identities as well as race. This thesis addresses the multi-layered identities embodied by young men of mixed descent in relation to their ideas and lived experiences of home. I have adopted a feminist methodological approach to my research and have used three different types of methods to conduct this research: one to one interviewing (with repeat interviews), written electronic diaries and photo-voice.

Previous research on mixed descent and the home has located people of mixed descent as ‘homeless’ (see Ifekwuingwe, 1999, Garimara, 2002 and Carton, 2004). I place young men of mixed descent aged between 16-19 in homes, both in terms of dwelling spaces and wider ideas about belonging. The space of the home becomes a cultural site of their own identities and their family identities. Religious and cultural identities both via material possessions and emotional signifiers affect the identity of these young men and their definitions and experiences of home. These multiple identities are seen within the space of the home, particularly for those inhabiting the parental home. I address the multiple web of identity which these young embody via their religion, culture, ethnicity, and in some cases language. I move beyond the location of mixed race households and place this research inside the home space for young men of mixed descent. Alongside which I explore the idea of home as stretching’ (Gorman-Murray, 2006) beyond the scale of the private domestic into the public realm.

Table of Contents

• TITLE PAGE
• DECLARATION OF PhD
• ABSTRACT
• IMAGES AND TABLES
• ACKNOWLEDEGMENTS
• Chapter One: Introduction
• Chapter Two: Methods and Methodology
• Chapter Three: Autobiographies of Participants
• Chapter Four: Understanding Mixed Descent and Gender
• Chapter Five: Understanding Home and Identity
• Chapter Six: Meanings of Mixed Descent: How do young Men of mixed descent ‘narrate their identities?
• Chapter Seven: Exploring the Parental home: Experiences of Home and Mixed Descent
• Chapter Eight: Definitions of Home for Young Men of Mixed Descent
• Chapter Nine: Conclusions
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• APPENDIX

IMAGES AND TABLES

• Images
  • 7.1 Tariq’s photo-voice: image of his hallway
  • 7.2 Tariq’s photo-voice: image of his hallway
  • 7.3 Tariq’s photo-voice: image of his front room
  • 8.1 Tariq’s photo-voice: image of his bedroom
  • 8.2 David’s photo-voice: image of his bedroom
  • 8.3 Craig and David’s photo-voice: image of their bedroom
  • 8.4 David’s photo-voice: image of his bedroom wall
  • 8.5 David’s photo-voice: image of his playstation games
  • 8.6 David’s photo-voice: image of David’s college
• Tables
  • 2.1 Methods employed by each participant
  • 2.2 Timing of research
  • 2.3 Location of interviews
  • 2.4 Breakdown of participant backgrounds and living arrangements
  • 6.1 Outline of participants
  • 7.1 Outline of participants homes and living arrangements

Read the entire dissertation here.

The Stakes of Race, Color, & Belonging

Thursday Afternoon Forum Series
University of California, Berkeley
Center for Race and Gender
691 Barrows
Thursday, 2011-09-29, 16:00-17:30 PDT (Local Time)

Skin Tone Stratification Among Black Americans, 2001-2003
Ellis Monk Jr., Sociology

“I’m Mixed and Mixed”: Narrating Identities of Individuals with Mexican and Other Ancestries
Jessie Turner, Ethnic Studies

For more information, click here.

Black by Design: A 2-Tone Memoir

Serpent’s Tail
2011-07-14
320 pages
Paperback ISBN: 9781846687907

Pauline Black

Powerful autobiography from the front woman of influential ska band, The Selecter

Lead singer for platinum-selling 2-tone band The Selecter, Pauline Black has been in the music business for over thirty years. The only woman in a movement dominated by men, she was very much the Queen of British Ska. She saw The Specials, Madness, Dexy’s Midnight Runners and all the other top bands of that generation at their very best… and worst. Black was born in 1953 of Anglo-Jewish/Nigerian parents. Adopted by a white, working class family in Romford in the fifties, Pauline was always made to feel different, both by the local community and members of her extended family, who saw her at best as a curiosity, at worst as an embarrassing inconvenience. Weaving her rise to fame and recollections of the 2-tone phenomenon with her moving search for her birth parents, Black By Design is a funny and enlightening memoir of music and roots.

Born in Romford, Pauline Black is a singer and actress who gained fame as the lead singer of seminal 2-tone band The Selecter. After the band split in 1982, Black developed an acting career in television and theatre, appearing in dramas such as The Vice, The Bill, Hearts and Minds and 2000 Acres of Sky. She won the 1991 Time Out award for Best Actress, for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in the play All or Nothing At All.

Children of Colonialism: Anglo-Indians in a Postcolonial World

Berg Publishers (an imprint of Macmillan)
October 2001
272 pages
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-85973-531-2, ISBN10: 1-85973-531-2
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-85973-632-6, ISBN10: 1-85973-632-7

Lionel Caplan, Emeritus Professor and Professorial Research Associate
School of Oriental and African Studies
University of London

Among the legacies of the colonial encounter are any number of contemporary ‘mixed-race’ populations, descendants of the offspring of sexual unions involving European men (colonial officials, traders, etc.) and local women. These groups invite serious scholarly attention because they not only challenge notions of a rigid divide between colonizer and colonized, but beg a host of questions about continuities and transformations in the postcolonial world.

This book concerns one such group, the Eurasians of India, or Anglo-Indians as they came to be designated. Caplan presents an historicized ethnography of their contemporary lives as these relate both to the colonial past and to conditions in the present. In particular, he forcefully shows that features which theorists associate with the postcolonial present—blurred boundaries, multiple identities, creolized cultures—have been part of the colonial past as well. Presenting a powerful argument against theoretically essentialized notions of culture, hybridity and postcoloniality, this book is a much-needed contribution to recent debates in cultural studies, literary theory, anthropology, sociology as well as historical studies of colonialism, ‘mixed-race’ populations and cosmopolitan identities.

Skin Colour: Does it Matter in New Zealand?

Policy Quarterly (Institute of Policy Studies, Victoria University of Wellington)
Volume 4, Number 1 (2008)
pages 18-25

Paul Callister, Senior Research Fellow
Institute of Policy Studies
Victoria University of Wellington

Introduction

Pick up any official New Zealand publication which includes photographs representing the population and it is highly likely that the people featured will have visible characteristics, including skin colour, that are stereotypically associated with the main ethnic groups living in this country. Equally, examine official reports which consider differences in outcomes between groups of people, such as in health and education, and it is very likely that ethnicity will be a key variable in the analysis. But it is extremely unlikely that skin colour will be explicitly mentioned in either type of report.

This article explores three areas where skin colour might matter. First, with reference primarily to US literature, the question of the role of skin colour in discrimination and, ultimately, economic and health outcomes is examined. Then, turning to New Zealand, there is a discussion of whether skin colour is a factor in why those responding to official surveys who identify themselves as ‘Māori only’ have, on average, worse outcomes than those reporting Māori plus other ethnicities. Finally, two connected health issues are looked at. One is skin colour and the risk of skin cancer; and the second is the hypothesised, but still controversial, links between skin colour, sun exposure, vitamin D production and an inverse risk of developing colorectal cancer. Two main questions are asked in this article. First, in contrast with many other countries, why in recent years have researchers and policy makers in New Zealand been averse to discussing and researching skin colour? Second, is there a case to be made for the use of measures other than self-identified ethnicity – such as skin colour – in official statistics and other large surveys, including health-related surveys?…

…Single and multiple ethnicity and outcomes

Moving back to the American context, two hypotheses have been put forward to explain the effect of mixed race on a variety of outcomes, including health status. One is that mixed-race individuals will be at greater risk of poor outcomes than those who affiliate with a single race because of stresses associated with a mixed identity. The other theory is that outcomes will lie between those of the two single groups. Many factors are likely to be influencing these outcomes, but variations in skin colour could be important, either directly or indirectly.

In New Zealand there has been relatively limited use made to date of single versus dual and multi-ethnic responses when analysing advantage and disadvantage. However, early work by Gould (1996, 2000) suggested a gradient of disadvantage in relation to degree of ‘Māori-ness’. In his 1996 paper Gould associated Ngāi Tahu’s integration into European society with their relative success when compared with other iwi. However, while other people have talked about Ngāi Tahu as being the ‘white tribe’, skin colour was not discussed by Gould in any of his papers.

In a number of papers, Chapple (e.g. 2000) divided the Māori ethnic group into two groups, ‘sole Māori’ and ‘mixed Māori’, and found better outcomes for ‘mixed Māori’. Chapple raised the idea that the disadvantage amongst Māori is concentrated in a particular subset: those who identify only as Māori, who have no educational qualifications, and who live outside major urban centres. Again, skin colour was not a feature of these studies.

However, Kukutai (2003) suggests that social policy makers should not put much weight on categories such as ‘Māori only’ and ‘Māori plus other ethnic group(s)’. Using survey data and a system of self-prioritisation, Kukutai showed that those individuals who identified as both Māori and non-Māori, but more strongly with the latter, tended to be socially and economically much better off than all other Māori. In contrast, those who identified more strongly as Māori had socio-economic and demographic attributes that were similar to those who recorded only Māori as their ethnic group. Kukutai’s work shows that some people recording multiple ethnic responses feel a strong sense of belonging in more than one ethnic group. For others, however, a stronger affiliation is felt with one particular ethnic group. While not discussed directly in the study, factors such as visible difference, including skin colour, may influence such decisions.

What is causing different outcomes between those recording only Māori ethnicity and those recording Māori and European responses? We do not know. No one single factor is likely to be a driver, but skin colour, in a variety of ways, may exert some influence. For example, it may be that those who ‘look more Māori’ (or look more ‘Pacific’) are more likely to record only Māori (or Pacific) ethnicity in official surveys. If this is correct, and if discrimination is common in New Zealand, the Māori-only (or Pacific peoples) group would be more likely to suffer discrimination from police, landlords and healthcare providers…

Read the entire article here.

Racial Socialization, Identity, and Adjustment in Black and Biracial Youth

National Council on Family Relations
73rd NCFR Annual Conference (“Families and the Shifting Economy”)
Rosen Centre Hotel, Orlando, Florida
2011-11-16 through 2011-11-19

Session ID# 330
2011-11-08, 15:30-17:30 EST (Local Time)

Chair: Annamaria Csizmadia, Assistant Professor, Human Development & Family Studies
University of Connecticut, Stamford

Ethnic Identity Development and its Association With Behavioral Functioning During Early Childhood

Catherine Anicama
Departments of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (Inst for Prevension Sci)
Langone Medical Center
New York University

Esther J. Calzada, Assistant Professor
Departments of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (Inst for Prevension Sci) and Psychiatry
Langone Medical Center
New York University

An Examination of Biracial Identity Development Using a Qualitative Research Design

Shannon Bert, Professor of Human Relations
University of Oklahoma

Racial Socialization, Identification, and Black-White Biracial Children’s Behavior Trajectories

Annamaria Csizmadia

This symposium examines ethnic identity, socialization, and adjustment among Black and part-Black youth. The first paper investigates ethnic identity, socialization, and behavior problems among Black and Afro-Caribbean elementary-age children. Using a cross-sectional qualitative design, the second paper investigates personal and contextual predictors of Black-White biracial youth’s biracial identity development. The third paper uses growth modeling to study racial identification, cultural socialization, racial discussions, and Black-White children’s internalizing and externalizing behavior trajectories K through 5th grade. Together these papers highlight the dynamic interplay between ethno-racial identity, socialization practices, and adjustment in mono-and multiracial Black youth between the elementary and adult years.

For more information, click here.