Researcher Seeking to Examine the Experiences of Multiracial Individuals and Their Negotiation of Social Spaces From a Strength

Posted in Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, United States, Wanted/Research Requests/Call for Papers on 2015-10-16 18:14Z by Steven

Researcher Seeking to Examine the Experiences of Multiracial Individuals and Their Negotiation of Social Spaces From a Strength

2015-10-16

Erika Noriega

I am currently a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Santa Barbara in the Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology Program and in the process of recruiting participants for my dissertation study. I am interested in examining the experiences of multiracial individuals and their negotiation of social spaces from a strength-based perspective. Participation will include an interview with a questionnaire.

Participants must:

  1. Identify as multiracial (i.e. biracial, mixed, multiethnic, biethnic, or multicultural)
  2. Be born to parents who are of different racial backgrounds (i.e. White, Asian, Black, Latino, etc).
  3. One biological parent must be White or Caucasian.
  4. Be at least 18 years old and born after 1968.
  5. Must have experienced feeling like at one point it was necessary to change the way they act around different racial groups.

There is a $20 (USD) Amazon Gift Card provided to participants at the time of interview.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at enoriega@education.ucsb.edu or (857) 399-2254. Thank you for your time. I hope to hear from you soon. Please send good dissertation karma my way.

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‘One Drop of Love’ Creates Ripple Effect at UCSB

Posted in Articles, Arts, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2013-05-19 22:36Z by Steven

‘One Drop of Love’ Creates Ripple Effect at UCSB

The Bottom Line
Weekly Newspaper of Associated Students, UC Santa Barbara: News, Features, Video & Investigative Journalism for UCSB
2013-05-13

Yuen Sin, Staff Writer

The personal is very much the political, as actress-playwright Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni illustrated through her solo show “One Drop of Love: A Daughter’s Search for her Father’s Racial Approval.” The show was performed at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Multicultural Center on May 7.

First formulated as a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) thesis project, “One Drop of Love” began as Cox DiGiovanni’s personal attempt to revive her estranged relationship with her Jamaica-born father, who failed to show up at her wedding years before.

What ensued was a powerful multimedia, one-woman play laced with wit, warmth, and depth that fused her fragmented experiences with racial and cultural dispossession into a coherent narrative. The multidimensional show traversed back into the years of Cox DiGiovanni’s family history to untangle the weight of the socio-political events that have inevitably contributed to a crucial part of her identity and self-perceptions today…

Cox DiGiovanni slipped in and out of multiple roles with dexterity, first imperiously bearing down at the audience as an anonymous U.S. Census Bureau officer, and then staggering affectionately across the stage with a lilting accent as her grandmother, revealing through her impressions the fluid and ultimately arbitrary nature of identity labels.

Her personal trajectory of “placelessness”—not seeing herself as “black” enough to join the Black Students Union, and yet having candy vendors in Cape Verde, West Africa, come up to her (while on a pilgrimage of sorts to trace back her African roots and understand her father’s pan-African attitudes) to ask her why she was so “white”—was interspersed with scenes that traced the evolution of the practice of racial categorization by the U.S. Census Bureau. The contrast brought to the forefront her sense of frustration from continually being racially defined by others, and the puzzling practice of placing someone in the category of “black” as long as they possessed even “one drop” of Negro blood—hence the play’s title.

At the post-show dialogue with UCSB’s professor of sociology G. Reginald Daniel, Cox DiGiovanni reiterated the importance of engaging in “scary conversations about race and racism,” reflecting that her work producing and performing “One Drop of Love” completely transformed the nature of her family relations after their involvement in her show…

Read the entire review here.

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Acclaimed Actress Performs Play on Race, Love

Posted in Articles, Census/Demographics, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, United States, Women on 2013-05-08 19:16Z by Steven

Acclaimed Actress Performs Play on Race, Love

The Daily Nexus
University of California, Santa Barbara’s Independent, Student Run Newspaper
2013-05-08

Carissa Quiambao


William Zhou / Daily Nexus

Award-winning actress and playwright Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni performed her one-woman play, “One Drop of Love: A Daughter’s Search for Her Father’s Racial Approval” at the UCSB Multicultural Center Theater yesterday evening.

DiGiovanni, who has appeared in the Academy Award-winning film “Argo,” is the co-creator and co-host of award-winning weekly podcast Mixed Chicks Chat and a co-founder and co-producer of the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival.

Her solo performance, “One Drop of Love,” co-produced by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Chay Carter, begins with DiGiovanni counting the number of “whites” and “blacks” in the audience in a portrayal of a United States Census Bureau employee in 1790, then transitions into her present-day narrative meeting her husband and getting married in 2006, only to have her father decline attending her wedding…

…DiGiovanni alternates between scenes of racial categorization by the U.S. Census Bureau in the late 1700s and her personal narrative about growing up as a multiracial youth in cities across the United States and in West and East Africa. Using filmed images, photographs and animation, she explains the development of “race” in the U.S. and how it affected her identity and her relationship with her black, Jamaican father.

Over the course of the play, DiGiovanni explores her family history in order to reconstruct her racial identity and confront her father about his absence at her wedding. She said this process gave her insight into her heritage and ultimately allowed her to feel more comfortable with her personal identity.

“Today, especially having done this and reconnected with my dad, I feel stronger in my black identity as well as in my mixed identity,” DiGiovanni said. “I feel stronger, and I feel so much more relaxed about it. Unfortunately, it took a long time, and it might take you guys a long time, but just know that you will feel comfortable at some point. I think the sooner we can all get there, it will really help in terms of looking at racism.”…

Read the entire article here.

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Solo Show at UCSB’s MultiCultural Center Examines Notions of Racial Identity

Posted in Articles, Arts, Autobiography, Census/Demographics, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Social Science, United States, Women on 2013-05-06 18:06Z by Steven

Solo Show at UCSB’s MultiCultural Center Examines Notions of Racial Identity

Public Affairs & Communications
University of California, Santa Barbara
News Release
2013-05-01

Contact: Andrea Estrada: 805-893-4620; George Foulsham: 805-893-3071

Multimedia performance is produced by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Chay Carter

(Santa Barbara, Calif.)—When actress and playwright Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni married the love of her life in 2006, her father did not walk her down the aisle. In fact, he declined to attend the wedding altogether.

Seeking to understand why he chose not to participate, DiGiovanni began a trek through family history—and time and space—that ultimately led to her M.F.A. thesis project: the multimedia one-woman play, “One Drop of Love: A Daughter’s Search for Her Father’s Racial Approval.”

DiGiovanni will perform the hour-long show at UC Santa Barbara’s MultiCultural Center Theater on Tuesday, May 7. The performance begins at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a question-and-answer session with G. Reginald Daniel, professor of sociology at UCSB. Daniels is a leading expert in the field of critical mixed race studies…

…A leading activist on issues related to mixed race, DiGiovanni is an actor, comedian, producer, and educator. She developed “One Drop of Love” as the thesis project for her Master of Fine Arts degree in film, television, and theater from California State University Los Angeles. She will use footage from her performances—the most recent was at the University of Maryland—to produce a documentary film…

Read the entire news release here.

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The Presumption of Passing Among Multiracial Persons: Perceived Benefits and Associated Resentments

Posted in History, Live Events, Media Archive, Passing, Social Science, United States on 2013-02-11 19:33Z by Steven

The Presumption of Passing Among Multiracial Persons: Perceived Benefits and Associated Resentments

University of California, Santa Barbara
Race Matters Series
MultiCultural Center Lounge
2013-02-11, 18:30 PST (Local Time)

Ingrid Dineen-Wimberly, Professor of History

In her forthcoming book, By the Least Bit of Blood: The Allure of Blackness among Mixed-Race Americans of African Descent, 1862-1935, Ingrid Dineen-Wimberly has uncovered the uplift potential, in terms of social and political mobility, a mono-racial black identity afforded mixed-race people of African descent in nineteenth and early-twentieth century America. Dr. Dineen-Wimberly will lead a discussion regarding the implications of a similar phenomenon derived from a contemporary racial system, which both limits and benefits persons of color. The perception of benefits gained from claiming minority status on college applications, fellowships, scholarships, etc. has reinforced resentments from non-minority students, while it devalues the continued racism students of color face. All voices are welcome.

For more information, click here.

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Film & Literary Festival Awards 2012 Loving Prize to UCSB’s G. Reginald Daniel

Posted in Articles, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2012-07-26 02:40Z by Steven

Film & Literary Festival Awards 2012 Loving Prize to UCSB’s G. Reginald Daniel

University of California, Santa Barbara
Office of Public Affairs
2012-07-25

CONTACT

Andrea Estrada: 805-893-4620
George Foulsham: 805-893-3071

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– G. Reginald Daniel, a professor of sociology at UC Santa Barbara, has received the 2012 Loving Prize from the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival.


Source: University of California, Santa Barbara

Established in 2008, the Loving Prizes are presented each year to outstanding artists, storytellers, and community leaders who have shown a dedication to celebrating and illuminating the “mixed” experience. Previous recipients include UCSB’s Kip Fulbeck and Paul R. Spickard, professors of art and performative studies and of history, respectively; James McBride, author of “The Color of Water“; Maya Soetoro-Ng, a writer, educator, and the half-sister of Barack Obama; former Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward; Maria P.P. Root, a scholar and clinical psychologist; and Angela Nissel, a writer and co-producer for the television series “Scrubs.”


G. Reginald Daniel Accepts Loving Prize at Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival (2012-06-16) ©2012, Steven F. Riley

The recipients were honored at the three-day Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival, which brought together innovative and emerging artists, and multiracial families and individuals for workshops, readings, and film screenings. The festival, held in Los Angeles in June, celebrates stories of the mixed experience and of interracial and intercultural relationships, blended families, and anyone who identifies with having mixed roots…

Read the entire press release here.

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APA recognizes record number of student research projects

Posted in Articles, Campus Life, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, United States on 2010-11-24 16:05Z by Steven

APA recognizes record number of student research projects

gradPSYCH Magazine
Volume 8, Number 3 (September 2010)
Page 7

J. Clark
 
The APA Science Student Council doubled its research prizes this year, awarding six $1,000 Early Graduate Student Research Awards to psychology doctoral students for their outstanding research.

“By recognizing the work of these students, we get to encourage them to pursue careers in research and continue producing knowledge that benefits society,” says Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz, the Science Student Council chair.

The council received a record 159 applicants from students conducting innovative psychology research. This year’s winners worked on a variety of research projects, but all had one thing in common: scientific rigor that even a senior researcher could be proud of, says Lázaro-Muñoz. The award recipients are:…

Jacqueline Chen, a social psychology student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who investigates the ways monoracial people perceive multiracial people. In one study, she asked monoracial participants to categorize people as black, white or multiracial as quickly as possible. She found that they correctly identified multiracial people at rates significantly above chance…

Read the entire article here.

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