AALR Mixed Race Initiative

Posted in Articles, Media Archive, Teaching Resources on 2012-08-26 21:06Z by Steven

AALR Mixed Race Initiative

The Asian American Literary Review
2012-08-26

Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis, co-Editor-in-Chief

Thanks to political organizing, scholarship, and the arts, not to mention media coverage, mixed race has become hyper-visible.  So what’s next?  The Asian American Literary Review (AALR) Mixed Race Initiative, launching this Fall 2012 and running until Spring 2014, won’t simply be a reexamination of race or a survey of mixed voices, important as both are.  We envision our role as that of provocateur—inspiring new conversations and cross-pollinations, pushing into new corners.

The initiative will feature a special issue on mixed race to debut in Fall 2013, all of the contributions for which will be collaborative, “mixed” in nature, bringing together folks across racial and ethnic boundaries, across scholarly disciplines, artistic genres, countries, languages, and generations.  What are the nerve centers of mixed race?  How does mixed race mark fault lines the world over?  We invite you to tell us.  Call-for-papers in early-mid September 2012.

The second phase of the initiative will be an international, multi-institution synchronous teaching program to run in Fall 2013 and Spring 2014.  You agree to teach our special issue as a course text (for anywhere from a week to a month during the allotted time period) and we plug you into a vast network of scholars and students across the world, in classrooms ranging from indigenous studies to cultural psychology, from Latin American Studies to literary studies, from art history to race theory.  We’ll supply a shared online curriculum and coordinate various cross-classroom exchanges, with the goal of staging a real, livetime, region to region and country to country conversation about race and mixed race.  So far classrooms at 40 colleges and universities in five countries have signed on, and we hope yours will join in too.  Let’s work together to make a new model for virtual, transnational education and build new social, civic, and intellectual communities.

If you’d like to learn more about the project, click here.  If you’d like to participate in the teaching program, assist as a volunteer coordinator, or donate in support of the project, please contact us at editors@aalrmag.org.

AALR is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) arts nonprofit.

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Growing Up Biracial in a Southern Elementary School

Posted in Dissertations, Media Archive, Teaching Resources, United States on 2012-08-18 02:11Z by Steven

Growing Up Biracial in a Southern Elementary School

Georgia Southern University
May 2009
139 pages

Julie Kight

A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

This dissertation explored the relationship between racial identity of biracial children (defined as fifty percent Black and fifty percent White) and their academic experiences in a southern elementary school setting. This dissertation ventured further to explore the curriculum in a southern elementary school setting and whether it meets the academic needs of the biracial child and includes the biracial child.

This dissertation reflected on artifacts collected and analyzed narratives from the participants involved. These participants included six biracial female smdents in grades three through five. The current research employed Critical Race Theory as its theoretical framework. Critical Race Theory is an analytical framework which focuses on inequalities related to race, class, and gender. It was firmly based in the field of Curriculum Studies. The researcher provided a history of the South, multiculturalism, and whiteness in the United States. The researcher also included past and current curriculum researchers and the results of their studies as compared to the present research.

Included in this dissertation are reviews of the current research including qualitative data through student drawings and interviews of students as well as parents, teachers, and administrators. It also included quantitative data through the analysis of CRCT scores and administrative records.

The conclusions of the current research were 1) there is a relationship between racial identity and academic experiences and 2) the biracial child was not included in the textbook, however, the biracial child’s academic needs were met for purposes of standardized test scores. One hundred percent of the biracial students felt they had a positive educational experience in this southern elementary school. However, the researcher found this not to be accurate after further review of all the data. The parents felt their biracial children were welcomed at this school and while suffering some racial prejudices such as “picking”, they felt it was no more than the average elementary child. The teachers acknowledged the lack of information for the biracial child in their textbooks and searched to find information for the biracial child through videos, classroom libraries, and media centers. The researcher notes that while these teachers did attempt to fill the gaps left in the curriculum, it was at a minimal level and much more needs to be done. The teachers in this school system do maintain they incorporate race in the units they are teaching as well as how race relates to all individuals involved in the past and the present. They search out the previous avenues for all children. However, in the case of the biracial child and all children, this must be done on a daily basis and not just when a chapter calls for the discussion.

Read the entire dissertation here.

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Introducing the Mix-d: Professionals’ Pack

Posted in Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Papers/Presentations, Social Work, Teaching Resources, United Kingdom on 2012-07-14 04:05Z by Steven

Introducing the Mix-d: Professionals’ Pack

Mix-d:
2012-07-13

Everything you need to work confidently with the mixed-race subject.

The Mix-d: Professionals’ Pack is an essential guide for teachers, facilitators, mentors and professional carers.

The pack will equip you, your staff and organisation with the resources and knowledge to deal confidently with all aspects of the mixed-race topic…

For more information, click here.

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Through a Glass Darkly: The Persistence of Race in Education Research & Scholarship

Posted in Articles, Media Archive, Teaching Resources on 2012-05-03 19:53Z by Steven

Through a Glass Darkly: The Persistence of Race in Education Research & Scholarship

Educational Researcher
Volume 41, Number 4 (May 2012)
Pages 115-120
DOI: 10.3102/0013189X12440743

Gloria Ladson-Billings
, Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies
University of Wisconsin, Madison

Although education researchers understand that race is a problematic concept of spurious value, the concept persists in our research and scholarship. Each of the social sciences that contribute to the field of education has a history of racialized understandings that make their way to both our research and practice. Until we begin to carefully examine the way race and racialized thinking influence our work, we will continue to perpetuate destructive thinking about the capabilities of learners based on race.

Read or purchase the article here.

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The lessons of slavery: Discourses of slavery, mestizaje, and blanqueamiento in an elementary school in Puerto Rico

Posted in Articles, Caribbean/Latin America, History, Media Archive, Slavery, Teaching Resources, United States on 2012-05-01 03:01Z by Steven

The lessons of slavery: Discourses of slavery, mestizaje, and blanqueamiento in an elementary school in Puerto Rico

American Ethnologist
Volume 35 Number 1 (February 2008)
pages 115-135
DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-1425.2008.00009.x

Isar P. Godreau
Institute of Interdisciplinary Research
University of Puerto Rico, Cayey

Mariolga Reyes Cruz
Institute of Interdisciplinary Research
University of Puerto Rico, Cayey

Mariluz Franco-Ortiz
University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras

Sherry Cuadrado
Institute of Interdisciplinary Research
University of Puerto Rico, Cayey

On the basis of ethnographic research conducted in an elementary public school in Puerto Rico, we maintain in this article that subduing and narrowing the history of slavery is instrumental in the reproduction of national ideologies of mestizaje in Afro-Latin America. We explore how school texts and practices silence, trivialize, and simplify the history of slavery and conclude that these maneuvers distance blackness from Puerto Rican identity and silence racism while upholding racial democracy and blanqueamiento as a social value.

Shortly after 2:00 p.m. on an average school day, one of us (Isar) walked into the small air-conditioned social worker’s office at the Luisa Rodrıíguez Elementary School in Cayey, Puerto Rico. A young, uniform-clad teenage girl sat at the desk, talking in flirtatious tones on the school’s phone. Isar greeted the social worker as she stood next to her commandeered desk, and they began to discuss an upcoming conference about the history of slavery in Cayey. “There were slaves in Cayey?” the social worker asked, “Really!?” Before Isar could answer, she heard the young girl telling her phone interlocutor in a high-pitched voice: “I am not prieta!” (prieta is a popular synonym for black) “I am not prieta!” The social worker turned to Isar and said, “You see? That is related to what you study.” The girl looked up to ask what theywere talking about. Isar explained she was conducting a study about racism in schools. “I am not racist,” she said, “but this guy is calling me prieta and I am not prieta!”

These two events—a young girl’s rejection of a black identity and a school official’s unawareness of the history of slavery in her community—might seem apparently unrelated. However, this article maintains that the silencing of slavery and the distancing of individuals from blackness are, in fact, key interdependent manifestations of the ideology of race mixture (mestizaje) in Afro-Latin America.

Researchers of national ideologies of mestizaje in Latin America and the Caribbean have underscored how notions of race mixture operate within very specific structures of power that often exclude blacks, deny racism, and invalidate demands for social justice against discrimination (cf. Burdick 1992; Hale 1999; Helg 1995; Price 1999; Whitten and Torres 1998; Wright 1990). Scholars have pointed out, for example, that the celebration of racial mixture through an ideology of mestizaje serves to distance Afro-Latinos from blackness through the process of blanqueamiento, or “whitening.” They have also highlighted the ways in which the idea of mestizaje is mobilized as evidence for national ideologies of racial democracy that claim that because the majority of the population is mixed, “race” and racism are almost nonexistent in these societies (cf. Betances 1972; Hanchard 1994; Sawyer 2006; Telles 2004; Wade 1997). This article contributes to this literature by arguing that one important, albeit underexplored, area of inquiry for understanding the social reproduction of such national ideologies in Afro-Latin America is the “containment” or “taming” of the history of slavery. Specifically,we maintain that national ideologies of mestizaje in Latin America, and particularly in the Hispanic Caribbean, are sustained by dominant politics of public representation that silence, trivialize, and simplify the history of slavery and its contemporary effects.

Slavery is a thorny, problematic topic for nation building projects. Although ideas of slavery, “race,” modernity, colonialism, capitalism, and nationalism are historically and conceptually bound (see Anibal Quijano in Santiago-Valles  2003:218), Western narratives about the past produce their legitimacy precisely by silencing those connections (Trouillot 1995). National discourses of mestizaje in Afro-LatinAmerica are no exception. Thus,we argue that one important mechanism through which discourses of mestizaje deny legitimacy to experiences of racism and to the affirmation of black identities is by silencing the historical connections between slavery and contemporary racial disparities.

Depending on how the history of this period is told, slavery can destabilize nationalist representations that celebrate mixture and the so-called whitening of the nation from various standpoints. To evoke slavery is to recognize that one racial segment of the population used “race” to exploit and dehumanize another sector of the population for more than 300 years in the Americas. Racial mixture did take place during this time, but mostly through violent means, such as rape, which provide little motive for celebrating mestizaje. Furthermore, the history—not just of men and women in bondage but also of the large and vibrant communities that were formed by free people of color during the slave period—challenges nationalist renditions of history that belittle the impact of African heritage in Puerto Rico and elsewhere. Finally, an awareness of the socioeconomic legacies of the system of slavery on contemporary society can serve to challenge “colorblind” arguments that characterize black people’s failures in the socioeconomic order as the result of a lack of individual achievement, and not as the product of historical–structural inequalities.Understanding the history of slavery, its long-termeconomic and ideological repercussions repercussions, elucidates the roots of contemporary racial inequalities and related racial identities. Addressing the ideological effects of slavery can thus challenge nationalist premises of celebrated mixture, desired blanqueamiento, and declared colorblindness by bringing to the fore the tensions, cracks, and dissonances of nations that are not as harmonious, whitened, or democratic as discourses of mestizaje would suggest…

Read or purchase the article here.

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Dealing with Diversity: Media Course Study Guide

Posted in Anthologies, Books, Media Archive, Social Science, Teaching Resources, United States on 2012-04-12 13:50Z by Steven

Dealing with Diversity: Media Course Study Guide

Kendall Hunt
2008
100 pages
Edition: 04
ISBN: 978-0-7575-4772-0

Author(s): Governors State University

This course was developed to help you recognize and appreciate the differences and the similarities among diverse groups and individuals in a multicultural society.

Living in the U.S.A. in the 21st century poses some of the most complex challenges this nation has ever faced. Our dependence on technology and fossil fuels, our addiction to 24/7 media, the changes in immigration, and the unparalleled quest to accumulate personal property have all created increased class stratification as well as segregation throughout our society. Global interdependence has brought the world closer together which means the impact of natural disasters, hunger, disease, and international conflicts now affects the whole planet.

Expected Student Outcomes

  1. Recognize the societal implications of our nation’s changing demographics.
  2. Explain the importance of understanding and respecting cultural differences.
  3. Develop strategies to promote intercultural awareness between different groups and among individuals within these groups.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Class I: Introduction and Overview
Explores our own individual ethnic/racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds.

Class 2: Social Interaction Model
Discusses how to use a social interaction model (SIM) that maps how humans interact in culturally diverse settings.

Class 3: Negotiating Cultural Communication
Explores some of the varieties of communication styles that exist in the U. S. as well as in other cultures around the world. Video guests: Dr. Brad Allison, Superintendent of Schools for Albuquerque, New Mexico; Professor Gordon Barry, University of California at Los Angeles. Studio Guests: Dr. Gloria Delany-Barmann and Dr. Lourdes Kuthy, Professors in the Department of Educational and Interdisciplinary Studies at Western Illinois University; Dr.juliaYang, University Professor of Psychology and Counseling at Governors State University.

Class 4: The Changing Face of America and the World
Concentrates on the rapidly changing demographic trends in the United States and around the world. Video inserts and guests: Plaza De Los Angeles; Professor Alexander Astin, University of California at Los Angeles; Professor Gary Orfield, Harvard University; Justino Petrarca, attorney.

Class 5: Immigration, Social Policy, and Employment
The history of immigration laws in the U.S. Video guests: Marian Smith, Chief Librarian at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS); Dr. Suarez-Orozco; David Duke, author; Professor Carlos Munozjr, University of California at Berkeley; Dr. Samuel Betances, Professor Emeritus at Northeastern Illinois University; Professor Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, Harvard University.

Class 6: Race: The World’s Most Dangerous Myth
Explores one of our nation’s most complex and pressing problems, the concept of race. Video guests: Dr. Michael Omi, Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley; racialist Arthur Jones of the American First Committee; Dr. Jerry Hirsch, Distinguished Professor in Psychology and Genetics at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana.

Class 7: Social Class Issues
The impact of social economics on the lives of families and individuals in the U.S; the plight of the homeless and what can be done about this growing problem. Video guests: Professor Lani Guinier of the Harvard Law School; Professor Peggy Macintosh,Wellesey University; Dr. Gary Orfield, Harvard University; Dr. Keri Kerber, Bridgewater State College, Connecticut. Studio guest: Dr. Mary Arnold, University Professor of Psychology and Counseling at Governors State University.

Class 8: Gender Issues
Examines the multifaceted issues surrounding gender in our society. Video inserts and guests: Video class discussion of Robert Bly’s book, Iron John; Professor Peggy Mclntosh.Wellesey College. Studio guest: Ms. Cindy Guerra from the National Organization ofWomen (NOW).

Class 9: Native Americans, Part I
Case study of Illinois’ Dickson Mounds Museum and the controversy surrounding it. In addition we hear from a variety of Native American students, professors, and administrators at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Video Inserts and guests: Dickson Mounds Museum in Lewiston, Illinois;John Wilmer, Barry Eagle and joe Martin, Professor Guy Senese, Professor Louise Lockard, Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff. Studio guests: PamAlfonzo, Menominee Cultural Center in Chicago, and Antonia Sheeny, California ManPower.

Class 11: Hispanic/Latino Americans, Part I
The variety of cultural groups that are classified under the Latino/Latina label. Population projections.Video guests: Dr. Samuel Betances, consultant and Professor Emeritus of Northeastern Illinois University; Professor Ronald Gallimore, University of California at Los Angeles; Professor Carlos Munoz Jr., University, of California at Berkeley; Professor Marcelo Suarez-Orozco of Harvard University. Studio guest: Dr. Estella Lopez of Northeastern Illinois University.

Class 12: Hispanic/Latino Americans, Part 2
Hostos Community College of the City University of New York and its unique programs serving a mainly Latino community in New York City. Video guests: Ethno-musician Jesus “CHUY” Negrette; students and faculty at Hostos Community College; New York City Councilman Guillermo Linares. Studio guest: Dr. Estella Lopez of Northeastern Illinois University.

Class 13: African Americans, Part I
Examines the changing demographic and socioeconomic data of this group and how these data compare to those of other groups in our society. Video inserts and guests: Birmingham Civil Rights Museum; Tamarjacoby, author. Studio guest: Gary Flowers, National Field Director for Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

Class 14: African Americans, Part 2
Issues of social justice, ethnocentrism, education. Video inserts and guests: Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor and chair, Department of Black Studies, California State University, Long Beach; Dr. Lisa Deipit, Professor of Education at Georgia State University; the rebuilding of the Amistad at Mystic, Connecticut. Studio guest: Gary Flowers, National Field Director for Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

Class 15: Asian Americans
The many cultures that fall under the label of Asian Americans; dynamics of current immigration policy; case study of Koreans in the Chicago, Illinois area. Video inserts and guests: Dr. Michael Omi, Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley; Korean American community in Chicago; Professors Kwang Chung Kim of Western Illinois University and Shin Kim of the University of Chicago. Studio guests: Gloria Chu, an immigrant from China; Dr. Jagan Lingamneni, an immigrant from India; and Peter Pham, an immigrant from Vietnam.

Class 16: Arab Americans
Arab Americans as the new ethnic villains in our media and folk knowledge; ignorance of most Americans about the actual contributions and history of the varied groups making up this category. Video guest: Dr. Jack Shaheen, consultant on the media images/portrayals of Arabs. Studio guest: Rafeeqjaber, President of the Islamic Association for Palestine.

Class 17: European Americans
The impact of language and religion nationally as well as globally. Video guests: Carol & Isadore Ryzak, Polish Americans. Studio guest: Dominic Candeloro, Italian American.

Class 18: Creole and Mixed Ethnic Americans
What happens to individuals when they mix with others of different ethnic groups. Video guests: Dr. Joseph Logsdon, University of New Orleans an authority on Creole culture;”Mixed race” couple Reggie and Diane Alsbrook, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Studio guests: “Mixed race” couple Jane Hu (Chinese) and Eric Skotmyr (Norwegian American).

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Guidance document 10: Dual Heritage pupils

Posted in Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Reports, Teaching Resources, United Kingdom on 2012-02-26 19:41Z by Steven

Guidance document 10: Dual Heritage pupils

Ethnic Minority Services
Nottingham City Council Children Services
November 2005
20 pages

Jane Daffé, Senior EMA Consultant
Nottingham City, LA

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Terminology
  3. Statistics
  4. Identity
  5. Dual Heritage Voice
  6. Educational research
  7. Curriculum, resources, role models
  8. Conclusion
  9. Appendix
    1. Recommended Resources Reflecting the Lives of Dual Heritage Children and Families
    2. Poem: Blended
    3. Dual Heritage Quiz

Introduction

The primary focus of this document are children of Dual Heritage who have one White parent and the other of African Caribbean background. Although pupils of Dual Heritage in our schools have a much wider range of ethnic backgrounds (White/Asian etc), the specified target group is our most significant Dual Heritage group in Nottingham, both in terms of numbers and concerns related to underachievement and exclusion. Some factors and experiences will be of relevance to other pupils of differing Dual Heritage, some of relevance to other Black pupil groups.

I hope to have produced a guidance document that will be of practical use to teachers in schools; within each sub-section are highlighted actions and recommendations which will enable schools to audit their current situation, develop their practice and create an increasingly inclusive whole-school ethos that is supportive and relevant for Dual Heritage pupils and families.

Terminology

The term Dual Heritage will be employed throughout this document; although labels are rarely unanimously agreed upon, it is currently considered by many to be a more acceptable and positive description than the still frequently used ‘mixed race’ (our pupils in schools often use the latter, and sometimes still the term ‘half-caste’).

Why not ‘mixed race’?
It is scientifically agreed that different ‘races’ do not exist, only one Human Race, therefore a shift from using the term ‘race’ seems to be the common order. Further, the word ‘mixed’ can have negative connotations in relation to identity e.g. ‘mixed up’, implying confusion and also that the original elements from both heritages are inevitably lost or changed.

Why not half-caste?
‘Caste’ is derived from the Portuguese word ‘casta’, meaning lineage or breed. In human culture, it refers to rigid social divisions, as in the Hindu caste system. Societies with a low degree of social mobility such as South Africa under apartheid and the practice of slavery in the Southern United States could be described as caste-based societies – the connotations of oppression are clear. Moreover, ‘half’ clearly implies lacking and incomplete, indicating inferiority…

Read the entire report here.

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Intelligence of Negroes of Mixed Blood in Canada

Posted in Articles, Canada, Media Archive, Social Science, Teaching Resources on 2011-12-03 18:45Z by Steven

Intelligence of Negroes of Mixed Blood in Canada

The Journal of Negro Education
Volume 10, Number 4 (October, 1941)
pages 650-652

H. A. Tanser

Miscegenation, as between the White and Negro races, presents an interesting field for study. Herskovits, Hooton, Peterson and Lanier, and others have attempted to investigate such so-called racial differences as those which concern colour of skin, hair and eyes, thickness of lips, the nasal breadth, prognathism, interpupillary distance, texture of hair, etc. An attempt has also been made to study the relationship between intelligence and certain Negroid traits. As a result of his research a few years ago Herskovits came to the conclusion that the American Negro is forming a type which lies somewhere between the European, the African, and the American Indian. The increasing uniformity of type in the American Negro he attributes to social rather than biological factors. Peterson and Lanier, after testing ninety-one cases on the Otis, and forty-nine cases on the Myers, report that there is no significant relation between lightness of skin colour and intelligence. They find a coefficient of correlation of .044±.067 for the first group, and .180±.091 for the second group.

While Davenport and Steggerda, on investigation of race crossing in Jamaica, hold the opinion that crossing Whites and Negroes results in disharmonic combinations, Reuter, on the other hand, champions the cause of mulattoes on account of the hybrid vigour they display as compared with the general lack of achievement on the part of full-blooded Negroes. He makes the interesting contention that mulattoes are the result of a process of biological selection in which the best elements of the Negro race have been assimilated into the mixed blood of the mulattoes. He also makes the observation that in the days of slavery the White masters naturally selected the intellectually superior Negro women for their mistresses. He and Herskovits further contend that this process of biological selection has been perpetuated by the tendency that exists for talented Negroes to marry girls whose skin is light in colour. On account of the social cleavage that still exists between the Whites and Negroes, to a greater extent in the Southern States and to a less extent in the Northern States and Canada, one would naturally expect that any race crossing that takes place would represent the best elements of the Negroes and the less superior elements of the Whites.

In investigating the intelligence of Negroes, Mixed-bloods, and Whites, the present writer would like to emphasize…

Read or purchase the article here.

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Multiracial Identity Development

Posted in Identity Development/Psychology, Live Events, Media Archive, Teaching Resources, United States on 2011-11-25 07:04Z by Steven

Multiracial Identity Development

Arlington Public Schools
Clarendon Education Center
2801 Clarendon Boulevard, Suite 308
Arlington, Virginia
2011-11-30, 10:00-12:00 EST (Local Time)

Have you ever wondered about how children from multiracial backgrounds develop their racial identity?  Please join us in welcoming Dr. Ricia Weiner, Ms. Eleanor Lewis, and Ms. Veronica Sanjines, School Psychologists, who will share valuable information with families and school staff about the stages and factors that impact the development of identity in multiracial children.
 
In this exciting session, Dr. Weiner, Ms. Lewis and Ms. Sanjines will review current theories, explain and dispel myths and inaccuracies, and help participants understand external influences in multiracial identity development.  They will also explore the impact of adoption and exposure to multiple languages on this population.  Participants will learn specific factors that support successful and adaptive multiracial identity development.

For more information, click here.

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A critical ethnography of biracial elementary teachers: Biracial identity development and its effect on teaching practices and racism prevention

Posted in Dissertations, Media Archive, Teaching Resources, United States on 2011-11-21 19:24Z by Steven

A critical ethnography of biracial elementary teachers: Biracial identity development and its effect on teaching practices and racism prevention

Alliant International University, San Diego
2010
480 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3428767
ISBN: 9781124269009

Jon E. Kingsbury

A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Faculty of the Hufstedler School of Education Alliant International University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education

The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to develop a critical ethnographic methodology to examine the experiences that led a select group of elementary teachers to self-identify as biracial. Additionally, through the use of critical systems analysis, this inquiry explored the perspectives of the informants with regard to racism at the classroom and the greater school or district levels. In order to collect data, in-depth phenomenological interviews were conducted with two self-identified biracial elementary teachers from the southern California area. These interviews were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. This inquiry sought to create an interview structure that would ensure a critical ethnographic approach to data generation that resulted in the development of the Figure Eight Interview Model, wherein the research process is dominated by two distinct research settings. The first is where the researcher and the informant are working collaboratively during the actual interviews. The second setting is where the researcher and the informant are working independently, using grounded theory to critically analyze the data transcribed from the previous interview. The analyses were then discussed at the next interview, where thematic categories were developed. These two settings were repeated three times, with each interview building on the previous and becoming more focused. Using system and social integration levels of critical systems analysis, themes were uncovered in order to develop theory for addressing, reducing, and ultimately preventing racism in classrooms and schools. These themes, along with the Figure Eight Interview Model, can be refined and expanded through further research done by professional development planners, multicultural educators, and qualitative researchers.

Table of Contents

  • LIST OF FIGURES
  • 1 . INTRODUCTION
    • Purpose of the Study
    • Significance of the Study
    • Assumptions of the Study
    • Delimitations of the Study
    • My View of Humanity and Racism
  • 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
    • Racial Identity Development
      • Introduction
      • Monoracial Identity Models
      • Biracial Identity Models
      • Racial Identity Development and Teachers
      • Comments on Review of Racial Identity Models
    • Teachers’ Biographies
      • Perspectives on Teachers’ Biographies
      • Development of Teachers’ Biographies
      • Purpose and Value of Teachers’ Biographies
    • Multicultural Education
      • History and Development of Multicultural Education
      • Definitions and Goals
      • Teachers’ Role in Multicultural Education
    • Conclusions From the Review of the Literature
    • Research Questions in Light of the Literature Review
  • 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
    • Research Paradigms
    • Critical Ethnography
      • Sociohistorical Development
      • Conceptual and Philosophical Framework
      • Feminist Methodology
      • Critical Theory
    • Research Design of the Study
      • In-Depth Phenomenological Interviewing
      • Sampling Strategy
      • Selection of Informants
      • Content and Conduct of the Interviews
      • Data Analysis
      • Carspecken’s Stages for Critical Research
      • Data Generation and Data Management
      • My Role as Researcher
      • Trustworthiness
  • 4. ASSESSING THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
    • Procedural Aspects of the Study
      • Number of Informants
      • Commitment of Time
      • Use of Instruments
      • Components of the Data Analysis
      • Summary of Procedural Aspects
    • Theoretical Concerns Within Critical Ethnography
      • Empowerment
      • Contextualization of Data
      • Romanticism
      • Validity/Trustworthiness
      • Summary of Theoretical Concerns
    • Criteria Within the Figure Eight Interview Model
      • The First Interview
      • The Second Interview
      • The Third Interview
      • Summary
  • 5. MY ANALYSIS AND RESPONSES TO THE STUDY
    • The Research Questions
      • Research Question 1
      • Research Question 2
      • Research Question 3
      • Research Question 4
      • Research Question 5
    • My Summary of Our Study
      • Assessment of the Methodology
  • 6. INFORMANTS’ RESPONSES TO OUR STUDY
    • Opening Comments/General Discussion
    • Time and Reflection Process I
    • Number of Participants
    • Length of Interviews
    • API Scores
    • Time and Reflection Process II
    • Role of Family
    • Self-identification Statements
    • Sociohistorical Context
    • Theoretical Elements
    • Empowerment of Informants
    • Time and Reflection Process III
    • Asian Pacific Islanders Educators Association
    • Their Mothers’ Influence
    • Weddings and Extended Families
    • Their Mothers as “Victims”
    • My Error in Identifying a Relationship
    • Regional Cultural Differences
    • Changes in Biracial Demographics
    • Their Physical Ambiguity
    • The Use of the Word “Threat”
    • School and Community Cultures
    • “Addressing” Versus “Reducing and Preventing”
    • Institutional Racism
    • San Diego’s Blueprint for Success
    • Changes in the American Culture
    • Truthfulness in My Re-Presentation
    • Stages of Biracial Identity Development
    • Closing Comments
    • Analysis of Informants’ Responses
      • Research Process
      • Critical REID Factors
      • Their Mothers’ Influence
      • Empowerment
      • Institutional Racism
      • Sociohistorical Contextualization
      • Hierarchy of Racism
    • Summary
  • 7. SUMMARY CHAPTER
    • Research Findings
    • Research Questions
    • Possible Shortcomings
      • Focus of Study
      • Peer Debriefers
    • Figure Eight Interview Model
      • Theoretical Foundations
      • Figure Eight Interview Model’s Effectiveness
      • Summary: Figure Eight Interview Model
    • Critical Ethnography
      • Empowerment
      • Data Contextualization
      • Catalytic Validity
      • Validity/Trustworthiness
      • Summary
    • Ethical Implications of an Organic Inquiry
    • Developmental Biracial REID Model
    • Implications and Applications for Practice
      • Professional Educators
      • Qualitative Researchers
    • Personal Reflections
  • REFERENCES CITED
  • APPENDICES
    • A. SELF-IDENTIFICATION OF RACIAL IDENTITY STATEMENT
    • B. FAMILY HERITAGE WORKSHEET (FIGURE B1)
    • C. WRITTEN CONSENT FORM
    • D. SUGGESTIONS FOR REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WRITING
    • E. PERSONAL HISTORY OF IDENTITY WORKSHEET (FIGURE E1)
    • F. SUGGESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS OF TRANSCRIPTS
    • G. SUGGESTIONS FOR COMMENTS ON INTERVIEWER’S ANALYSIS
    • H. CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS HANDOUT
    • I. POEM: “I AM INVISIBLE”
    • J. INFORMANTS’ REFERENCE SHEET

List of Figures

  1. Racial/ethnic identity development models
  2. Moments of ethnography
  3. Conceptual Figure Eight Interview Model
  4. Procedural Figure Eight Interview Model
  5. List of established interview questions
  6. Five stages for critical qualitative research
  7. Interpretation of Carspecken’s (1996) research design
  8. Summary of responses to research questions
  9. Biracial identity development continuum

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