Mixed Race Studies

Race and Ethnicity in Society: The Changing Landscape, 3rd Edition

Cengage Learning
2012
480 pages
ISBN-10: 1111519536; ISBN-13: 9781111519537

Edited by

Elizabeth Higginbotham, Professor of Sociology, Women’s Studies, and Criminology
University of Delaware

Margaret L. Andersen, Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Sociology
University of Delaware

This engaging reader is organized in four major thematic parts, subdivided into thirteen different sections. Part I (“The Social Basis of Race and Ethnicity”) establishes the analytical frameworks that are now being used to think about race in society. The section examines the social construction of race and ethnicity as concepts and experience. Part II (“Continuity and Change: How We Got Here and What It Means”) explores both the historical patterns of inclusion and exclusion that have established racial and ethnic inequality, while also explaining some of the contemporary changes that are shaping contemporary racial and ethnic relations. Part III (“Race and Social Institutions”) examines the major institutional structures in contemporary society and investigates patterns of racial inequality within these institutions. Persistent inequality in the labor market and in patterns of community, residential, and educational segregation continue to shape the life chances of different groups. Part IV (“Building a Just Society”) concludes the book by looking at both large-scale contexts of change, such as those reflected in the movement to elect the first African American president.

• Major themes include coverage showing the diversity of experiences that now constitute “race” in the United States; teaching students the significance of race as a socially constructed system of social relations; showing the connection between different racial identities and the social structure of race; understanding how racism works as a belief system rooted in societal institutions; providing a social structural analysis of racial inequality; providing a historical perspective on how the racial order has emerged and how it is maintained; examining how people have contested the dominant racial order; exploring current strategies for building a just multiracial society.
• Each section includes several pages of analysis that outline the main concepts to be covered, providing a clear initial roadmap for reading and a convenient resource students can use with assignments and while preparing for exams.
• The text’s unique organization according to overarching themes and relevant subtopics, including identity, social construction of race, why race matters, inequality, and segregation, places the articles into a broader context to promote greater understanding.
• This innovative text looks beyond a simple black/white dichotomy and focuses more broadly on an extremely wide range of ethnic groups, providing a much more realistic and useful exploration of key topics that is more relevant and compelling for today’s diverse student population.

Table of Contents

• PART I: THE SOCIAL BASIS OF RACE AND ETHINICITY
  • 1. The Social Construction of Race and Ethnicity
    • Introduction by Elizabeth Higginbotham and Margaret L. Andersen
    • 1. Howard F. Taylor, “Defining Race”
    • 2. Joseph L. Graves, Jr., “The Race Myth”
    • 3. Abby Ferber, “Planting the Seed: The Invention of Race”
    • 4. Karen Brodkin, “How Did Jews Become White Folks?”
    • 5. Michael Omi and Howard Winant, “On Racial Formation”—Student Exercises
  • 2. What Do You Think? Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Racism
    • Introduction by Elizabeth Higginbotham and Margaret L. Andersen
    • 6. Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer, “American Racism in the Twenty-First Century”
    • 7. Charles A. Gallagher, “Color-Blind Privilege: The Social and Political Functions of Erasing the Color Line in Post Race America”
    • 8. Judith Ortiz Cofer, “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria”
    • 9. Rainier Spencer, “Mixed Race Chic”
    • 10. Rebekah Nathan, “What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student”—Student Exercises
  • 3. Representing Race and Ethnicity: The Media and Popular Culture
    • Introduction by Elizabeth Higginbotham and Margaret L. Andersen
    • 11. Craig Watkins, “Black Youth and the Ironies of Capitalism”
    • 12. Fatimah N. Muhammed, “How to NOT Be 21st Century Venus Hottentots”
    • 13. Rosie Molinary, “María de la Barbie”
    • 14. Charles Springwood and C. Richard King, “‘Playing Indian’: Why Native American Mascots Must End”
    • 15. Jennifer C. Mueller, Danielle Dirks, and Leslie Houts Picca, “Unmasking Racism: Halloween Costuming and Engagement of the Racial Order”—Student Exercises
  • 4. Who Are You? Race and Identity
    • Introduction by Elizabeth Higginbotham and Margaret L. Andersen
    • 16. Beverly Tatum, interview with John O’Neil, “Why are the Black Kids Sitting Together?”
    • 17. Priscilla Chan, “Drawing the Boundaries”
    • 18. Michael Omi and Taeku Lee, “Barack Like Me: Our First Asian American President”
    • 19. Tim Wise, “White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son”—Student Exercises
• PART II: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE: HOW WE GOT HERE AND WHAT IT MEANS
  • 5. Who Belongs? Race, Rights, and Citizenship
    • Introduction by Elizabeth Higginbotham and Margaret L. Andersen
    • 20. Evelyn Nakano Glenn, “Citizenship and Inequality”
    • 21. C. Matthew Snipp, “The First Americans: American Indians”
    • 22. Susan M. Akram and Kevin R. Johnson, “Race, Civil Rights, and Immigration Law After September 11, 2001: The Targeting of Arabs and Muslims”
    • 23. Peggy Levitt, “Salsa and Ketchup: Transnational Migrants Saddle Two Worlds”—Student Exercises
  • 6. The Changing Face of America: Immigration
    • Introduction by Elizabeth Higginbotham and Margaret L. Andersen
    • 24. Mae M. Ngai, “Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America”
    • 25. Nancy Foner, “From Ellis Island to JFK: Education in New York’s Two Great Waves of Immigration”
    • 26. Charles Hirschman and Douglas S. Massey, “Places and Peoples: The New American Mosaic”
    • 27. Pew Research Center, “Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Come of Age in America”—Student Exercises
  • 7. Exploring Intersections: Race, Class, Gender and Inequality
    • Introduction by Elizabeth Higginbotham and Margaret L. Andersen
    • 28. Patricia Hill Collins, “Toward a New Vision: Race, Class and Gender as Categories of Analysis and Connection”
    • 29. Yen Le Espiritu, “Theorizing Race, Gender, and Class”
    • 30. Roberta Coles and Charles Green, “The Myth of the Missing Black Father”
    • 31. Nikki Jones, “From Good to Ghetto”
    • 32. Gladys García-Lopez and Denise A. Segura, “‘They Are Testing You All the Time’: Negotiating Dual Femininities among Chicana Attorneys”—Student Exercises
• PART III: RACE AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
  • 8. Race and the Workplace
    • Introduction by Elizabeth Higginbotham and Margaret L. Andersen
    • 33. William Julius Wilson, “Toward a Framework for Understanding Forces that Contribute to or Reinforce Racial Inequality”
    • 34. Deirdre A. Royster, “Race and The Invisible Hand: How White Networks Exclude Black Men from Blue-Collar Jobs”
    • 35. Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, “Families on the Frontier”.
    • 36. Angela Stuesse, “Race, Migration and Labor Control”—Student Exercises
  • 9. Shaping Lives and Love: Race, Families, and Communities
    • Introduction by Elizabeth Higginbotham and Margaret L. Andersen
    • 37. Joe R. Feagin and Karyn D. McKinney, ”The Family and Community Costs of Racism”
    • 38. Dorothy Roberts, “Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare”
    • 39. Kumiko Nemoto, “Interracial Relationships: Discourses and Images”
    • 40. Zhenchao Qian, “Breaking the Last Taboo: Interracial Marriage in America”—Student Exercises
  • 10. How We Live and Learn: Segregation, Housing, and Education
    • Introduction by Elizabeth Higginbotham and Margaret L. Andersen
    • 41. John E. Farley and Gregory D. Squires, “Fences and Neighbors: Segregation in the 21st Century”
    • 42. Melvin L. Oliver and Thomas M. Shapiro, “Sub-Prime as a Black Catastrophe”
    • 43. Gary Orfield and Chungmei Lee, “Historic Reversals, Accelerating Resegregation and the Need for New Integration Strategies”
    • 44. Heather Beth Johnson and Thomas M. Shapiro, “Good Neighborhoods, Good Schools: Race and the ‘Good Choices’ of White Families”—Student Exercises
  • 11. Do We Care? Race, Health Care and the Environment
    • Introduction by Elizabeth Higginbotham and Margaret L. Andersen
    • 45. H. Jack Geiger, “Health Disparities: What Do We Know? What Do We Need to Know? What Should We Do?”
    • 46. Shirley A. Hill, “Cultural Images and the Health of African American Women”
    • 47. David Naguib Pellow and Robert J. Brulle, “Poisoning the Planet: The Struggle for Environmental Justice”
    • 48. Robert D. Bullard and Beverly Wright, “Race, Place and the Environment”—Student Exercises
  • 12. Criminal Injustice? Courts, Crime, and the Law
    • Introduction by Elizabeth Higginbotham and Margaret L. Andersen
    • 49. Bruce Western, “Punishment and Inequality”
    • 50. Rubén Rumbaut, Roberto Gonzales, Goinaz Kamaie, and Charlie V. Moran, “Debunking the Myth of Immigrant Criminality: Imprisonment among First and Second Generation Young Men”
    • 51. Christina Swarns, “The Uneven Scales of Capital Justice”
    • 52. Devah Pager, “The Mark of a Criminal Record”—Student Exercises
• PART IV: BUILDING A JUST SOCIETY
  • 13. Moving Forward: Analysis and Social Action
    • Introduction by Elizabeth Higginbotham and Margaret L. Andersen
    • 53. Thomas F. Pettigrew, “Post-Racism? Putting Obama’s Victory in Perspective”
    • 54. Frank Dobbins, Alexandra Kalev, and Erin Kelly, “Diversity Management in Corporate America”
    • 55. Southern Poverty Law Center, “Ways to Fight Hate”—Student Exercises

PLAIN PEOPLE: Is There Anywhere?…

Time Magazine
1946-03-11

Prewar Britain’s Negro problem was as minuscule as prewar Britain’s Negro population. But the 70,000 U.S. Negro troops who served in Britain during the war left behind hundreds of illegitimate mulatto babies. Last fortnight London’s League of Colored Peoples reported that already 544 children of U.S. Negro soldiers and British women were in social or economic straits.

So long as the Negro fathers were in the U.S. Army and acknowledged paternity, the mothers received support allowances. In the British provinces $85 a month was comparative riches. But when Negro soldiers were demobilized in the U.S., allowances ceased; some Negro fathers neglected to make any other provision. Then the social pressure of British provincial respectability became unbearable. Said one British mother of a Negro’s child: “I am shunned by the whole village. . . . The inspector for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has told my friend to keep her children away from my house… as didn’t she know that I had two illegitimate colored children? Is there anywhere I can go where my children will not get… pushed around?”…

Read the entire article here.

But Don’t Call Me White: Mixed Race Women Exposing Nuances of Privilege and Oppression Politics

Sense Publishers
September 2011
258 pages
Hardback ISBN: 978-94-6091-692-2
Paperback ISBN 978-94-6091-691-5

Silvia Cristina Bettez, Assistant Professor of Cultural Foundations
School of Education
University of North Carolina, Greensboro

Highlighting the words and experiences of 16 mixed race women (who have one white parent and one parent who is a person of color), Silvia Bettez exposes hidden nuances of privilege and oppression related to multiple positionalites associated with race, class, gender and sexuality. These women are “secret agent insiders” to cultural Whiteness who provide unique insights and perspectives that emerge through their mixed race lenses.  Much of what the participants share is never revealed in mixed—White/of color—company.  Although critical of racial power politics and hierarchies, these women were invested in cross-cultural connections and revealed key insights that can aid all in understanding how to better communicate across lines of cultural difference.

This book is an invaluable resource for a wide range of activists, scholars and general readers, including sociologists, sociologists of education, feminists, anti-oppression/social justice scholars, critical multicultural educators, and qualitative researchers who are interested in mixed race issues, cross cultural communication, social justice work, or who simply wish to minimize racial conflict and other forms of oppression.

Brazil’s unfinished battle for racial democracy

The Economist
2000-04-20

JOSILENE SALES’S career is typical of Brazil’s emerging middle class. She spent seven years working in a petrochemical plant, while studying for a degree at night classes. Having moved to a better paid job in marketing, she saved enough to start her own telemarketing firm in Salvador, a city in Brazil’s north-east, and now employs two other staff. Less typically, Ms Sales is black, something which sometimes surprises her clients when they meet her. “You just have to overcome this [reaction] with professionalism,” she says.

Ms Sales descends from the 4m or more African slaves imported to Brazil, many of them through Salvador, for two centuries the colonial capital. When the Portuguese first landed on Brazil’s north-east coast, on April 22nd 1500, they thought that the docile Indians they encountered could easily be put to work building a new colony. But the Amerindians were few in number, unwilling workers, and many fell victim to European diseases. The colonists quickly sought African labour for Brazil’s sugar plantations, and later its mines. Brazil would not abolish slavery until 1888.
 
Five centuries of miscegenation have blurred the racial boundaries between Europeans, Africans and Amerindians: today 38% of Brazilians call themselves “brown” (of mixed ancestry). Blacks are only 6% and Amerindians a mere 0.2%. Such racial mixing encouraged Brazil’s largely white elite to nourish a myth that their country had overcome the legacy of slavery and become a “racial democracy”, with no colour prejudice—unlike the strife-torn United States.

Displays of racial hatred are indeed rare in Brazil. Nor do Brazilians live in racially segregated areas. And in contrast to their counterparts in the United States, Brazilians of mixed race are likely to be seen, and see themselves, not as black but as white or brown.

But Brazil’s blacks do face prejudice. And though, or because, as Brazilians say, “money whitens”, the country’s deep social inequalities run broadly along racial lines. Brazil is still largely governed, managed and owned by whites. Blacks and browns are disproportionately poor, and find it harder than similarly qualified whites to get a job….

Read the entire article here.

The Fletcher Report 1930: A Historical Case Study of Contested Black Mixed Heritage Britishness

Journal of Historical Sociology
Volume 21, Issue 2-3 (August 2008)
Pages 213 – 241
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6443.2008.00336.x

Mark Christian, Professor & Chair of African & African American Studies
Lehman College, City University of New York

This article examines a controversial report that focused negatively on mixed heritage children born and raised in the city of Liverpool. The official title was: Report on an Investigation into the Colour Problem in Liverpool and Other Ports. The social researcher was Muriel E. Fletcher, who had been trained in the Liverpool School of Social Science at The University of Liverpool in the early 1920s.  The report was published in 1930 amid controversy for its openly stigmatizing content of children and mixed heritage families of African and European origin.  It could be deemed the official outset in defining Liverpool’s ‘half castes’ as a problem and blight to the “British way of life” in the city.

…Numerous ‘intellectual’ views held by white commentators, either consciously or unconsciously, or even a mixture of the two if we take the example of Ralph Williams, related to racialised discourse and they appear to have had a strong bearing on the complex nature of the anti-Black riots in 1919 Liverpool.  An outcome of this was to further stigmatise Black-white sexual relations in which the offspring of those liaisons were effectively branded as less-than human, degenerate, only to be despised and scorned by mainstream society.  Again, imbued in the rhetoric, was the notion of hybridity between Black-white unions being anomalous, which echoed the philosophy of the Eugenics Movement in Britain (Park 1930; Searle 1976: 43)….

…The aftermath of the anti-black riots in 1919 saw the problem of ‘half-caste’ children in Liverpool take on greater significance and the issue developed into a much discussed and analysed topic (King and King 1938; Rich 1984, 1986; Wilson 1992).  The debates engendered ‘intellectual’ legitimisation of racialised ideology that effectively produced a climate of opinion that sought to reduce the sexual interaction between Black and white people.  The corollary of this was to further stigmatise the mixed heritage population as a social problem that society had to be rid.  Some of the key racialised stereotypes associated with the term ‘half-caste’ will be made clearer through an examination of key Liverpool-based philanthropic organizations, which were set up to deal specifically with the ‘social problem’ caused by the progeny of Black and white relationships…

…Arguably, in relation to the Liverpool Black experience, the pivotal stigmatising report to be published in the history of poor ‘race relations’ in Liverpool was in regard to mixed heritage children and their family structure. Muriel E. Fletcher (1930), who had the full backing of Ms. Rachel Fleming, a prominent eugenicist (Jones 1982), and other contemporary pseudo-scientific intellectuals, conducted the research on behalf of the Liverpool Association for the Welfare of Half-Caste Children and published in 1930 a document entitled a Report on an Investigation into the Colour Problem in Liverpool and other Ports. It is a sociological report produced in the late 1920s and can be regarded as a nadir in the Liverpool mixed heritage population’s struggle to secure a positive social identity.  This ubiquitous racialised stigma was grounded in the eugenicist tradition of Sir Francis Galton (1822–1911) and the Eugenics Society. The society viewed humans in terms of being ‘inferior’ and ‘superior’ in stock (Jones 1982), and it is an overt philosophy throughout the report. Using eugenicist techniques, it is apparent that Fletcher attempted to study the physical and mental quality of ‘half-caste’ children.  Implicit in the research is the idea that the African and white British/European offspring were an anomaly in terms of human breeding. Eugenicists believed selective breeding could improve the physical and mental quality of humans by, e.g., ‘controlling’ the spread of inherited genetic abnormalities (which led in this era, 1920–1930s, to eugenics being abused by the Nazi Party in Germany to justify the extermination of thousands of ‘undesirable’ or mentally and physically ‘unfit’ humans)…

…Fletcher argued that ‘half-caste’ women were particularly vulnerable in Liverpool as they naturally consort with ‘coloured men’.  She maintains that ‘half-caste’ women were regarded as virtual social outcasts whose only escape from a life of perpetual misery was to marry a ‘coloured man’. As the opportunity in marrying a white man was, for a ‘half-caste’ woman, a near impossibility.  Again Fletcher points out:

Only two cases have been found in Liverpool of half-caste girls who have married white men, and in one of these cases the girl’s family forced the marriage on the man (1930a: 21).

It should be pointed out that this negative reflection of ‘half-caste’ girls in Liverpool is a major theme throughout the Fletcher Report.  Certainly the experience of mixed heritage women would require and deserves a study in itself, if only due to the significance and importance of highlighting the perspective of mixed heritage women in the history of Liverpool.  However, what is important here and central to this historical social research is to provide an insight into the racialised stigma that has impacted all individuals of mixed heritage in the Liverpool Black experience in terms of their collective social identity in the context of the city…

Read the entire article here.

Child Poverty at a Racial Cross Roads: Assessing Child Poverty for Children in Mono- and Multiracial Families

Colloquium Series
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Hamilton Hall 271
2011-09-21, 12:00-13:00 EDT (Local Time)

Jenifer L. Bratter, Associate Professor of Sociology
Rice University

Jenifer L. Bratter (PhD 2001, University of Texas at Austin) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Rice University. Her research explores the implications of race and racial mixing (i.e. interracial families, multiracial identity) in the areas of family, identity, and social inequality.  Current projects focus on indicators of social well-being such as poverty, residential segregation, and health and the new ways that race is linked to these phenomena. She had been awarded the 2009 Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation for Career Enhancement to study patterns of residential segregation for mixed-race families. Dr. Bratter has recently published works appearing in Demography, Social Forces, Family Relations, Population Research and Policy Review, and several upcoming book chapters.

For more information, click here.

Bi-racial identity: Children born to African-American and white couples

Clinical Social Work Journal
Volume 21, Number 4 (December 1993)
pages 417-428
DOI: 10.1007/BF00755575

Dorcas D. Bowles, Distinguished Professor of Social Work
Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia

The quest for self-identity has been more complex for African-Americans than for all the groups in American society. This quest has been especially troubling for children where one parent is African-American and the other parent is white. The scholarly literature is replete with themes on black identity and self-esteem, but this literature does not speak to the issue of biraciality since societal attitudes decree that any person with a drop of black blood is black. There is a move afoot by bi-racial (black and white) young adult children to claim both parts of their ethnic heritage. This paper suggests that the issue of bi-racial identity must be revisited and re-examined.

Read or purchase the article here.

The Social Adjustment of Chinese Immigrants in Liverpool

The Sociological Review
Volume 3, Issue 1 (July 1955)
pages 65-75
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-954X.1955.tb01045.x

Maurice Broody

Some of the most urgent social problems of a cosmopolitan seaport city like Liverpool are problems of adjustment between ethnic minorities and the indigenous society into which they have migrated. This adjustment is often very difficult, and many immigrant communities suffer acutely as a result of prejudice and discrimination. Their problems have been the concern of both administrators and sociologists, and the research which has hitherto been undertaken in Liverpool into problems of race-relations has been related to the Negro communities, since it is they which are most adversely affected by racial discrimination.

The Chinese community, on the other hand, it interesting precisely because its adjustment is not regarded as a problem. In a report, which was published in 1930, Miss M.[uriel] Fletcher came to the conclusion that the Chinese, unlike the West African community, did not present a serious social problem. That judgment was confirmed four years later by Caradog Jones, whose comment on the Negro and Chinese communities still appears to be substantially true: Each community comprises about 500 adult males. In both cases, there has been widespread inter-marriage and cohabitation with white women. Here the resemblance between the two groups ceases. The Chinese appear to make excellent husbands and there is little evidence of any of their families falling into poverty, but the same cannot be said of the negroes and their families. The half-Chinese children on growing up find little difficulty in obtaining work or in entering into marriage with the surrounding white population. The girls in particular are attractive and good-looking. On the other hand, the Anglo-negroid children when grown up do not easily get work or mix with the ordinary population.

The comparatively untroubled adjustment of the Chinese may be explained partly by the fact, that local residents do not discriminate…

Read or purchase the article here.

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.