Mixed Race Studies

Rhetoric, Identity and the Obama Racial Phenomenon: Exploring Obama’s Title as the “First Black President”

Wichita State University
May 2010
75 pages

Krystal Cole

A Thesis by Krystal Cole Bachelors of Communications, Southwestern College, 2008 Submitted to the Department of Communication and the faculty of the Graduate School of Wichita State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

In 2008, a nearly 200 year U.S. historical precedent was overturned when Barack Obama was named the “first Black president.” Although Obama is of mixed heritage, he adopted an almost singularly Black identity and has long been characterized by the media as Black. This study is concerned with the role that society and Obama’s acceptance of the title play in identifying and portraying him as the “first Black president.” This study compares Barack Obama’s self-portrayal in his book, Dreams From my Father, to mainstream and Black media portrayals of his race. Results track Obama’s self portrayal as Black, mainstream media’s sensemaking of his classification as the “first Black president” and Black media’s unquestioned acceptance of the classification.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• I. Introduction
• II. Literature Review
  • a. Racial Classification in History
  • b. Racial Classification in Today’s Society
  • c. Racial Classification of the Self
  • d. Mass Media and Social Impact
• III. Methodology
• IV. Results
  • a. Research Sub-Question 1a
  • b. Research Sub-Question 1b
  • c. Research Sub-Question 1c
• V. Discussion
  • a. Research Sub-Question 1a
  • b. Research Sub-Question 1b
  • c. Research Sub-Question 1c
• VI. Future Research and Conclusion
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• APPENDIX

…CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

Racial identity is not fixed or mutually exclusive, but rests on individualistic choices within structurally and culturally defined parameters (Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2008). The common theme in research studies is that the one-drop rule is a significant factor in socially classifying race (Korgen, 1998: Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2008). Obama has primarily adopted a Black identity due to his life experiences, cultural upbringing and the effects of the one-drop rule. Consistent with prior findings, the one-drop rule still proves to be a potent, active agency in determining race. The larger society still sees Biracial individuals as Black, thus, in order to assist in their survival/success, having a Black identity is seen as the only option (Rosenblatt, Karis, & Powell, 1995). It is clear that racial classification has been a complex), multi-layered process in U.S. history.

As prior research notes, the addition of the “check all that apply” option in 2000 for reporting race on the U.S. Census suggests that the notion of assigning Biracial children to the Black race, is considered outmoded (Brunsma, 2006). This is not the case when it comes to Barack Obama’s self-portrayal. Anecdotal evidence indicates that multiracial people still encounter mono-racial categorizations (Shih & Sanchez, 2005). As a result of his Ambivalent Identity, Obama’s lifelong struggle with his race has led him to choose a Singular Identity. He has chosen to claim his Black ancestry. Although it took centuries for multiracial people to finally have the opportunity to “check all that apply'” on the U.S. Census, Obama chose to disregard the option.

On April, 2, 2010 it was reported by Washington Post that Obama had officially announced that he is Black on the U.S. Census. “The White House confirmed on Friday that Obama did not check multiple boxes on his U.S. Census form, or choose the option that allows him to elaborate on his racial heritage. He ticked the box that says Black, African American, or Negro” (Smith, 2010). Thus, Obama has proudly marked history as the “first Black president.” This characterization disregards his White ancestry and could possibly counteract the mixed-race movement if his example encourages Biracial people to identify with their Black heritage. Ironically, his acceptance of the title as the “first Black president” could indicate that America will never enter a post-racial future if Biracial individuals continue to allow themselves to be placed in arbitrary categories. Unfortunately, Biracial individuals may never break away from being caught between the two ends of the dominant race continuum.

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“I’m the Best of Both Worlds” Factors Influencing the Racial Identities of Biracial Youth

Oregon State University
2008-06-11
140 pages

Christine LeAnn Mouzong

A Thesis submitted to  Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science

This study examined the social and contextual factors that lead to differences in the way biracial adolescents interpret their racial identity. Using 11 interviews with a sample of biracial youth between the ages of 14 and 17-years-old, this study also explores the strategies these individuals use to achieve social validation for their preferred racial self-understanding. Theoretically, the factors shaping identity construction and the strategies used to negotiate identity are studied through both a bioecological model and a symbolic interactionist framework.

The findings from this study provide new insights into adolescent biracial identity that involve issues ranging from cultural racism to the impact of video media on adolescent development. The main themes emerging from youth narratives suggest that four primary factors shape how biracial youth understand and reconcile their racial identities. First, community messages about race define the parameters of adolescents’ racial identity options. Secondly, social meanings attached to physical appearance play a pivotal role in how racial identities are understood by self and others. Thirdly, peer endorsements of color-based stereotypes, especially those derived from popular media images of Black entertainers, are crucial to how these adolescents frame their racial identity options. Lastly, racial socialization in the familial context provides an important, though often ambiguous, piece to biracial identity formation.

As well, four strategies surfaced in this study that biracial adolescents appear to use when negotiating identity claims in interactions with others. These strategies include compromise, evoking mixed parentage, emotion regulation, and using humor.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Purpose of Study
  • Background
  • Historical Context
  • Research Questions
• Chapter 2: Literature and Theory Review
  • Symbolic Interaction
    • Self-concept and Identity
    • Individuals as Social Actors
  • Bioecological Perspective
    • Proximal Processes
    • Person Factors
    • Context
    • Time
    • Summary
  • Adolescent Identity Development
  • Race and Ethnicity
    • Race/Ethnic Identity Development
  • Multiracial Identity
    • The Multidimensional Model of Biracial Identity
    • Part-Black Youth
    • Part-Hispanic Youth
  • Factors that Influence Identity Options
    • Social Networks
    • Schools
    • Peers
    • Family Influences
    • Physical Appearance
  • Summary
• Chapter 3: Method
  • Recruitment
  • Sample
  • Site Selection
  • Interview Procedures
  • Interview Protocol
  • Data Coding and Analysis Procedures
• Chapter 4: Results
  • Qualitative Data Analysis
  • “My Mississippi self” Community Messages and Racial Identity
    • General Impressions of Community
  • Identity Options and Community
    • Mixed Messages
    • Prejudice and Identity Options
    • Messages Conveyed at School
    • Conclusions from Community Influences
  • The Role of Physical Appearance in Racial Identity
    • Reconciling Ambiguous Appearance
    • “How do people tell you apart?”
    • Conclusions about Appearances and Identity
  • “The Whitest Black girl” Racial Identity through the looking glass of Peer Culture
    • Media and “Cool-Pose” Culture
    • “It’s so funny!”
    • Conclusions from Peer Influences on Racial Identity
  • “You’re in the South now girl, you’d better buck up” Family Influences on Racial Identity
    • “Stop talking!”
    • Explicit Messages
    • Implicit Messages
    • Conclusions from Family Influences on Racial Identity
• Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusions
  • Conclusions
    • Community Interpretations of Appearance
    • Gender and Color-based codes of Behavior
    • Construing Parental Messages
    • Negotiating Identity
    • Compromising
    • Evoking Mixed Parentage
    • Emotion Regulation
    • Using Humor
  • Discussion
  • Color-stratification and Identity
  • The Paradox of “Cool-Pose” Culture
  • The Familial Context
  • Negotiating Self
  • Limitations
  • Implications
    • Future Research
    • Symbolic Interaction
    • Bioecological Perspective
• References
• Appendices
  • Appendix A Informed Consent Document
  • Appendix B Assent Document
  • Appendix C In-Depth Interview Guide

LIST OF TABLES

1. Description of Respondents
2. Contextual Factors Salient to Racial Identity Development
3. Negotiation Strategies for Validating Racial Identity

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College Students’ Multiracial Identity Perceptions and Experiences of Programs and Associations

Oregon State University
2011-04-19
89 pages

Lauren S. Plaza

A Thesis submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science

This thesis examined the identity transitions that occurred prior to enrollment at a predominantly, White, large, public research university and after completing at least one year of college for students who identify as multiracial. As a secondary purpose, this thesis also examined whether these students sought support through groups that are similar to their ethnic and cultural identities. Using a sample of 10 interviews and a review of the secondary research literature, the principal findings of this thesis are that multiracial students identify differently based on their age, physical appearance, and consciousness about their racialized heritage. Participation in student programs and associations was examined in conjunction with student identity development. In order to encourage success for the multiracial students at a large, public, research institution, the findings from this research suggest that there is a need to expand existing monoracial programs to include broader definitions of racialized categories. There is also a need to develop new programs and associations that are specifically targeted to multiracial students. By making these changes university administrators may be able to support the adjustment and transition to college for students who are often not included in one of the five recognized racial categories.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Chapter 1: Introduction
  • United States Data and National Trends
  • Higher Education and Multiracial Students
  • Research topic and Proposed Thesis
  • Definition of Key Terms
• Chapter 2: Literature Review
  • History of Higher Education and Access for Students of National Data
  • Multiracial Students on College Campuses and Related Theories
  • Assessment of Current Services and Programs
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 3: Methods
  • Research Design Overview
  • Participants and Recruitment Methods
  • Data Analysis
  • Personal Disclosure
  • Summary
• Chapter 4: Results
  • Data Collection
  • Summary of Participants
  • Summary
• Chapter 5: Conclusion
  • General Conclusions
  • Anticipated Findings
  • Unanticipated Findings
  • Implications for Practice
  • Limitations
  • Recommendations for Further Research
  • Concluding Thoughts
• References
• Appendices

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Brown on the Inside: Multiracial Individuals and White Privilege

Oregon State University
2011-04-27
147 pages

Shannon D. Quihuiz

A Thesis submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science

Biracial and Multiracial people are one of the fastest growing racial groups in the United States. Individuals with a mixed identity have the ability to choose endless racial/ethnic designations that best exemplify their racial/ethnic social identity. However, people who are racially/ethnically mixed may receive criticism if their proclaimed identity does not coincide with the societal perceptions of their racial/ethnic identity. People who identify with more than one race or ethnicity and have White ancestry can be perceived as White by society. Therefore, Biracial and Multiracial people have the ability to pass as White if they have White ancestry and appear White. This study explored racially/ethnically mixed peoples’ perceptions of passing as White. Qualitative surveys were conducted to find if Biracial and Multiracial people thought they could pass as White.

When Biracial and Multiracial people have the ability to pass as White, they are associated with the White group. Association with the White group equates to being afforded advantages and benefits. Thus, White privilege may be afforded to racially/ethnically mixed people who pass as White. Qualitative interviews were used to explore if Biracial and Multiracial people identified with having White privilege. The research also examined the connection between Multiracial/ethnic people who can pass as White and White privilege. Findings suggest racially/ethnically people who can pass as White identified with having White privilege. Moreover, participants and a research team evaluation identified factors that contribute to passing as White. The findings presented in this study are significant as it explores the intersection between Biracial and Multiracial identity, passing as White, and White privilege. The information presented in this study implies that the phenomenon of passing is an important concept toward social justice and racial equity.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
  • Background of the Study
  • Statement of the Problem
  • Purpose of the Study
  • Significance of the Study
  • Overview of the Methodology
  • Definition of Terms
  • Summary
• CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
  • Multiracial Identity
    • Race and Ethnicity
    • Identity Development
  • Passing as White
    • Elements of Passing
    • Construction of Passing as White
  • White Privilege
    • Characteristics of Privilege
    • Becoming Aware of White Privilege
  • Summary
• CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
  • Purpose of the Study
  • Research Design
    • Participants and Recruitment
    • Two-Phased Approach
  • Data Collection
  • Data Analysis
  • Human Participants Protection and Confidentiality
  • Perspective of the Researcher
  • Perspective of the Research Team
  • Limitations
  • Summary
• CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS, ANALYSIS, AND DISCUSSION
  • Participants
    • Anne
    • Chris
    • Daniel
    • Emma
    • Greg
    • Jill
    • Kayla
    • Laura
    • Lynn
    • Theresa
  • Categorizing the Data
    • Theme 1: White Privilege
    • Theme 2: Navigating Social Circles
    • Theme 3: Burden
  • Summary
• CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
  • Summary of the Study
  • Conclusions
    • Research Question 1
    • Research Question 2
    • Research Question 3
  • Implications
  • Recommendations for Future Research
  • Concluding Thoughts
• REFERENCES
• APPENDICIES

LIST OF TABLES

• Table Page
• Table 1. Participant Demographic Information
• Table 2. Participant Racial/Ethnic Identity and Perceptions of Passing as White
• Table 3. Themes and Categories

LIST OF APPENDICES

• Appendix Page
• Appendix A: Recruitment E-Mail
• Appendix B: Recruitment Flyer
• Appendix C: Standard Response to E-Mail Inquiries
• Appendix D: Informed Consent Form
• Appendix E: Participants’ Intake Form
• Appendix F: Research Team’s Evaluation Form
• Appendix G: Interview Questions

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Cultural education of mixed heritage children by single mothers: A narrative inquiry of ethnic identity development

University of Wyoming, Laramie
May 2011
150 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3453892
ISBN: 9781124624242

Lay-nah Blue Morris

A Dissertation submitted to the Counselor Education and Supervision Department and the University of Wyoming in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in COUNSELOR EDUCATION AND SUPERVISION

The purpose of this study was to discover how single mothers of mixed heritage children educated their children on their culture and ethnicity. Through the process of narrative inquiry, the impact this education had on the development of the cultural and ethnic identity of these children, who are now adults, was also explored. This study contributes to understanding the identity formation of mixed heritage individuals and the implications for multicultural counseling.

Table of Contents

• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Acknowledgements
• Table of Contents
• CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
  • Statement of Problem
  • Purpose of Study
  • Research Questions
  • Discussion of Terms
• CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
  • The Nature of Identity
  • Ethnic Identity Development Models
  • Influential Factors Contributing to Ethnic Identity Development
  • Recognizing Racial Difference
  • Formation of Family Identity
  • Myths of Multiracial People
  • Transmission of Culture
  • How Families Transmit Culture and How This Impacts Ethnic Identity
  • Summary
• CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
  • Conceptual Framework
  • Nature of Narrative Inquiry
  • Role of the Researcher
  • Research Questions
  • Participants
  • Data Sources
  • Interview Guide
  • Data Collection
  • Data Analysis
  • Research Ethics
  • Trustworthiness
  • Conclusion
• CHAPTER IV: PARTICIPANT NARRATIVES
  • Robert
  • Janet
  • Interlude
  • Ama
  • Neesa
  • Interlude
  • Michael
  • Gwen
  • Interlude
  • Summary
• CHAPTER V: CODA
  • Connection to Prior Research
  • Implications for Best Practices of Counselors
  • Implications for Counselor Education
  • Implications for Social Justice
  • Limitations
  • Future Research
• REFERENCES
• APPENDICES
  • IRBProposal
  • Informed Consent
  • Investigator Statement
  • Email to Participants

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The myth of racial democracy and national identity in Brazil

The New School, New York, New York
February 2006
195 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3239941
ISBN: 9780542943904

Leone Campos de Sousa

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science of the New School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

In the 1930s and 40s, both government and academics popularized the notion that several centuries of miscegenation had rendered Brazilian society uniquely free from racial prejudice and discrimination, a society in which citizens of all ‘races’ and ethnicities lived in harmony and had equal access to societal advantages. Since the 1950s, however, social scientists and black activists have insistently denounced the Brazilian myth of racial democracy as disingenuous for occluding racial inequalities. Indeed, statistics-oriented studies have largely documented the discrepancy in levels of socioeconomic conditions between whites and nonwhites in Brazil.

More recently, scholars of race have claimed the myth of racial democracy is in truth part of a deliberate ‘racial policy’ designed by white elites and enforced by the State to subjugate blacks and perpetuate white domination. They are committed to demystify the myth of racial democracy and enhance the racial consciousness of the ‘non-white’ population, who could thus politically defeat ‘racial hegemony.’ Even the Brazilian State, which has traditionally cultivated the myth of racial democracy, now rejects the idea that ‘race is not an issue in Brazil.  The last two administrations have implemented racial quotas to increase the access of ‘racial minorities’ to public universities and jobs in the public sector.

These efforts notwithstanding, it is a fact that the large majority of blacks and mixed-race people in Brazil have not been inclined to cultivate a strong racial identity. In fact, evidence shows that most Brazilians, regardless of ‘race,’ remain convinced that their society is blessed with relatively harmonious racial relations and oppose the ‘racialization’ of society explicitly proposed by this solution. Moreover, public opinion has fiercely rejected race-based affirmative action measures.

To make sense of Brazilians’ die-hard belief in the idea of racial democracy, I reconstruct the trajectory of this concept in the light of some theories of nationalism, especially Liah Greenfeld’s. I demonstrate that this myth was crucial to Brazilian national identity, and its long-lasting significance attests to the power of nationalism in Brazil.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Introduction
  • I. Race and Nationality in Brazil
  • II. Theoretical Framework
  • III. The Relevance of The Topic and Further Research
  • IV. Methodology and Sources
  • V. Structure of The Dissertation
• Chapter 2: Constructing An Identity: Nation-Building and Race in Brazil
  • I. Early Nationalism in Brazil
  • II. In Search of A “European” Identity
  • III. Miscegenation As “Whitening”
  • IV. The Rise of “Aggressive” Nationalism
  • V. Getúlio Vargas and The Triumph Of Brazilian Nationalism
  • VI. Gilberto Freyre And The Myth of Racial Democracy
  • VII. Conclusion
• Chapter 3: Deconstructing The Myth of Racial Democracy
  • I. From Fact to Myth
  • II. Challenging The Myth of Racial Democracy
  • III. The Myth Survives
  • IV. Conclusion
• Chapter 4: The Myth of racial Democracy As National Identity: Three Alternative Explanations
  • I. Race And Nationality By Thomas Skidmore
  • II. Anthony Marx’s Making Race And Nation
  • III. Race Vs. Nation: Hanchard’s Orpheus and Power
  • IV. Conclusion
• Chapter 5: The Myth Persists: Brazilians reaction to Affirmative Action Policies
  • I. The Increasing Influence of The Black Movement
  • II. The Controversy About Affirmative Action Policies in Brazil
  • III. Conclusion
• Chapter 6: Conclusion
  • I. Theories Of Nationalism And The Myth Of Racial Democracy
  • II. Alternative Explanations: A Critique
  • III. Globalization Then And Now: The Case of Brazil
• Bibliography

Introduction

This dissertation focuses on the role of the myth of racial democracy in the formation of Brazilian national identity. It discusses why the idea that Brazil’s multiethnic population lives in racial harmony has persisted despite centuries of slavery, as well as evidence of deeply ingrained racial prejudice against blacks, Indians, and the mixed-race people. This study argues that the myth of racial democracy, elaborated by Brazilian intellectuals in the first half of the last century, draws its strength from the fact that it was able to offer an answer to society’s apprehensions and misgivings about the large colored population in Brazil. Brazilian intellectuals resented popular European theories about the existence of a link between underdevelopment and racial composition, and responded by interpreting in a positive light what had been traditionally seen as the country’s Achilles’ heel: miscegenation. Racial mixture became the very basis of the concept of racial democracy that has since been crucial in the formation of Brazilian national identity.

Race and National Identity in Brazil

Until recently, both the Brazilian population and intelligentsia conceived of their society as relatively free of racial prejudice and discrimination, a society in which citizens of all “races” and ethnicities lived in harmony with similar access to societal advantages. It was also assumed that this laudable trait of Brazilian society reflected the widespread process of mestiçagem (miscegenation) that has taken place in that country since the colonial era. Although the celebration of mestiçagem as a distinct feature of Brazil can be traced to the mid-nineteenth century, it was in the 1930s that the discourse on Brazil as a “racial democracy” was accepted as a credible depiction of social reality by the cultivated elites and incorporated into popular jargon.

The racism-free image of Brazilian society gained recognition after the publication of Casa-Grande & Senzala in 1934, written by Gilberto Freyre, a young Brazilian social scientist recently graduated from Columbia University. Freyre sought to uncover the fundamental characteristics of Brazil’s society and culture. Although the main thesis of his book refers to the role of the colonial patriarchal family as the foundation of Brazilian society, Casa-Grande & Senzala also celebrates Brazil as a “hybrid civilization”—the product of a blending of Africans, Indians, and Europeans (primarily Portuguese).

The country he describes is not a racial paradise. He recognizes the structural disadvantages that blacks and mestiços (mixed-race) faced both in slavery and in their attempts toward social mobility after freedom, topic he further developed later in Sobrados e Mucambos. Freyre claims that racial miscegenation and cultural amalgamation in Brazil has not only created a new type of society but also founded the basis of a unique variety of ethnic and social democracy. According to him, the relative tolerance and communicability between the races engendered in the casa grandes (the masters’ mansions in the colonial era made modern race relations in Brazil less antagonistic than in any other country. Even though he never used the expression “racial democracy” in his Casa-Grande & Senzala, the author did suggest that:

Perhaps nowhere else is the meeting, intercommunication, and harmonious fusion of diverse or, even antagonistic cultural traditions occurring in so liberal a way as it is in Brazil… the Brazilian regime cannot be accused of rigidity or of a lack of vertical mobility, and in a number of social directions it is one of the most democratic, flexible, and plastic regimes to be found anywhere.

Some empirical facts seemed indeed to corroborate the discourse about the virtues of racial relations in Brazil. As a multiracial country, with a long history of slavery, the country has never witnessed, as in the United States or South Africa, relevant civil rights or racial-based movements. Racial discrimination had been declared illegal since the inauguration of the Republic in 1889. Brazil’s system of racial classification employs a color system—dividing Brazilians into whites, blacks, pardos, and yellows – which is perceived as a mere objective description of reality, as opposed to categories that evoke clear-cut racial or ethnic descent such as “Afro” or “Native” Brazilians…

…By the late 1970’s, the image of Brazil as a racial democracy came under fierce attack by many scholars and black activists who have claimed that it is in reality a veiled form of racism, part of a deliberate policy created by the Brazilian “white elites,” and enforced by the State, to subjugate blacks and mixed-raced peoples. This has been especially suggested by a new generation of scholars of race influenced by American scholarship on racial relations as well as by Abdias Nascimento. As Peter Fry has noted, for these authors. Brazil no longer represents a superior alternative but rather “an archaic and obscurantist system of race relations that must give way to the ‘reality’ of clearly defined races.”…

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Into the Arms of America: The Korean Roots of International Adoption

The University of Chicago
August 2008
248 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3322621
ISBN: 9780549742289

Arissa Hyun Jung Oh

A Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the division of Social Sciences in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of History

This dissertation locates the origins of the phenomenon of international adoption in Korea in the 1950s, when Americans began adopting mixed-race ‘GI babies’ produced through liasions between Korean women and foreign military personnel during the Korean War. Seeing no other solution to the existence of these children than their mass emigration abroad, the Korean government cooperated with allies in Korea and in the United States to establish an intercountry adoption system.

Americans had adopted children from Europe and Japan prior to the Korean War, but there are a number of reasons why intercountry took off from Korea. First, the supply of unwanted mixed-race GI babies in South Korea converged with a demand for them in the United States. The newly established Republic of South Korea sought to to redefine itself through a nationalism centered in large part on its sense of itself as an racially homogeneous nation and was therefore eager to send its mixed-race children overseas. At the same time, Americans expressed interest in adopting Korean GI babies for a number of reasons: humanitarianism, a shortage of adoptable children in the U.S., or because they wished to avoid the doctrinal investigations of social workers required under state adoption laws.

Second, a ‘culture religion’ or ‘civic religion’ that I call Christian Americanism emerged in the 1950s to power the early movement to adopt Korean GI babies. Christian Americanism combined patriotism with vaguely Christian principles to form a powerful ideology that promoted U.S. responsibility in the new world of the Cold War. The adoption of Korean GI babies became a Christian Americanist missionary project, and although not all adoptive parents of children from Korea were Christian Americanists, the language of Christian Americanism became the language of the Korean adoption movement. Christian Americanist adopters saw adopting a Korean GI baby as a way to participate in their country’s new Cold War project of proving its racial liberalism and winning the hearts and minds of newly independent countries around the world. Third, Harry Holt, a farmer from Oregon, emerged as a leader of the Christian Americanist Korean adoption movement. Holt founded the Holt Adoption Program in 1956, made Korean adoption available to the masses, and was a crucial catalyst in the establishment and development of international adoption.

In the early 1960s, the composition of the Korean homeless-child population changed such that mixed-race children no longer represented the majority of the Korean children being adopted internationally. The institutions, procedures and laws that had been erected to facilitate the removal of mixed-race children became a convenient system through which to send full-blooded children abroad.

Korean adoption has been a dynamic and ever-changing phenomenon reflecting some of the major trends in Cold War politics as well as shifting ideas about race, family and nation in both Korea and the United States. What began as a race-based evacuation evolved into a Cold War missionary project, and has now become an increasingly common way for Americans to build their families.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• VOLUME ONE
  • LIST OF TABLES
  • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  • ABSTRACT
  • INTRODUCTION
  • CHAPTER 1. Soldiers, Missionaries and the Kids of Korea
  • CHAPTER 2. Creating Intercountry Adoption
  • CHAPTER 3. A New Kind of Missionary Work: Christian Americanism and the Adoption of Korean GI Babies
• VOLUME TWO
  • CHAPTER 4. Making Orphans, Making Families
  • CHAPTER 5. Harry Holt Versus ‘The Welfare’: The Fight Over Proxy Adoption
  • CHAPTER 6. The Turn In the Road
  • APPENDIX U. S. Immigration Laws Pertaining to Korean Adoption
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY

LIST OF TABLES

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Critical Narrative of Multiracial Women’s Personal Journey: Negotiating the Intersectionallity of Race and Gender Issues in a Monoracial Paradigm

Georgia Southern University
June 2011
264 pages

Geralda Silva Nelson

A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education

The aim of this study was to examine how three women of color, mothers of Multiracial children, experience gender and racial identity issues in the context of United States; explore their choice of racial indicator for their children and the impact that raising multiracial children would have on their own racial identity. This study was informed by critical race feminist thought, framed by qualitative inquiry and oral history as research methodology. Throughout this study I have attempted to demonstrate that gender and race are significant factors in these three women’s lived experiences. The participants’ accounts revealed how different aspects of sexism, racism, heritage pride, and racial invisibility have been a part of their lives, and influenced the choices of racial indicators for their multiracial children. There was ample evidence from the stories of these three participants that the racial identity indicator of their multiracial children and the consequences of these choices, provided a more significant set of apprehensions than the concerns these three women had for their own gender and racial identity issues. Data was collected through semi-structured open ended interviews.

Table of Contents

• 1. INTRODUCTION
  • Multiracial Individuals in the United States
  • Exploring Adequate Racial Identity
  • Educational Significance of the Study
• 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
  • Racism as a Factor in the U.S. Society
  • Gender as a Determinant Factor
  • Gender and Race Intersection
  • Study Framework: Critical Race Feminism
  • Issues of Ethnic Identity
  • White Mothers of Multiracial Children
  • Racial Labeling
  • Children‟s Perception of Their Racial Identity
  • Racial Identity via Peer Pressure
  • Social and Racial Power
  • Racial Categorization
  • Politics of Education and Language
  • Literacy and the Development of Identity
  • Themes Presented in the Literature Reviewed
• 3. METHODOLOGY
  • Oral History
  • Oral History Interviews
  • Listening to One Story at a Time
  • Context of Research
  • History of Turmoil
  • Narratives
  • Researcher/participants‟ Roles
  • Participant Selection
  • The Rules of Disclosure
  • Data Analysis
  • Synthesized Dominant Themes
  • Dominant Interview Themes
  • Recurrent Themes
  • Ethical Consideration and Possible Limitations of this Study
  • Conclusion
• 4. NARRATIVES
  • Maria
  • Jane
  • Sonia
• 5. RACISM
  • The Impact of Racism in the Lives of the Participants
  • Situated Race Relations in Country of Origin
  • Racial Awareness Before Relocating to the U.S.
  • Dealing with Racial Constructs Upon Arriving in the United States
  • Navigating the Complex Racial Landscape of the United States
  • Racial Interaction and Group Membership
  • Racism in the Form of Invisibility
  • Race as a Confounding Issue
  • Contesting Static Racial Construct
  • Breaking the Racial Conventions and Rethinking the Color Line
  • Exploring Racial Interactions
  • Situated Racial Awareness and the Construction of Difference
  • Becoming Aware of Multiraciality
• 6. THE IMPACT OF SEXISM IN THE LIVES OF THE PARTICIPANTS
  • Sexism as it Relates to the Oppression of Women of Color
  • Sexism in the Form of Patriarchy
• 7. FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PARTICIPANTS‟ DECISION TO CHOOSE A PARTICULAR RACE INDICATOR FOR THEIR CHILDREN
  • Responding to Institutions‟ Request for Racial Labels for Multiracial Children
  • Cultural Currency as a Factor
  • Checking Monoracial Boxes for Multiracial Children
  • Racial Heritage Pride as a Racial Identity Determinant
  • The Impact of Racial Indicators on the Educational Experience of Multiracial Children
  • Awareness of Self Racial Identity as Result of Having Multiracial Children
• 8. DISCUSSION
  • A Final Consideration
  • Recommendations for Further Scholarship
• REFERENCES
• APPENDICES
  • A Summary of Respondents‟ Information
  • B Participant Data Sheet
  • C Survey
  • D Interview Procedure
  • E Interview guide – English
  • F Interview Guide –Spanish
  • G Participant Informed Consent

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Kept In, Kept out : The Formation of Racial Identity in Brazil, 1930-1937

Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
November 1996
95 pages

Veronica Armstrong

Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Latin American Studies Program

This thesis examines the roles of historian Gilberto Freyre and the Sao Paulo black press in the formation of racial identity in Brazil. In Casa Grande e Senzala, published in 1933, Freyre presented a hypothesis of Brazilian national identity based on positive interpretations of slavery and miscegenation. His emphasis on racial harmony met with the approval of Getúlio Vargas, a president intent on the unification of Brazilian society. With Vargas’ backing, racial democracy became Brazilian national identity. Supporters included the black press which welcomed an idea that brought blacks into definitions of Brazilianness. Yet, blacks were embracing an interpretation of Brazilian identity that would replace a growing black racial awareness. Reasons for the undermining of black racial consciousness and the enshrining of racial democracy as Brazilian national identity emerge in an overview of shifts occurring during the first decades of the twentieth century. The forces of mass immigration, negative evaluations of Brazil by scientific racism, and the nation-building politics of Vargas affected the elite minority and the poverty-stricken majority of Brazilians, but in differing ways. For while economic stability and national pride were the goals of the former, research suggests that survival was the paramount aim of the latter. Addressing the needs of both groups, the adoption of racial democracy as national ideology in the late 1930s maintained elite privilege, defused the potential of racial unrest, and promised social mobility to the masses.

Benefits to the largely-black masses, however, had strings attached. Social mobility depended on their acting “white” and becoming “white” through miscegenation. In the face of desperate poverty, blacks had few options and assimilation seemed a way to move beyond their low socio-economic status. Furthermore, contrasts with American segregation convinced black writers that battling discrimination had to be secondary to the economic survival of their community. The thesis concludes by seeking to explain the paradox of a society characterised by many foreigners and most Brazilians as a racial paradise from the 1930s to the 1970s even though Brazilian reality evinces gross inequality between the small Europeanised elite and the large black and mixed-race underclass.

Table of Contents

• Approval
• Abstract.
• Acknowledgments.
• Preface.
• Introduction kept in, kept out:the question of brazilianness and black solidarity 1930-1937
  • The March for national identity
  • Brazilianness vs. Blackness
• Chapter 1. Ideology and Identity
  • The dawning of a new era of national thought
  • A historic moment
  • Whitening
  • A New Era
• Chapter 2. Race
  • Miscegenation and Racial Terminology
  • Racial Democracy: Theory and Revision
• Chapter 3. The Making of a Cultural Hero
  • Freyre: the child and the man
  • Freyre s “Old Social Order”
  • Ciasa Grande e Senzala
  • Freyre, the Intellectual
  • Freyre, Father of National Identity.
• Chapter 4. The Politics of Identity
  • The Black Press in Brazil
  • The Meaning of Language
  • From the mulato to the black press
  • The Black Press: an alternative path
  • Assimilation vs. segregation
  • A Frente Negra
• Chapter 5. Only we, the negros of Brazil, know what it is to feel colour prejudice
  • A Voz da Raza
  • Conclusion: We are Brazilian
  • Intellectuals and Ideology
  • Searching for identity
• Epilogue
• Bibliography

List of Figures

• figure 1: Roquete Pinto’s prediction of the racial make up of Brazilian populations based on official statistics 1872-1890
• figure 2: System of values within the miscegenation process

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Performative Aspects of Brazilian Music as a Means of Creating Identity in Rio de Janeiro

Universität Wien
October 2008
215 pages

Adriana Ribeiro-Mayer

In Rio de Janeiro’s multi-ethnic society with its colonial and slave-based past creating a common identity is a major problem. Standard Portuguese, as opposed to spoken “Brazilian”, is remote to many Brazilians. Therefore, music and dance, the Carnival events and Baile Funk, substitute for language-based common performances. They have become extraordinarily big events based on a “sincretized” rhythm, on the body and mostly Afro-Brazilian body movements.

With the help of “participant observation” and “ero-epic conversation” I tried to participate as closely as possible in numerous events and describe them in performance protocols. These I analyzed according to the concepts of performance theory.

Richard Schechner’s emphasis on deep structures (such as the escola rehearsals) and rules; Victor Turners shift from play to ritual; Nicholas Cook’s “process-“ rather than “product-character” of performances and the musical work, e.g. a samba-enredo, as giving performers something to perform; Erika Fischer-Lichte’s emphasis on co-presence, interaction and feed-back as well as the body and its expressions; and finally Johan Huizinga’s prediction of a shift in social play, trough rules, competition and the audience to more seriousness. All these concepts of performance theory both proved useful tools, and at the same time were put to an interesting re-evaluation when applied to these mostly Afro-Brazilian events.

Rio’s Carnival’s counter-world has to fulfill so important and different needs in a divided society that it split to be able to present opportunities for spontaneous play of the individual, e.g. in the street blocos and the Intendente Magalhães parades, and to present a choreographed show of unity and common identity, in the main sambodrome parades. Baile Funk has so far catered for the first needs, i.e. entertainment and individual expression, as it has not involved all layers of carioca society through city-wide events.

Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Rio de Janeiro Society and the African Influence
  • 2.1 The African Population in Brazil
  • 2.2 The African Population in Rio de Janeiro
  • 2.3 Abolition of Slavery
  • 2.4 African Cultural Heritage
• 3. Identity in a mixed Society
  • 3.1 The Situation of Afro-Brazilians today
  • 3.2 Affirmative Action? Quotas for “Black” Students
• 4. Concepts of Performance
• 5. The Method of “Participant Observation” and “Ero-Epic Conversation”
  • 5.1 Questions of Presentation
  • 5.2 Research Trips
• 6. Hypothesis
• 7. Carnival and Samba in Rio
  • 7.1 Origins of Samba and Carnival in Rio
    • 7.1.1 Samba
    • 7.1.2 Carnival
  • 7.2 The Escolas de samba
    • 7.2.1 Origins and Evolution of the Escolas de Samba
    • 7.2.2 The Special Group Escolas de Samba
    • 7.2.3 Case study “Madureira”
    • 7.2.3.1 Escolas de Samba from Madureira
    • 7.2.4 Preparation of the Parades
    • 7.2.4.1 Cidade do Samba – Samba City
    • 7.2.5 The Sambodrome
    • 7.2.6 The Competition “The Best Escola de Samba of the Year”
  • 7.3 Performative Aspects of Samba and the Escolas’ Parades
    • 7.3.1 Dramaturgy of the Parades
    • 7.3.1.1 Example: Sequence of the 2008 Portela parade
    • 7.3.1.2 Performance Protocol of the Escolas’ parade
      • 7.3.1.2.1 Preparation Events
      • 7.3.1.2.2 Rehearsals in the Quadras
      • 7.3.1.2.3 Street Rehearsals
      • 7.3.1.2.4 Portela Rehearsal in the Sambodrome
      • 7.3.1.2.5 Group A parade – Formation and Dissolution
  • 7.4 Social and Economic Aspects of the Escolas de Samba for Rio
• 8. Funk Carioca
  • 8.1 Origins
  • 8.2 Funk Carioca music
    • 8.2.1 Charme
    • 8.2.2 Proibidão
    • 8.2.3 Erotic funk
  • 8.3 Performative Aspects of Baile Funk
    • 8.3.1 The Dramaturgy of Baile Funk
    • 8.3.2 Performance Protocol Baile Funk
      • 8.3.2.1 Baile Funk in a Suburb
      • 8.3.2.2 Baile Funk in Rio downtown
  • 8.4 The Rio Hip Hop Movement
  • 8.5 Baile Funk vs. Samba Parades and Rehearsals
  • 8.6 The Social and Economic Aspects of Baile Funk
• 9. Interpretation
  • 9.1 Performance Theory applied to Samba and Funk Performances
    • 9.1.1 The Parade of Império Serrano in the Sambodrome
    • 9.1.2 Rehearsals
    • 9.1.3 Traditional parades on Intendente Magalhaes Avenue
    • 9.1.4 Baile Funk
  • 9.2 Samba and Funk’s Contribution to Rio’s Cultural Identity
  • 9.3 Examples of Samba-Enredo and Funk Carioca Lyrics
    • 9.3.1 “Bum, Bum, Paticumbum” – Samba-enredo
    • 9.3.2 “Guerreiros da Paz” – Funk Carioca
• 10. Conclusions
• 11. Zusammenfassung
• 12. Resumo
• 13. Bibliography
• 14. Glossary
• 15. Abstract in English
• 16. Abstract auf Deutsch
• Appendix

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