Inside the Color Line: Reading Biracialism in Twentieth Century American Culture

Posted in Dissertations, Literary/Artistic Criticism, Media Archive, United States on 2010-10-15 17:27Z by Steven

Inside the Color Line: Reading Biracialism in Twentieth Century American Culture

State University of New York, Albany
2005
191 pages
Publication ID: AAT 3181801
ISBN: 9780542221538

Habiba Ibrahim, Assistant Professor of English
University of Washington

A Dissertation Submitted to the University at Albany, State University of New York in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (College of Arts & Sciences, Department of English)

This project is conceived as an exploration of myth and society with regard to racial ambiguity in twentieth century literature and film. It attempts to trace “mixed” racialism as it acts as an alibi for cultural phenomena including those surrounding the (truth and fiction of the) color line. Through an analysis of various moments in twentieth century American culture, this project seeks to demonstrate that racial mixedness has and continues to function as a sign under which the aporia of national self-definition finds expression

Table of Contents

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Shades of Community and Conflict: Biracial Adults of African-American and Jewish-American Heritages

Posted in Dissertations, Identity Development/Psychology, Judaism, Media Archive, Religion, United States on 2010-10-14 21:42Z by Steven

Shades of Community and Conflict: Biracial Adults of African-American and Jewish-American Heritages

The Wright Institute, Berkeley, California
1998
152 pages
Publisher: Dissertation.com
ISBN-10: 1581120249
ISBN-13: 9781581120240

Josyln C. Segal

A dissertation submitted to the Write Institute Graduate School of Psychology in partial fulfullment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosphy in Psychology

This study of eighteen adults of African-American and Jewish-American heritage explores how biracial subjects of two minority parents negotiates mixed race heritage and identity in a society that maintains a hostile attitude toward interracial unions. Data collection included1) a semi-structured interview to determine subjects’ own sense of racial/ethnic identity, 2) a measure of parental closeness, and 3) a series of twelve anecdotal hypothetical situations as a stimulus to revealing subjects’ affective, cognitive and behavioral responses in contexts in which the subjects mixed-heritage might be expected to evoke conflict.

A qualitative analysis, incorporating socio-cultural, psychodynamic, and historical perspectives, was utilized to investigate 1) racial and cultural stereotyping, 2) a hierarchy of color and racial categorization, 3) racial tolerance, 4) Black and Jewish relations, 5) biracial (Black and Jewish) identity, as mediated by parental and familial closeness.

Factors that influenced racial/identity development in the subjects’ lives were identified. Five of the six hypotheses were supported: 1) Phenotype is related to interpersonal perception. The biracial adult phenotypically perceived as African-American is more likely to identify as such, whereas the biracial adult phenotypically perceived as White is more likely to identify as either White or “mixed.” 2) Closeness to the African-American parent is not necessary for children of mixed-race/Jewish heritage to identify with African-American heritage. 3) Closeness to the Jewish parent is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for children of mixed-race/Jewish heritage to identify with Jewish heritage. 4) For those who are close to their Jewish parent, the degree of closeness affects the degree to which they identify as Jews. 5) The extent to which respondents experience themselves as integral parts of their extended families will increase the extent to which they identify with that half of their cultural heritage. The sixth hypothesis, which stated that to the degree that respondents express negative stereotypes of one part of their heritage they will also minimize their identification with that part of their heritage was not supported due chiefly to the lack of negative stereotyping by most of the respondents.

Read the first 25 pages here.
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Clusters of racial identity among Black/White biracial college students: A mixed method investigation

Posted in Campus Life, Dissertations, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, United States on 2010-10-14 19:33Z by Steven

Clusters of racial identity among Black/White biracial college students: A mixed method investigation

University of Michigan
August 2006
197 pages
Publication ID: AAT 3208292

Yvette C. Clinton

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfullment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Psychology) in the University of Michigan

Historically, in the United States Black/White biracial individuals were labeled as Black in accordance with the “one drop rule”. However, recent Census changes now allow biracial individuals to identify with multiple racial groups. As a result there are several ways in which biracial youth view their multiple racial identities. The aim of the present study was to examine how Black and biracial identities among biracial college students were related by conducting a cluster analysis. The study utilized a mixed method design to examine how racial identity clusters differed in terms of how they viewed their race, the racial socialization messages they received from their parents, racial context and psychological well-being. Sixty-one Black/White biracial college students at a Midwestern University completed a demographic questionnaire and scales that measured Black and biracial centrality, Black and biracial socialization messages received from their parents, feelings of alienation from Black and White peers and psychological well-being. Thirty participants also took part in a semi-structured interviewed that focused on the participants’ racial identity, discussions about race with parents and interactions in their college context.

A cluster analysis based on the participants’ Black and biracial centralities revealed four main cluster groups. Qualitative analyses examined dominant themes of racial identity and racial socialization messages among each cluster group. It was found that each cluster had a distinct way of viewing their Black and biracial identities. Clusters included: (1) an adamant biracial identity, (2) a public Black identity, (3) a dual identity (Black and biracial), and (4) non-racial identity (race was not important). Quantitative analyses revealed that there were significant differences in racial socialization messages, racial context (racial composition of neighborhood and number of Black and White friends), and feelings of alienation from Black and White peers between the clusters. However, there were no differences in psychological well-being between any of the racial identity cluster groups. This suggests that there are multiple “healthy” ways that Black/White biracial youth view their racial identities.

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Grey girls: Biracial identity development and psychological adjustment among women

Posted in Dissertations, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, United States, Women on 2010-10-14 05:04Z by Steven

Grey girls: Biracial identity development and psychological adjustment among women

The Wright Institute
September 2008
141 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3306485 

Andrea Catherine Green

A dissertation submitted to the Wright Institute Graduate School of Psychology, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Psychology

The purpose of this study was to expand the body of research regarding the developmental and psychological experiences of Biracial women-women who have one Black parent and one White parent. This study examined how Biracial women identify racially (i.e., Biracial, Multiracial, Interracial, Black, White, etc.) and how this identification has impacted their psychological well-being. This study had the following purposes: (1) to determine which factors (e.g., family and others’ expectations, physical appearance) may influence racial identity choice for Biracial women, (2) to determine if Biracial women are as psychologically maladjusted as previous studies have indicated, and (3) to explore the relationship between racial identity and psychological functioning among Biracial women.

Forty-two women accessed the study, while thirty-three participants completed the online survey. The survey consisted of three measures: the Adapted Biracial Identity Development Questionnaire (ABID-Q), the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D), and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). The findings indicate the following: All of the participants chose to identify as a person of color (Biracial, Interracial, Multiracial, Black); medium to large correlations were found to exist between the variables (family messages, others’ perceptions, physical appearance) and racial identity development, although not statistically significant relationships; and this sample of women were overall psychologically healthy, reporting low depression scores and high satisfaction with life scores.

Table of Contents

  • ABSTRACT
  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  • LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
  • CHAPTER
    • PRESENTATION OF THE PROBLEM
      • Introduction
      • Statement of Purpose
      • Definitions of Key Terms
      • A Historical Understanding of the Presence of African-Americans in the United States of America: The African Slave Trade
      • After Slavery and the Emergence of Biracial Americans
      • A Short Story: The Researcher’s Own Journey Toward Biracial Identity Development
    • I. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
      • General Identity Development
      • Racial Identity Development Models
      • Biracial Identity Development Models
      • The Early Biracial Identity Development Models
      • The New Generation of Biracial Identity Development Models
      • Biracial Identity Development and Psychological Implications
      • Gender and Biraciality
      • Hypotheses
  • METHODOLOGY
    • Participants
    • Procedure
    • Instruments
  • RESULTS
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
  • APPENDICES
    • A. ADAPTED BIRACIAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT QUESTIONNAIRE
    • B. SURVEY OF BIRACIAL EXPERIENCES
    • C. BUXENBAUM BIRACIAL IDENTITY QUESTIONNAIRE
    • D. CENTER FOR EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES DEPRESSION SCALE
    • E. SATISFACTION WITH LIFE SCALE

List of Tables and Figures

  • TABLE 1. Descriptive Statistics of Sample
  • TABLE 2. Statistical findings of the correlations
  • TABLE 3. Means and Standard Deviations of dependent variables
  • FIGURE 1. Percentages of Racial Identity

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“What is black, white and yellow all over?”: An analysis of the racial experiences of people of Asian/white and Asian/black heritage

Posted in Asian Diaspora, Dissertations, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2010-10-13 21:53Z by Steven

“What is black, white and yellow all over?”: An analysis of the racial experiences of people of Asian/white and Asian/black heritage

University of Southern California
May 2007
208 pages

Bruce Calvin Hoskins

Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Southern California In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology)

It has been argued that the increase of people of multiracial heritage in our society represents the fulfillment of the assimilation process. People of Asian/white and Asian/black heritage have been singled out in multiple works as posing a direct challenge to how race is understood in the United States and that this group’s assertion of their multiracial identity will ultimately lead to a raceless society (Williams-Leon and Nakashima 2001; Root 1996; Hollinger 1995; Root 1992). Therefore, this research uses in-depth interviews of thirty-two (32) people of Asian/white and Asian/black heritage and six (6) sets of interracial Asian and white and Asian and black parents to critically analyze to what degree their lived experiences are consistent with a society that has assimilated people of different racial categories.

In order to determine levels of assimilation for these groups, this research will use a racial formations framework to examine how racial categories are constructed through “racial logic” and how race is given meaning within the lives of multiracial people and through parents of multiracial children. This will be done by showing situations where society will ascribe a race onto a person of multiracial heritage, how the person of multiracial heritage will use their “biology” to support or refute these claims, and how that same multiracial person might develop a racial identity that may or may not be consistent with how they look or their actual racial heritage.

Demonstrating how race is socially constructed will reveal how being mixed with white is fundamentally different than being mixed with black. This will be shown by demonstrating that Asian/white people have more identity options than Asian/black people, how families socially enforce to their children which races are considered acceptable marriage partners, and how society uses a universal anti-black context to discriminate against people of Asian/black heritage.

Table of Contents

  • Dedication
  • Abstract
  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 2
    • Literature Review
    • Chapter Endnotes
  • Chapter 3
    • Methodology
    • Chapter Endnotes
  • Chapter 4: “What Are You?”
    • How Multiracial People Construct an Internal Racial Identity
    • Chapter Endnotes
  • Chapter 5: “What are you?” Part II
    • The creation of external and expressed racial identity
  • Chapter 6: “Can’t We All Just Get Along?”
    • The External Context of Racial Identity Formation
  • Chapter 7: All in the Family
    • Learning Racial Hierarchy from the Ones You Love
    • Chapter Endnotes
  • Chapter 8: Conclusions
    • From the Beginning to the End then Back to the Beginning
  • Bibliography
  • Appendices
    • Appendix A: Questions for Multiracial Person
    • Appendix B: Questions for Interracial Parents

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“Not belonging” to any single ethnic group and its influence on self-identity formation: An exploratory, qualitative study of the multiracial experience

Posted in Dissertations, Identity Development/Psychology, New Media, Women on 2010-10-07 04:43Z by Steven

“Not belonging” to any single ethnic group and its influence on self-identity formation: An exploratory, qualitative study of the multiracial experience

California Institute of Integral Studies, San Fransisco
2010
150 pages
AAT 3407199
ISBN: 9781109754452

Malia Joiner

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the California Institute of Integral Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology California Institute of Integral Studies

This qualitative inquiry explored the Multiracial woman’s experience of “not belonging” to any single ethnic group and the consequences for self-identity formation. Interview data were collected from self-identified Multiracial women, at least 18 years of age, who participated in semistructured interviews. Subjects were solicited through snowballing recruitment and searches at universities and websites geared toward Multiracial individuals.

The data were analyzed and grouped into themes according to phenomenological methods, with the goal of identifying common themes among women of Multiracial backgrounds in regard to their experiences around identity formation. The salient themes were (a) Phenotype, (b) Childhood Experiences, (c) Geographical Impact, (d) Sexuality and Self-Esteem, (e) Belonging, and (f) Identity Fluidity. These themes were found to be present in either the majority or all of the narratives, and were therefore likely indicative of a larger collective experience.

The limitations of this study were related to researcher bias and to the geographic and socioeconomic homogeneity of the sample. The sample was also skewed with higher levels of education as well as a strong representation of at least partial Asian ethnicity. Further research could attend to these limitations and build upon the results of this study.

Table of Contents

  • Abstract
  • Dedication
  • List of Tables
  • Chapter 1 Introduction
    • Background of the Problem
    • Statement of the Problem
    • Purpose of the Study
  • Chapter 2 Literature Review
    • Definition of Terms
      • Race
      • Ethnicity
      • Culture
      • Identity
    • Identity
      • Ethnic identity
        • Ethnic identity formation
          • Phinney’s developmental model of ethnic identity formation
          • Poston’s Biracial Identity Model
          • Kich’s Biracial Identity Development Model
        • Gender and identity formation
          • The Womanist Identity Development Model
          • The womanist consciousness approach
      • The Multiracial Experience
        • Power and guilt
        • Physical appearance
        • Sexualized stereotypes
        • Parental influence and family dysfunction
        • Otherness
      • Counseling Implications
  • Chapter 3 Methodology
    • Research Design
    • Data Collection and Participants
    • Data Analysis
    • Verification Procedures
  • Chapter 4 Findings
    • Participants
    • Themes
      • Phenotype
      • Childhood experiences
      • Geographical impact
      • Sexuality and self-esteem
      • Belonging
      • Identity fluidity
  • Chapter 5 Discussion and Recommendations
    • Discussion
      • Phenotype
      • Childhood experiences
      • Geographical impact
      • Sexuality and self-esteem
      • Belonging
      • Identity fluidity
    • Personal Assumptions and Their Relationship to the Findings
    • Limitations of the Study
    • Recommendations for Future Study
    • Clinical Implications
    • Summary
  • References
  • Appendix A Informed Consent to Participate in Research
  • Appendix B Sample Interview Questions
  • Appendix C Sample Interview Transcript
  • Appendix D Codes Resulting From Data Analysis Phase 2

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Dangerous crossroads: Mestizaje in the U.S. Latino/a imaginary

Posted in Caribbean/Latin America, Dissertations, Literary/Artistic Criticism, Media Archive, United States on 2010-10-01 04:06Z by Steven

Dangerous crossroads: Mestizaje in the U.S. Latino/a imaginary

Rice University
December 2007
197 pages
Publication ID: 3309864

John L. Escobedo, Assistant Professor of English
University of Colorado, Boulder

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Doctor of Philosophy

My dissertation interrogates mestizaje and nationalism to rethink academic tendencies that construct resistant methodologies and singular national representations of hybrid theories and racial identities. To ground this argument, chapters one and two analyze how nationalism compromises current theoretical and feminist uses of mestizaje. The introductory chapter traces the influence of Latin American cultural theorists such as José Vasconcelos (1925) and Fernando Ortiz (1940) on contemporary U.S. Latino/a cultural critics. I argue that by selectively borrowing theoretical elements from Ortiz and Vasconcelos, U.S. Latino/a scholars unintentionally consolidate divergent Latino/a histories as well as ignore issues of nation building, class differences, and racial tensions to promote a unitary discourse of subversive mestizaje. Likewise, my analysis of Jovita González’s novel Caballero (1930) reveals how González’s feminist tactics counteract Mexico’s patriarchal oppression of women by going against traditional feminist themes esteemed in Chicano/a Studies. For González, nationalist tropes of indigenous curanderismo (spirituality) and magical realism insufficiently respond to the needs of oppressed Mexican American women.

The final two chapters evaluate the ramifications of constructing unitary racial identities of whiteness and blackness. My final investigation uncovers the existence of ethnicities within North American racial categorizations of whiteness and blackness that provide new insights to mestizaje’s disruption of ordered classifications of race in the United States. Chapter three argues that the southeastern European immigrant experience of racial inclusion and exclusion from Anglo Saxon whiteness allowed María Amparo Ruiz de Burton to play off of new conceptions of whiteness in an evolving imaginary of white U.S. mestizaje to write her novels The Squatter and the Don (1885) and Who Would Have Thought It? (1872). Chapter four examines the rise of the New Negro Movement during the Harlem Renaissance as a cultural event that required the erasure of individuals in the black community who did not mirror the collective identity of African Americans. This chapter specifically studies Puerto Rican archivist Arthur A. Schomburg as a figure who broadened the conception of the New Negro to recognize the intellectual participation and contribution of Afro Caribbeans to the Harlem Renaissance.

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Multidisciplinary considerations for clinical work with the multiracial identity: a project based upon an independent investigation

Posted in Dissertations, Identity Development/Psychology, New Media on 2010-09-27 04:22Z by Steven

Multidisciplinary considerations for clinical work with the multiracial identity: a project based upon an independent investigation

Smith College School for Social Work
Northampton, Massachusetts
2010
76 pages

Kate Lee Esther De Soto

A project based upon an independent investigation, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work.

This project was conducted with the intentions of broadening the discussion that is occurring in clinical fields regarding the multiracial identity. Much of the discussion that occurs is treated as though racial dynamics are fixed (Leary, 2000). This theoretical paper aims to exemplify the nuance of the multiracial identity by combining clinical theory with a more culturally grounded analysis of racial discourse. Intersubjectivity theory is used in this paper to exemplify the value of using a clinical theory when conceptualizing racial issues, while cultural studies provides a deeper understanding of the system of race in the United States. The use of the intersubjectivity theory and the writings of cultural studies as applied to the phenomenon of the multiracial identity is exemplified through the use of a case study. This paper concludes with a proposal for a set of principles and considerations for practice with multiracial individuals that is rooted in a historically and politically aware, socially based approach to working intersubjectively with multiracial individuals.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I INTRODUCTION
II CONCEPTUALIZATION AND METHODOLOGY
III PHENOMENON
IV INTERSUBJECTIVITY THEORY
V CULTURAL STUDIES
VI DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

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“Who Do You Think You’re Border Patrolling?”: Negotiating “Multiracial” Identities and “Interracial” Relationships

Posted in Dissertations, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Native Americans/First Nation, Social Science on 2010-09-25 17:41Z by Steven

“Who Do You Think You’re Border Patrolling?”: Negotiating “Multiracial” Identities and “Interracial” Relationships

Georgia State University
2008
348 pages

Melinda Anne Mills

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University

Research on racial border patrolling has demonstrated how people police racial borders in order to maintain socially constructed differences and reinforce divisions between racial groups and their members. Existing literature on border patrolling has primarily focused on white/black couples and multiracial families, with discussions contrasting “white border patrolling” and “black border patrolling,” in terms of differential motivations, intentions, and goals (Dalmage 2000). In my dissertation research, I examined a different type of policing racial categories and the spaces inbetween these shifting boundaries. I offer up “multiracial interracial border patrolling” as a means of understanding how borderism impacts the lives of “multiracial” individuals in “interracial” relationships. In taking a look at how both identities and relationships involve racial negotiations, I conducted 60 in-depth, face-to-face qualitative interviews with people who indicated having racially mixed parentage or heritage. Respondents shared their experiences of publicly and privately managing their sometimes shifting preferred racial identities; often racially ambiguous appearance; and situationally in/visible “interracial” relationships in an era of colorblind racism. This management included encounters with border patrolling from strangers, significant others, and self.

Not only did border patrolling originate from these three sources, but also manifested itself in a variety of forms, including benevolent (positive, supportive); beneficiary (socially and sometimes economically or materially beneficial); protective, and malevolent (negative, malicious, conflictive). Throughout, I discussed the border patrolling variations that “multiracial” individuals in “interracial” relationships face. I also worked to show how people’s participation in border patrolling encouraged their production of colorblind discourses as a strategy for masking their racial attitudes and ideologies about “multiracial” individuals in “interracial” relationships.

Table of Contents

  • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  • CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
    • Research Overview and Questions
    • Navigating Multiracial Interracial Borders
  • CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW, THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODS/METHODOLOGY
    • How Do You Solve A “Problem” Like Racial Mixture? Making Mixture Appear and Disappear
    • What is an “Interracial” Relationship?
    • Measuring Mixture, Exploring Mixed Matters
  • CHAPTER THREE: BORDER PATROLLING FROM THE OUTSIDE IN
    • When Strangers Border Patrol Identities
    • When Strangers Border Patrol Both Identities and Partner Choices
    • Conclusions
  • CHAPTER FOUR: BORDER PATROLLING FROM OUTSIDERS WITHIN/INSIDER OTHERS/INSIDERS WITHOUT
    • When Significant Others Border Patrol Identities
    • When Significant Others Border Patrol Both Identities and Partner Choices
    • Conclusions
  • CHAPTER FIVE: BORDERISM FROM THE INSIDE OUT
    • When People Border Patrol Their Own Identities
    • When People Border Patrol Both Their Identities and Partner Choices
    • Conclusions
  • CHAPTER SIX: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
    • Conclusions
    • Future Research
  • REFERENCES
  • APPENDICES
  • APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDE
  • APPENDIX B: APPROVED INFORMED CONSENT FORM

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The Influence of K-12 Schooling on the Identity Development of Multiethnic Students

Posted in Canada, Dissertations, Identity Development/Psychology, New Media, Teaching Resources, United States on 2010-09-25 03:55Z by Steven

The Influence of K-12 Schooling on the Identity Development of Multiethnic Students

University of British Columbia, Vancouver
April 2010

Erica Mohan

Thesis submitted in the partial fulfullment of the requirments for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Graduate Studies (Educational Studies)

This study examined the influence of K-12 schooling on the racial and ethnic identity development of 23 self-identified multiethnic students attending high schools across the San Francisco Bay Area. All of the students participated in a semi-structured interview, nine participated in one of two focus groups, and five completed a writing activity. I approached this study with a postpositivist realist conception of identity (Mohanty, 2000; Moya, 2000a/b) that takes seriously the fluidity and complexity of identities as well as their epistemic and real-world significance. In defining racial and ethnic identity formation, I borrowed Tatum’s (1997) understanding of it as “the process of defining for oneself the personal significance and social meaning of belonging to a particular racial [and/or ethnic] group” (p. 16).

The findings from this study indicate that the formal aspects of schooling (e.g., curriculum and diversity education initiatives) rarely directly influence the racial and ethnic identity development of multiethnic students. They do, however, shape all students’ racial and ethnic understandings and ideologies, which in turn shape the informal aspects of schooling (e.g., interactions with peers and racial and ethnic divisions within the student body) which exert direct influence over multiethnic students’ experiences and identities. Of course, schooling is not alone in shaping the racial and ethnic understandings and ideologies of the general student body; other influences such as family and neighborhood context cannot be discounted. Nevertheless, the findings indicate that schools are sites of negotiation, that these negotiations influence multiethnic students’ identities, and that these negotiations occur in the context of, and are shaped by, both formal and informal aspects of schooling, including, but not limited to, school demographics, curricula, race and ethnicity-based student organizations, and interactions between all members of the school community. Based on the findings, it is recommended that educators infuse the curriculum and classroom discussions with issues of race, ethnicity, multiethnicity, and difference; actively engage in the process of complicating, contesting, and deconstructing racial and ethnic categories and their classificatory power; and end the silence regarding multiethnicity in schools and ensure its authentic inclusion in the curriculum.

Table of Contents

  • ABSTRACT
  • TABLE OF CONTENTS
  • LIST OF TABLES
  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  • CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
    • Context
    • Problem Statement and Purpose
    • Research Questions and Methods
    • Definitions
      • Schooling vs. Education
      • Race, Ethnicity, and Multiethnicity
    • Limitations and Delimitations
    • Overview of the Dissertation
    • Significance of the Study
  • CHAPTER TWO: CONCEPTUAL AND THEORETICAL FRAMING OF IDENTITY
    • An Essentialist Approach to Identity
    • Postmodern and Poststructural Approaches to Identity
    • A Postpositivist Realist Approach to Identity
    • A Theory of Multiplicity
    • Conclusion
  • CHAPTER THREE: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
    • Section I: Multiethnic Identity Development
    • Section II: Problem, Equivalent, and Variant Approaches to Multiethnic Identity
      • Problem Approaches to Multiethnic Identity
      • Equivalent and Variant Approaches to Multiethnic Identity
    • Section III: Schooling and Student Identity Construction
      • Overview of Multicultural and Antiracism Education
      • Critiques of Multicultural and Antiracism Education
    • Section IV: The K-12 Schooling Experiences of Multiethnic Students
    • Section V: Integrating the Literature
  • CHAPTER FOUR: METHODOLOGY
    • Participant and Site Selection
    • Research Procedures
      • Semi-Structured Interviews
      • Focus Groups
      • Writing Activity
    • Data Analysis and Presentation
      • Starting Points
      • Generating Participant Profiles
      • Analysis of the Data Relating to K-12 Schooling Experiences
    • The Complexities of Researching Multiethnic Identities
    • Self as Research “Instrument”
      • Insider/Outsider Research
      • Self as Insider/Outsider
      • Additional Methodological Considerations
    • Conclusion
  • CHAPTER FIVE: PARTICIPANT PROFILES
    • Jill
    • Mialany
    • Dana
    • Andrea
    • Anthony
    • Frank
    • Jasmine
    • David
    • Cara
    • Amaya
    • Raya
    • Barry
    • Christina
    • Kendra
    • Renee
    • Jen
    • Hip Hapa
    • Kelley
    • Josh
    • Jordan
    • Anne
    • Hannah
    • Marie
    • Discussion
  • CHAPTER SIX: PARTICIPANTS’ EXPERIENCES AND PERCEPTIONS OF THE FORMAL ASPECTS OF K-12 SCHOOLING
    • Documentation of Racial and Ethnic Identities
    • Race and Ethnicity-Based Student Organizations
    • Relationships and Interactions with Teachers and Administrators
    • Specific Lessons, Projects, and Classroom Activities
    • (Not) Learning about Multiethnicity
    • (Not) Learning about Race and Ethnicity
    • Diversity Education Initiatives
    • Integrating the Data
  • CHAPTER SEVEN: PARTICIPANTS’ EXPERIENCES AND PERCEPTIONS OF THE INFORMAL ASPECTS OF K-12 SCHOOLING
    • School Diversity
    • Friendships
    • Diverse Friendship Networks and Boundary Crossing
    • Friends with Similar Identities and Heritages
    • Stereotypes
    • Challenged Identities
    • Racial Tension at School
    • Integrating the Data
  • CHAPTER EIGHT: PARTICIPANTS’ BROADER REFLECTIONS ON SCHOOLING AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EDUCATORS
    • Participant Perspectives
    • Integrating the Data
      • Correcting a “Blindness” Towards Multiethnic Students
      • Talking About Race (and Ethnicity and Multiethnicity)
      • Specifically Addressing Multiethnicity
      • Getting an Early Start
      • We All Have Similar “Needs”
      • A Desire for Awareness and Understanding
  • CHAPTER NINE: CONCLUSION
    • Research Questions and Findings
    • Implications and Recommendations for Educators
    • Future Research Directions
    • Reflections on the Research Methodology
    • Reflections on a Postpositivist Realist Framing of Identity
    • Concluding Thoughts
  • REFERENCES
  • APPENDICES
    • Appendix I – Semi-Structured Interview Protocol
    • Appendix II – Writing Activity Prompt
    • Appendix III – Maria Root’s 50 Experiences of Racially Mixed People
    • Appendix IV – Behavioral Research Ethics Board Certificate of Approval

Read the entire thesis here.

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