Mixed Race Studies

Thinking outside the box: Racial self-identification choice among mixed heritage adolescents

University of Pennsylvania
2009
234 pages
ISBN: 9781109236088

Michele Munoz-Miller

A Dissertation in Education Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this study was to explore how and why adolescents of mixed racial heritage racially self-identify the way they do. Identification choice was defined using an adult-based identity typology (Brunsma & Rockquemore, 2001): (a) consistently monoracial (singular), (b) consistently multiracial (border), or (c) inconsistent (protean). Three sub-groups of multiracial adolescents were analyzed separately, based on their self-reported racial parentage: non-Blacks, Black/non-American Indians, and Black/American Indians. Using an identity-focused cultural ecological model (Spencer, 2006), adolescents’ perceptions of their risks and protective factors (sociodemographics), as well as their beliefs about the oppression of non-Black minorities in the United States, were investigated in terms of how well (and in what combination) they predicted self-identification choice, both across race question formats and over time.

Findings suggested that there were different personal and contextual factors implicated in self-identification choice for each sub-group of adolescents. For non-Blacks, generational proximity to racial mixture, the percentage of Blacks in one’s neighborhood, and attitudes about racial oppression in the United States were strong predictors of racial self-identification choice. Among Black/non-American Indians, these characteristics were joined by self-perceived skin tone, academic achievement level, and age in their predictive effects. Among Black/American Indians, age, self-perceived skin tone, and attitudes about racial oppression exhibited strong main effects. There was an additional interaction effect found within this group between neighborhood diversity, skin tone, and the perception of the oppression of non- black minorities in the U.S.

This work suggests that self-identification choice is linked to adolescents’ perceptions of their risks and protective factors as well as their attitudes regarding the racial climate of the United States. Providing additional nuance to the literature are the differences found across racial parentage groups. By engaging a phenomenologically focused cultural ecological framework, both self-appraisal and reactive coping processes are revealed as central to racial identity development for this understudied population. Representing a mere slice of a broader research agenda, this project contributes a unique and important perspective to the emergent body of research on the rapidly growing population of multiracial Americans.

Table of Contents

• List of Tables viii
• List of Figures x
• Chapters
  • I. Introduction
    • Racial self-identification
    • Complications of race research
    • Race versus ethnicity
    • Methodological qualifications of the present study
  • II. Literature review
    • The United States multiracial population
    • Multiracial identity research
    • Methodology: How multiracial individuals racially self-identify
    • Process: Why multiracial individuals racially self-identify the way they do
    • Identity Typology
    • Factors that influence racial self-identification choice
    • The special case of Black/American Indians
    • Symbolic ethnicity 82
    • Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory
    • The Present Study
      • Component 1: Net vulnerability level
      • Component 2/3: Primary reactive coping processes
      • Component 3: Reactive coping response
    • Strengths of the present study
  • III. Method
    • Study background
    • Procedure
    • Sample
  • IV. Results
    • Preliminary Analyses
    • Research questions and hypothesis testing
  • V. Discussion
    • Overview of findings
    • Population breakdowns
    • Incidence and proportion of identity types
    • Predictive effects of independent variables
      • Component 1: Net vulnerability variables
      • Component 2/3: Primary reactive coping process variable
    • Limitations of the study
    • Implications for future research
    • Conclusion
• References

List of Tables

1. Net vulnerability sample characteristics: Age, gender, academic achievement, and city
2. Net vulnerability sample characteristics: Generational proximity to racial mixture
3. Net vulnerability sample characteristics: Skin tone
4. Net vulnerability sample characteristics: Neighborhood diversity
5. Net vulnerability sample characteristics: Racial combination group
6. Rotated factor pattern for entire sample
7. Oppression perception mean scores
8. Multiracial populations by question format
9. Incidence and proportion of identity types across all datasets and racial combinations
10. Year 1 log odds estimates of identity types for non-Blacks: Format variability
11. Year 2 log odds estimates of identity types for non-Blacks: Format variability
12. Year 1 log odds estimates of identity types for Black/non-American Indians: Format variability
13. Year 2 log odds estimates of identity types for Black/non-American Indians: Format variability
14. Year 1 log odds estimates of identity types for Black/American Indians: Format variability
15. Year 2 log odds estimates of identity types for Black/American Indians: Format variability
16. Log odds estimates of identity types for non-Blacks: Temporal variability
17. Log odds estimates of identity types for Black/non-American Indians: Temporal variability
18. Log odds estimates of identity types for Black/American Indians: Temporal variability
19. Summary of findings for non-Blacks across variability types
20. Summary of findings for Black/non-American Indians across variability types
21. Summary of findings for Black/American Indians across variability types

List of Figures

1. Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory
2. Engaged components of PVEST

Purchase the dissertation here.

The physical and mental health of multiracial adolescents in the United States

University of Pennsylvania
2007
101 pages
ISBN: 9780549117445

Jamie Mihoko Doyle
Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
University of Pennsylvania

A dissertation in Demographic Presented to Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in partial fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Healthy People 2010 objectives cite the need to eliminate racial disparities in health by the year 2050. However, with increases in intermarriage and migration, a growing number of individuals are self-identifying with more than one race. It is unclear whether they constitute a growing, at-risk population that policy interventions currently overlook. This analysis evaluates the physical and mental health status of multiracial adolescents, particularly in comparison to single race groups. The data are from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a nationally representative study of approximately 20,000 youth ages 12-18 interviewed in 1995 and re-interviewed 6 years later. The main outcome measures for physical health include weight status (Body Mass Index) and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). For mental health, the measures include depression (CES-D) and self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale). Sexual debut was also examined. Generalized Estimating Equations are used for all analyses using logistic regression and Generalized Linear Mixed Models are used for continuous dependent variables to correct for the Add Health study design. Overall, findings from this dissertation demonstrate that socioeconomic privilege does not necessarily confer positive physical and/or mental health. Interracial families have a mid- to high-socioeconomic profile; yet Asian-White multiracials exhibit a poor mental health profile and Black-White multiracials exhibit the highest risk of having STDs as adults. Moreover, most multiracial subgroups resemble their single-race minority counterparts on most outcomes considered. In terms of physical health, Asian-White and Black-White mutltiracials are not at a disproportionately high risk of being obese as young adults, irrespective of how races are categorized. This thesis has uncovered several mediated mechanisms for these patterns–yet this diverse area of research on multiracials is still in infancy. The role of peer networks, culture, and school contexts in shaping the physical and mental health of multiracials are all interesting avenues for a future researcher to pursue.

Table of Contents

Purchase the dissertation here.

Mexipino: A History of Multiethnic Identity and the Formation of the Mexican and Filipino Communities of San Diego, 1900-1965

(From T-RACES: a Testbed for the Redlining Archives of California’s Exclusionary Spaces)

University of California, Santa Barbara
June 2007
488 pages

Rudy P. Guevarra, Jr., Assistant Professor, Asian Pacific American Studies, School of Social Transformation, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Arizona State University

A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfactions of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History

This dissertation examines how a Mexipino identity was forged through the historical interactions of Mexicans and Filipinos in San Diego, California during the years 1900 to 1965. It traces their initial interactions in the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries under Spanish colonialism and the Acapuclo-Manila Galleon trade. This laid the foundations for early cultural exchanges. During the twentieth century, San Diego’s rising industries of agriculture, fish canning, construction, service oriented and defense related work, necessitated the need for cheap labor. Mexicans and Filipinos came in to fill that void.

Central to this study is how race and class were key components in the establishments of the Mexican and Filipino communities. Through racially restrictive covenants and other forms of discrimination, both groups were confined to segregated living spaces along with other racial and ethnic minorities. Within these spaces they built a world of their own through family and kin networks, social organizations, music, and other forms of entertainment. As laborers, race and gender were also central factors to their marginalization in the workforce. Their exploitation fueled their militancy. Both Mexicans and Filipinos formed labor unions, and often in coalition fought their employers for higher wages and better working conditions.

All of these historical conditions fostered the interrelationships between Mexicans and Filipinos. Given their shared historical past and cultural similarities these unions were highly successful. Their children, who I define as Mexipinos and Mexipinas, are the result of this long historical connection and the experiences that they collectively shared as community members, workers, and lovers. Mexipino children have also contributed to San Diego’s multiracial and multiethnic communities by living in two cultures, and in the process, forging a new identity for themselves. Their lives are the lens by which we see these two communities and the ways in which they interacted over generations to produce this distinct multiethnic experience.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Vita
Abstract
List of Tables
Introduction
Chapter 1: Historical Antecedents
Chapter 2: Immigration to a Rising Metropolis
Chapter 3: The Devil Comes to San Diego: Race, Space and the Formation of Multiracial and Multiethnic Communities
Chapter 4: Race, Gender and Labor Activism in San Diego
Chapter 5: Filipino-Mexican Couples and the Forging of a Mexipino Identity
Epilogue
Bibliography

List of Tables

Table 1 Estimated Number of Foreign Born White Mexicans in California Counties as of 1930
Table 2 Total Mexican Population in San Diego, 1900-1970
Table 3 Filipino Population Statistics
Table 4 Comparing the Mexican and Filipino Population in the United States,1925-1929
Table 5 Churches with Large Mexican, Filipino, and Other Nonwhite Parishioners

Illegal fictions : white women writers and the miscegenated imagination 1857-1869 (E. D. E. N. Southworth, Louisa May Alcott, Rebecca Harding Davis, Lydia Maria Child)

Indiana University
2000

Katharine Nicholson Ings, Associate Professor of English
Manchester College, North Manchester, Indiana

This dissertation examines how popular nineteenth-century white women writers depicted interracial romance in their fiction. I focus on E. D. E. N. Southworth, Louisa May Alcott, Rebecca Harding Davis, and Lydia Maria Child, authors who composed what I call illegal fictions, largely neglected works that explored the possibilities of interracial unions between blacks and whites. These authors, all abolitionists, denounce slavery in their works while simultaneously reflecting upon the limitations of the feminine roles that they were expected to play in society.

I approach their fictions through three critical lenses: racial theory, sentimental narrative theory, and biography to determine the implications of the hybrid individual, national, and textual identities present in the narratives and in the authors’ lives. On the one hand, these illegal fictions attempt to negotiate the tension between white women and black men and women, each of whom strove to be recognized as citizens. On the other hand, their fictions point to how the idea of miscegenation literally a mixing of races informed the creativity of these women authors during the years spanning the Civil War. At the imaginative level the authors offer visions of either a successful or failed multicultural America; at the generic level they engage in a blending of forms: slave narrative merges with the sentimental novel to initiate a dialogue between African and Caucasian American literary traditions.

Login at HKU to read the dissertation here.

Afro-German Biracial Identity Development

Virginia Commonwealth University
May 2010
75 pages

Rebecca R. Hubbard

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at Virginia Commonwealth University

An increase in the biracial population has heightened our awareness of unique issues that pervade the experience of these individuals. The importance of environmental influences on biracial identity development has been established, but investigations concerning racial socialization of biracial individuals are scarce. This study, utilizing a qualitative design, explores racial identity development of biracial Afro-Germans living in Germany. The purpose of the study is to understand the strategies that biracial individuals use to negotiate their racial identity, factors that influence their development, cultural influences, and racial socialization processes. Interviews with biracial Afro-Germans were conducted using phenomenological interviewing techniques. Twelve themes emerged from the data that are best conceptualized in an ecological model. Inter-rater reliability was established in two phases. Implications of the findings include a need for continued research with Black-White biracial populations.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgements
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• Abstract
• Problem Statement
• Review of the Literature
  • Developmental Models
  • Developmental Models of Biracial Identity Development
  • Ecological Models
  • Ecological Models of Biracial Identity Development
  • Racial Socialization
  • Racial Socialization of Biracial Individuals
  • Value of Cross-Cultural Comparisons
  • Historical Context of People of African Descent in Germany
  • Empirical Research with Afro-German Populations
  • Theoretical Conceptualization
  • Research Questions
• Method
  • Purpose
  • Design
  • Role of the Researcher
  • Sampling & Recruitment of Participants
  • Procedure
  • Data Analysis
  • Verification
  • Limitations
• Themes
  • Intersectional Identity
  • Black Identity
  • German/White Identity
  • Disconnect/Denial
  • Positive Internal Coping
  • Environmental Support
  • Injured Family
  • Person-Environment Discrepancy
  • Multi Kulti
  • American Familiarity
  • Racism, Marginalization, Conflict
  • Progress and Change
  • Ecological Conceptualization of Themes
• Discussion
  • The Essence of Biracial Afro-German Identity
  • Culture and Nationality
  • Lack of Appropriate Language
  • Future Directions
• List of References

List of Tables

1. Table 1 Mean Age and Parental Heritage by Gender
2. Table 2 Participant Demographics

List of Figures

1. Figure 1 Root’s Ecological Model of Biracial Identity
2. Figure 2 “Sarotti Mohr” Trademark of a German chocolate company
3. Figure 3 Hubbard’s Ecological Model of Afro-German Biracial Identity (HEMBAGI)

Read the entire thesis here.

Interracial families in South Africa: an exploratory study

Rand Afrikaans University
June 1994
310 pages
(In English and Afrikaans)

Lesley Morrall

A dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the degree Doctor of Literature and Philosophy in Psychology in the Faculty of Arts at Rand Afrikaans University.

Interracial marriage can be viewed as a barometer of social change. South Africa has historically been a country of racial tension with legislation seeking to keep the races apart. However, during April 1994 the country’s first democratic elections took place, thus ending the reign of white minority rule. It is against this backdrop that the present study took place. The aim of the study is to seek a deeper understanding of the experiences of mixed: race families living in South Africa. Certain questions are raised, inter alia; the causes for interracial relationships and marriage, the reactions of the families of origin, the patterns of adjustment, the raising of the children with specific reference to identity development and, the reactions of the community. Theories on prejudice, discrimination and interpersonal attraction were studied as a basis for a possible understanding of the phenomenon of mixed marriage. A brief exposition of the history of South Africa detailing relevant legislation places the study in context. Statistics on the incidence of interracial marriage and divorce were tabulated. Research pertaining to mixed marriage and interracial children was reviewed emphasizing the issues as outlined in the questions posed. However, very few studies could be found which related to South Africa. As such, media coverage of interracial relationships as reported in South Africa between 1993 to 1994 was also covered.

Table of Contents

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• SUMMARY (ENGLISH)
• SUMMARY (AFRIKAANS)

1. OVERVIEW
   1. Introduction
   2. Marriage
   3. Family
   4. The Concept of Race
   5. The Concept of Mixed-Race
   6. The Present Study
      • Aims of the study
2. THEORIES : PREJUDICE, DISCRIMINATION AND INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION
   1. Introduction
   2. Prejudice and Discrimination Defined
   3. The Origin of Prejudice
   4. Theories of Prejudice
   5. Combatting Prejudice
   6. Interpersonal Attraction Defined
   7. Proximity
   8. Emotional State
   9. Need for Affiliation
   10. Physical Attractiveness
   11. Similarity
   12. Conclusion
3. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF SOUTH AFRICA AND THE LAW
   1. Introduction
   2. Historical Overview
   3. Legislation
      • The Population Registration Act, Act 30 of 1950
      • The Group Areas Act, Act 41 of 1950
      • History of the Immorality Act and the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act
        • Media coverage
        • Repeal of the Acts
   4. Conclusion
4. LITERATURE REVIEW: MIXED-RACE MARRIAGE
   1. Introduction
   2. Trends and Pattems of Mixed-Race Marriage
   3. Spouse Selection
   4. Adjustment
   5. Divorce
   6. Public Attitudes towards Mixed Marriage
   7. Attitude of Family towards Mixed-Race Couples
   8. Research Critique
   9. Conclusions from the literature Review
5. LITERATURE REVIEW: MIXED-RACE CHILDREN
   1. Introduction
   2. Theories: Biracial Children and their Identity
   3. Studies of Biracial Children
      • Intellectual development: Birth to four years
      • Racial awareness: Early childhood
      • Self-concept: Scholars
      • Racial identity: Adolescents
      • Mixed-race heritage: Adults
   4. Raising Biracial Children
   5. Conclusions from the Literature Review
6. INCIDENCE OF MIXED-RACE MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE
   1. Introduction
   2. Incidence in the United States of America
   3. Incidence of Mixed-Race Marriage in South Africa
   4. Incidence of Mixed-Race Divorce in South Africa
7. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
   1. Introduction
   2. Questions
   3. Qualitative Research
   4. The Study
   5. Sample
   6. Data Analysis
8. CASE NUMBER 1 – MOHAMMED AND RONELLE: AN ASIAN/WHITE FAMILY
9. CASE NUMBER 2 – JACK AND TINA: A WHITE/BLACK RELATIONSHIP
10. CASE NUMBER 3 – CLIVE AND MINNIE: THREE GENERATIONS OF MIXED MARRIAGES
11. CASE NUMBER 4 – LEON AND ESTHER: A WHITE/BLACK INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE
12. CASE NUMBER 5 – ED AND ELLEN: FOUR GENERATIONS OF MIXED MARRIAGES
13. CASE NUMBER 6 – JOHAN AND BELINDA: WHITE/COLOURED MIXED MARRIAGE
14. CASE NUMBER 7 – THOMAS AND BELLA: A WHITE/BLACK INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE
15. RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH
    1. Introduction
    2. General Results
    3. Specific Results
    4. Conclusion
16. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
    1. Introduction
    2. Theories: Prejudice and Discrimination
    3. Theories: Interpersonal Attraction
    4. Previous Research: Mixed-Race Marriage
       • Who marries out?
       • Spouse selection
       • Adjustment
       • Societal attitude towards mixed marriage
       • Attitude of extended family
    5. Identity Development: Mixed-Race Children
    6. Divorce
    7. Conclusions
       • Causes of interracial relationships
       • Adjustment patterns
       • Child raising practices
       • Racial identity
       • The extended family
       • Legislation and the political environment
    8. Limitations of the Study
    9. Directions for Future Research

• REFERENCES
• APPENDIX A: MEDIA COVERAGE OF INTERRACIAL RELATIONSHIPS: 1993-1994
  1. Introduction
  2. Articles
  3. Conclusion
• APPENDIX B: NEWSPAPER CARTOONS
• APPENDIX C: QUESTIONNAIRE
• APPENDIX D: LETTER TO THANDI MAGAZINE
• APPENDIX E: ADVERTISEMENT IN THANDI MAGAZINE

Read the entire dissertation here.

Empire’s progeny: The representation of mixed race characters in twentieth century South African and Caribbean literature

2006-01-01
355 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3249543

Kathleen A. Koljian
University of Connecticut

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut, 2006.

This dissertation is an examination of the portrayal of mixed race characters in South African and Caribbean literature. Through a close reading of the works of representative Caribbean [Derek Walcott, Michelle Cliff, and Jamaica Kincaid] and South African authors, [Bessie Head, Zoe Wicomb, and Zakes Mda] my dissertation will construct a more valid paradigm for the understanding of mixed-race characters and the ways in which authors from the Caribbean and South Africa typically deploy racially mixed characters to challenge the social order imposed during colonial domination. These authors emphasize the nuanced and hierarchical conceptualizations of racialized identity in South Africa and the Caribbean. Their narratives stand in marked contrast to contemporary models of ‘hybridity’ promulgated by prominent post-colonial critics such as Homi Bhabha and his adherents. In this dissertation, I hope to provide a more historically and culturally situated paradigm for understanding narrative portrayals of mixed race characters as an alternative to contemporary theories of ‘hybridity’. Current paradigms within post-colonial theory are compromised by their lack of historical and cultural specificity. In failing to take into account specific and long-standing attitudes toward racial identity prevalent in particular colonized cultures, these critics founder in attempts to define the significance of the racially mixed character in postcolonial literature. Bhabha, for example, fails to recognize that the formation of racialized identity within the Caribbean and South Africa is not imagined in simple binary terms but within a distinctly articulated racial hierarchy. Furthermore, Bhabha does not acknowledge the evolution of attitudes and ideas that have shaped the construction and understanding of mixed-race identity. After a brief survey of the scientific discourse of race in the colonial era, and a representative sampling of key thematic elements and tropes in early colonial literature to demonstrate the intersection of race theory and literature, close readings of individual narratives will demonstrate the limitations of current models of ‘hybridity’ and illuminate the ways in which individual authors and texts are constructed within (and sometimes constrained by) long-standing and pervasive discourses of racialized identity.

Table of Contents

• Introduction: Empire’s Progeny
• “A Small Corner of the Earth”: Bessie Head
• “Colouring the Truth”: Zoe Wicomb
• Birthing the Rainbow Nation: Zakes Mda’s Madonna of Excelsior
• The “Mulatto of Style”: Derek Walcott’s Carribean Aesthetics
• “Only Sadness Comes from Mixture”: Clare Savage’s Matrilineal Quest
• Xeula and Oya: Jamaica Kincaid’s Autobiography of My Mother
• Conclusion
• Works Cited

Read a preview here.
Purchase the full dissertation here.

Black Female Agency and Sexual Exploitation: Quadroon Balls and Plaçage Relationships

Ohio State University
May 2008
81 Pages

Noël Voltz
The Ohio State University

A Senior Honors Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for graduation with research distinction in the undergraduate colleges of The Ohio State University

In 1805, a New Orleans newspaper advertisement formally defined a new social institution, the infamous Quadroon Ball, in which prostitution and plaçage–a system of concubinage–converged. These elegant balls, limited to upper-class white men and free “quadroon” women, became interracial rendezvous that provided evening entertainment and the possibility of forming sexual liaisons in exchange for financial “sponsorship.” It is the contention of this thesis such “sponsored” relationships between white men and free women of color in New Orleans enabled these women to use sex as a means of gaining social standing, protection, and money. In addition, although these arrangements reflected a form of sexual exploitation, quadroon women were able to become active agents in their quest for upward social mobility.

Until recently, historians have overlooked the lives of Louisiana’s free women of color during the colonial and antebellum eras. My research, therefore, expands historical knowledge about the unique social institution of Quadroon Balls and plaçage relationships in order to give greater breadth to scholarly understandings of quadroon women’s sexual and economic choices. This research formally began in summer 2006, during my participation in the Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) at the Ohio State University. Through this experience, I was able to begin analyzing the institution of Quadroon Balls and I have discovered the immense possibilities of this topic. While there are many directions that this research can take, I have decided to focus my undergraduate research and honors thesis on the history of the balls and quadroon women’s agency in antebellum New Orleans. In order to research these concepts, I have utilized a combination of primary sources and secondary sources written about women of color. In winter 2006, I was awarded an Undergraduate Research Scholarship and, with this money, I visited New Orleans and Baton Rouge to conduct archival research. My most recent trip to New Orleans and Baton Rouge has augmented my understanding of the topic by providing a large quantity of primary source materials, including court cases and other legal documents, as well as affording me an opportunity to experience archival research first hand in the actual historical environment in which the balls took place. Ultimately, I plan to continue my current research as my dissertation topic.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Abstract
“The Quadroon Ballroom” Poem by Rixford J. Lincoln
Introduction and Historiographic Review
Chapter 1. A Historical Background of New Orleans’ Free Women of Color
Chapter 2. Plaçage Relationships
Chapter 3. Quadroon Balls
Chapter 4. Case Study: Five Generations of Women
Conclusion
Appendix
Bibliography

Read the entire paper here.

The Negotiation of Identities: Narratives of Mixed-Race Individuals in Canada

Ontario lnstitute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto
2001
170 Pages

Mélanie Jane Knight
University of Toronto

A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Sociology and Equity Studies in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto

This thesis examines how mixed-race individuals shape and negotiate their identities and where they situate themselves along the racial continuum. I share the stories of five individuals of African/Caribbean/Lebanese and French-Canadian descent. This study is distinct tn that it examines participants’ negotiation of two White racially dominant groups, the Anglophone majority and Francophone linguistic minority who themselves differ in social and economic status. It was found that participants’ self-identification as individuals of colour was not an indicator of their participation within subordinate groups. Participants chose to situate themselves at different locations on the racial continuum, either participating within Whiteness, Blackness or both. Negotiations within certain locations on the continuum was found to bring benefits, depend to some extent on phenotype, cause tension and contradiction, to be influenced by racism and racial consciousness and to be complicated by language and ethnicity.

Table of Contents

Abstract
Acknowledgements
Introduction

Chapter One: Understanding the Mixed-Race Individual
Miscegenation
Early Considerations of Mixed-Race Individuals
Earlier Studies: Psychological Models
Limitations of the Models
Ecological Models
Sociological Studies
Later Studies Looking at Sociological Issues
Negotiation of Identity
Negotiations of Race, Culture, Language and Identity
French-Canadians and Historical Contexts

Chapter Two: Researching the Performance of Mixed-Race Identity
Identity
Theorizing Racism
Understanding Everyday Racism
The Structure of Everyday Racism
Methodology-Research Design
Qualitative Research
Criteria for Inclusion
Methods of Collecting the Data
Ethical Concerns
Narratives
Structure of Narratives
“Minorizing” the Majority Language
Structure of Results and Discussion
Research Questions

Chapter Three: My Story/Ma journée

Chapter Four: Participating Within and Negotiating Whiteness
Lyanne’s Story
Karen’s Story
Ann’s Story

Chapter Five: Hybridity and Performing “Blackness”
Martin’s Story
Chantal’s Story

Conclusion
References

…I argue that mixed-race individuals’ self-identification as persons of colour may not coincide with where they participate along the racial continuum. Since non-White individuals have little option as to how to self-identify, they often self-identify as people of colour. This choice, however, may be hollow. For example, choosing to self-identify as Black may not have a great deaf of content to it since individuals may have never lived in Black communities or learned much of Black cultural life. There is then a gap between the self-identification as Black for instance and reality, that being the participation in White spaces. The reality maybe in a sense where mixed-race individuals feel comfort. These spaces of comfort may require them to perform an identity.  I contend that the performance of an identity is accomplished through language and examined in how individuals articulate and express themselves.  I also contend that a performance can be undertaken to prove one’s allegiance to a group/community. There are other dimensions to the performance and negotiation of identities but I focus on how the study participants articulate themselves…

Read the entire thesis here.

The nature of bi-ethnic identity in young adults of Asian and European descent and their perceptions of familial influences on its development

University of Maryland
Department of Human Development
2009

Amanda Laurel Wagner Hoa

The purpose of this study was to identify the key constructs of bi-ethnic identity, the key familial influences, and other salient influences on bi-ethnic identity as perceived by young adults of Asian and European descent. The rapidly changing demographics of the United States provide an impetus for research on the developmental processes of bi-ethnic individuals. In this qualitative study, participants were interviewed about their bi-ethnic identities and possible influences on bi-ethnic identity development. Data analysis for this study incorporated techniques from grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) and analytic induction (LeCompte & Preissle, 1993). Five bi-ethnic identity types emerged from participants’ responses to interview questions: majority identity, minority identity, dual identity, integrated identity, and unresolved identity. These identity types are a unique contribution to the literature in that they specify how individuals of Asian and European descent define themselves. Additionally, this study identified four facets of bi-ethnic identity that indicate how bi-ethnic individuals think and feel about their background: centrality, self-label, affirmation, and affect. Six categories of influences on bi-ethnic identity development emerged from responses to interview questions (parental, extended family, personal, peer, environmental, discrimination), with 18 subcategories. This study is important because most prior research on bi-ethnic identity has focused on uncovering developmental stages, while we lack understanding of the nature of bi-ethnic identity and influences on its development. This study was important given the dearth of research on bi-ethnic Asians, although future research is needed with other bi-ethnic groups.

Download restricted until 2015-10-06.