Mixed Race Studies

Students manage social lives amidst diversity

The Dartmouth
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
2010-11-11

Marina Villeneuve, The Dartmouth Staff

Editor’s Note: This is the second installment in a three-part series investigating race at the College. The experiences and opinions expressed are the views of individual students, and should not be considered representative of wider communities.

When Marian Gutierrez ’13 stepped onto Dartmouth’s campus as a freshman, she said found she herself a member of a student population strikingly different than the one that existed in her hometown of Los Angeles.

“It wasn’t as diverse as I thought it would be,” she said. “It was a bit of a culture shock.”

The College’s efforts to widen the diversity of the student body have resulted in an undergraduate population increasingly reflective of national demographics — as of this fall, the undergraduate population is 8 percent African-American, 14 percent Asian-American, 7 percent Latino, 4 percent Native American, 7 percent international and 53 percent white, according to the Office of Institutional Research…

…Students of mixed race said their backgrounds allowed them to mediate between different groups on campus.

“Being half black and half Mexican has made my life more interesting here — I feel two ways at same time,” Chris Norman ’13 said. “There’s more than one group I can go to and relate with. For me, it’s easier to branch out to the mainstream community being mixed race.”…

Read the entire article here.

CAMD Scholars Take On Variety of Complex Racial Issues in MLK Jr. Day Presentations

Phillips Academy
Andover, Massachusetts
2008-01-28

Sally Holm

January 28, 2008 — Simone Hill ’08 had good reason to be excited last Monday. Chosen as a featured speaker for one of Phillips Academy’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day special events, the CAMD scholar presented her research on diversity, whose trail led her back more than 150 years into the dust of family history. And in the audience were not just her peers and teachers: her parents, Everett Hill ’77 and Dr. Yasmin Tyler-Hill from Atlanta, and her grandparents, from tiny Ridgeland, S.C., where the trail ended, were right there as well.

…The CAMD Scholars program was created last spring by the Office of Community and Multicultural Development (CAMD) to allow students to apply for research grants to pursue topics in multiculturalism during their summer vacations from school. Funded by the Abbot Academy Foundation, the scholarship provides a small stipend and a faculty advisor to each student selected. Three scholars presented during the fall term and three others spoke on MLK Jr. Day….

CAMD Scholar Britney Achin ’08 began her session with an exercise meant to educate her audience on the difficulties biracial teenagers face with identity in today’s social milieu. She asked everyone to answer the question “What am I?” in a brief phrase, then share it with a small group in the audience. Most seemed to find it difficult to capture complex selves—especially the offspring of interracial parents, as Achin is herself. Her research project was titled “I Am: A Study of Self Identification among Biracial Teenagers.” Mundra served as her advisor.

Achin surveyed hundreds of biracial adolescents through MySpace and Facebook, personal connections, and random interviews, asking probing personal questions of how they viewed themselves. She found that their responses clustered into five categories of identity: “Monoracials,” who defined themselves predominantly by a primary peer group; “Bidentifiers,” who identify confidently with more than one racial identity; “Sliders,” who were able to identify with whatever group in which they found themselves; “Raceless,” who refused to identify with any race, but prefer race-neutral descriptors such as “American”; and “Partial People,” who identify themselves as half a person, mostly as half-white, rarely as half-black.

Achin compared relative levels of turmoil and self-doubt, as well as confidence and self-knowledge, reflected by each group. She said she found that, without fail, PA students offered the most insightful responses. “I believe that speaks very highly of the work done by the school to make us aware of ourselves and others—our differences and similarities, racial and otherwise,” Achin said…

Read the entire article here.

Mixed: A Mixed Heritage

Daily Bruin
University of California, Los Angeles
2010-11-09

Nicholas Greitzer

America has always been considered a melting pot – a melting pot of ideas, of ethnicities, of religions, of experiences and of people.

In the 2000 census, for example, this miscegenation resulted in more than 6.8 million Americans self-identifying as multiracial. While there may not be any similar statistics for UCLA, a look at the enrollment figures for 2009 lists 4.4 percent of students as having an ethnicity of unstated, unknown or other, close to the national percentage in 2000 of 2.4 of those who identify themselves as multiracial.

Second-year international development studies and Chicana/Chicano studies student Camila Lacques falls into that group that cannot be adequately fit into the racial options provided by the U.S. Census Bureau or the University of California undergraduate application.

“People want to put you in a box, but mixed people don’t fit into a box,” said Lacques, who identifies herself as half Mexican, a quarter Irish and a quarter eastern European Jewish.

Lacques’ cultural makeup is not limited to those backgrounds found within her blood, as she was raised in a predominantly black neighborhood and attended an elementary and middle school that was comprised primarily of Korean students…

…In a similar vein, for second-year sociology student Ay’Anna Moody, being multiracial revolves around teaching others that they need to be intellectually curious.

“I needed to know who I was in order for me to move forward, culturally and socially,” said Moody, whose dad is black Creole and whose mom is Scott-Irish, German and black.

While Moody said that Irish traditions such as St. Patrick’s Day held a prominent place in her family, it was the black cultural influence that dominated her household, which she shared with her mother and stepfather…

Read the entire article here.

Profiles: Samuel Hickson – The Change Agent

State University of New York, Brockport
2010-10-28

BS in Sociology, ’10

“My understanding of what is important in life began with my family, who taught me about cultural diversity and having respect for people who are different from me.”

Samuel Hickson, a former McNair student, studied the processes of racial identification in multiracial students in modern America and the benefits and consequences of that racial choice. Through his study, “Silent but Real: The Struggle for Racial Identification for Multiracial Students in Modern America,” Samuel sought to understand how student’s racial classification changes as their education increases. In addition, Samuel worked on a senior project , which tells the story of social conditions of the world through photos. “One Voice, One Sound; Ghostly Voices, Stories Untold,” considers social conditions in five countries: Ghana, Uganda, Jamaica, Mexico, and the US. His project revealed that education comes in many forms—academic, physical, art, music, and others—and that by incorporating the physical aspects of education with the arts, the possibility for affecting positive change multiplies many times over. And that’s what Samuel’s life is all about—effecting positive change in the lives of people around him…

Read the entire profile here.

Is the Design for Our Cultural Programs Ethical?

Journal of College and Character
Volume 11, Issue 4 (November 2010)
3 pages
DOI: 10.2202/1940-1639.1743

Larry D. Roper, Vice Provost for Student Affairs
Oregon State University

Kimberly McAloney
Oregon State University

The designs for cultural programs on most campuses seem to imply that students possess mono-cultural identities. However, with the increase in bi-racial and multi-racial students on campus, it is time for student affairs leaders to question the design for these programs.

With the election of Barack Obama, the first acknowledged biracial President of the United States, we have noticed an increase in conversation regarding race and the status of racial issues. While the election and the subsequent interest in race do not provide answers to the challenges facing colleges and universities, one of the recurring questions generated in the conversation about the racial identity of our President, “Is Barack Obama Black?,” does provide the opportunity to address a significant issue facing our campuses.

Questions regarding the racial identity of and the ethnic/racial community with which biracial and multiracial people should identify arise daily in the lives of a growing number of college students. On our campuses we have offices and cultural centers designed to serve and meet the needs of groups that have been historically underrepresented and underserved in U.S. higher education. While the creation of these centers and programs has been crucial in addressing the history of discrimination among collegiate institutions, as well as increasing opportunities for success of underrepresented racial groups, we are at a place where we need to enter uncomfortable territory and have serious conversation about the future of such centers and programs…

Read or purchase the article here.

Letter to the Editor: Multi-ethnic clubs benefit community

Daily Bruin
University of California, Los Angeles
2010-10-18

Thomas Lopez, Alumnus
University of California, Berkeley

What’s in a name?

Answering that question can be difficult for some multiracial students. So often throughout history, names have been given for us, many of them pejorative, that it becomes difficult for multiracial people to pick just one. I suppose it’s no wonder, then, that when we choose to name ourselves, or the organizations we form, that someone will take an affront to it.

Salim Zymet, in his article “UCLA needs more than just one multiethnic club” (Oct. 12), seems to be simultaneously lamenting the dearth of multiethnic/multiracial organizations as well as the proliferation of others. It is unclear what organizations he may be a member of, if any, although he does make it clear that he “would never fathom joining the Hapa Club because of the word’s association to Asian heritage.”

I have been active in the multiracial community for almost 20 years in various organizations. This community includes multiracial and multiethnic people, interracial couples and trans-racially adoptive families. I believe that the more awareness we raise about the multiracial community, the better society may become.

I may not have the solution to Mr. Zymet’s dilemma, but I can offer up this story. During the early ’90s I was an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley. I joined a student group there called the Multicultural Interracial Students Coalition (MISC) or “miscellaneous” for short. A little tongue-in-cheek, I know, but better than the original name Students of Interracial Descent…

Read the entire letter here.

CeCe Ridder is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Higher Education Administration at The University of Texas at Austin and is recruiting University of Texas at Austin students for a research study about Black-White Multiracial college students.  She is seeking registered students at UT Austin in the third or fourth year of study and have one parent from a Black or African American racial category and one from a White or European racial category.   She would be very interested in speaking to them more about involvement or non-involvement in student organizations and racial identity. This interview is a conversation style, confidential process.

The title of this study is: Multiracial College Students: Exploring Racial Identity Through Student Organizations. The significance of this study is to explore how multiracial students utilize student organizations, and what influence this involvement has on racial and other social identities (gender, age, sexual orientation, etc). The implications for college administrators will be a more in depth understanding of multiracial students, and improve policy, curricula, advising and counseling.

The student participation will include a brief survey, one 60-90 minute in person interview and a 60 minute follow-up interview at a convenient time and location.  If you have any students in mind, can you please e-mail her his/her name and e-mail address and she can send them an e-mail, or feel free to send this request to them with her information, CeCe.Ridder@mccombs.utexas.edu or by phone (512) 789-7410.

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.

Purchase the dissertation here.

Univ. changes categories for reporting race, ethnicity

Diamondback Online
The University of Maryland’s Independent Daily Student Newspaper
2010-10-11

Leyla Korkut

Latest data expected to reflect true demographic makeup, but may reduce minority funding

The university will release new demographic data this week that administrators said will more accurately convey the diversity of this university. But some students argue the changes are still not good enough.

The standards, which were changed to resemble federal guidelines imposed by the U.S. Department of Education, will reflect similar changes made to the Census this year. So, last academic year, students were asked to identify their race and ethnicity before registering for classes.

The data collected from students’ responses, officials said, will enable the university to get a better idea of its demographic breakdown by allowing students to check more than one box for race and by making race and ethnicity two separate categories.

But because of that change, the number of students who originally identified themselves as minorities prior to last year may decrease, which could decrease funds earmarked for minority students, university research analyst Kyland Howard said…

Read the entire article here.

Builders of a Racial Bridge: Biracial College Students

The Journal of Pedagogy Pluralism & Practice
Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Issue 11 (Fall 2006)

Atina Andrea White

This study addresses issues surrounding Black/White biracial students in a multiracial student run organization at a diverse liberal arts college in Massachusetts.   The impact of the United States race history on biracial individuals is presented. The insights of the biracial individuals are reported along with suggestions for constructively addressing concerns of multiracial students.

Despite a history of oppression and marginalization, biracial individuals are surviving, thriving, and positively impacting our society. Black/White biracial individuals can be seen as a bridge between Black and White America. The purpose of this study is to explore aspects of biracial identity, increase awareness and understanding of biracial individuals and address various implications associated with college curriculum and activities.

Black/White biracial college students and their involvement in the Multiracial Organization of Students at Tufts University (MOST) has been the focus of this study. It addresses issues of identity-construction and development in a college setting. I selected this liberal arts college in Medford, MA because of its diverse population and because MOST, a specific organization for multiracial individuals, exists at the college. This organization designed and operated entirely by students, focuses on creating a community, offering support to its members, increasing awareness of multiraciality and seeking to bridge racial, ethnic and cultural divides (MOST, 2003). The students I have interviewed for the following study all participate in MOST and were willing to share their experiences as biracial human beings in America…

…MOST, however, is not only about finding a space to feel comfortable and supported in but also represents a place from which to begin to bridge differences across all races and ethnicities on the Tufts campus and in the larger community. Despite the fact that biracial and multiracial individuals are so often being excluded from all groups, they have not reciprocated this exclusive behavior and have introduced a different idea of welcoming all groups. There is a strong tendency in a racialized society to close-off and stay within your own culture or group but the MOST organization and its members are working to change this trend…

Read the entire article here.