Mixed Race Studies

Exploring Classification of Black-White Biracial Students in Oregon Schools

University of Oregon
December 2012
145 pages

Deana M. James

Presented to the Department of Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership  and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Multiracial children constitute one of the fastest growing racial groups in the United States. However, biracial children, in particular Black-White biracial children, often are not recognized in the educational system. For instance, the current classification of Black-White biracial students in the state and federal educational systems is not disaggregated and does not allow for analyses of educational outcomes for this population. Not only is this population invisible in state education data, the demographic data at the school level often fail to represent this population. Not acknowledging multiple heritages dismisses the identity and experiences of students who are multiracial and thus symbolically negates a part of who they are. Additionally, multiracial students may be classified in a single category by administrators for the purposes of schools and funding. This study offers the perspective of administrators and current state and federal policies on this issue as applied to Black-White self-identified children and describes the complexities and relevance of addressing multiracial policies in educational systems. An ecological theoretical framework is used to explore four research questions in this area. Data were collected from seven school district administrators across Oregon through semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Relationships in the data between responses and procedures from the seven sampled school districts are examined. Results suggest that across the seven school districts in this study, implementation of the policies and procedures of racial and ethnic categorization varied substantially. Furthermore, even though this revised race and ethnicity reporting policy was in part created to more accurately represent the multiracial population, it may actually be obscuring the multiple identities of these students. Detailed policy implications are discussed in further details in the Conclusions chapter.

Read the entire dissertation here.

“I know that those who receive this award say they are honored and thrilled. My situation at the University of Oregon complicates my reaction. I was hired as a full professor with tenure in 2001. While I have African ancestry, I identify as multi-racial. At present, there are no full professors who identify as African American or Black in the entire University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences. But I am a woman of color. At present there are only two full professors who are women of color throughout the entire University of Oregon. I am one of them. Given this situation, I am neither thrilled nor honored to receive an award in the name of Martin Luther King at this time, here at the University of Oregon.

I am embarrassed.” —Naomi Zack

Justin Weinberg, “King Award Recipient: “Neither thrilled nor honored”,” Daily Nous: News for and About the Philosophy Profession, January 20, 2016. http://dailynous.com/2016/01/20/king-award-recipient-neither-thrilled-nor-honored/.

Dearth of Faculty Diversity Leaves King Award Recipient ‘Neither Thrilled Nor Honored’

The Chronicle of Higher Education
2016-01-20

Eric Kelderman

Naomi Zack is one of just six people scheduled to receive a University of Oregon award on Wednesday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

But the philosophy professor expressed mixed feelings about what the award means at a university where so few of her colleagues are minorities.

Ms. Zack, who describes herself as multiracial, said there are no women who identify as black in the College of Arts and Sciences and only two women of color, including herself, who qualify as full professors in the entire university. The other woman, she said, is the university’s vice president for equity and inclusion, Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh.

“I am neither thrilled nor honored to receive” the award, Ms. Zack plans to say, according to a copy of her prepared remarks. “I am embarrassed.”

“The absence of African-American senior faculty in what presents itself as a world-class research institution is an embarrassment for all members of our community,” the text reads…

Read the entire article here.

Race and identity in Krazy Kat: Performance, Aesthetics, Perspectives

University of Oregon
June 2014
79 pages

Zane Mowery

A Thesis Presented to the Department of English and the Robert D. Clark Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts

This work marks an attempt to redirect the focus of academic writing on race in the early twentieth-century comic strip Krazy Kat away from its author, George Herriman, and towards the comic itself. I argue that Herriman displays deep concerns with race and (more generally) identity in his work, but that these concerns do not necessarily stem from his own race or family history. In the end, Herriman’s work takes a far more complex perspective towards race and identity than current analysis would imply, and this thesis therefore serves as an attempt to reopen the dialogue around Herriman and race by establishing a new point of commencement for such investigations.

Read the entire thesis here.

Multiethnic Multiracial Experience (Ethnic Studies 199)

University of Oregon
Winter 2010

Anselmo Villanueva, Ph.D.

This course will focus on the multiracial multiethnic experience in the United States, with particular emphasis on the Northwest. This course will provide students with a framework to understand this experience. The course will cover the history and background of the mixed race experience, anti-miscegenation laws and practices, research, identity models, resources, and case studies. The topic of trans-racial adoption will also be included in this course.

Traditionally, the multiracial experience has been defined as literally “Black” and “White” – people, relationships, and marriages that have been between White and African American people. This course will also include the experiences of multiple relationships and people, such as Asian and Latino, Black and Asian, and so on. Multiethnic relationships will also be included, such as Chinese and Korean.

Students will develop a broad understanding of the multiracial multiethnic experience. In the process, students will also have the opportunity to examine their own culture, ethnic identity, and background. Students will also examine attitudes and beliefs related to the mixed race experience.

For more information, click here.

The Relationship Between Multiracial Identity Variance, Social Connectedness, Facilitative Support, and Adjustment in Multiracial College Students

University of Oregon
June 2008
151 pages

James Lyda

A Dissertation presented to the Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Services and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Research has suggested that multiracial individuals may vary in how they racially identify depending on the context in which they operate (Renn, 2004; Root, 1998, 2003).  To examine this assertion, multiracial identity and variance in multiracial identity were examined in this exploratory study of a nationally representative sample of 199 multiracial college students.  Additionally, the relationship of multiracial identity variance with factors common to adult transitional development and to the college student experience, including social connectedness, various forms of facilitative support, college adjustment, and depression, were also examined in this study.  Sex differences among these study variables were also explored.

The results of descriptive analyses revealed that this generally connected, adjusted, and non-depressed sample consistently varied their racial identity depending on their context.  Results of Pearson product-moment correlations among study variables for the whole sample demonstrated that this multiracial identity variance was not related to adjustment, social connectedness, facilitative supports, or depression. But results differed when breaking down the sample by sex. For males, increased variance in multiracial identity across contexts was related to lower perceived availability of, support from, and connectedness to student support groups. For females, increased multiracial identity variance was related to lower participation in ethnic and cultural student support groups.  A series of subsequent simultaneous multiple regression analyses revealed that increased involvement in one form of facilitative support in the college environmentethnic/cultural student support groups- actually predicted lower multiracial identity variance for the sample.

Regarding connectedness, for the entire sample, higher social connectedness was related to higher college adjustment but lower participation in ethnic and cultural student support groups.  Sex differences also emerged for connectedness. For males, social connectedness was directly related to availability of student groups, adjustment, and institutional attachment, and for females social connectedness was directly related to college adjustment, but inversely related to participation in ethnic/cultural groups.

Table of Contents

I. RATIONALE
Historical, Political, and Social Implications of Mixed Race Identity
Racial and Ethnic Identity
Multiracial Identity Models
Monoracial Identity Development Models
Biracial and Multiethnic Identity Development Models
Ecological Models of Multiracial Identity Development
Wardel and Cruz-jansen’s Model
Root’s Model
Multiracial Identity Variance
Social Connectedness
Social Connectedness and Multiracial Identity: Influence of Sex
Facilitative Support
College Adjustment
Depression
Purpose of This Study
Research Questions

II. METHODOLOGY
Participants
Measures
Demographics
Multiracial Identity Variance
Social Connectedness
Facilitative Supports
College Adjustment
Chapter
Depression
Procedures
Pmticipant Recruitment
Data Collection
Sample Size

III. RESULTS
Overview
Preliminary Analyses
Descriptive Analyses
Multiracial Identity Variance
Sex Differences
Social Connectedness
Sex Differences
Perceptions of Facilitative Student Supports
Sex Differences
College Adjustment
Sex Differences
Depression
Sex Differences
Correlation Analyses
Multiracial Identity Variance
Social Connectedness
Facilitative Supports
College Adjustment
Depression
Regression Analyses
Explaining Multiracial Identity Variance.
Explaining Social Connectedness.
Explaining Depression
Summary of Results

IV. DISCUSSION
Main Findings: Relationship Among Variables
Demographics
Multiracial Identity Variance
Social Connectedness
Facilitative Supports
College Adjustment
Depression
Sex Differences
Implications of the Findings
Study Limitations
Future Research and Intervention
Conclusion

APPENDICES
A. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
B. INFORMED CONSENT STATEMENT
C. MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS
REFERENCES

….Overall the sample was racially diverse, predominantly female, and came from highly educated parents.  The sample was racially diverse in the sense that multiple combinations of multiracial heritage were represented.  This is important in validating the sample as a cross section of the multiracial population, which distinguishes the current study from previous multiracial identity research that has focused specifically on a limited representation of specific bi- or multiracial sub-groups, such as black/white biracial individuals (Shih & Sanchez, 2005; Wardle & Cruz-Jansen, 2004). The sample tended to consist of participants with highly educated parents and as a result were likely to be of higher socioeconomic status. It is unknown if the general socioeconomic status of the sample is representative of the multiracial college student population as a whole.  Also, women outnumbered men three to one. These factors are important when considering the generalizabiity of these results…

Read the entire dissertation here.