{"id":9148,"date":"2010-09-25T03:55:02","date_gmt":"2010-09-25T03:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=9148"},"modified":"2010-09-26T22:06:26","modified_gmt":"2010-09-26T22:06:26","slug":"the-influence-of-k-12-schooling-on-the-identity-development-of-multiethnic-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=9148","title":{"rendered":"The Influence of K-12 Schooling on the Identity Development of Multiethnic Students"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Influence of K-12 Schooling on the Identity Development of Multiethnic Students<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

University of British Columbia, Vancouver
\nApril 2010<\/p>\n

Erica Mohan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thesis submitted in the partial fulfullment of the requirments for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Graduate Studies (Educational Studies)<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/a>. 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<\/a> realist conception of identity (Mohanty, 2000; Moya, 2000a\/b) that takes seriously the fluidity and complexity of identities as well as their epistemic<\/a> and real-world significance. In defining racial and ethnic identity formation, I borrowed Tatum\u2019s (1997) understanding of it as \u201cthe process of defining for oneself the personal significance and social meaning of belonging to a particular racial [and\/or ethnic] group\u201d (p. 16).<\/p>\n

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.<\/strong> They do, however, shape all students\u2019 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\u2019 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\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n