Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Stratification and Inequality".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2021) | Viewed by 150173

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Sociology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
Interests: (multi) racial identity; race and ethnicity; human rights; education; sociology of culture

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Sociology Department, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899, USA
Interests: race/ethnicity; critical mixed race studies; social psychology; social theory; research methods; sexuality

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Social scientific scholarship on Multiracial experiences and processes of identity development have been the subject of social scientific scholarship for over three decades. During this time, scholars from a wide variety disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, geography, history, political science, and the humanities, along with the critical interdisciplinary work of women’s and gender studies, queer studies, Black studies, and others, have contributed to the present state of knowledge.

We now know that multiracial identities are dynamic and intersectional. We also know that mixed-race experiences are embedded within social institutions, social structures, political movements, histories, and stories. Processes like racialization and microaggressions, family and peer dynamics, and other important social, cultural, economic, historical, collective, and political realities are known to manifest in unique ways for mixed-race populations. Far from heralding an end to race and racism, we know that multiraciality is woven within structures of white supremacy across a broad range of social, political, and national contexts.

In this Special Issue, we invite critically engaged work that focuses on exploring the experiences and identities of multiracial people in/under white supremacy. While we remain interested in research that continues to track the realities of U.S. Black/White mixed-race folks, we also encourage work that centers race and racism in traditionally under-researched mixed-race populations. We welcome work that is intersectional, transdisciplinary, and global and theoretical or empirical in nature.

For consideration, please submit extended abstracts by May 15, 2021. Please submit your abstract to special issue editors, Prof. Dr. David Brunsma () and Dr. Jennifer Sims (). Special issue editors would let those whose manuscripts they wish to see submitted for consideration in the special issue, by June 1, 2021.

For those accepted for consideration, paper submission will be due October 1, 2021 for preliminary review(if applicable – as some may be desk rejected), following the manuscript submission instructions below.

Prof. Dr. David Brunsma
Dr. Jennifer Sims
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • multiracial
  • mixed-race
  • racial identity
  • racism
  • racialization
  • intersectionality

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Published Papers (15 papers)

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22 pages, 372 KiB  
Article
Deployments of Multiracial Masculinity and Anti-Black Violence: The Racial Framings of Barack Obama, George Zimmerman, and Daunte Wright
by Jasmine Mitchell
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(6), 238; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11060238 - 27 May 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2998
Abstract
In this article, I examine how political and media discourses of multiraciality are deployed to justify guilt and innocence. I trace the deployment of multiraciality to determine who is deserving of life or death in media coverage, political rhetoric, and court records during [...] Read more.
In this article, I examine how political and media discourses of multiraciality are deployed to justify guilt and innocence. I trace the deployment of multiraciality to determine who is deserving of life or death in media coverage, political rhetoric, and court records during Obama’s presidency, in George Zimmerman’s 2013 acquittal, and in the 2021 killing of Daunte Wright. I examine the weaponization of discourses of multiracial identities as tools of white supremacy and anti-Blackness. Through such weaponization, the construction of the multiracial man as an index of racial progress and post-racism evident in the Barack Obama era enabled the violence and miscarriages of justice in the killings of Trayvon Martin and Daunte Wright. I consider how transnational and U.S. narratives of multiraciality, joined with anti-Blackness and white supremacy, enabled the acquittal of George Zimmerman. Furthermore, I examine how white womanhood and fears of Black masculinity facilitated the sympathy garnered towards Kim Potter. In considering the killing of Daunte Wright, this paper shows how multiraciality and racial malleability are valuable only when utilized for preserving racial hierarchies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
19 pages, 305 KiB  
Article
“There’s Something Very Wrong with the System in This Country”: Multiracial Organizations and Their Responses to Racial Marginalization
by Jenifer Bratter, Allan Farrell, Sharan Kaur Mehta, Raul S. Casarez, Xiaorui Zhang and Michael Carroll
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(5), 226; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11050226 - 23 May 2022
Viewed by 2945
Abstract
Multiracial organizing since the 1980s has centered around the need to define and make visible the term multiracial (e.g., U.S. Census). In the contemporary era when multiple race populations are a growing and institutionally recognized demographic, how do multiracial organizations characterize and seek [...] Read more.
Multiracial organizing since the 1980s has centered around the need to define and make visible the term multiracial (e.g., U.S. Census). In the contemporary era when multiple race populations are a growing and institutionally recognized demographic, how do multiracial organizations characterize and seek to combat collective experiences of racial marginalization? Here, we draw on in-depth interviews with officers from diverse multiracial organizations in the U.S. and Canada (N = 19) collected from 2017 through 2018 to examine this question. The findings revealed that multiracial individuals experience distinct forms of exclusion, which we call categorical invisibility, that target individuals who do not “fit” into established monoracial categories, and mixture as pathology, a less common frame but representing more overt forms of bias targeting those of mixed backgrounds. The lived impacts of these experiences prompt the expressed need for “safe” spaces from the psychosocial costs of categorical invisibility. Multiracial organizations, located mostly in the United States with one in Canada, engage in diverse community building and advocacy efforts to address these needs and, thus, represent critical sites of resistance to the trauma of racial (in)visibility. This work amplifies the need to center Critical Multiracial Theory to expose how monoracial paradigms as a central feature of White supremacy continue to shape the lives of multiracial people and expand our knowledge on how multiracial organizations shape the (re)negotiation of racial categories that challenge the racial status quo. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
23 pages, 340 KiB  
Article
Dominant Narratives of Whiteness in Identity Construction of Mixed-Race Young Adults in Post-Apartheid South Africa
by Jody Metcalfe
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(5), 205; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11050205 - 8 May 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 6245
Abstract
Despite the relative freedoms gained after the transition to democracy in 1994 in South Africa, dominant narratives of Whiteness stemming from settler-colonial and apartheid legacies of White supremacy remain pervasive within all structures of post-apartheid society, including the identity construction and racialisation of [...] Read more.
Despite the relative freedoms gained after the transition to democracy in 1994 in South Africa, dominant narratives of Whiteness stemming from settler-colonial and apartheid legacies of White supremacy remain pervasive within all structures of post-apartheid society, including the identity construction and racialisation of first-generation mixed-race people. This research explored how dominant narratives of Whiteness influence the construction of identity among mixed-race youth in post-apartheid South Africa. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants who have one White parent and one parent of colour and were considered ‘born frees’, as they were born during or after the transition to democracy. Guided by critical race theory, through thematic analysis, three main themes emerged: defying Rainbowism, rejecting Whiteness, and policing identity. Ultimately, this research critically investigates how mixed-race people have constructed their identities while navigating pervasive power structures of White supremacy that continue to shape the rigid racial categorisations in post-apartheid South Africa. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
24 pages, 499 KiB  
Article
Multiracial Identities in the United States: Towards the Brazilian or South African Paths?
by G. Reginald Daniel
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(5), 204; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11050204 - 7 May 2022
Viewed by 3934
Abstract
Multiracial identities in Brazil, South Africa, and the United States all formed within White supremacist, White racist, and anti-Black social orders. Brazil and South Africa historically acknowledged multiracials in ternary racial orders with a structurally intermediate status somewhat higher than that of other [...] Read more.
Multiracial identities in Brazil, South Africa, and the United States all formed within White supremacist, White racist, and anti-Black social orders. Brazil and South Africa historically acknowledged multiracials in ternary racial orders with a structurally intermediate status somewhat higher than that of other nonWhites, particularly Blacks, but significantly lower than that of Whites. In contrast, in the United States, multiracial identities have historically been prohibited due to hypodescent and the monoracial imperative, which categorize multiracials according to their most subaltern racial background and necessitate single-racial identification. In the 1980s and 1990s, a U.S. multiracial movement challenged these norms. This article compares the multiracial phenomenon in the United States with historical formations in Brazil and South Africa using data from published literature, censuses, written correspondence with activists, and observations of public behavior in the United States. The objective is to theorize whether and to what extent U.S. multiracial identities function in ways similar to the historical formations of Brazil and South Africa, particularly with regards to questions of collective identity, anti-Blackness, and White adjacency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
31 pages, 2894 KiB  
Article
Voter Evaluations of Biracial-Identified Political Candidates
by Gregory John Leslie, Natalie Masuoka, Sarah E. Gaither, Jessica D. Remedios and A. Chyei Vinluan
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(4), 171; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11040171 - 7 Apr 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3469
Abstract
Today, identity expression and acceptance represent an important area of political advocacy and representation. Yet, how responsive are voters to new racial identity cues promoted by political leaders? Using candidates with interracial backgrounds as a case study, we assess whether voters are responsive [...] Read more.
Today, identity expression and acceptance represent an important area of political advocacy and representation. Yet, how responsive are voters to new racial identity cues promoted by political leaders? Using candidates with interracial backgrounds as a case study, we assess whether voters are responsive to candidates who assert a mixed-race identity or if voters primarily rely on other traits, such as the candidate’s family background, in determining their support of that candidate. Using an experimental design, this study presents participants with various hypothetical candidates who vary both in their racial heritages (i.e., candidates with Asian and White interracial parents or Black and White interracial parents) and identity choices (i.e., as single-race minority, single-race White, or biracial). We then compare how the mixed-race, single-race minority, and White participants evaluate the candidate. We expect that the mixed-race participants will be most supportive of candidates who signal a common in-group identity by identifying specifically as “biracial”. On the other hand, the single-race minority and White participants should be more likely to adhere to the one-drop rule or hypodescent in their evaluations, meaning they will provide more positive evaluations of interracial candidates who identify as a single-race minority. Our study finds that the single-race minority and White participants completely overlook racial identity cues and instead focus on the description of the candidate’s family heritage along with their own assumptions about hypodescent. The mixed-race participants, on the other hand, show strong support for biracial-identified, in-group political candidates This study adds to a burgeoning literature on racial perception and on political representation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
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20 pages, 376 KiB  
Article
“From All Sides”: Black-Asian Reddit Communities Identify and Expand Experiences of the Multiracial Microaggression Taxonomy
by Tyler McCoy Gay, Oluyemi T. O. Farinu and Monisha Issano Jackson
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(4), 168; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11040168 - 6 Apr 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 55049
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine the identity narratives of online Black-Asian communities concerning their multiracial microaggression experiences. As we are investigating an under-explored population, we utilize a purposive sampling method to narrow forum engagement by Black-Asian users on the popular [...] Read more.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the identity narratives of online Black-Asian communities concerning their multiracial microaggression experiences. As we are investigating an under-explored population, we utilize a purposive sampling method to narrow forum engagement by Black-Asian users on the popular social media network, Reddit. Our research is guided by multiracial critical theory (MultiCrit) which highlights monoracism as a ubiquitous element of the monoracial paradigm of race. In our research, we employ a content analysis using Black-Asian microaggression narratives to test the existing multiracial microaggression taxonomy. Our findings demonstrate that Black-Asian subreddit communities identified all of the existing multiracial microaggression categories: (1) exclusion or isolation; (2) exotification and objectification; (3) assumption of monoracial or mistaken identity; (4) denial of multiraciality; (5) pathologizing of identity and experiences; and (6) microaggressions based on racial stereotypes. Our analysis also found an emerging microaggression category entitled (7) white-mixed superiority. These multiracial microaggressions drew on monoracist ideologies and the monoracial paradigm of race, which exclude Black-Asian people and aid the maintenance of white supremacy in the United States. As such, we suggest further inquiry and expansion of the multiracial microaggression taxonomy to include how racism, particularly the monoracial paradigm of race, influences non-white multiracial identities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
21 pages, 579 KiB  
Article
Mixed-Race Ancestry ≠ Multiracial Identification: The Role Racial Discrimination, Linked Fate, and Skin Tone Have on the Racial Identification of People with Mixed-Race Ancestry
by Vanessa Gonlin
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(4), 160; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11040160 - 1 Apr 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 14219
Abstract
Mixed-race identification may be complex, in that people with mixed-race ancestry may or may not identify as multiracial. Social experiences, such as experiencing racial discrimination, believing that your fate is connected with specific racialized others, and personal characteristics, such as skin color, all [...] Read more.
Mixed-race identification may be complex, in that people with mixed-race ancestry may or may not identify as multiracial. Social experiences, such as experiencing racial discrimination, believing that your fate is connected with specific racialized others, and personal characteristics, such as skin color, all have been theorized to play a role in identification. The Mixed-Race Ancestry Survey (2019) conducted on Mechanical Turk allows me to ask unique questions with a large enough sample of this understudied population to disaggregate by racial ancestries. Only people with mixed-race ancestry are included in this study, but respondents may identify mono- or multiracially. Binary logistic regression models reveal that increased linked fate with a specific racial group is associated with greater odds of racially identifying, at least in part, with that group (e.g., among Asians, greater linked fate with Asians is associated with greater odds of identifying as mono- or multiracially Asian). Increased linked fate with multiracials as a group is also connected to greater odds of identifying as multiracial. In addition, personally experiencing racial discrimination is associated with a greater likelihood of identifying as Black and slightly lower odds of identifying as White or as Latinx. Finally, as skin tone darkens the odds of identifying as Black increase three-fold and the odds of identifying as multiracial increase by 1.3 times. I discuss these findings by racial ancestry groups, noting that being aware of having mixed-race ancestry does not in and of itself predict multiracial identification. Rather, in a social structure that uplifts Whiteness, feeling linked fate, experiencing discrimination, and having darker skin tone are important predictors of identification. These findings highlight the mechanisms connected to racial identification for a population that may feel tied to multiple racial groups and is navigating identification within a White-centric nation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
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19 pages, 1090 KiB  
Article
Doctors’ Perceptions of Multiracial Adolescents
by Melissa Herman
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(4), 146; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11040146 - 23 Mar 2022
Viewed by 3894
Abstract
Perceptions of race influence the way health care is delivered to minority populations, particularly multiracial people. Currently only 11% of American physicians are Black or Latinx, making the chances slim that Black and Latinx patients will be treated by a co-ethnic. White supremacy [...] Read more.
Perceptions of race influence the way health care is delivered to minority populations, particularly multiracial people. Currently only 11% of American physicians are Black or Latinx, making the chances slim that Black and Latinx patients will be treated by a co-ethnic. White supremacy is well documented in the medical literature—along with efforts to combat it—yet medical education and health care are still largely based on studies by and about white people. This privileging of whiteness is increasingly evident as the COVID-19 pandemic has shone a renewed spotlight on disparities in health and care in the U.S. The current study considers how doctors perceive race and use it to make healthcare decisions. Among the (N = 509) doctors in this sample, few said they considered the patient’s race. Of those who did, many determined race by some method other than asking the patient directly. The most common methods were observing skin tone and observing cultural cues. Doctors perceived nearly half the multiracial targets as monoracial. Targets who followed the norm of hypodescent were significantly more likely to be identified congruently by doctors. Targets who identified at the extremes of the color spectrum (black and white) were easier to identify, while the beige tones in the middle of the spectrum were more challenging. Patient ancestry was the most relevant criterion in explaining the congruence of racial identification between patients and doctors, while characteristics of the doctors were nearly irrelevant. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
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17 pages, 338 KiB  
Article
Interrogating the ‘White-Leaning’ Thesis of White–Asian Multiracials
by Kelly H. Chong and Miri Song
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(3), 118; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11030118 - 9 Mar 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 8311
Abstract
The study of multiracial people in the United States has typically focused on the experiences of Black–White racially-mixed individuals. In this article, we review and analyze the theoretical and evidence base for the White-leaning characterization of Asian–White multiracials. Historically, Asian Americans have been [...] Read more.
The study of multiracial people in the United States has typically focused on the experiences of Black–White racially-mixed individuals. In this article, we review and analyze the theoretical and evidence base for the White-leaning characterization of Asian–White multiracials. Historically, Asian Americans have been positioned as a “racial middle” group in relation to White and Black Americans. In line with this perceived racial position, Asian–White multiracials have been generally characterized as being more White than Black–White multiracials, as well as “leaning White” in terms of self-identification. While there is growing recognition of the variability of experiences among Black–White multiracials, the depiction of Asian multiracials as White-leaning—though based on limited empirical evidence—continues to be prominent, revealing the tendency to view Asian–White individuals through a “White racial frame.” The racial identifications and experiences of Asian–White multiracials are far more complex than such a view suggests. We argue for the need to advance studies on Asian mixed-race people to accurately capture their racial positioning within a system of White supremacy, including the diversity of their identifications, political views, and racialized experiences. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
23 pages, 1631 KiB  
Article
Educational Trajectories and Outcomes of Multiracial College Students
by Sam Mitchell and Evangeline Warren
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(3), 101; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11030101 - 28 Feb 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3928
Abstract
Although higher education research has identified racial/ethnic disparities in college enrollment and degree completion, few studies investigate the educational outcomes of multiracial students relative to monoracial student groups. This paper begins to fill this gap and aims to open a conversation about the [...] Read more.
Although higher education research has identified racial/ethnic disparities in college enrollment and degree completion, few studies investigate the educational outcomes of multiracial students relative to monoracial student groups. This paper begins to fill this gap and aims to open a conversation about the precarious state of data collection and empirical research on the growing multiracial population. Using several waves from the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS) and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), we center multiracial college students in our empirical analysis, which investigates the following questions: (1) how do enrollment rates and patterns of enrollment based on institutional type differ, if at all, for multiracial college students relative to monoracial college students? and (2) how does retention and overall degree attainment differ between multiracial and monoracial groups of college students? Our analyses identify several trends that suggest that multiracial people enroll in college at significantly lower rates, are more likely to enroll in private colleges and universities and four-year institutions, and are less likely to earn bachelor’s degrees relative to other racial groups. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
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22 pages, 382 KiB  
Article
Multiracial Race Self-Labeling Decisions: The Influence of Gender, Social Class, and Political Party Affiliation
by Sarah Elizabeth Castillo
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(2), 87; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11020087 - 21 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4273
Abstract
The growing prominence of the multiracial population in the United States is prompting new questions about the importance of social identities on race self-labeling decisions. I review and expand on a growing body of research on this population that focuses on identifying and [...] Read more.
The growing prominence of the multiracial population in the United States is prompting new questions about the importance of social identities on race self-labeling decisions. I review and expand on a growing body of research on this population that focuses on identifying and describing nonracial categories important to shaping racial identities. Specifically, I utilized a national survey of U.S. adults administered by the Pew Research Center to investigate how social identities defined by nonracial categories such as gender, social class, and political party affiliation impact the race self-labels of multiracial people. In addition, I consider factors of racial identity, discrimination, and social pressure and their potential influence on race self-labeling decisions. The findings indicate that gender, social class, and political party affiliation are potential predictors of race self-labeling decisions of multiracial people. After adding the factors of racial identity, discrimination, and social pressure, the results remain significant. In addition, the results for social class and political party affiliation reinforce the actuality that a pervasive racial hierarchy and social stratification system, situated in the context of White supremacy, is embedded within U.S. society. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
16 pages, 580 KiB  
Article
A Dialectic of Race Discourses: The Presence/Absence of Mixed Race at the State, Institution, and Civil Society and Voluntary and Community Sector Levels in the United Kingdom
by Chinelo L. Njaka
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(2), 86; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11020086 - 21 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3383
Abstract
For the twenty years that mixed race has been on the United Kingdom (UK) censuses, the main story of mixed race in the UK remains one notable for its nominal presence and widespread absence in national discourses on race and ethnicity, racialisation, and [...] Read more.
For the twenty years that mixed race has been on the United Kingdom (UK) censuses, the main story of mixed race in the UK remains one notable for its nominal presence and widespread absence in national discourses on race and ethnicity, racialisation, and racisms. The article explores reasons for this through connecting the continued presence/absence of mixed race in public discursive spheres to the role that White supremacy continues to play at systemic, structural, and institutional levels within UK society. As technologies of White supremacy, the article argues that continued marginalisation of mixed race has a direct connection to systemic, structural, and institutional aspects of race, racialisation, and racisms. Using three case studies, the article will use race-critical analyses to examine the ways that mixed race is present and—more often—absent at three societal levels: the state, institution, and civil society and voluntary and community sector. The paper will conclude by exploring key broad consequences for the persistent and common presence/absence of mixed race within race and racisms discourses as a technology of political power. Working in tandem, the paper exposes that presence/absence continues to affect mixed race people—and all racialised people—living in and under White supremacy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
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14 pages, 271 KiB  
Article
“White People Still Come Out on Top”: The Persistence of White Supremacy in Shaping Coloured South Africans’ Perceptions of Racial Hierarchy and Experiences of Racism in Post-Apartheid South Africa
by Whitney N. Laster Pirtle
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(2), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11020070 - 14 Feb 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 14614
Abstract
White supremacy shaped both the formation of the South African racial state and the formation of racial groups, including the creation of the Coloured category as mixed and liminal between White and Black. There are, however, debates about the continuing legacy of white [...] Read more.
White supremacy shaped both the formation of the South African racial state and the formation of racial groups, including the creation of the Coloured category as mixed and liminal between White and Black. There are, however, debates about the continuing legacy of white supremacy in post-apartheid, contemporary South Africa. This paper joins others in the important task of delineating racial hierarchies within contemporary South African society to help reveal the form of oppression, and the accompanying underlying assumptions and ideologies, such as white supremacy, that allows racial difference and deprivation to remain. In this paper, I analyze semi-structured interview data from 50 “Coloured” adults in order to explore their understanding of white supremacy, the racial hierarchy, and contemporary racism. I find that white supremacy negatively impacts Coloureds’ lived experiences through shaping their experiences of structural and interpersonal discrimination from White South Africans. In addition, Coloured South Africans understand the legacy of white supremacy in shaping contemporary racial hierarchies such that White South Africans “still come out on top.” However, I argue that, at the same time, white supremacy also “colours” or hinders some Coloured respondents’ perceptions of their remaining relative privilege in post-apartheid South Africa. This project contributes by revealing a more complete story about the pervasiveness of contemporary hegemonic, global white supremacy that impacts all aspects of the racial hierarchy, including those mixed or in the middle. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
26 pages, 929 KiB  
Article
“There Are Stereotypes for Everything”: Multiracial Adolescents Navigating Racial Identity under White Supremacy
by Courtney Meiling Jones and Leoandra Onnie Rogers
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(1), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11010019 - 11 Jan 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 8497
Abstract
Despite the enduring popular view that the rise in the multiracial population heralds our nation’s transformation into a post-racial society, Critical Multiracial Theory (MultiCrit) asserts that how multiracial identity status is constructed is inextricably tied to systems and ideologies that maintain the white [...] Read more.
Despite the enduring popular view that the rise in the multiracial population heralds our nation’s transformation into a post-racial society, Critical Multiracial Theory (MultiCrit) asserts that how multiracial identity status is constructed is inextricably tied to systems and ideologies that maintain the white supremacist status quo in the United States. MultiCrit, like much of the multiracial identity literature, focuses predominantly on the experiences of emerging adults; this means we know little about the experiences of multiracial adolescents, a peak period for identity development. The current paper uses MultiCrit to examine how a diverse sample of multiracial youth (n = 49; Mage = 15.5 years) negotiate racial identity development under white supremacy. Our qualitative interview analysis reveals: (a) the salience of socializing messages from others, (b) that such messages reinforce a (mono)racist societal structure via discrimination, stereotyping, and invalidation, and (c) that multiracial youth frequently resist (mono)racist assertions as they make sense of their own identities. Our results suggest that multiracial youth are attentive to the myriad ways that white supremacy constructs and constrains their identities, and thus underscores the need to bring a critical lens to the study of multiracial identity development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
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Review

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13 pages, 329 KiB  
Review
How Cross-Discipline Understanding and Communication Can Improve Research on Multiracial Populations
by Sarah E. Gaither and Jennifer Patrice Sims
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(3), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11030090 - 22 Feb 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3949
Abstract
One of the strengths of Critical Mixed Race Studies is that it represents research methodologies and frameworks from multiple disciplines across the social sciences and humanities. However, if these disciplines are not in dialogue with each other, that benefit may be lost. Here, [...] Read more.
One of the strengths of Critical Mixed Race Studies is that it represents research methodologies and frameworks from multiple disciplines across the social sciences and humanities. However, if these disciplines are not in dialogue with each other, that benefit may be lost. Here, we use psychological and sociological research on Multiracial populations as examples to argue how strict disciplinarity and methodological trends may limit scientific production. We propose that reading and citing work across disciplines, expanding methodological training, and rejecting hegemonic “white logic” assumptions about what is “publishable” can enhance Multiracial research. First, the ability to cite effectively across disciplines will shorten the time it takes for new theories to be developed that focus on empirically underrepresented populations. Secondly, increasing understanding of both quantitative and qualitative methods will allow more effective reading between disciplines while also creating opportunities to engage with both causality and the richness of experiences that comprise being Multiracial. Finally, these changes would then situate scholars to be more effective reviewers, thereby enhancing the peer-reviewed publication process to one that routinely rejects color evasive racist practices that privilege work on majority populations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiracial Identities and Experiences in/under White Supremacy)
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