Search Results (97)

This article examines how Asian immigrant religious identities in the United States are formed through the ambivalent conditions of American religious pluralism. While scholarship on immigrant religion has emphasized the empowering role of religious institutions in adaptation, community formation, and civic incorporation, this article foregrounds the disciplinary effects of pluralism itself. It argues that Asian immigrant communities become legible within an American religious field structured by an Anglo-Protestant grammar that privileges belief, scripture, voluntary association, congregational organization, and the distinction between religion and culture. This grammar enables recognition and belonging, but also reorganizes Asian traditions through inherited Protestant, racial, colonial, and imperial categories. Bringing immigrant religion scholarship into conversation with postcolonial and decolonial critiques of “religion,” the article situates Asian American religious formation within both U.S. pluralism and transpacific histories of missionary, colonial, Orientalist, and postcolonial classification. It develops a framework of religionization, racialization, and ethnicization to show how Asian immigrant religions are translated into recognizable forms, marked through racial and civilizational hierarchies, and institutionalized as sites of communal boundary-making. The article thus reframes Asian immigrant religious life not simply as adaptation or empowerment but as a negotiation with the regulatory conditions of American religious pluralism. Full article

This article analyzes the creative and social practices surrounding batida do gueto (ghetto beat), an emerging Afro-diasporic electronic music genre developed by Lisbon’s peripheral youth. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2025—including participant observation in home studios, semi-structured interviews, and digital netnography—this study explores how young Afro-descendant DJs transform digital music production software, specifically FL Studio, into technologies of postcolonial belonging. The discussion is structured around three main dimensions: first, the emergence of the “Fox clan,” a symbolic kinship network and musical lineage built through peer-to-peer knowledge transmission; second, the analysis of home studio musicking, highlighting the emic category of descompasso (rhythmic micro-displacement) as an esthetic and identity element that encapsulates postcolonial experiences of racialization and displacement; and finally, the urban and transnational circulation of batida do gueto through parties that challenge the boundaries between peripheral neighborhoods and Lisbon’s central neighborhoods. By bringing digital musicking into dialog with contemporary debates on the Black Atlantic and the politics of belonging, this article argues that the sonic subversions embedded in the genre operate as crucial resources of contestation, allowing peripheral youth to claim spatial visibility, citizenship, and historical recognition within contemporary Portuguese society. Full article

This narrative literature review examines African American family fishing as a historically grounded practice of food provision, cultural continuity, place-based learning, and environmental stewardship, and considers its conceptual relationship to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The review synthesizes an analytical corpus of 41 works spanning history, fishing participation, food insecurity, food sovereignty, foodways, place attachment, environmental education, and social-ecological systems. The literature indicates that Black fishing cannot be understood as recreation alone; historically and contemporarily, it has connected food acquisition, family interaction, livelihood, cultural memory, and community identity. These functions are conceptually aligned with SDGs 2, 3, and 10 through plausible pathways involving culturally meaningful food access, family-centered outdoor activity, and attention to racial disparities in food security, environmental access, and institutional representation. Family fishing may also provide a place-based learning context relevant to SDG 4, while responsible harvesting, reduced waste, and ecological literacy may contribute to SDG 12. Repeated engagement with local waters may cultivate belonging and stewardship; freshwater relationships are most directly relevant to SDG 6, whereas coastal, estuarine, and marine contexts may contribute to SDG 14. These are interpretive alignments, not measured SDG outcomes. The review concludes that family-centered pilot initiatives may productively integrate cultural history, ecological education, food skills, mentorship, and community leadership, subject to feasibility testing and empirical evaluation. Contemporary family-level research is needed to examine harvest, food sharing, learning, health, access, and stewardship across generations. Full article

Racial bias emerges early in life: explicit bias is often observable in childhood but tends to decline with age, whereas implicit bias typically persists through adolescence, shaped by stereotypes, peer dynamics, and identity development. Given adolescents’ heightened sensitivity to peer exclusion and discrimination, interventions targeting implicit bias during this stage may have important implications. Prior studies suggest that embodying avatars of different races in virtual reality (VR) can influence implicit attitudes, with effects depending on surrounding social context: positive interactions may reduce bias, whereas negative experiences may exacerbate it. This study extends this work, examining whether implicit racial bias changes from pre- to post-exposure following embodiment in a Black virtual body presented in either a positive or negative social context among White adolescents and adults. Participants experienced a strong sense of embodiment, with adolescents reporting greater perceived agency, while adults exhibited stronger emotional reactions to social cues. Nevertheless, no statistically detectable changes in racial bias were found from pre- to post-exposure, and these changes did not differ significantly by social context condition or age group. Overall, in this brief, single-session, and primarily non-interactive embodiment scenario with non-reciprocal crowd exposure, we found no statistically significant short-term changes in racial bias. However, the intervention elicited strong embodiment and selective, age-dependent differences in socio-affective experience, suggesting that more intensive, socially interactive, and tailored VR designs may be required for attitude change. Full article

African immigrant men in the United Kingdom (UK) experience forms of suffering that transcend both the clinical framework of acculturation stress and the political narrative of racial victimhood. Existing scholarship frequently overlooks how race, religion, and gender historically entangle to construct diasporic identities. This paper investigates how African immigrant men in the UK navigate the constitutive forces of race, gender, and religion in constructing and resisting diasporic identities. The paper develops “Ntu Fracture” as a theological–anthropological framework to diagnose the wounding of diasporic masculine personhood at the level of vital relationality. The framework draws upon Bantu philosophy (Ntu, ubuntu) and Yoruba cosmology (àṣẹ), placing them in critical dialogue with Fanon’s sociogeny and Butler’s concept of precarity. Utilising a qualitative desktop methodology, the findings suggest a fractured subjectivity among African men in the UK driven by three main mechanisms: (1) institutional racism as recognition-severing, (2) immigration enforcement as obligation-interruption and (3) parenting surveillance as domestic colonisation. The paper concludes that the lived experiences of African religious communities within the UK’s hostile environment stem from historical constructions of race, religion, and gender, categories experienced as unified entities that collapse conventional distinctions between the sacred and the secular. Full article

Mentoring programs enjoy considerable empirical support as a strategy for supporting the positive development of youth, particularly those with marginalized identities (e.g., minoritized racial identities) and/or from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. There tends to be considerable variability, however, in both the quality of the mentor–mentee relationships established through programs and whether these relationships are sustained for intended periods of time. Research indicates these features of relationships can be significant influences on the outcomes of participating youth, thus making it imperative to better understand the factors that may contribute to mentoring relationship quality and duration. To expand inquiry in this area, the current study draws on an intersectionality framework and the statistical technique of classification and regression tree (CART) analysis to explore the potentially interacting role of multiple sociodemographic aspects of both the mentee and mentor—specifically age, gender, race/ethnicity, and economic status—in shaping the quality and duration of mentoring relationships (n = 806) established through the Big Brothers Big Sisters community-based mentoring program. Findings suggest that mentor age, mentor income, mentee family income, and mentee race have complex associations with indicators of mentoring relationship quality. Full article

Background: Ruminative exploration is a maladaptive form of identity development and is related to higher rates of anxiety and depression. Few researchers have examined how the four dimensions of social media self-presentation (breadth, depth, positivity, authenticity) impact ruminative exploration; much of the literature focuses on identity coherence or identity clarity. Furthermore, the social diversification hypothesis supports that social media is used differently across racial/ethnic groups. The current study aimed to understand how social media self-presentation predicted ruminative exploration while examining the role of anxiety among women (18–29 years old) from diverse backgrounds. Method: The study design was cross-sectional and used convenience sampling. Participants (N = 225) completed surveys including the Social Media Self-Presentation Scale (SMSPS), the State-Trait Inventory for Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety, and the Dimensions of Identity Development Scale. Results: Overall, breadth and authenticity of social media self-presentation predicted lower ruminative exploration, but anxiety predicted higher ruminative exploration. There was no interaction between anxiety and any of the four SMSPS dimensions. Distinct patterns emerged when examining social media self-presentation on ruminative exploration by racial/ethnic groups. Deep and authentic presentation predicted lower ruminative exploration for Black women. Posting positive content predicted higher ruminative exploration for White women. For Latina women, none of the SMSPS dimensions predicted ruminative exploration. For each racial/ethnic group, anxiety predicted higher ruminative exploration, but there was no interaction between any of the SMSPS dimensions and anxiety on ruminative exploration. Conclusions: Findings indicate that sharing deeply and authentically may support less ruminative exploration, particularly for Black women. However, anxiety’s impact on ruminative exploration is not moderated by social media self-presentation. Full article

This paper reveals a culture of opportunity for graduate STEM education as it delves into the experiences of Black-identifying graduate students who are members of a multi-institutional, national research project. Specifically, this study explores how their engagement in race-focused research with an all-Black team impacts their perceptions of Black identity, sense of belonging, community, and agency to continue this research endeavor. In-depth one-on-one interviews were collected from four graduate students. Data analysis used Cross’s (1994) Nigrescence Theory, particularly the Stages of Black Identity Development. Results indicate that Black graduate students’ engagement in this space positively impacts their perceptions of racial identity, sense of community, and agency. This space proved beneficial in providing resources, especially language, to navigate discourse around their Black and other identities without feeling isolated or othered. Results also indicate a shared appreciation for being in the community with and receiving mentorship from Black women faculty, facilitating space for support and career advancement. Implications for transforming graduate STEM education to better support Black students are provided. Full article

This article analyzes how twentieth- and twenty-first-century Afro-Colombian women poets from the Pacific region challenge and reframe the feminization of the land and the naturalization of the Black female body within colonial and Eurocentric epistemologies. Drawing on a framework that conceptualizes body, territory, spirituality, and community as an interdependent continuum, the article conducts close textual analysis to demonstrate how these poets construct territory and the Black female body as sentient sites. These sites are simultaneously shaped by historical violence, forced displacement, extractive economies, and racialized gender constructs, while preserving ancestral knowledge and collective memory. The findings show that Valencia Córdoba develops the body–territory through metaphor and anaphora as a generative space; Grueso Romero deploys orality and the sea as transatlantic archives of ancestry and identity; and Truque articulates urban displacement as an ontological rupture that affects memory and Black subjectivity. Ultimately, the article advances the concept of body–territory as a decolonial aesthetic and analytical tool through which Afro-Colombian women’s poetry articulates environmental justice, gendered racialization, and forms of resistance within the Afrodiasporic diaspora. Full article

Leadership plays a critical role in promoting equitable and high-quality early care and education (ECE) environments. Within this context, leaders of color bring unique perspectives and experiences that support ECE teachers, children, and families with diverse backgrounds. Despite their importance, there is limited research focusing on the professional experiences and well-being of ECE leaders of color. Drawing on Critical Race Theory (CRT), the current study aims to fill the gap by exploring the well-being, challenges, and strengths of ECE leaders of color. Using applied thematic analysis, we analyzed interview data from 17 leaders of color working in center-based ECE settings. Five themes were identified: (1) Multidimensional and interconnected well-being, (2) structural and racialized challenges in leadership roles and career pathways, (3) strengths and assets drawn from leaders of color’s identities and experiences, (4) interconnections between strengths and burdens, and (5) suggestions for well-being and work conditions improvement. The findings suggest that improving the well-being and work conditions of ECE leaders of color requires both individual and structural support, including more targeted well-being resources, culturally sustaining organizational practices and climate, leadership preparation and development support, and more stable policy environments. Full article

Background: Transgender and gender expansive (TGE) people experience high rates of interpersonal victimization, which has been linked to high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, a highly disabling and under-studied mental illness among TGE people). This systematic review identifies, classifies, critically appraises, and synthesizes the peer-reviewed literature describing the association between interpersonal victimization and post-traumatic stress among TGE people. This review collates what is known about the associations between victimization and PTSD among TGE people and makes recommendations to guide future research and intervention development. Methods: Searches were conducted across five databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, PsycInfo, and CINAHL) following PRISMA guidelines. Inclusion criteria were: English language; peer-reviewed original research; articles describing the association between victimization and PTSD among TGE youth or adults; reporting TGE-specific data. Exclusion criteria were: reviews, commentaries without original data, dissertations or theses, conference abstracts, animal studies, studies without TGE-specific findings, and case studies. Quality appraisal was completed for all studies, which included a discussion of bias. Data extraction was completed by two independent authors, and conflicts were resolved by a third. Data were stratified by gender identity, race or ethnicity, and type of violence for further synthesis. Results: 25 studies were evaluated for design, measure quality, and key findings. Findings were highly consistent across studies: multiple forms of interpersonal violence (e.g., childhood maltreatment, sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and transgender-specific victimization) were significantly associated with PTSD symptom severity or diagnosis across diverse identities and geographic contexts. All studies examining childhood sexual abuse reported significant associations with PTSD outcomes, highlighting early life as a critical period of vulnerability. Samples were disproportionately White and adult, with limited examination of intersectional experiences shaped by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Discussion: Interpersonal violence-related PTSD among TGE populations reflects a pervasive and systemic pattern of trauma rooted in structural discrimination rather than isolated individual risk. Addressing this inequity requires multilevel prevention and intervention strategies. Future research should prioritize longitudinal designs, culturally responsive measurement tools, and intersectional analyses to inform prevention, clinical care, and policy responses. The majority of studies were cross-sectional designs, so causality cannot be inferred. Additionally, the samples were disproportionately White and adult, which may bias the magnitude of associations reported and limit generalizability to racially and ethnically diverse TGE populations. Although many studies reported race and ethnicity descriptively, none disaggregated violence-related PTSD outcomes by racial or ethnic group within TGE samples, representing a critical limitation for intersectional analysis. Full article

Black Modernist architecture offers a powerful yet underexamined pathway for advancing restorative capacity in American cities. This paper argues that Black Modernism functions as a restorative design methodology, addressing social, economic, and ecological harm imposed on Black communities through slavery, racial capitalism, urban renewal, and infrastructural violence. Grounded in the restorative economics framework pioneered by O’Hara, the paper explores the role Black Modernism plays in sustaining sink capacities defined as the social, ecological, and emotional processes that absorb stress, pollution, waste, and trauma. Conventional economic models ignore these capacities, despite their necessity for economic productivity. Black communities, like all marginalized communities, have historically been forced to provide them without compensation. Situating Black Modernist architecture within this framework, the paper demonstrates how Black architects have designed buildings and landscapes that restore dignity, memory, health, and cultural identity, thereby expanding community sink capacities. Drawing on the works of various scholars, the paper examines case studies from Washington, DC, Atlanta, and Chicago, which reveal how Black communities have borne the burden of unremunerated restorative labor while shaping the American built environment. The paper positions Black Modernism as both a design language and a political–economic intervention, challenging architectural value systems that privilege monumental production over community restoration. It concludes by proposing a Restorative Design Framework that integrates Black Modernist principles with restorative economics, offering policy and planning pathways that recognize cultural labor, emotional restoration, and community well-being as essential components of sustainable urban development. Full article

Background/Objective: Child health serves as a foundational part of human development. Inequities in access to key health services remain high in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), most notably among children from disadvantaged, racially, or ethnically marginalized groups. The objective of this structured narrative review is to evaluate and aggregate the available evidence on racial/ethnic disparities in childhood healthcare access in SSA. Methods: A comprehensive search on African Index Medicus (AIM), Web of Science and PubMed for studies published between 2010 and 2025 was executed using relevant MeSH terms and Boolean operators. Studies on healthcare access inequalities among racial or ethnic groups in SSA were included. This study was conducted following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Results: Ten articles were included. Ethnicity was an independent contributor to inequities in childhood healthcare across four domains: vaccination coverage (lower for Hausa/Fulani in Nigeria and Somali/Luhya in Kenya compared to dominant groups), timeliness of vaccination, child mortality (higher in economically and ethnically marginalized groups), and nutritional status (elevated stunting and underweight odds in certain ethnic minorities). Conclusions: Racial and ethnic inequalities in child healthcare access across SSA are driven by multi-factor structural, geographical, and cultural barriers. Although socioeconomic improvement reduces some disparities, it does not eradicate them, highlighting that ethnic identity continues to shape health outcomes independently. Addressing these disparities requires strengthening culturally inclusive healthcare delivery, improving access in underserved regions, and integrating ethnicity-disaggregated monitoring into national health systems. Full article

Background: Australia’s increasingly multicultural landscape has seen a rise in culturally and linguistically diverse populations, many of whom face subtle and systemic forms of discrimination known as “new racism”. Objective: Underpinned by a person-centred and holistic framework, which recognises individuals as experts in their own lived experiences and emphasises strength-based, culturally situated understandings of well-being, this paper reports on a study that explores how culturally and racially marginalised diverse people in Australia cope with the mental health impacts of new racism. Design: A qualitative descriptive approach was employed in this study. Participants: Thirty participants from ten culturally and linguistically diverse communities participated in eight focus groups, providing rich insights into their lived experiences. Methods: Data were collected through semi-structured focus-group interviews conducted between March and June 2025. Data were analysed using Braun and Clarke’ method of thematic analysis. Results: Thematic analysis revealed four key coping strategies: (1) acceptance of immutable identity traits to foster resilience, (2) emotional ventilation within culturally safe spaces, (3) self-growth and empowerment through reflection and adaptive practices, and (4) assertive responses to racism when necessary. While some participants reported psychological distress, many demonstrated resilience and resourcefulness, challenging deficit-based assumptions often found in the existing literature. Findings underscore the importance of culturally responsive mental healthcare, including peer support, emotional safe spaces, and strength-based interventions. Conclusions: This study offers a holistic understanding of how culturally and racially marginalised people cope with new racism and its mental health impacts. The findings highlight the critical need for person-centred, culturally responsive, and equity-focused mental health support, providing actionable guidance for nursing practice and policy development. Full article

In a period of rapid social and economic change in Saudi Arabia under Vision 2030, increasing numbers of Saudi women undertake international sojourns for study and professional development. This article examines how these temporary migrations serve as sites for renegotiating gender roles, autonomy, and mobility. Using feminist narrative inquiry, we conducted 13 in-depth biographical interviews with Saudi women sojourners (students and spouses) living in Ottawa, Canada, and analyzed data using reflexive thematic analysis. Participants described a liminal autonomy: the startling acquisition of everyday freedoms—driving, unchaperoned mobility, and mixed-gender interaction—contrasted with prior constraints under male guardianship. Yet these freedoms were constrained by two transnational forces: a digital leash of family/community surveillance from home and a racializing gaze in Canada, where Islamophobia and othering complicated daily life and identity work. Women critically assessed a “moving target” of reform in Saudi Arabia, celebrating new mobilities (e.g., driving) while expressing skepticism toward the 2022 Personal Status Law, perceived as codifying patriarchal authority. We argue that sojourner autonomy is fragile, intersectional, and perceived as reversible upon return. The study advances theory by articulating liminal autonomy, showing how polymedia reproduces control across borders and distinguishing lifestyle freedoms from structural autonomy. Implications include intersectional campus supports, culturally attuned counseling, and recognition of returning sojourners as agents of social change. Full article