scholarly journals Whiteness and the Rainbow: White LGBTQ+ College Students’ Racial Identity Development

JCSCORE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-135
Author(s):  
Chelsea Noble ◽  
Kristen Renn
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Racial Identity ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Racial Identity Development ◽  
White Racial Identity ◽  
College Student Success ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Sexual Orientations ◽  
Lgbtq Students

LGBTQ+ communities and spaces on college campuses are often known as white-centered spaces, implicitly or explicitly excluding students of color. While White LGBTQ+ students may experience marginalization and exclusion on the basis of their sexual orientations and/or gender identities, they may unwittingly perpetuate oppression on the basis of race. Utilizing Helms’ (1990) white racial identity development model, this study explored how White LGBTQ+ college students understand their racial identity and white privilege. The sample of 12 White LGBTQ+ college students was drawn from a larger four-year longitudinal qualitative study of LGBTQ+ college student success. In early interviews, students either did not discuss their white racial identity or did not view their white racial identity as a salient aspect of their identity. However, students increasingly spoke about their white identities, race, and racism in later interviews. Interpersonal experiences, academic engagement, and national events provided access points for White LGBTQ+ students to talk about race and their white identities. Implications for research and practice with White LGBTQ+ college students and in LGBTQ+ campus spaces are discussed.

“They Told Me What I Was Before I Could Tell Them What I Was”: Black Girls’ Ethnic-Racial Identity Development Within Multiple Worlds

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 754-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren C. Mims ◽  
Joanna L. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Racial Identity ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Black Girls ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Racial Identity Development ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Racial Categorization ◽  
Multiple Worlds ◽  
The Impact

Current research on ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development among Black youth derives primarily from studies that focus on the impact of parental racial socialization from a racial/monoidentity perspective without accounting for the roles of youth’s other worlds (i.e., schools, classrooms, and peers) and the intersection of their social identities in their identity development experiences. In using Phelan, Davidson, and Cao’s Multiple Worlds model as a framework as well as Black girls’ own words, we explore the beliefs and attitudes Black girls hold about race and their own racial categorization, as well as the processes that contribute to their learning about race (and racism) during early adolescence. We find that the Black girls in the present study are making meaning of their ERI, in part, in response to stereotypical and biased messages about their identities within their multiple worlds (i.e., schools, classrooms, families, and peers). The findings support the need for an expanded view of the messages and experiences that influence the ERI development process by illustrating that schools, classrooms, peers, and families are important socializing environments that influence the ERI development process for Black girls.

White Teacher, Know Thyself: Improving Anti-Racist Praxis Through Racial Identity Development

2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Utt ◽  
Shelly Tochluk
Keyword(s):  
Racial Identity ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
White Teachers ◽  
Racial Identity Development ◽  
Responsive Teaching ◽  
Racial Identities ◽  
Development Framework ◽  
The Impact

This article asserts that White teachers in urban schools must turn their racialized focus away from implied deficits of students of Color in the “achievement gap” frame and toward the impact their racial identities have on their craft. Through empirical analysis of White teachers’ experiences, the article suggests six areas of self-work for developing positive, anti-racist White racial identities, an integral component in culturally responsive teaching. The authors draw upon Zeus Leonardo’s “third space” of navigating Whiteness and Janet Helms’s racial identity development framework to offer practical suggestions for building more anti-racist and effective pedagogy.

Discursive Entwinement: How White Transracially Adoptive Parents Navigate Race

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 338-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Goar ◽  
Jenny L. Davis ◽  
Bianca Manago
Keyword(s):  
Racial Identity ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Adoptive Parents ◽  
Racial Identity Development ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Adoptive Families ◽  
White Parents ◽  
Transracial Adoptees ◽  
Clear Line

Through 47 interviews with 56 White parents who attend culture camps, the authors analyze race discourse and practices in transracially adoptive families. The authors document parents’ use of two discursive frames, colorblindness and race consciousness, and find that small subsamples of parents use either race consciousness or colorblindness exclusively, while the majority (66 percent) entwine the two discursive frames together. Because the sample is drawn from culture camps, which emphasize race and ethnicity, this sample begins with some degree of racial attunement. As such, the continued presence of colorblindness among the sample indicates the deep rootedness of White hegemonic logic. However, the emergence of race consciousness indicates the potential for White transracially adoptive families to engage race critically. Moreover, the analyses draw a clear line between how parents articulate racial understandings in their interviews and the ways parents report talking about race and racism with their children. These findings are directly relevant to ongoing debates about the ethics of transracial adoption and racial identity development among transracial adoptees. More generally, these findings speak to the ways Whites’ racial understandings are constrained, but not determined, by a history and biography of privilege.

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