My Skin Color Is Not Mi Pecado

2021 ◽  
pp. 156-168
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
The United States ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Dark Skin

This chapter revealed itself as the title of the author's dissertation because of the binary mentality that thrives throughout our country and in our personal experience. On the author's first days after arriving in the United States, she was asked where she had her tanning done. She had never heard such a thing while she was growing up in Mexico nor did she think that she had dark skin because she had always considered herself Blanca/White. It did not mean that during her early twenties she could not see color, just that appearances did not matter as much as the treatment toward her. She was raised by those whose skin color also caused them to be labeled here in the United States as Moreno/Black. The ones who raised her were a Mexican medical pastor and a Güera/White Mexican, nurse, and housewife, and they referred to her, their precious youngster, simply as Brown or—as she likes to call her skin tone—café con leche/milk with coffee. The participants in the study also related that they have faced microaggressions and—in some instances—their professional tenure was in jeopardy.

COLOR AND CONSTRAINT

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Mary E. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
The United States ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Region Of Origin ◽  
Shape Identification ◽  
Racial Categories ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
Nationally Representative

Abstract Immigrants to the United States are assigned to ethnic and racial categories that often make little sense in an international context or are actively resisted by new arrivals. This study uses a large, nationally representative sample to test how skin color constrains and patterns that resistance, and how individual characteristics shape identification choices. Using the 2003 New Immigrant Survey, I find that skin tone has significant relationships with ethnic and racial self-identification choices for immigrants, even after controlling for characteristics like country of origin, with higher rates of Latinx identification among light-skinned immigrants than dark-skinned respondents, and especially high rates of refusing the “standard” racial categories for those near the middle of the skin tone scale. The racial categories selected by immigrants reflect not only their region of origin, but also their education level and their age, controlling for a range of demographic predictors. I discuss the implications for the racialization of immigrants to the United States.

scholarly journals Color Crit: Critical Race Theory and the History and Future of Colorism in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert L. Reece
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
The United States ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Critical Race ◽  
Race Theory ◽  
American Society

Critical race theory teaches that racism and racial inequality are constants in American society that stand outside of the prejudices of individuals. It argues that structures and institutions are primarily responsible for the maintenance of racial inequality. However, critical race theorists have neglected to formally examine and theorize colorism, a primary offshoot of racial domination. Although studies of colorism have become increasingly common, they lack a unifying theoretical framework, opting to lean on ideas about prejudice and preference to explain the advantages lighter skinned, Black Americans are afforded relative to darker skinned Black Americans. In this study, I deploy a critical race framework to push back against preference as the only, or primary, mechanism facilitating skin tone stratification. Instead, I use historical Census data and regression analysis to explore the historical role of color-based marriage selection on concentrating economic advantage among lighter skinned Black Americans. I then discuss the policy and legal implications of developing a structural view of colorism and skin tone stratification in the United States and the broader implications for how we conceptualize race in this country.

scholarly journals Bourdieu and Critical Autoethnography: Implications for Research, Writing, and Teaching

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Reed-Danahay
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Pierre Bourdieu ◽  
The United States ◽  
Research Writing ◽  
Life Trajectories ◽  
Critical Autoethnography

This article argues that by combining critical ethnographic and autoethnographic perspectives we can move beyond the insider/outsider dualism, better understand the ways in which stories of personal experience are “strategic,” and interrogate the broader contexts and processes of social inequality that shape life trajectories. The potential contributions to critical autoethnography of the reflexive approach of “self-analysis” advocated by Pierre Bourdieu are discussed. The author draws upon her uses of critical autoethnography in research (in France and the United States) and in teaching about immigration. 

scholarly journals Dominican Immigrants and Discrimination in a New Destination: The Case of Reading, Pennsylvania

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.S. Oropesa ◽  
Leif Jensen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
New Destinations ◽  
Gateway Cities ◽  
New Destination ◽  
Interpersonal Discrimination ◽  
Immigrant Destinations

The last decade has witnessed the diversification of immigrant destinations in the United States. Although the literature on this phenomenon is burgeoning, research on the experiences of smaller immigrant groups in new destinations is underdeveloped. This is especially the case for those from the Dominican Republic, a group that is expanding beyond the traditional gateway cities of the Northeast. Using a survey of Dominican immigrants in Reading, Pennsylvania, this study has two objectives. the first objective is to describe the prevalence of experiences with institutional and interpersonal discrimination. the second objective is to determine the extent to which these experiences are structured around racial markers (i.e., skin tone), forms of capital, forms of incorporation, and exposure to the United States. Our results show that a substantial minority of Dominican immigrants claims to have been treated unfairly, primarily because of their “race and ethnicity.” in addition, experiences with some types of discrimination are positively associated with skin tone (i.e., darkness) and several factors that are identified in models of assimilation.

Concepts of Government

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Temin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Dark Skin ◽  
Dual Economy ◽  
The People ◽  
The Government

This chapter describes three concepts of government. Democracy is the government of, for and by the people. It provides services to all its members and insures them against a variety of risks, ranging from bankruptcy to the accident of being born poor and with a dark skin. Autarchy is government by a person or family that takes care of itself with little or no concern for the rest of the population. Oligarchy stands in between these extremes and varies by the size of the oligarchy. The United States in the 19th century was the uneasy combination of a demographic North and an oligarchic South. The country approached democracy in the 20th century, but this trajectory reversed after 1970, leading to an oligarchic dual economy.

The Impact of Gendered Lookism During Employment Stages

2021 ◽  
pp. 75-109
Author(s):  
Cynthia Sims
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
The United States ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Hair Color ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Global Workforce ◽  
Career Opportunities ◽  
Development Professionals ◽  
The Impact

Lookism is preferential treatment of those considered to be attractive and discrimination against those deemed less physically desirable. Value is attached to certain physical characteristics such as skin tone, weight, facial features, and hair color. Two of the phenomena that exist under the umbrella of lookism are colorism and weightism, both of which create social and workplace inequities. There are studies that explore physical appearance discrimination external to and within workplaces in the United States, and an emerging body of literature regarding lookism abroad exists. Some of this research focuses on women's experiences with lookism in the workplace. Since today's global workforce is composed of women from various countries and cultural backgrounds, and their cultural values impact their career aspirations and career opportunities, organizational and career development professionals must understand the implications of both U.S. and global lookism and employ strategies to address and prevent the related issues.

scholarly journals The Functions of the Spanish Approximators Como and Como Que in Institutional and Non-Institutional Discursive Contexts

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abril Jimenez ◽  
Nydia Flores-Ferrán
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Educational Levels ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
Pragmatic Variation ◽  
Speech Events ◽  
As If

AbstractThe Spanish approximators como and como que (“sort of,” “as if,” “kind of,” “seems,” “like”) serve multiple pragmatic functions. They can be employed in similar contexts to express vagueness when speakers experience uncertainty or to hedge and avoid being straightforward. Furthermore, these forms can alternate according to context since they represent two ways of saying the same thing. This study investigated the use of como and como que in two speech events: narratives of personal experience (non-institutional) and therapeutic interviews (institutional), which were generated by Spanish speakers of several varieties, educational levels, and lengths of residence in the United States. The study was informed by the theoretical frameworks of sociolinguistic and pragmatic variation, and the data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative approaches. The findings revealed that while como was the preferred form among the speakers of the study they employed como que more often in the therapeutic interviews. Thus, both discourse and the pragmatic functions conditioned the use of these approximators.

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