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A Critical Analysis of the Racial Ideologies of Individuals in Interracial Black-White Couples.
.....Salimata Lala Fall, Louisiana State University
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Blacks and Whites continue to be the two groups with the most spatial separation, the greatest social distance, and the strongest taboos against interracial marriages and unions (Rockquemore et al., 2002). For individuals racially minoritized, race continues to be a life defining construct. Yet for White individuals, therefore they are privilege to not have to consider racial matters as whiteness is viewed as normal (Helms,1990). Furthermore, colorblind ideology characterizes the dominant racial discourse in contemporary United States (Bonila-Silvia, 2001). Yet this myth of the little importance of race contrasts starkly with current social climate. Our society has been increasingly racialized as evidenced by: resurgence of white supremacy witnessed through Trump’s administration (Pulido et al., 2019); the multiple cases of police brutality disproportionately targeting Black persons (Wallace, 2022); and legislation banning the teaching of black studies and critical race (Bigelow et al., 2022). This is of importance as it contextualizes the sociopolitical climate in which Black-White interracial couples. This study will examine the racial ideologies of individuals in interracial romantic relationships.
The Present Study
Due to the exploratory nature of the research questions, this study will utilize a phenologicalresearch design. In this proposed study, common themes from participants will be analyzed to gain insight to the racial ideologies of individuals in Black-White romantic relationships. The following research question helped to guide this study:
1. What are the racial ideologies of individuals Black-White interracial relationships?
2. How does an individual’s racial ideology transform, if at all, because of being in an interracial Black-White relationship?
Methodology
This study is a part of an ongoing analysis of a pilot study examining the narratives of individuals in interracial Black-White relationships. Due to the exploratory nature of the inquiry, the study utilized a phenomenological qualitative research design with non-probability convenience and snowball sampling and criterion-based sampling using the author’s professional and peer networks. Inclusion criteria consisted of individuals in a Black-White romantic relationship of at least three months or individuals who were formerly in a Black-White romantic relationship for at least three months. Interviews followed a semi-structured interview protocol, which allowed for consistency in topic coverage while providing flexibility for participant responses and further probing.
Participants
Participants (N = 10) included six women and four men who self-identified as Black (n = 3) and White (n = 7) and had a mean age range of 30 to 39 years (R = 20 to 79 years). The sample included a Black woman (n = 1), Black men (n = 2), White women (n = 5), and White men (n = 2). In addition, one woman reported German ethnicity. Five participants were in Black-White interracial marriages (not with each other). The duration of the marriages ranged from 7 to 31 years; two participants were in Black-White interracial relationships of at least three months (not with each other); and three participants were formerly in Black-White interracial relationships of at least 3 months (not with each other). Only two participants were in a Black-White interracial relationship together; however, the individuals from this couple were interviewed separately. Participants lived in Louisiana, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Interview Guide
The interview guide consists of 22 questions regarding relationship formation; attitudes and responses about the relationship from family, friends, and society; and strengths and challenges of the relationship. I established content validity by consulting four experts in various fields, including sociology, child and family studies, African American studies, and critical race theory.
Data Analysis
I transcribed and de-identified the interviews. For analysis, I used both open-coding and focused coding, in ways consistent with tenets of abductive analysis. In the first round of coding, I read and re-read participant transcripts and coded them without having predefined categories (Strauss et al., 1990). The open coding process involved examining the selected portion of the transcript, keeping track of emerging themes, assigning words to each theme, re-reading the transcript, and examining how the themes were specifically related to each research question (Strauss et al., 1990). After open coding, I completed a second round of in-focus coding (Timmerman et al., 2022) utilizing abductive analysis and sensitizing concepts (Atkinson, 2017).
Analysis and Preliminary Results/Contributions
Preliminary analysis indicated that individuals in Black-White interracial relationships are still accompanied by stigma. All individuals in these couples recognized racism, with some White partner acknowledging the presence of white supremacy within the United States. Yet the ideologies of these participants differed drastically based on their gender, educational occupation, and geographic location. Moreover, the manifestation of white hegemony became apparent in the narratives of White partners, despite expressing color conscious and anti-racist sentiment. The findings echo precious scholarship (Pryor, 2018) as that the pervasiveness of colorblind ideology can manifest in these relationships. Yet this work contributes to sociological scholarship by highlighting the contradictory nature of particpants, as many participants highlighted reflexivity and awareness of broader societal racial inequities.
Implications for Research
The issues that interracial unions bring to the surface (i.e., racialized and sexualized stereotypes, gender and racial identity, perceptions of innate racial differences, familial opposition, and lack of community acceptance) are not individual problems, but rather reflections of the larger racial issues that divide society (Childs, 2008). This study will explore the racial ideologies of individuals in Black-White interracial relationships. By analyzing Black-White couples, this study can demonstrate the pervasiveness of racism and how it manifests within the most intimate relationships. Given the tendency for White individuals to engage in colorblind ideology, the implications of the dismissal of race can diminish relationship quality. Likewise, White partners may be unable to support the lived experience of their Black partner.
Furthermore scholarship has asserted the colorblind ideology is pervasive not only on an interactional level, yet perpetuates and maintains racism in our society (Bonilla- Silva, 2001) . As such, this research elucidates the finding of racial justice as White partners in these interracial relationships have the ability to demonstrate this conference theme “unity in community: standing together for racial justice” by deconstructing whiteness and recognizing the privileges inherent to their positionality. By doing so they are not only able to engage in individual level change they're also able to support and stand and unity and community for their Black partners.
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“In The Name Of…”: Race, White Christian Nationalism, and Sexual Abuse.
.....Ashleigh Elain McKinzie, Middle Tenn State University
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The modern religious right as a voting bloc was the result of a well-crafted effort by Jerry Falwell and other evangelical leaders after Brown v. Board of Education (Harding 2000). Contrary to popular representations and belief, what united the religious right was not anti-abortion efforts. While the pro-life movement brought together Catholics and Protestants and ultimately paved way for the current religious right, the original political issue that brought together the religious right was desegregation of American schools and the subsequent creation of white, Christian schools that could openly racially discriminate until a federal judge during the Reagan administration ordered that these schools admit Black students or lose their tax-exempt status.
Prior to Brown v. Board of Education and the subsequent racial fears of contamination of public schools and public spaces with black bodies, the position of most evangelicals in the U.S. was “in the world and not of the world,” or “this world is not my home, I am just passing through” (John 17, v. 14-19; Carter 1931). Both sentiments indicate getting involved in politics and worrying over the state of the earthly, physical realm was mostly pointless because heaven and eternity with Jesus was the ultimate goal, not trying to change society.
In some ways, part of this ideology is still with modern evangelicals who resist state efforts at redistribution, social welfare, and other types of social benefits because it’s simply not for them to worry about “God will take care of it, it’s not the government’s responsibility." This is also a reason for the lack of evangelicals’ involvement in social movements and social justice work. However, while some of that sentiment is retained, it has fallen to the wayside for many evangelicals who now see their godly duty as one that includes voting and voting for the Republican candidate. The relationship between white evangelicals and the U.S. right was never more evident than in the 2016 election when 83% of evangelicals who voted, voted for Donald Trump. The trend remained the same in 2020 (75%). For Black Protestants the voting trend is reversed, around 10% supported Trump. In some academic writing, the intersection of white Christians voting for and supporting Trump is conceptualized as white Christian nationalism (WCN). Gorski writes, “America is divinely favored. Whence its enormous wealth and power. In exchange for these blessings, America has been given a mission: to spread religion, freedom, and civilization—by force, if necessary. But that mission is endangered by the growing presence of non-whites, non-Christians, and non-Americans on American soil. White Christians must therefore ‘take back the country,’ their country” (2021).
Thus, “Make America Great Again” is understood in this context as a nostalgic look back to the time when whites and Christians were in control of American politics, the economy and ideological apparatuses (which is itself a fictitious narrative). While most of the times this connection is not explicit, the underlying coded language implies that what made America great was whites and Christianity. Findings from recent representative samples show that 52% of republicans and 56% of white protestants agree with the statement that “God intended America to be a new promised land where European Christians could create a society that could be an example to the rest of the world,” whereas only 30% overall agreed with the statement (Jones 2023). In this paper I examine the relationship between evangelical ideology, Christian nationalism, and racialized purity culture. I will argue that there are ideological linkages drawing from previously published scholarship in the humanities (as there are scant discussions of this phenomenon in sociology). However, I extend previous scholarship using the empirical case study of gender violence in the evangelical church, particularly sexualized violence and sexualized racialized violence (often bolstered by purity culture) to both offer empirical support for the linkages between these various ideologies and social movements and to extend existing analyses. I argue two, seemingly opposing viewpoints espoused by many evangelicals end up serving the same purpose and making social change around these issues quite difficult. First, the previous “in the world and not of the world” ideology allows some white evangelicals to turn a blind eye to sexist, racist, and other problematic and pathological ideological viewpoints from their political party (and in many cases they may hold these views too), normalize lack of state involvements for redistribution and aid efforts for historically and currently marginalized groups, and ultimately to vote for candidates that they may otherwise not really want to vote for (while support for Trump was overwhelming from evangelicals, many were not enthusiastic, especially after the Access Hollywood tape leaked). Second, the more overt current position from many evangelical leaders and followers is the Christians ought to be extremely involved in politics and change this country “to be great again.” Thus, the more benign ideas of previous evangelical leaders regarding politics actually bolstered the emergency of WCN, and I will argue, partially through racist ideas about gender and women and girl’s purity.
Paradoxically, while the origins and current representations of evangelical ideology were based on racial fears and ostensibly keeping white women chaste, pure, and unblemished, there appears to be rampant sexual abuse in these contexts. So, the same ideas behind keeping women safe and pure, dizzyingly, make them prime victims for sexual assault. Chillingly, for the survivors of gender violence in this context, these two positions (in the world but not of the world and overt political involvement) literally silence them at every turn, making any recourse or justice nearly impossible to realize. I conclude by discussing how other types of harms in these contexts are similarly unreconcilable under current evangelical ideologies.
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What Is Innovation without Ethics? Applying Critical Race Theory and Perspectives on Privilege to Courses on Diversity in Organizations and the Global(ized) History of Coffee.
.....Stephen Patrick Davis, Arizona State University
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This paper describes and builds on course projects and assignments involving students of Diversity and Organizations, the Global History of Coffee, and other social sciences-based curricula. The history of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, for instance, has been re-framed in our courses as an example of “innovation without ethics” as it enabled a highly efficient, vastly “scalable,” monetarily profitable, and horrifically abusive system of globalized commerce and finance. Likewise, many modern coffee plantations exhibit a mixture of advanced mechanization and ethically questionable treatment of laborers. A key concern in this paper (and in these interdisciplinary courses) is that “Diversity and Organizations” as well as discussions of social justice, equity, and inclusion should not be relegated to specific courses; instead, creative and critical thinking on these topics can be included in all our courses.
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The legacy of colonial ideology in France: the case of the “Colonial School” and its remaining specter.
.....Marie des Neiges Leonard, The University of South Alabama
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First, this paper intends to show the history, role, and ideological legacy, of such an institution, and school of thought, promoted and endorsed by the French government, from its inception during the 19th century to its transformation and recycling in the post-colonial period after 1959. Second, this essay aims to demonstrate that the creation and perpetuation of such a structure and institution, can be analyzed through the lens of a white racial frame, as intending to ensure the reproduction of a racial order implementing racist policies and ideologies not only during the French colonial empire, but in post-colonial France as well.