Affiliation or appropriation? Crossing and the politics of race among children in New York City

Kromidas, Maria

doi:10.1177/0907568212441036

Cited by 11 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(22 reference statements)

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“…This body of work has highlighted the manner in which children perceive, (re)produce, experiment with, confront and are confronted with the dominant ideologies which structure their social worlds. Some of this research has demonstrated the transformative potential of the ways in which children and young people have reworked, reinterpreted and subverted wider cultural meanings to shift the boundaries of belonging and acceptance, making them more blurred, porous or open (Christou and Spyrou, 2012; Espiritu, 1994; Kromidas, 2012; Ní Laoire et al, 2011). Multicultural societies have created spaces and situations in which difference is valued, enacted and made visible as young people negotiate forms of belonging in culturally diverse communities (Mas Giralt, 2011).…”

Section: Experiencing Differencementioning

confidence: 99%

Encountering difference: Young girls’ perspectives on separateness and friendship in culturally diverse schools in Dublin

Scholtz

Gilligan

2016

Childhood

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Research on children’s friendship in culturally diverse contexts has shown that children are more likely to choose friends from their own ethnic or racial group than others. This article examines this tendency from the perspective of 10- to 12-year-old girls attending ethnically mixed primary schools in Dublin, Ireland. It argues that both the emotional challenges involved in encounters across divides and the dynamics of all children’s friendships have a significant role to play in the manner in which boundaries are drawn.

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Section: Experiencing Differencementioning

confidence: 99%

Encountering difference: Young girls’ perspectives on separateness and friendship in culturally diverse schools in Dublin

Scholtz

Gilligan

2016

Childhood

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“…As children develop their self‐identities, they will distance or embrace certain identity characteristics to position themselves amongst particular peer groups; in the process, they actively respond to black authenticity, as shaped by white frames and within localized communities (see Rollock et al on differentiating from parental racial socialization). For instance, the use of Black vernacular is an authenticating method for Black youths in New York City (Kromidas ). This can uphold stereotypes of Black authenticity, as connected with being in the lower class and living in the ghetto, while also creating peer‐group solidarity.…”

Section: Legitimating Membershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Black Authenticity: Defining the Ideals and Expectations in the Construction of “Real” Blackness

Nguyen

Anthony

2014

Sociology Compass

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This review presents an overview of research on Black authenticity. As the definition of Black authenticity is often not made explicit in literature, the complexity and nuance of this cultural resource can be overlooked. We explore two trends of Black authenticity present within literature, which we label as commodifying realness and legitimating membership. Beyond offering a working definition and review of these trends, this review also attempts to highlight the importance of the interconnectedness between controlling images and individuals' negotiations of Black authenticity. We conclude by summarizing the importance of studying Black authenticity and suggesting future directions for research.The pervasive socio-cultural and research interest on authenticity is exemplified by the range of material focused on authenticity, from self-help books (e.g. McGee 2005; Swann 1996) to postmodern concerns for finding the real self (Erickson 1995), to commercially authenticating commodities and tourism (e.g. Koontz 2010). Generally, construction of authenticity involves successful signification of what is accepted as "real" or "true" for cultural products and individuals' identities. At the same time, this widespread interest appears to have dispersed research efforts, and researchers increasingly define authenticity as a socially constructed "moving target" (e.g. Fine 2004; Peterson 2005, 1094). A need is present to connect research lines to better understand how authentication processes of cultural figures, products, and selfidentities influence each other. Contributing to this effort, we examine research across various contexts on one form of authentication: Black authenticity.Focusing on Black authenticity is important for two reasons. First, definitions of authenticity continue to be compartmentalized, so that connections between cultural and individual authentication needs specification. Second, definitions of Black authenticity are often not explicit, concealing complexities in constructions of Black identities. To address these trends and connections between definitions, we reviewed literature across sociological fields, including media and popular culture, the arts, education, and identity research. We first reviewed literature specifically referencing "racial authenticity" and "Black authenticity" before expanding the review to include research identified as reflecting Black authenticity processes. This inclusive examination revealed the construction of Black authenticity as a cultural resource, which can be drawn from, but also constrain, individuals' identity construction.We broadly define Black authenticity as a cultural resource legitimized through ideologies, actions, and interactions (see, e.g. Harris and Khana 2010;Mcleod 1999;Shipley 2007; Wilkins 2012). Black authenticity includes ideals and expectations that affects what it means to "be Black" in relation to personal, public, and cultural identities. 1 This definition allows for an exploration of classed and raced limitations in Black identity const...

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“…I have explored the analytic significance of these interactions in more ethnographic depth elsewhere (Kromidas, 2011(Kromidas, , 2012, arguing that the kids' practices represented routes and possibilities for more convivial social relations. While there are various interesting aspects of the kids' sociabilities, I focus below on interactions where kids struggled with ocularcentrism, the overdetermined role of the visibility of the body as the determining factor of making race real.…”

Section: Elementary Lessons From New York Citymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These moments of unease and potential conflict were public and educative. This was characteristic of an interaction that occurred during a classroom activity where Mark and Steven, two good friends, were working together on a laptop while rapping, with Steven leading the way (see Kromidas (2012) for extended discussion of this and related interactions). When I remarked that I didn't know the song they were rapping, Mark replied 'I don't even listen to rap music'.…”

Section: Elementary Lessons From New York Citymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For several kids conventionally designated white were classified as 'not really white' or 'not white white' by their peers, disregarding their skin tone or even their pop cultural practices (a domain of much racial crossing; see Kromidas, 2012). Rather, their social relations and savviness in navigating the multi-racial milieu were decisive, factors that were also operative in identity claims that challenged traditional notions of racial ascription.…”

Section: Elementary Lessons From New York Citymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The ‘savage’ child and the nature of race: Posthuman interventions from New York City

Kromidas

2014

Anthropological Theory

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This article intervenes in the scholarship of race by way of the child, demonstrating how childhood is a doubly strategic site in disrupting the ontology of race as natural type or kind. One path involves disentangling children's association with nature, a tragic knot conjoined through a particular conception of the human. This strategy reveals the savage child that apprehends and sorts bodily differences, working to sustain the nature of race. Rejecting the savage child opens up a space to view actual children through a distinct posthuman lens that emphasizes laughter, play and surrealism in everyday life. Drawing on ethnographic material where children in New York City struggled with the visibility of the body, I demonstrate that alternative ontologies of race are possible and do exist. These tasks allow both race and childhood to emerge in a new light, with important implications for anthropology's cherished idea of the human.

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Affiliation or appropriation? Crossing and the politics of race among children in New York City

Cited by 11 publications

References 20 publications

Encountering difference: Young girls’ perspectives on separateness and friendship in culturally diverse schools in Dublin

Encountering difference: Young girls’ perspectives on separateness and friendship in culturally diverse schools in Dublin

Black Authenticity: Defining the Ideals and Expectations in the Construction of “Real” Blackness

The ‘savage’ child and the nature of race: Posthuman interventions from New York City

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