“It’s Like We Have an ‘In’ Already”

Abstract

The increasing bi/multiracial1community in the United States has generated much literature about racial identity and social psychological well-being. Drawing on sixty in-depth interviews with Black/White biracial Americans, this paper shifts the theoretical focus from identity and well-being to the conceptual development of how race shapes bi/multiracial Americans’ social interactions with both Whites and Blacks. The majority of participants reported interacting differently when in predominately White settings versus predominately Black settings. I offer the concept of “racial capital” to highlight the repertoire of racial resources (knowledge, experiences, meaning, and language) that biracial Americans use to negotiate racial boundaries in a highly racialized society. These findings reveal the continuing significance of racial boundaries in a population that is often celebrated as evidence of racial harmony in the United States.

Building fortresses through the cracks: How racially and economically minoritized students navigate through college.

“…This collection of support-seeking strategies represents social capital and navigational capital. Participants also used their linguistic capital to code switch (e.g., Waring, 2017) and enhance their sense of belonging in different academic and social domains with different groups of friends.…”

Biracial, Black, and proud: Can racial pride protect Biracial–Black young people from identity invalidation and depressive symptoms?

“…To date, the research on racial malleability among Biracial–Black people is still in its infancy, but preliminary evidence suggests that when malleability occurs authentically and organically (e.g., without societal pressure), it can be psychologically beneficial (Shih et al, 2019). Specifically, Biracial–Black people who embrace being Biracial and Black rather than one or the other may have access to cognitive, communicative, and labeling strategies that enable them to feel more like an “insider” in various racial contexts, which has positive implications for their well-being (Cardwell, 2023; Waring, 2017). Given the reality that Biracial–Black individuals can and do adopt malleable racial identities, scholars must begin moving beyond studying group membership as an essentialist construct that implicitly or explicitly places individuals in one group or another (e.g., an either/or approach).…”

Accounting for colonial complicities throughRefusalsin researching agency across borders

“…Therefore while all white people have access to this system of power, some (e.g., working class groups) can nevertheless be excluded in certain settings by the ‘social codes’ (e.g., language/expressions used, non‐verbal gestures, behaviours, clothing styles) through which the power of whiteness operates (Friedman & Laurison, 2020). Studies of these “white spaces” (Anderson, 2015), illustrate how “code‐switching” acts as a survival strategy for becoming less noticeable as Other (Waring, 2017). These discursive moves are also increasingly being institutionalized (e.g., in schools), exemplifying an explicit project of contributing to the construction of whiteness as the system of power (Young, 2009).…”