The denial of racism in Latina/o students’ narratives about discrimination in the classroom

Abstract

This study examines how Latina/o students perceive and frame experiences of prejudice against them in the classroom through narratives told in informal interviews in Spanish. This project started as an inquiry about these students’ general perceptions and experiences in their Advanced Spanish-language classes and how these compared to their experiences in other classes on campus. Narratives are essential to understanding how speakers perceive and evaluate the experiences narrated and how they position themselves in relation to their group as well as to outsiders. The results show that, in most cases, when recounting narratives of discrimination or situations that can be considered instances of prejudice, students were hesitant to recognize that they were the subjects of discrimination or to qualify the story as an occurrence of racism. Different strategies were used to avoid this recognition, including assigning others the role of recognizing the situation as discriminatory and also using narrative evaluations or introductions to justify or mitigate the reasons that motivated these incidents. Discourses of prejudice and racism denial have been broadly documented, yet most studies focus on those who deny being racist themselves or being part of a racist group. This study shows how the underrepresented group might incorporate these discourses of denial and also how their discourses support or, at least, do not challenge the ideologies of majority groups about race, language, and immigration.

Hispanics Para Trump?

“…I contend that the increase in denial of racism's power from 2012 to 2016, as well as denial of racism only predicting support for Trump in the 2016 primaries and not any other Republican candidates, support the conception of denial of racism as theoretically distinct from racial resentment. While I acknowledge that denial of racism for some Latinos may include adopting or expressing anti-Black sentiment, the literature does not suggest that racial resentment, and anti-Black sentiment at large, are key components of denial of racism (Basler 2008;Rojas-Sosa 2016). For a more conclusive comparison, future research should include measures of racial resentment and denial of racism on the same survey.…”

“…Comparing the 2012 and 2016 ANES and CCES models, the biggest takeaway is that while racial resentment remains a consistent predictor of support for the Republican candidate from 2012 to 2016, the predictive power of denial of racism more than quadruples during the same period. This paper, and the literature on Latino denial of racism (Basler 2008;Rojas-Sosa 2016), argue that denial of racism for Latinos emerges in the face of a threat as a means of self-preservation. I contend that the increase in denial of racism's power from 2012 to 2016, as well as denial of racism only predicting support for Trump in the 2016 primaries and not any other Republican candidates, support the conception of denial of racism as theoretically distinct from racial resentment.…”

“…This suggests that denial of racism is doing much more work for Latinos than Whites when it comes to influencing vote choice for Trump, which makes sense given Trump's low share of the Latino vote, and the dearth of reasons for a why Latino would vote for Trump. It may seem counterintuitive to suggest that as candidates deploy racial rhetoric, the Latinos most likely to support them are those who most strongly deny racism. But as the literature suggests, many Latinos who buy into the colorblind ideology and deny racism may be doing so for instrumental reasons (Gans 2012;Jones-Correa 1998;O'Brien 2017;Rojas-Sosa 2016). Basler (2008) found that in response to a threat to Latinos in the form of California's Proposition 187, many Mexican Americans who voted in favor of the restrictionist policy did so in hopes of signaling their allegiance to Whites while separating themselves from other Latinos.…”

“…At the same time though, given the racial diversity that exists among Latinos, every Latino will not be subjected to the same set of racialized experiences (Kaufmann 2003; Sanchez and Masuoka, 2010). Even when Latinos are subjected to racism, research suggests many will deny or explain the racism away (Florido 2017; O’Brien 2008; Rojas-Sosa 2016). In her study of denial of racism among Latino college students, Deyanira Rojas-Sosa (2016) found that Latino students are often hesitant to recognize that they were the subject of discrimination or to qualify experiences as racist.…”

Linguistic Anthropology in 2016: Now What?

“…). Speakers of language varieties that are institutionally regarded as nonstandard may avoid recognition of the racism aimed at them, as Deyanira Rojas‐Sosa () demonstrates in her study of classroom narratives. In this case, rather than perpetrators of racism denying their offenses, Latina/o students are reluctant to acknowledge their own marginality vis‐à‐vis the prejudice they face.…”