Actions for Becoming Mother : An Ethnography Examining Mothers of Biracial

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Becoming Mother : An Ethnography Examining Mothers of Biracial/Multiracial Children in New York City

Author
Roop Miheretu, Kara
Published
[University Park, Pennsylvania] : Pennsylvania State University, 2024.
Physical Description
1 electronic document
Additional Creators
Henward, Allison
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Restricted (PSU Only).
Summary
Mothering/motherhood fundamentally shifts identities, priorities, and goals since another person depends on you in the picture. There is little research examining how those experiences influence a mother's idea of racial socialization for themselves and their biracial/multiracial children, even though research into children's racial socialization often relies on the parental understandings of the racial socialization (Stone & Dolbin-MacNab, 2019; joseph & Briscoe-Smith, 2021). The creation and the continual use of racial categories based on skin tone and physical attributes are embedded in U.S. society and perpetuate a structure of power and privilege (Roy & Rollins, 2019). Therefore, using feminist ethnographic methods, I seek to examine the experiences of mothers of biracial/multiracial children as they navigate the process of racially socializing their children and re-negotiating their racial understandings. Examining racial socialization experiences that mothers of biracial/multiracial children have alongside their mothering has the potential to provide valuable recommendations for ways that early childhood education can be more inclusive and bring in more of the children's home experience into the classroom. Atkins & Yoo (2019), using 2020 census data, assert that children under 18 are the fastest-growing multiracial population in the U.S. For that reason alone, the education field must critically engage with what it means to be multiracial in schools (Peng, 2020; Chang, 2016). Peng incited educators to examine their biases and assumptions and to challenge the stereotypes of either the "tragic mulato" (Howard, 2018) or the opposite competing idea that multiracial people signal racial harmony (Chang, 2016; Harris, 2016). Current educators recognize that they are ill-prepared to support multiracial children in their classrooms, and teacher education programs rarely address multiracial or mixed-race students needing support different from monoracial students (Howard, 2018; Wardle, 2000). This study uses feminist ethnographic methods that go beyond general cultural description and analysis to explore explicitly and intentionally women's lived experiences and social roles. Feminist ethnographers are reflexive and consider the power dynamics in social interactions, so they identify the various ways and processes that privilege and power benefit certain people (Davis & Craven, 2016). This presentation focuses on conversations with four mothers of biracial/multiracial children living and working in New York City. These individual and group conversations occurred while the mother and I were also mothering our children. Using Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality, this study examines the lives of mothers of biracial/multiracial children in New York City. Through this examination, the study highlights the impact of class race influences the experiences of the mothers in how they understand race and their racial socialization.
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Dissertation Note
Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University 2024.
Technical Details
The full text of the dissertation is available as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file ; Adobe Acrobat Reader required to view the file.
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