The negotiation of minority ethnic identities in virtually all-white communities: research with children and their families in the South Wales valleys

Abstract

This paper draws on qualitative interviews with 19 children and nine of their parents or carers in the South Wales valleys to discuss the effect on the social identities of minority ethnic children of living in virtually all-white communities. There is discussion of minority ethnic identities, local identities and Welshness, and the paper concludes with consideration of the theoretical and policy implications of the research. Interviews with the children showed them to be using a variety of creative strategies to negotiate their identities in a challenging and highly racialised context. Diverse individual histories and family relationships interact with available minority cultural identities and local and national cultural influences. The children have to construct their own identities in the context of dominant discourses of ‘Wales’ and ‘Welshness’ and also class-based notions of what it means to come from this particular region. Some maintain minority ethnic identities with pride and for others the maintenance of a minority ethnic identity is put under extreme pressure.