Marginalized Identities Research Articles

Afropolitanism, Marginal Identity and Culture Shock in Tendai Huchu’s the Maestro, the Magistrate and the Mathematician

Noting the dynamics of cultural interference on migrants, there is a conscious concern towards the sustainability of true African cultural values and identity by African migrants living in the diaspora, as their hybridized African cultural disposition, appears quite superficial. Evidently, with the presence of a stronger force, influence or interference, there is bound to be domination and monopolization of the smaller units or margins. Thereby, eradicating or totally altering a people’s cultural history, as their afropolitan manifestations, of maintaining their individual Africaness in these western societies or spaces slowly succumbs and fades off. Given the overwhelming nature of the higher force and having been treated or regarded as the marginal or invisible identity, by denying them their rights and privileges. Hence, it becomes natural, for their prodigies to align and identify with the stronger force, in furtherance, losing them to the western foreign cultures and tradition. Thus, Huchu’s novel, The Maestro, The Magistrate and The Mathematician, seeks to address the danger involved in migrating and getting hybridized. So, within the purview of cultural coexistence, superiority and dominance, Homi Bhabha’s Hybridity theory, therefore helps to interrogate and highlight the unspoken pains and hurt of being in the third space of the hybridized.

Resistance in Supervision: A Qualitative Study of Training Experiences Among Multiethnic Women

Psychology trainees operate in high stress environments and supervisees with multiple marginalized identities, such as multiethnic women, must also navigate and/or resist discrimination. Resistance as a tool against oppression (positive resistance) is an emerging concept in psychology. Consensual qualitative research method was used to explore the ways multiethnic women engage in resistance during the supervision process. The central research question was, “How do multiethnic women engage in resistance to gender- and ethnicity-based inequities during supervision?” Participants ( N = 12) identified as multiethnic women who were in, or had recently graduated from, clinical or counseling psychology programs. Participants sat for a 60–90 minute interview. Analyses of the interview transcripts yielded the primary domain, Resistance, and three subdomains: Motivation for Resistance, Capability for Engagement, and Forms of Resistance. Implications for supervision with women are discussed, including ways that supervisors may encourage and respond to positive resistance in the training of diverse future psychologists.

"It’s like a happy little affirmation circle": a grounded theory study of nonbinary peoples’ internal processes for navigating binary gender norms

Background: Nonbinary people experience marginalization through discrimination, rejection, microaggressions, and stigma as a result of not always conforming to societal gender norms embedded in the gender binary. There is limited research about how nonbinary Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) living in the United States navigate societally enforced binary gender norms, which is especially important to understand given how racism and Euro-colonization have enforced the gender binary. Better understanding the internal strategies nonbinary people use to cope, embody affirmation, and regulate emotions in response to marginalizing experiences could increase understanding of how to best prevent and address the health disparities experienced by nonbinary people. Aim: Drawing on the practices of interrogating norms central to queer theory with a sensitization to racism and settler colonialism, this study aimed to identify a framework to understand nonbinary peoples’ processes of navigating gender norms internally through their lived experiences with an awareness of how context impacts these processes. Method: This qualitative interview study utilized construcitivist grounded theory methodology, guided by queer theory. Twenty-one nonbinary individuals were interviewed over Zoom with 15 being BIPOC. Results: Participants navigated binary gender norms internally by self-defining affirmative nonbinary ways of being, noticing affirmation in a chosen community that allowed them to experience existing authentically outside of binary gender norms, and internally connecting to an embodied, authentic sense of gender within themselves and in community with other nonbinary people. These internal processes were influenced by two contextual factors: societal and cultural expectations of gender; and the contextual impacts of holding multiple marginalized identities. Discussion: Understanding the contexts of the gender binary, racism, and cissexism that impact nonbinary people on a daily basis is crucial for mental health professionals, researchers, policy makers, and creators of gender inclusive education and support programs to support and affirm nonbinary people.

Deconstructing the Master Narrative: Active Learning through Decolonial Pedagogy

For most undergraduate students, history prior to college has been dominated by learning through a settler colonialism lens. Settler colonialism embodies the typical United States, master, or traditional narrative. It erases marginalized perspectives, histories, culture, and identity in favor of the white settler perspective. By overlooking the histories of minoritized individuals in the United States, students are losing out on learning important facets of history. For minority students, this also indirectly tells them that their history is not valued. This paper is structured in three sections: first, I describe settler colonialism and how it is deeply embedded in the teaching of U.S. history; second, I discuss the process of decolonizing history, teaching and learning; and lastly, the third section describes how instructors can use active learning as a decolonial pedagogy and provides recommendations for practice.

COVID-19 testing and vaccination uptake among youth and young adults: Disparities by age, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacts youth and young adults (YYA) and YYA with multiple marginalized identities, yet little is known about differences in uptake, testing access, and vaccine concerns among YYA by diverse demographic identities. Between 2/2021 and 2/2022, we conducted a national, cross-sectional online survey focused on diverse YYA ages 14 to 24 (n=983). We explored the prevalence of COVID-19 testing and vaccination among YYA by age, race/ethnicity, and sexual and gender identities. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models were developed to estimate associations between individual variables and COVID-19 testing and vaccination. The overall COVID-19 testing and vaccination rates in our sample were high (75.99% and 69.07%, respectively). No differences in testing by demographics were found. Compared to individuals aged 14 to 17 years, those aged 18 to 21 years and 22 to 24 years were over 2 times and 4 times as likely to report receiving a vaccine, respectively. All race/ethnicity groups except for Asian individuals were more likely to report being vaccinated compared to their white peers. Our findings showed critical disparities in COVID-19 vaccination among YYA with marginalized identities and emphasized the urgency for data collection and research on pandemic prevention for vulnerable YYA populations.

Challenges Experienced by Latina Multilingual Learners in STEM Undergraduate Programs: Framed within LatCrit and Intersectionality

ABSTRACT Guided by a combination of LatCrit and intersectionality this study examined the challenges Latina Multilingual Learners’ (ML) experienced in STEM and how their multiple marginalized identities (i.e. being Latina, female, and non-native English-speaker) and the oppression related to class, gender, race, and ethnicity influence their perspectives. Using an interpretive phenomenological design, we interviewed 10 Latina ML students from four universities. Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis yielded multiple major challenges in navigating through their undergraduate STEM programs: (a) academic challenges, (b) doubts and lack of confidence, (c) discriminations and biases against Latinas. Also, we discussed how system racism and intersectionality of multiple marginalized identity of Latina ML (i.e. class, gender, race, ethnicity and language) influence and interact with their experiences in STEM.

Satisfaction with life in a sample of prelingually deaf cochlear implant users with a good command of spoken Polish as the primary language

IntroductionThis study investigated the level of satisfaction with life (SWL) in a group of cochlear implant (CI) users who had been prelingually deaf but were orally educated. They had received one or two CIs (as a child, adolescent, or adult) and were highly competent Polish speakers. This study looked at three factors that may affect SWL – psychosocial, deafness/hearing and communication related, and sociodemographic. MethodsThe participants were prelingually deaf CI users who had learned highly competent spoken Polish as their primary language. They had been educated in mainstream or integrated schools (not schools for the deaf), and had no other disability or severe illness. Measurements were done with 5 questionnaires: the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), the I–Others Questionnaire, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Deaf Identity Development Scale (DIDS), and the Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire (NCIQ). ResultsThe SWL level of the group was similar to that of the standard Polish population. SWL was positively related to positive self-perception, acceptance of oneself as a deaf person, and to perceiving the benefits of having a CI (as measured by three NCIQ domains: self-esteem, activity limitations, and social interactions). On the other hand, negative self-perception, marginal deaf identity, and depressive symptoms were negatively related to SWL. There was no relationship between SWL and knowledge of sign language. Lower depressive symptoms and greater hearing loss were both significant predictors of SWL, although those who used two CIs generally had a lower SWL. ConclusionsPrelingually deaf CI users with low SWL require psychological support in many spheres, including working through problems of deaf identity, self-acceptance, and depression. Additional research should involve diverse DHH CI users, including those with limited spoken Polish competency or sign language skills, as well as members of the Polish Deaf community.

Metal like a hermit: Situating the ‘subcultural’ of Chinese metal music in the Chinese context

This article presents a discussion on how Chinese metal musicians situate the ‘subcultural’ of Chinese metal music in the ‘hermit’ concept in the Chinese context. Since it first appeared in mainland China in 1990, Chinese metal has been a subculture with a double marginality in relation to both Chinese society and the global metal scene. Accordingly, Chinese metal musicians have been trying to negotiate their marginal and subcultural identities through localized strategies, embodied notably as the appropriation of the concept of ‘hermit’. By examining recent symbolic material produced by Chinese metal musicians, this article provides a brief overview of how they translate the ‘subcultural’ of their metal music participation in relation to elitism, covert and passive resistance, and authentic national and individual identities through the ‘hermit’ concept.

Correction to: Sexual harassment disproportionately affects ecology and evolution graduate students with multiple marginalized identities in the United States

Correction to: Sexual harassment disproportionately affects ecology and evolution graduate students with multiple marginalized identities in the United States

Binge Drinking and Cannabis Use among Transgender and Gender-Diverse Young Adults in Michigan.

Substance use rates are higher among transgender and gender-diverse people than cisgender people. Rates of substance use are also higher among young adults compared with other age groups. However, little research examines substance use among transgender and gender-diverse young adults. This study examines factors associated with binge drinking and cannabis use among transgender and gender-diverse young adults in Michigan. Participants (N = 78; ages 18-25) completed an online survey that included demographics and substance use and related characteristics. Race, stimulant misuse, and sedative misuse were associated with more frequent binge drinking. Older age and past-year pain reliever misuse were associated with less frequent cannabis use. Past-year stimulant use and using cannabis alone were associated with more frequent cannabis use. These findings suggest that additional marginalized identities may increase the risk for maladaptive substance use. Future research should examine substance use behaviors and correlates to inform interventions among this population.

Investigating the association between educational attainment and allostatic load with risk of cancer mortality among African American women

BackgroundAfrican American (AA) women navigate the world with multiple intersecting marginalized identities. Accordingly, AA women have higher cumulative stress burden or allostatic load (AL) compared to other women. Studies suggest that AA women with a college degree or higher have lower AL than AA women with less than a high school diploma. We examined the joint effect of educational attainment and AL status with long-term risk of cancer mortality, and whether education moderated the association between AL and cancer mortality.MethodsWe performed a retrospective analysis among 4,677 AA women within the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1988 to 2010 with follow-up data through December 31, 2019. We fit weighted Cox proportional hazards models to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) of cancer death between educational attainment/AL (adjusted for age, income, and smoking status).ResultsAA women with less than a high school diploma living with high AL had nearly a 3-fold increased risk (unadjusted HR: 2.98; 95%C CI: 1.24–7.15) of cancer death compared to AA college graduates living with low AL. However, after adjusting for age, this effect attenuated (age-adjusted HR: 1.11; 95% CI: 0.45–2.74). AA women with high AL had 2.3-fold increased risk of cancer death (fully adjusted HR: 2.26; 95% CI: 1.10–4.57) when compared to AA with low AL, specifically among women with high school diploma or equivalent and without history of cancer.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that high allostatic load is associated with a higher risk of cancer mortality among AA women with lower educational attainment, while no such association was observed among AA women with higher educational attainment. Thus, educational attainment plays a modifying role in the relationship between allostatic load and the risk of cancer death for AA women. Higher education can bring several benefits, including improved access to medical care and enhanced medical literacy, which in turn may help mitigate the adverse impact of AL and the heightened risk of cancer mortality among AA women.

Challenges South Asian immigrant youth face in transnational contexts

ABSTRACT South Asians form Canada's largest visible minority but face notable health inequities. Specifically, South Asian immigrant youth (SAIY) confront challenges like racial discrimination, stigma, and acculturative stress due to their marginalised identities. Limited research exists on the barriers they face adjusting to Canadian life. We interviewed two groups: SAIY aged 15–24 (N = 23) and unrelated parents of SAIY (N = 13). Analysing both generations helped capture young SAIY's challenges and parental insights. Our findings underscore the varied experiences of SAIY in Edmonton, Alberta, highlighting the need for better accessibility to social and healthcare services. This study offers a foundation for future research on SAIY's needs.

Analysis and Mitigation of Religion Bias in Indonesian Natural Language Processing Datasets

Previous studies have shown the existence of misrepresentation regarding various religious identities in Indonesian media. Misrepresentations of other marginalized identities in natural language processing (NLP) datasets have been recorded to inflict harm against such marginalized identities in cases such as automated content moderation, and as such must be mitigated. In this paper, we analyze, for the first time, several Indonesian NLP datasets to see whether they contain unwanted bias and the effects of debiasing on them. We find that two of the three data sets analyzed in this study contain unwanted bias, whose effects trickle down to downstream performance in the form of allocation and representation harm. The results of debiasing at the dataset level, as a response to the biases previously discovered, are consistently positive for the respective dataset. However, depending on the data set and embedding used to train the model, they vary greatly at the downstream performance level. In particular, the same debiasing technique can decrease bias on a combination of datasets and embedding, yet increase bias on another, particularly in the case of representation harm.

"These Places are easy to get into but Impossible to get out of": Women's Pathways to Psychiatric Institutions and Barriers to Community Reentry in India.

In India, where institutional-based mental health care is common, gender and other intersecting marginalized identities along with absent familial support contribute to women's admission and prolonged confinement to psychiatric institutions. However, an intersectional analysis of factors that prevent women with limited familial support from returning to their communities is lacking. This article is based on narratives of eleven women residing at a halfway home in an urban city in India, awaiting return to their communities. We include descriptions and an intersectional analysis of women's pathways to psychiatric institutions, their experiences receiving institutional-based mental health care, and the challenges they face as they contemplate returning to their communities. This study adds to the minimal research examining women's gendered pathways to psychiatric institutions in India. Women's narratives highlight that gender and illness-related disadvantages coupled with economic adversity that led to the initial admission also serve as deterrents to reentering the community.

Liliana Corobcaʹs Novels “Un an în Paradis” and “Kinderland” in Critical Reading from a Thematic Perspective

This article presents how the novels Un an în Paradis and Kinderland have been received by critics from a thematic perspective. Identity, memory, alienation, childhood are themes highlighted in the novels under review, which contribute to the representation of a real, believable world. Liliana Corobcaʹs prose is defined by narratively constructed worlds, worlds that expose taboo subjects, that illustrate limit-situations, that sustain a marginal identity. The author stands out in Romanian literature as a distinct voice, which surprises by the chosen themes, by the style of writing, by the constructed fictional worlds, which complement the known real world. She is a writer who looks for real events to expose fictionally. Her prose is the result of a interplay between fiction and non-fiction. The authenticity of her writing is sustained by the fictionalization of individual or collective memory.

Black Women Been Knew: Understanding Intersectionality to Advance Justice

Although the term intersectionality was coined by Kimberl. Crenshaw in the late 1980s, Black feminist scholars have long interrogated how having multiple marginalized identities reproduce inequity in their daily lives. Black women have been at the forefront of justice efforts way before it was popular and thus, continue to offer insight into ways to advance justice and equity for not only themselves, but for people and communities experiencing systemic oppression. This article examines Black Feminist Traditions to contextualize how Black women have remained resilient despite systemic racism and injustice. Additionally, this article offers strategies to thoroughly integrate Black Feminist Theory into public administration.

Teacher Identity in Language Pedagogy. A Narrative Perspective from Two Colombian Teacher Educators’ Experience

This paper accounts for the inspection of two language teachers’ identities and language pedagogy through six conversations in a sixth-month period at two universities in Bogotá, Colombia. By adopting a no-methodology perspective, this study resorts to the notion of narrative to document language pedagogy experiences and inspect how the traditional, yet static notions of teacher identities and language pedagogy, are configured and re-configured through the pedagogical practice. Therefore, findings revealed that English language teachers contest marginal and hegemonic identity constructions through enacting their pedagogy conception. As a result, alternative ways of being and doing are exposed as a mechanism to exist and re-signify what language pedagogy has meant in the English language teaching field.

Intersectional approaches to risk, resilience, and mental health in marginalized populations: Introduction to the special section.

Although persistent health disparities affecting marginalized communities have long been recognized, marginalized populations (i.e., oppressed groups with stigmatized social identities) have remained significantly understudied in clinical science and allied disciplines. To reduce mental health disparities, it is critical to examine the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and people of color and sexual and gender minority populations within an intersectional framework (i.e., intersection of multiple marginalized identities) and to identify processes through which these experiences relate to risk and resilience for negative mental health outcomes. The goal of this special section is to highlight recent efforts to address this critical need by examining mental health among marginalized individuals impacted by multiple systems of oppression. These studies demonstrate the generative potential of intersectional approaches in clinical science. Our hope is that these studies will encourage future work in this field, with the ultimate aim of addressing disparities in underserved and understudied populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

An intersectional approach to exploring lived realities and harnessing the creativity of ethnic minority youth for health gains: protocol for a multiphase mixed method study

BackgroundUnderstanding the diversity and multiplicity of identities experienced by youth in Aotearoa (Te reo Māori name of the country) New Zealand (NZ) is vital to promoting their wellbeing. Ethnic minority youth (EMY) in NZ (defined as those identifying with Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American and African ethnic origins) have been historically under-studied and under-counted, despite reporting high levels of discrimination, a major determinant of mental health and wellbeing and potentially a proxy for other inequities. In this paper, we describe the protocol for a multi-year study that examines, using an intersectional approach, how multiple marginalised identities impact mental and emotional wellbeing of EMY.MethodsThis is a multiphase, multi-method study designed to capture the diversity of lived realities of EMY who self-identify with one or more additional marginalised intersecting identity (the population referred here as EMYi). Phase 1 (Descriptive study) will involve secondary analyses of national surveys to examine the prevalence and relationships between discrimination and wellbeing of EMYi. Phase 2 (Study on public discourse) will analyse data from media narratives, complemented by interviews with stakeholders to explore discourses around EMYi. Phase 3 (Study on lived experience) will examine lived experiences of EMYi to discuss challenges and sources of resilience, and how these are influenced by public discourse. Phase 4 (Co-design phase) will use a creative approach that is youth-centered and participatory, and will involve EMYi, creative mentors and health service, policy and community stakeholders as research partners and advisors. It will employ participatory generative creative methods to explore strengths-based solutions to discriminatory experiences.DiscussionThis study will explore the implications of public discourse, racism and multiple forms of marginalisation on the wellbeing of EMYi. It is expected to provide evidence on the impacts of marginalisation on their mental and emotional wellbeing and inform responsive health practice and policy. Using established research tools and innovative creative means, it will enable EMYi to propose their own strength-based solutions. Further, population-based empirical research on intersectionality and health is still nascent, and even more scarce in relation to youth. This study will present the possibility of expanding its applicability in public health research focused on under-served communities.

Piloting a Flexible Solicited Diary Study With Marginalized Latina Women During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Little is known about the experiences of minority stress among Latina women who have sex with both women and men (WSWM), a sexual and gender minority group situated at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities. The current article presents an exploratory study aimed at addressing this knowledge gap. The research utilized a flexible diary-interview method (DIM) to investigate stress-related experiences among Mexican American WSWM residing in an economically disadvantaged community in the U.S. during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A detailed description of the study is provided, including information on the background, methodology, participants' experiences, and how the project was managed remotely by a virtual research team. Twenty-one participants were asked to maintain a diary for a 6-week period spanning from March to September 2021. They submitted weekly entries in diverse formats (visual, audio, typed, and handwritten) through a user-friendly website or via mail while communicating regularly with researchers over the phone. Following the diarizing period, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to clarify pertinent information within the entries and validate researchers' preliminary interpretations. Out of the initial 21 enrollees, 14 participants stopped diarizing at different stages, and nine completed the entire study. Despite facing challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, participants reported the diary-keeping process as a positive experience that offered an authentic outlet to share parts of their lives they seldom reveal. The implementation of this study highlights two significant methodological insights. Firstly, it emphasizes the value of employing a DIM to explore intersectional narratives. Secondly, it underscores the importance of adopting a flexible and sensitive approach in qualitative health research, particularly when engaging individuals from minoritized groups.