Members Of Different Races Research Articles

Blacks in the Middle Ages – What About Race and Racism in the Past? Literary and Art-Historical Reflections

Undoubtedly, racism is a deeply-anchored problem that continues to vex our world. There is a long history behind it, which can easily be traced back to the Middle Ages and beyond. This article, however, takes into consideration a number of medieval narratives and art works in which surprisingly positive images of Blacks are provided. The encounter with black-skinned people tended to create problems even for the best-intended white intellectuals or poets during the pre-modern era, but the examples studied here reveal that long before the modern age there was already an alternative discourse to embrace at least individual Blacks as equals within the courtly and the religious context. Since Europe did not yet know the large-scale form of slavery, as it emerged in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there were much less contacts between Blacks and Whites. Nevertheless, the evidence brought to the table here clearly signals that we would commit a serious mistake by equating modern-day racism with the situation in the Middle Ages, as much as modern research (Heng) has argued along those lines. It would be more appropriate to talk about the encounter of races within the literary and art-historical context. Even the notion of Black diaspora would not fully address the issue because the evidence brought to the table here engages mostly with black or half-black knights and other individuals who enjoy considerable respect and appear to be integral members of courtly society both in the East and in the West. Instead of working with theoretical models developed for the analysis of racism in our own times, such as Critical Race Theory (CRT), this study offers close readings of literary examples of personal encounters between members of different races in medieval German and Dutch literature, and of the representation of Blacks in late medieval and early modern art history, concluding with some comments on the first Black philosopher in eighteenth-century Germany.

An Immigrant Neighborhood: Interethnic and Interracial Encounters in New York before 1930 by Shirley J. Yee

Book Reviews 133 An Immigrant Neighborhood: Interethnic and Interracial Encounters in New York before 1930. By Shirley J. Yee. Temple University Press, 2011, 256 pages, $27.95 Paper. Reviewed by Roger White, Whittier College Dispelling the notion that ethnic communities existed largely in isolation , Shirley J. Yee’s An Immigrant Neighborhood is a detailed, meticulously researched and well-written social history of the communities of Lower Manhattan during a unique period in American history (1865– 1930). The narrative is engaging, as the author deftly employs personal stories, which are told using information that appears, in many instances, pieced together from fragments, to motivate discussions of larger issues ranging from friendship to business relations to interracial marriage. The writing style will appeal to both academics and non-academic readers alike. Yee’s focus is “to explore the social and economic conditions under which people participated in the simultaneous development of co-ethnic and interracial/interethnic relations in their daily lives” (4). Yee’s contribution is substantial in that it offers rich details of day-to-day life that run counter to a more general, more naive view of interracial and interethnic relations during the period that includes isolation and sequestration. Yee sets out “to illuminate how they negotiated their understandings of “difference” (and similarities) in everyday life” (27). The author’s “they” includes “working-class people, reformers, police, and tourists” of the time, among others. The notion of immigrant communities living separately from one another and from the native-born whites and African Americans is quickly dispelled. Repeatedly, and effectively, the author makes a point of the extensive interactions between members of different races and ethnicities . Coincidentally, Yee accomplishes a broader, more general, but no less important, objective. During the period covered, the American identity —in terms of what race, ethnicity and gender roles meant—underwent a sustained and pronounced transformation. Yee acknowledges the broader implications when she writes, “Within this process of change, however, discourses of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality have continued to frame the ways in which ordinary people form individual and group identities and construct families and communities” (175). 134 ■ NEW YORK HISTORY It is easy to heap praise upon Yee for her efforts. Even so, the book is not without its shortcomings. In addition to the Introduction and Conclusion, there are five chapters that comprise the book. The chapters often appear as independent works related to a common topic and that seem to be organized, as best as possible, to produce a manuscript. Yee begins the book by focusing on the personal relationships established and maintained by members of the immigrant and native-born communities. Emphasis is placed on the extent to which interethnic and interracial interaction was commonplace. This is followed, in the second chapter, by a wonderful discussion of how business relations were fomented between merchants and customers of different ethnicities and races. Chapter three blends the themes of the first two chapters, as Yee drives home the point that relationships were established and nurtured both as a matter of want and, at times, out of need. The focus of chapter four is the anti-vice movement in relation to the communities of lower Manhattan, and chapter five details the role of religion among and between the communities. The first three chapters fit together quite well. Likewise, the final two chapters fit well together. The difficulty lies here: the two parts of the work fit together poorly. This leaves the book feeling somewhat disjointed; it is as though there are two smaller works (or five short pieces) merged. The concluding section works to tie the pieces together, and does so fairly well, but it is insufficient to remedy the larger shortcoming. All criticism aside, however, as a reader I find myself contemplating the number of similar stories, from other locales and/or time periods, that are waiting to be told. In this respect, Yee’s book provides a brief glimpse into a rich American history; yet one more contribution, perhaps unintended in this case, that is made by this work. This book will be of interest to scholars of New York as well as local historical societies. The writing style is such that the...

An fMRI investigation of racial paralysis.

We explore the existence and underlying neural mechanism of a new norm endorsed by both black and white Americans for managing interracial interactions: "racial paralysis', the tendency to opt out of decisions involving members of different races. We show that people are more willing to make choices--such as who is more intelligent, or who is more polite-between two white individuals (same-race decisions) than between a white and a black individual (cross-race decisions), a tendency which was evident more when judgments involved traits related to black stereotypes. We use functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the mechanisms underlying racial paralysis, to examine the mechanisms underlying racial paralysis, revealing greater recruitment of brain regions implicated in socially appropriate behavior (ventromedial prefrontal cortex), conflict detection (anterior cingulate cortex), deliberative processing (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), and inhibition (ventrolateral prefrontal cortex). We also discuss the impact of racial paralysis on the quality of interracial relations.

“I've Never Looked at Someone and Thought What Colour They Are”: Contact Theory and Interracial Friendship in New Zealand

Little is known about the micro-level social processes that give rise to the ‘contact effect’, a reduction in levels of prejudice and stereotyping resulting from interpersonal contact between members of different races or ethnic groups. Reporting findings from a qualitative study, this paper challenges the notion that interracial friendships will necessarily lead to empathy and decreased stereotyping. In interviews, Māori and Pakeha (white New Zealanders) describe race as invisible in close friendships, but also as the basis around which a great deal of ‘relationship management’ occurs. Contradictory discourses of trust and closeness on the one hand, and guardedness and self-regulation on the other, point to the complexity of these relationships. The potential for open communication, exchange of knowledge, reductions in anxiety and threat perception, and the development of affection are thus constrained. The findings suggest that the normative social context along with structures of intergroup relations provide an omnirelevant milieu in which interracial friendships occur and are managed, consequently moderating the effects of contact.

Race-Related Content of Animated Cartoons

Relying upon a content analysis of 1 specific type of medium to which young people are exposed beginning at an early age, on a regular basis, and for many years (i.e., animated cartoons), the present study examines what types of messages are provided about being members of different racial groups. This research examines the following issues: (a) How prevalent are race-related content and overt acts of racism in animated cartoons? (b) Has this prevalence changed over time? (c) What “types” of characteristics tend to be associated with being Caucasian, African American, Latino, Native American, and Asian? Results indicate that the prevalence of racial minority groups has been low over the years, with gradual decreases in representation during recent years, when the American population of racial minorities has grown. As time has gone on, the presence of overt racism has decreased greatly, demonstrating particularly sharp declines in the years since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. On most dimensions studied, members of different races were portrayed similarly.

Weimarer Mischung: Drei Photomontagen von Hannah Hoch und die biowissenschaftlichen Debatten um Geschlechter, Rassen und Gene

Article Weimarer Mischung: Drei Photomontagen von Hannah Hoch und die biowissenschaftlichen Debatten um Geschlechter, Rassen und Gene was published on May 1, 2006 in the journal Feministische Studien (volume 24, issue 1).

Seeking common ground: public schools in a diverse society

The American republic will survive only if its citizens are educated - this was an article of faith of its founders. But seeking common civic ground in public schools has never been easy in a society where schoolchildren followed different religions, adhered to different cultural traditions, spoke many languages, and were identified as members of different races.

Race and Alternative and Complementary Medicine Use by Elderly Patients

T he rapid increase in the use of alternative and complementary medicine (ACM) in recent decades has been observed among elderly patients and those of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Although ACM utilization has been described as being most prevalent in middle-age whites and those with relatively more education and higher incomes, ACM is, in fact, used by people of all ages and ethnicities. Studies have differed on whether use of ACM varies among members of different races or ethnic groups. A number of investigations on ACM use, 1–4 including the largest study done specifically on elderly subjects,5 did not find variation in the overall use of ACM, but other researchers found that whites were more likely to utilize ACM than other minorities were.6,7 Boutin et al. noted that, when diet and nutritional therapies were excluded, the use of herbal medicine and manual healing differed by race.8 There have also been many reports of ethnic groups that have strong histories of using folk medicine. The presence of such traditions may alter the prevalence of use of specific therapies or use of ACM in general among specific groups. A survey was conducted on ACM use by a population of elderly outpatients of a large urban teaching hospital that included significant numbers of minorities.9,10 As part of this investigation, variation in utilization of ACM by race and ethnicity was explored.

Interracialism: Black-White Intermarriage in American History, Literature, and Law

Interracialism, or marriage between members of different races, has formed, torn apart, defined and divided the American nation since its earliest history. This volume explores the primary texts of interracialism as a means of addressing core issues in American racial identity. Ranging from Hannah Arendt to George Schuyler and from Pace v. Alabama to Loving v. Virginia, it provides extraordinary resources for faculty and students in English, American and Ethnic Studies, as well as for general readers interested in race relations.

Integrated Sundays: An Exploratory Study into the Formation of Multiracial Churches

Americans are less likely to develop primary relationships with members of different races than with members of their own race. Thus, organizations in which Americans develop their primary friendships are highly likely to be racially segregated. In a society in which primary interracial relationships are uncommon, multiracial churches are anomalous organizations. The purpose of this paper is to explore how multiracial churches may form. We utilize factor analysis based upon a national sample of multiracial churches, found through The Congregational Project (TCP), to discover the pathways used to create racially integrated congregations. This analysis describes four possible pathways: leadership, evangelical, demographic, and network. Qualitative research provides a case study for each of these dimensions. Future theoretical work is necessary for understanding the development of these pathways. Social scientists need to conduct more empirical research to determine if the origination of multiracial churches is linked to enduring characteristics of those organizations.

Beyond O. J.: Examining Race Relations in the Workplace

Public events frequently occur that raise issues about race relations in the workplace. This article describes a diversity exercise centered on a classroom skit about reactions to a highly publicized event, the O. J. Simpson murder trial. The skit may be adapted for future use to examine three issues: (a) how members of different races and cultures communicate in the workplace, (b) what needs to happen for these communications to have a positive rather than a negative affect on race relations, and (c) how critical public events may become tools for learning about workplace relationships between people of different races and cultures.

Desegregation as Necessity and Challenge

As we in this issue of the Journal of Negro Education explore new transformations of schools to meet the needs of African American students, it is important for us not to lose sight of transformations that have already occurred but that need constant reconsideration. Desegregation is no longer much discussed as an educational policy. While demographic changes have made desegregation practically impossible for many African American children in the nation's largest cities, they have made it a standard experience for those in some suburbs. The latter schools are often not self-conscious about desegregation; they simply serve students of more than one race, though numbers of African Americans and other non-White groups are generally small. Other schools, many in mid-sized and smaller cities, and sometimes their suburbs, operate under longstanding desegregation agreements or court orders where racial mixing, even if it involves long distance busing, has become a more or less routine way of doing business. Some of these communities are now asking courts' permission to withdraw from these agreements.In this article, I will first explain why desegregation is an important practice that must not be allowed to lapse. I will then discuss some of the pressures that have made it a less than satisfactory experience for African American children in many local contexts and in nationally patterned ways. Finally, I will discuss magnet schools as one fragile tool that sometimes helps, but sometimes hurts, the situation of African American children.As a citizen interested in promoting some educational policies, as distinct from a social scientist analyzing events, I am an unapologetic advocate of desegregated, or rather, integrated schools. I believe that in a multiracial society with a history of painful race relations, it is essential that persons of different races have contact while they are small children, before stereotypes and fears take root. They need to be able to tumble over one another in the nursery to become used to their differences and to understand their similarities. They need to grow up friends and allies with members of different races so that they can understand one another and have close ties of emotional identification that cross racial lines.I argue this because I believe that early accommodation to difference, close emotional ties across racial lines, and the capacity to identify with persons of different races are crucial to an ability to overcome the deeply rooted, divisive forces separating the races in our society. Although these experiences and ties may be needed for somewhat different reasons and in somewhat different ways by children of different races, all effective adults in a multiracial society must have cognitive knowledge and emotional empathy that allows them understanding of other individuals and groups across racial lines. All must learn to understand and make themselves understood by members of the other group; to be socially at ease with these others; to trust others in the sometimes delicate cooperative ventures of occupational, civic, and social life; and to treat all persons and groups with fairness and justice. A long tradition of social psychological theory and research suggests that this end will be met only through prolonged social contact where children of all races meet as equals and where they are engaged in cooperative ventures together (Schofield, 1989).Because African Americans can rarely avoid dealing with Whites, they may need these experiences in school less than do Whites, who can, and often do, avoid having much contact with African Americans. Therefore, desegregated schools may be more important for their impact on Whites, though Whites' need for this socialization is less often discussed. While African American parents are understandably reluctant to send their children into difficult school situations primarily to educate White children in racial relations, the impact on African Americans of Whites who have not been so socialized can be very destructive. …

The Contact Hypothesis Revisited: Black-White Interaction and Positive Racial Attitudes

The Contact Hypothesis Revisited: Black-White Interaction and Positive Racial Attitudes

A LOOK AT CONTENT BIAS IN IQ TESTS

Sexual and racial biases persist even in the face of legal sanctions. While the past century has seen females and nonwhites enfranchised, their equality has yet to be realized. Pejorative stereotypes abound in present-day society, fostering and maintaining discriminatory attitudes. While the more obvious forms of discrimination have been outlawed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and by Title IX of the Educational Amendment Act of 1972, more subtle forms of discrimination have yet to be eradicated. In the arena of educational assessment, one potential form of subtle bias may exist in the content of IQ test items. Although research has substantiated the existence of bias in achievement test item content (Donlon, Ekstrom, Lockheed & Harris, 1977; Tittle, McCarthy & Steckler, 1974) and performance differences (Donlon et al., 1977; Strassberg-Rosenberg & Donlon, 1975), research on IQ test bias has been limited to performance (Jencks, Smith, Acland, Bare, Cohen, Gintis, Heyns & Michelson, 1972; Jensen, 1971; Laosa, 1977; Samuda, 1975). Perhaps a reason that so much more research has been done on bias in test performance than in test item content relates to the relative ease with which performance bias can be detected. Disparities in mean IQ scores are straightforward. However, differences in the ways which stereotypes are depicted in test items require clear definitions of a biased representation. In addition to assessing the extent to which individual items are stereotyped, an analysis of content bias in IQ tests requires measurement of the frequency with which members of different races and sexes appear. Although stereotyping can be readily identified on an item by item basis, the cumulative effects of disproportionate sexual and racial representations are not apparent until the test is considered in its entirety. Regardless of whether item content bias affects subsequent test performance, the issues of sexual and racial stereotyping and disproportionate representations warrant scrutiny in and of themselves. Just as blatant forms of bias have no place in education, more subtle forms are equally intolerable even if they do not in turn effect performance. To the extent that test items are biased, they foster inappropriate and inaccurate perceptions. Considering the widespread use and respectability of IQ tests, it becomes important to ask: To what extent do test items accurately represent the distribution of sexes and races, and to what extent are members of these groups stereotyped?

THE GEOGRAPHICAL ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN BIOLOGY (the anthropological aspect)

Among the various problems relating to the man-nature relationship, little work has been done on the mechanism by which extreme natural environments, such as those observed in the Arctic, in continental Siberia, in the tropics and in highlands, affect the human organism. A Moscow University anthropologist discusses the geographical distribution of some anthropologic traits and concludes that some physiologic and morphologic features inherent in members of different races and ethnic groups tend to adapt themselves to particular environments without posing an obstacle to existence in other ecological settings. It is found in particular that members of different races or ethnic groups will display similar adaptive characteristics in a given environment while members of a particular ethnic group will show different adaptive tendencies in different environments. [The article is based on the author's book Geograficheskaya sreda i biologiya cheloveka (Geographical Environment and Human Biology), published in Mos...

The Relevance of Race Research

Previous articleNext article No AccessDiscussionThe Relevance of Race ResearchThomas R. IrelandThomas R. Ireland Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Ethics Volume 84, Number 2Jan., 1974 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/291911 Views: 4Total views on this site Copyright 1974 University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The housing market in integrating areas

Restriction of non-whites to separate residential areas has existed in the United States for generations. Such restrictions that have occurred in the past and will occur in an informal manner in the future have had only popular mythology to support them. Whites who object to non-white neighbors have been classified as follows: those who object for social or personal reasons and those who are concerned only about the economic loss that they may suffer. Unfortunately each of these groups tends to reinforce the other. If, for example, the entry of non-white results in a movement of whites and associates who are worried about their social status, the movement tends to be reinforced by those who claim that they are only attempting to protect their real estate investment. For whatever reasons, the result is a movement of whites out of a neighborhood and an influx of Negroes. 2 The popular myth has been supported by a vast literature, often extending into real estate text books. For example: "It is in the twilight zone, where members of different races live together that racial mixtures tend to have a depressing effect upon land values and therefore, upon rents. ,3 Lest one thilLk that these citations are old and therefore forgotten or not relevant to the present situation, we offer the following from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (October 6, 1969) p. 5A:

Psychiatric Casualties in Burma, 1945

It is likely to be contended that climatic conditions, jungle warfare, distance from home, long separation from wife and family, difficulties in obtaining leave in the United Kingdom, delay in the receipt of mail, close association with members of different races and problems in regard to evacuation contributed to the incidence of psychiatric illness in Burma. It will be interesting to note in due course, when the total figures of psychiatric casualties from all theatres of war are available, whether or not conditions in Burma were in fact relatively more productive of psychiatric illness than they were, say, in North Africa or Italy. Then only will it be possible to conjecture on the relative effects of one type of climate as compared with another, or jungle warfare as compared with desert fighting, and so on.