Subtle Racism Research Articles

Casual Racism Against Kashmiri Students And Their Otherization

This paper intends to investigate the occurrence of racism against the people of Kashmir in mainland India, its manifestations over time, and its effects on the personal and professional life of Kashmiris currently residing outside Kashmir. Casual racism is a form of racism which involves making subtle racist remarks, usually in the form of jokes and off-handed comments, and subjecting them to certain prejudices and stereotypes against them. While it has always been present in India, there has been a significant rise in recent years, resulting in several incidents like hate-crimes, evictions, and a general sense of fear in the community. Through a review of literature and data analysis, this study aims to comprehend the factors contributing to the escalation of this form of racism, its manifestations in society, and its consequences for Kashmiris. The research also suggests potential solutions to combat this type of behaviour and promote tolerable environment in general

‘[K]neeling only goes to highlight your ignorance. England is NOT! a #racist country’: aversive racism, colour-blindness, and racist temporalities in discussions of football online

ABSTRACT Drawing on theories of aversive racism and colour-blindness, which stress the invisibility of contemporary racism, this article analyses online discussions on taking the knee (TTK) during EURO2020 men’s football tournament. While highly visible racist abuse directed at Black English players after losing the final to Italy (dominative racism) received most public attention and repudiation, based on 6,850 English language tweets published on Twitter/X, this article shows how subtle racism and colour-blindness were reinforced in discussions around TTK over the duration of the tournament (aversive racism). The article also shows how individuals online developed a variety of strategies (evidence, othering, critique, and activism) to challenge the main arguments against anti-racist activism in football (identified in four themes: BLM, Marxism, virtue signalling, and woke). The article makes an original contribution by examining the changing intensity of online conversations on TTK over the duration of the tournament. Our analysis identifies key moments in the tournament, political elites’ rhetoric, and trends of success and failure as relevant factors that shaped vernacular conversations online. The discussion ultimately argues that investigating the temporal patterns of public discussions on (anti)racism provides valuable insights to understand the contemporary complexity of racism in football and society more broadly.

Asian Hate, religion, and perceived changes in physical health: exploring the flip side of minority stress during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Objectives Prior research suggests that racism is associated with adverse mental health outcomes for Asians in the United States. Relatively less research has been conducted to examine the effects of racism on physical health, particularly the changes in physical health among Asians and Asian Americans. This study aims to fill in this gap in prior research. Design Survey was conducted via Qualtrics in March 2023. A panel sample of 356 Asian and Asian American adults from across the US was collected. Ordinary Least Squares Regression was employed to examine the interrelationships among racism, religion, and perceived changes in physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results Contrary to conventional wisdom, more frequent experience with blatant racism was associated with a perceived improvement in physical health after controlling for subtle racism, anxiety, acculturation, and various sociodemographic variables. Interestingly, this robust relationship was more significant among Asians who attended religious services more frequently. Additional three-way interactions revealed that the interaction between blatant racism and religious service attendance on perceived changes in physical health was more significant for US-born Asians and Asians of Indian or Japanese ethnicity. Conclusion Racism exerts a significant influence on physical health outcomes among Asians and Asian Americans. However, this relationship was contingent upon the specific aspect of racism and intersected with religiosity, acculturation, and ethnic identity.

The Lived Experience of African American Persons with Cystic Fibrosis.

Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a rare genetic disease affecting approximately 30,000 people in the United States (US). African American persons with CF are even rarer, comprising approximately 5% of this population. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of African American persons with CF to identify potential disparities in health care. Methods: Descriptive phenomenology was used to explore lived experiences of African American persons with CF over age 18 recruited from CF Foundation-accredited Centers in the US, CF-specific social media, and via snowball sampling. Study data was obtained through telephone interviews that were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using Colaizzi's method of thematic analysis. Results: Six men and six women (ages 23-45) completed the study. Interviews revealed three themes: (1) Accepting a Diagnosis of CF; (2) Desiring a Normal Life while Living with an Invisible Disease; and 3) A Slippery Slope of Subtle Racism. Each theme had 2-3 subthemes. Conclusions: It is critical to explore the unique challenges faced by African American persons with CF in order to develop interventions that improve their daily lives and create better futures. Implications for Practice: Findings highlight the unique challenges faced by underrepresented groups with CF and the need to address health inequities to improve care delivery.

Cognitive Dissonance and the Maintenance of a Positive Self‐Concept among Interracially Partnered Whites

This article analyzes the narratives of 40 partners in white/non‐white interracial relationships about their experiences navigating race across racially homogenous spaces. Both partners of color and white partners constructed rural areas, the South, and suburbs as racially hostile areas they avoided when possible. When discussing the white settings couples frequented socially, however, the narratives of partners of color and white partners diverged. Whereas partners of color characterized these settings as marked by more subtle racism, white partners characterized them as progressive and non‐racist. However, white partners unwittingly contradicted this as they recounted recurrent instances of interpersonal racism. Cognitive dissonance theory posits when individuals' beliefs and/or behaviors are threatening to their self‐concept, they will engage in activities to maintain a positive conception of themselves. Using cognitive dissonance theory as a guiding framework, this article suggests the inconsistencies in whites' narratives reflect a cognitive dissonance in which white partners' self‐concept as progressive and non‐racist is threatened by their association with whites who engage in racist rhetoric. Consequently, white partners dismiss, rationalize, and/or minimize the racism they encounter in order to maintain a positive conception of other whites, and thereby themselves.

Race, Color, and the Application of Pool Theory

In today’s complex society, we encounter various societal issues. However, race as an attribute and as a major social form tremendously affects many aspects of individuals’ lives, as well as society as a whole. It continues to shape social, political, and economic hierarchies. Many sociological theories that have focused on race and racism, but few have focused on an in-depth understanding of subtle racism and its socio-historical constructs. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and explore race, color, and racism, particularly the subjective form of racism, utilizing the Pool Theory.Pool theory, based on acquired idea from the billiard game, asserts that racism is formed through people’s implicit attitudes, feelings, and behaviors. It emphasizes that race, like many other social concepts, is socially and culturally created by the dominant groups for labeling others to suit their own imagination and goals. Based on generalizations, the theory accentuates that race is subjective and implicit, and that skin color is highly valued in society. According to this theory, those who possess favorite colors are more likely to be seen as superior, influential, valued, and successful in constructing concepts that becomes social reality. The choice of colors and the position of the billiard balls could be the consequence of implicit feelings and biased beliefs about others. Power differentiation, disparity, and colorism are evident in this game. Pool theory refutes color blindness, which is the belief that racism is no longer an issue in American society. The main objective of this study is to encourage future research in theory building, emphasizing the implicit aspects of racism. Additionally, this study can serve as an avenue for literature review, particularly in relation to race and racism.

Twilight of Rationality

Twilight of Rationality

“Dangerous conceits”: Racial Bodies and Microaggression in Shakespeare’s Othello

Many scholars read Othello, written during England's entrance onto the global stage as a colonial power, as Shakespeare’s reflection upon the increasingly diverse population of England and the rise of a modern conception of race and racism. While conceptions of race and racism shift with culture, Othello is positioned at the inception of racism and systems of oppression that are still at work today. Similarly, subtle racial slights towards Othello mirror what Professor Chester Pierce first termed as microaggressions. Drawing on Kevin Nadal's clinical research and the poetry of Claudia Rankine that details the bodily experience of microaggressions, I argue that the barrage of subtle and explicit racism that Othello experiences provides context for what at first appears to be an unbelievably quick turn against Desdemona. Othello’s tragic demise, rather than resulting from an individual character flaw, demonstrates the devastating and accumulated impact of microaggressions on racialized bodies and their collective function within a system of oppression.

Racialized experiences as in-betweenness in academia

This article draws on an in-depth narrative of a Chinese woman, early career researcher based in a UK business school, to consider questions of subtle racism in academia. Specifically, engaging with our informant’s testimony, and reading it in the context of critical organizational debates on race, we offer episodic accounts of the subtle racism that she has encountered in academia to conceptualize experiences of in-betweenness of racial minorities excluded from dominant diversity discourses. In her case, subtle racism appears to emanate from a set of gendered and racialized tropes, culminating in the “model minority” myth. This article captures how racism is encountered differently by different populations; specifically, it illuminates how racism materializes in culturally-dependent, idiosyncratic forms, which should not be de-contextualized from the historical, political, and social dynamics that engender it. In so doing, it contributes to recent efforts to speak out against racism in the academy.

\u201cI have to do twice as well\u201d \u2013 managing everyday racism in a Swedish medical school

BackgroundMounting evidence suggests that medical students from cultural/ethnic minority backgrounds face recurring and more or less subtle racist oppression, i.e., everyday racism. Insights into how they handle these inequalities, though, are scarce – especially in a Swedish context. In this interview study we therefore explored and analyzed the strategies used by racialized minority medical students to manage episodes of everyday racism – and their underlying motives and considerations.MethodsIndividual interviews were carried out with 15 medical students (8 women, 7 men) who self-identified as having ethnic- or cultural minority backgrounds. Inspired by constructivist grounded theory, data were collected and analyzed simultaneously.ResultsParticipants strove to retain their sense of self as active students and professional future physicians – as opposed to passive and problematic ‘Others’. Based on this endeavor, they tried to manage the threat of constraining stereotypes and exclusion. Due to the power relations in medical education and clinical placement settings as well as racialized students’ experience of lacking both credibility and support from bystanders, few dared to speak up or report negative treatment. Instead, they sought to avoid racism by withdrawing socially and seeking safe spaces. Or, they attempted to adopt a professional persona that was resistant to racial slights. Lastly, they tried to demonstrate their capability or conform to the majority culture, in attempts to refute stereotypes.ConclusionsRacism is not caused by the exposed individuals’ own ways of being or acting. Therefore, behavioral changes on the part of minority students will not relieve them from discrimination. Rather, strategies such as adaptation and avoidance run the risk of re-inscribing the white majority as the norm for a medical student. However, as long as racialized minority students stand alone it is difficult for them to act in any other way. To dismantle racism in medical education, this study indicates that anti-racist policies and routines for handling discrimination are insufficient. School management should also acknowledge racially minoritized students’ experiences and insights about racist practices, provide students and supervisors with a structural account of racism, as well as organize training in possible ways to act as a bystander to support victims of racism, and create a safer working environment for all.

Racialized moments in qualitative interviews: confronting colour-blind and subtle racism in real time

ABSTRACT Colour-blind discourse represents dominant American racial ideologies surrounding principles of equal opportunity and assumptions that racism and systemic racial inequities are things of the past, ‘naturally occurring’ issues, or problems relegated to individual choices and behaviours. Qualitative researchers who seek to disrupt the legitimation of Whiteness and colour-blind and subtle racism can respond to these forms of injustices during interviews and conversations; yet, past work rarely highlights the researcher and researcher challenges in these processes. Additionally, traditional methodologies typically push researchers to reflect on racism and injustices after such moments have passed or to miss them altogether. We analyse the potential and constraints of qualitative educational researchers in responding to such moments in real time. We use a case study of a high school peer-mentoring programme with multilingual and emerging multilingual students of colour and teachers to unpack prevailing racial tensions and assumptions during interviews and situate ourselves, as qualitative researchers, in those processes. We discuss how research team-members can collectively prepare to challenge colour-blind ideological stances through active interviewing and reflexivity-in-practice, opportunities for counternarratives, engaging White allies, and partnerships with schools for critical conversations.

Effects of regular and joke dog whistles on perceptions of political candidates

Abstract Our experiment showed a scenario where a White politician used a racist dog whistle (DW) when referring to his Black opponent. We used pilot data to determine DW statements and then tested whether different DWs (joke or regular) would affect perceptions of candidates based on participants’ levels of subtle and explicit racism compared to a comment without racial undertones. Our results indicated that while neither DW affected perceptions of the Black candidate based on participants’ levels of subtle racism, when a regular DW was used, subtle racism was positively associated with more positive perceptions of the White candidate. Our findings can broadly be explained within the context of modern racism and the suppression justification model of prejudice. The presence of a DW served as a prime, allowing those who have subtle anti-Black prejudice to express it through more positive personal perceptions of the White candidate. Without opportunities to justify the expression of their subtle prejudice (i.e. have a non-prejudice reason to dislike the candidate), the participants’ did not report more negative perceptions of the Black candidate. However, there was a “backlash” and participants were less likely to consider voting for the White candidate, particularly when he used a joke DW.

Antiracism as War

Racial liberalism, which dominated racial thought from the onset of the Second World War to the Brown v. Board decision, inherited from that war an enduring figurative frame: racism as world-historical event, the struggle against it a war. That frame, which liberal anthropologists introduced, undercut nonstatist and radical antiracisms (states wage war), militated against enduring change (wars shouldn’t last forever), and contradicted the anthropologists’ own theories of human difference. Though often described as a hard turn from race as hierarchical biological difference to race as normative cultural difference, World War II marked not a transition from a hard-edged scientific racism to a more subtle cultural racism but the moment at which anthropologists biologized culture—not a racial break but a racial bridge.

UK Black hair matters: A thematic analysis exploring Afro-Caribbean women’s hair as representations of the socially constructed knowledge of identity and identity threats

Hair has the ability to visibly define ethnic difference, determine identity and impact self-esteem. Although empirical research has explored the hair texture altering behaviours of African American women, the experiences of Afro-caribbean women in the UK have been under-investigated despite being shaped by distinct cultural and historical contexts. Guided by the theoretical explanations of identity processes theory and situational identity and threats, semi-structured interviews of UK Afro-Caribbean women were used to investigate intergroup factors which affect their responses to intergroup relations and the salience of personal and social identity. Through the social constructionist epistemological approach, thematic analysis suggested that Afro-Caribbean women’s hair was subjectively positioned as a source of everyday subtle racism. The findings differ from American studies as UK Afro-Caribbean women describe the threat to identity as not only pervasive but endemic.

Prejudice in Turkey and Belgium: The cross‐cultural comparison of correlations of right‐wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation with sexism, homophobia, and racism

AbstractUsing data from Turkey and Belgium, this study investigated the relationships of right‐wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation with ambivalent sexism, homophobia, and subtle racism. First, we predicted that men are more prejudiced than women. This hypothesis was confirmed in the Turkish but not in the Belgian sample. Second, Muslims were higher in authoritarianism and homophobia than people belonging to other (or no) religious groups. Third, Muslims also showed more hostile sexism toward both men and women. Fourth, negative associations of education with authoritarianism, sexism, and homophobia were expected and found. Fifth, in both countries, authoritarianism was positively related to homophobia and sexism, and social dominance orientation was positively associated with racism. Finally, groups comparing both samples, we found that Turks’ authoritarianism and prejudice was higher than Belgians’. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Subtle racism in English language: A socio-semiotic analysis of black-prefixed English lexicons

The English language has become a global language and as such, it is expected to be devoid of racial discrimination and prejudice. The English language has both verbal and non-verbal systems of communication which often requires semantic and semiotic analyses for the purpose of generating meaning. Most English words with the prefix 'black' have meanings that are either connotative or derogative. Using Jakobson’s transmutation theory, the study establishes the relationship between colour, culture, and racial prejudice in English language black-prefixed lexicons. This is a subtle form of racism when such words are taught in schools. The design adopted for this research was a qualitative, and no variables were manipulated because it was a library research. The study examined the socio-semiotic elements of black-prefixed words in the English language to establish that there is subtle racism in English expressions used and taught in schools. It was concluded that instruction in the language should be revitalized to eradicate racism of any form, especially in the second language classroom.

Development of a support for Black Lives Matter measure among racially-ethnically diverse college students.

This paper developed and validated a new measure of support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement among a racially-ethnically diverse sample of college students. The measure focuses on the movement's principles of Black liberation, intersectionality, and alliance building. Participants included 1934 college students (75% female) from a large public Southwestern university. The factor structure was supported by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, resulting in an 18-item measure, Support for Black Lives Matter, with two underlying factors. Black Liberation includes 12 items representing support for BLM because of awareness of and challenging structural inequality and racism experienced by Black individuals. Intersectional Values includes six items representing support for BLM because it embraces and affirms marginalized populations within the Black community, especially disabled Blacks, queer Blacks, Black women, and Black families with children. Evidence of criterion-related validity was demonstrated with racial group differences in support of BLM factors. Evidence of convergent validity was supported by significant positive correlations between support for BLM factors and critical consciousness (including awareness of racism, classism, and heterosexism), and negative correlations between support for BLM factors and subtle racist attitudes toward Blacks. Measurement invariance was evident between White, Black, Asian American, Latinx, and Multiracial participants. Implications and suggestions for use of the new measure are discussed.

Context Matters: Differential Effects of Discrimination by Environmental Context on Depressive Symptoms Among College Students of Color

Experiences with more subtle racism – which have been called microaggressions – have a host of negative effects on health, mental health, educational performance, and general well-being on people of color. In this study we draw on a longitudinal dataset of Black, Latinx, and Asian students in higher education and use the microaggression framework to distinguish between the types of reported subtle experiences with discrimination, including (1) classroom-based, or perceived discrimination or discomfort in the classroom; (2) microassaults, or verbal assaults; (3) discomfort, or perceived discomfort on campus because of race, (4) criminality, which refers to both being stopped by University police and (5) refusal to acknowledge intra-racial differences, which here describes experiences with intraracial microaggressions. Our findings explore (1) the differential effects of different types of microaggressions on symptoms of depression (2) intergroup differences in effects of microaggressions on depression and (3) the differential effects of different types of microaggressions over time.

Mental Healthcare Provider Perceptions of Race and Racial Disparity in the Care of Black and White Clients.

Black-white disparities in mental healthcare persist, despite efforts to eliminate them via culturally competent care. To gain insight into how providers implement culturally competent care practices, interviews were conducted with mental healthcare providers' about their self-reported behaviors with black and white clients and their perceptions of how race affects the treatment they provide. Thematic analysis was used to analyze 12 semi-structured interviews with providers from a Veterans Affairs healthcare system. Three sets of themes emerged: providers' general beliefs and behaviors (discomfort discussing race; belief that socioeconomic differences explained disparities; and use of coded language for race groups), providers' clinical beliefs and behaviors (race-matching enhances care and recognition of intersecting cultural identities), and providers' professional beliefs and behaviors (participation in passive racism facilitated by provider-provider alliance). Mental healthcare providers showed good awareness of intersectionality and subtle racism but held limiting beliefs that led to avoidance of discussions of race.

The Decolonization of Nursing Education

In the era of COVID-19, coupled with a community in tune to Black lives, the call to action is now. It is now time to stop, listen, and be intentional in efforts to create sustainable policies and programs that shape the ability to deliver culturally competent care to diverse patients, families, professionals, and communities. Our recommendations for how faculty and academia can decolonize nursing education are delineated in this article. All nursing schools and departments should form a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) committee, if they have not already done so. DEI committees can help thread Social Determinants of Health throughout the curriculum, highlight and address microaggressions, and develop formal and informal mentorship programs. As nurses, we must continue the discussion of race with humility but without denial and defensiveness. Subtle racist biases may be unintentionally internalized, and it is our moral and ethical responsibility to recognize these and fight them so that they do not result in prejudicial policy, practice, research, and education. Faculty should celebrate diversity through an exchange of ideas and open communication despite differences in race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, social class, or disability.