"This book presents a series of insightful discussions centered around the concept of identity as the key to understanding how racial minorities define reality, experience changes in racial consciousness, and perceive themselves and the world around them. This volume brings together many influential thinkers, writers, scholars, and researchers who tell a story that is deeply embedded in American society and still unfolding. The chapters are concise, well written, and presented in a sequence that captures the power and vision of Clark's testimony, rationale, methodology, and subsequent discoveries, which have altered the landscape of psychology. This volume is a must read for laypeople, students and professionals from a range of disciplines including psychology, social work, law, theology, ethics, sociology, and American history who will be impressed by the power and scope of the deeply probing analyses. This volume examines the continuing reality of racism but takes us beyond conceptions of "damage" to illuminate the strengths and resilience of African American culture. In a fitting tribute to Kenneth B. Clark, the contributors treat the cultural and historical context of racial identity as essential for a psychological analysis"--Jacket. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved)

A guide to the latest research on how young people can develop positive ethnic-racial identities and strong interracial relations Today’s young people are growing up in an increasingly ethnically and racially diverse society. How do we help them navigate this world productively, given some of the seemingly intractable conflicts we constantly hear about? In Below the Surface, Deborah Rivas-Drake and Adriana Umaña-Taylor explore the latest research in ethnic and racial identity and interracial relations among diverse youth in the United States. Drawing from multiple disciplines, including developmental psychology, social psychology, education, and sociology, the authors demonstrate that young people can have a strong ethnic-racial identity and still view other groups positively, and that in fact, possessing a solid ethnic-racial identity makes it possible to have a more genuine understanding of other groups. During adolescence, teens reexamine, redefine, and consolidate their ethnic-racial identities in the context of family, schools, peers, communities, and the media. The authors explore each of these areas and the ways that ideas of ethnicity and race are implicitly and explicitly taught. They provide convincing evidence that all young people—ethnic majority and minority alike—benefit from engaging in meaningful dialogues about race and ethnicity with caring adults in their lives, which help them build a better perspective about their identity and a foundation for engaging in positive relationships with those who are different from them. Timely and accessible, Below the Surface is an ideal resource for parents, teachers, educators, school administrators, clergy, and all who want to help young people navigate their growth and development successfully.

Racial identity theories have been in the psychological literature for nearly thirty years. Unlike most references to racial identity, however, Thompson and Carter demonstrate the value of integrating RACE and IDENTITY as systematic components of human functioning. The editors and their contributors show how the infusion of racial identity theory with other psychological models can successfully yield more holistic considerations of client functioning and well-being. Fully respecting the mutual influence of personal and environmental factors to explanations of individual and group functioning, they apply complex theoretical notions to real-life cases in psychological practice. These authors contend that race is a pervasive and formidable force in society that affects the development and functioning of individuals and groups. In a recursive fashion, individuals and groups influence and, indeed, nurture the notion of race and societal racism. Arguing that mental health practitioners are in key, influential positions to pierce this cycle, the authors provide evidence of how meaningful change can occur when racial identity theory is integrated into interventions that attempt to diminish the distress people experience in their lives. The interventions illustrated in this volume are applied in various contexts, including psychotherapy and counseling, supervision, family therapy, support groups, and organizational and institutional environments. This book can serve the needs and interests of advanced-level students and professionals in all mental health fields, as well as researchers and scholars in such disciplines as organizational management and forensic psychology. It can also be of value to anyone interested in the systematic implementation of strategies to overcome problems of race.

The classic, New York Times-bestselling book on the psychology of racism that shows us how to talk about race in America. Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy? How can we get past our reluctance to discuss racial issues? Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, argues that straight talk about our racial identities is essential if we are serious about communicating across racial and ethnic divides and pursuing antiracism. These topics have only become more urgent as the national conversation about race is increasingly acrimonious. This fully revised edition is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand dynamics of race and racial inequality in America.

The relationship between ethnic identity and power has important consequences in a modern world that is changing rapidly through global immigration trends. Studies of ethnic/racial conflict of ethnic identity and power become necessarily studies of political power, social status, school achievement, and allocation of resources. The recognition of power by an ethnic group, however, creates a competition for control and a rivalry for power over public arenas, such as schools. In this context this book provides interesting and important insights into the dilemmas faced by immigrants and members of ethnic groups, by school personnel, and by policy makers. The first part of the book consists of comparative studies of ethnic identity. The second part focuses directly on some of the lessons learned from social science research on ethnic identification and the critical study of equity, with its implications for pedagogy. An interdisciplinary group of scholars offers profoundly honest and stimulating accounts of their struggles to decipher self-identification processes in various political contexts, as well as their personal reflections on the study of ethnicity. A powerful message emerges that invites reflection about self-identification processes, and that allows a deeper understanding of the empowering consequences of a clear and strong personal, cultural, ethnic, and social identity. These pages offer a keen grasp of the undeniable political contexts of education.

McIntyre describes how a group of white middle- and upper-middle-class female student teachers examined their "whiteness" and how they, as current and future educators, might develop teaching strategies that aim to disrupt and eliminate the oppressiveness of white privilege in education. The group analyzed ways of making meaning about whiteness and thinking critically about race and racism, and explored how racial identity is implicated in the formation and implementation of teaching practices.

Identity is defined in many different ways in various disciplines in the social sciences and sub-disciplines within psychology. The developmental psychological approach to identity is characterized by a focus on developing a sense of the self that is temporally continuous and unified across the different life spaces that individuals inhabit. Erikson proposed that the task of adolescence and young adulthood was to define the self by answering the question: Who Am I? There have been many advances in theory and research on identity development since Erikson's writing over fifty years ago, and the time has come to consolidate our knowledge and set an agenda for future research. The Oxford Handbook of Identity Development represents a turning point in the field of identity development research. Various, and disparate, groups of researchers are brought together to debate, extend, and apply Erikson's theory to contemporary problems and empirical issues. The result is a comprehensive and state-of-the-art examination of identity development that pushes the field in provocative new directions. Scholars of identity development, adolescent and adult development, and related fields, as well as graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and practitioners will find this to be an innovative, unique, and exciting look at identity development.

Decades have passed since our original theories of racial identity development were formed, bringing with them changes in our society and in our understandings of race and racism. New Perspectives on Racial Identity Development seeks to update these foundational models. The volume brings together leaders in the field to deepen, broaden, and reassess our understandings of racial identity development among Blacks, Latino/as, Asian Americans, American Indians, Whites, and multiracial people. Contributors include the authors of some of the earliest theories in the field. Bailey W. Jackson, Jean Kim, and Rita Hardiman here take stock of their original theories and offer updated versions of their models. Other theorists, such as Perry G. Horse, Charmaine L. Wijeyesinghe, Bernardo M. Ferdman, and Placida Gallegos present new paradigms and consider future issues which may come to challenge existing theories. Later chapters present examples of the ways in which these models may be applied within such contexts as conflict resolution and clinical counseling and supervisory relationships, and address their utility in understanding the experiences of other racial and ethnic groups. In addition, William E. Cross and Peony Fhagen-Smith present a revised and expanded version of nigrescence theory.

In their later years, Americans of different racial and ethnic backgrounds are not in equally good-or equally poor-health. There is wide variation, but on average older Whites are healthier than older Blacks and tend to outlive them. But Whites tend to be in poorer health than Hispanics and Asian Americans. This volume documents the differentials and considers possible explanations. Selection processes play a role: selective migration, for instance, or selective survival to advanced ages. Health differentials originate early in life, possibly even before birth, and are affected by events and experiences throughout the life course. Differences in socioeconomic status, risk behavior, social relations, and health care all play a role. Separate chapters consider the contribution of such factors and the biopsychosocial mechanisms that link them to health. This volume provides the empirical evidence for the research agenda provided in the separate report of the Panel on Race, Ethnicity, and Health in Later Life.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, racial issues are extremely complex and fluid, particularly the nature of 'blackness.' What it means to be called black is still very different for an African American living in the United States than it is for an individual in the Dominican Republic with an African ancestry. Racial categories were far from concrete as the Dominican populace grew, altered, and solidified around the present notions of identity. Kimberly Simmons explores the fascinating socio-cultural shifts in Dominicans' racial categories, concluding that Dominicans are slowly embracing blackness and ideas of African ancestry. Simmons also examines the movement of individuals between the Dominican Republic and the United States, where traditional notions of indio are challenged, debated, and called into question. How and why Dominicans define their racial identities reveal shifting coalitions between Caribbean peoples and African Americans, and proves intrinsic to understanding identities in the African diaspora.