Colorism has created a significant divide within the African American community. There is a structured hierarchy where based on the color of one’s skin tone, an individual can be viewed as a higher or lower class.This qualitative study’s purpose was to examine what the factors of colorism among African American Women and how this has affected their lives. A total of ten African American women of various skin tones volunteered to participate in a 30-45-minute face to face interview. Findings of this interview show that many of the woman have encountered stereotypes based on their skin tone. Many themes became apparent from the responses questions which were asked. Participants who have refer to themselves as “dark skinned” state that they are aware in society “light or brown skinned” women are more favored. Women who consider themselves “light skinned” have noticed the impact of colorism when their dark-skinned friends are constantly overlooked within the social setting. 6 of the 10 women interviewed feel as though men are the cause of the greater divide between light and dark-skinned women. Each participant interviewed acknowledged the social structure which accepts dark skin woman as being held to a lower standard or “at the bottom of the totem pole”. It is the hopes of this researcher that based on this study, Social Service professionals will gain a better understanding of their African American female clients as well as a development of interventions that can reduce the harmful effects of colorism.

As recent research finally starts to recognize colorism, a form of discrimination where light skin is valued over dark skin within an ethnic group, as a legitimate form of discrimination in the Black community, research on colorism in higher education still wanes. A limited amount of scholarship focuses on the manifestation of colorism in education and even less research examines the implications of complexion on Black college students and their intersectional identities. As empirical studies describe how complexion often denotes institutional degradation for dark-skinned Black students in K-12 and beyond -- from teacher perceptions, to the school-to-prison pipeline, to social dynamics with peers and more, this study privileges the voices of these marginalized students. This qualitative study uses phenomenology to detail the experiences of dark-skinned Black college students at a PWI (predominately white institution) to illustrate their lived experiences, the often intricate relationships between dark skin and intersectional identities like gender and ethnicity, and the unique phenomenon of being dark-skinned on campus. This work aims to complicate, adding rigorous research and thick qualitative description to burgeoning scholarship on colorism in education.

<p>This dissertation examines racial socialization in Afro-Brazilian families in order to understand how phenotypically diverse families negotiate racial hierarchies and ideologies of white supremacy. As an inductive, qualitative project, this research is based on over fourteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil in fifteen poor and working-class Bahian families and 116 semi-structured interviews with family members and informants. Findings suggest that one of the most prominent features of racial socialization is the pervasive devaluation of black/African influences, which is conveyed through implicit and explicit messages as well as concrete practices (including rituals) that promote the stigmatization of negatively valued racialized physical features. The study reveals a pattern of unequal distribution of affection based on racial appearance (phenotype), which is evident in parent-child, sibling, extended family, and romantic relationships. Findings suggest that negative appraisals of racial phenotype may significantly compromise affective bonds in families and have social psychological consequences impacting self-esteem and sense of belonging, while also eliciting suicidal ideations and anxieties. These outcomes are most pronounced for Afro-Brazilian females. Racial socialization also conveys the "strategically ambiguous" logic of color and racial classification, uncritically exposes family members to racist messages, jokes, and stereotypical images of Afro-Brazilians, and encourages cultural participation that superficially valorizes Afro-Brazilian culture and fosters nationalism, rather than racial identity. In contrast to traditional findings of racial socialization in the U.S., messages valorizing racial heritage are rare and efforts to prepare family members for bias rely on universal terms. Families do employ counter-discourses and creative strategies of resistance; and so, racial socialization is characterized by practices that reflect both resistance and accommodation to racial hierarchies. I conclude that racial socialization in families is influenced by and sustains racialization processes that maintain the broader system of white supremacy. Contrary to how racial socialization has been framed as having a purely protective role in families, this study illustrates how it may disadvantage blacks vis-à-vis whites and uniquely stigmatizes the most "black-looking" family members vis-à-vis those who more closely approximate an idealized (whiter) somatic norm. Future studies should triangulate data on racial socialization from other regions of the Americas.</p> / Dissertation

The immigration debate is not new to the United States; however, today’s heated discussions include strong anti-Mexican sentiments (Bean & Stone, 2012; Hughey, 2012). As Americans attempt to secure borders in an effort to insure safety and economic security, current legislation includes elements of racial profiling against Mexicans that could extend to those who possess varying levels of Mexican blood since physical characteristics tend to guide racial labeling (Aoki & Johnson, 2009; Bernal, 2002; Fernandez, 2002; Quiñones et al, 2011). As an individual of Mexican and White bloodlines, racial categorization has resulted in internal struggles and social dilemmas for me. The purpose of this dissertation was to gain understanding of my personal multiracial identity development within various social contexts; this study fulfills the requests of theorists seeking to understand multiracial identity development through self-analysis over a lifetime (Binning et al, 2009; Charmaraman & Grossman, 2010; Cheng & Lee, 2009; Miville et al, 2005). This qualitative dissertation used critical autoethnography as its methodology and theories of multiracial identity (Poston, 1990; Root, 1996; Rockquemore, Brunsma, & Delgado, 2009) and LatCrit (Aoki & Johnson, 2008; Solórzano & Bernal, 2001; Tate, 1997; Valdes, 1997; Villalpando, 2004; Yosso, 2005) while considering the impact of Whiteness Studies (Jay, 2005; Jeffries, 2012; Yeung, Spanierman & Landrum-Brown, 2013), and the cultural process of naming (Boris, 2005). The research questions guiding this dissertation were: How have I internalized and interpreted encounters related to racial identification, and what does being multiracial mean to me? The presentation of findings included narrative analysis of visual and audio data sets located on a personal website that accompanies this study; online presentation of this study provides an opportunity to explore multiracial identity development in a space that has potential for impacting change due to popularity and accessibility (Bamford, 2005; Lang, 2002; Lange, 2008). Findings revealed complexities and fluidity in multiracial identity development as well as problems of self-identifying as monoracial. The significance of this study is that it will contribute to ongoing discussions of multiracial identity development as well as add to the growing body of literature related to LatCrit Theory, Whiteness Studies, and autoethnographic studies.

Denna C-uppsats i ämnet Sociologi studerar hur kvinnor med latinamerikanska rötter upplever fenomenet Colorism inom den latinamerikanska diasporan och dess möjliga effekter. Effekter som berör både deras egna självbild men också hur de ser och uppfattar andra. Tidigare forskning visar att hudfärg har ett starkt symboliskt värde i samhället inom de latinamerikanska länderna. Den visar också hur historiska skeenden som kolonialismen har skapat sociala hierarkier som efterföljs än idag och påverkar relationen mellan människor. Detta exemplifieras genom att en ljus hudton generellt anses som mer önskvärd och intar en hegemonisk ställning gentemot en mörk hudton. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka kvinnor med latinamerikansk bakgrund egna subjektiva upplevelse av fenomenet och eventuella erfarenheter av detta. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ ansats där intervjuer är den metod som använts för insamlingen av det empiriska materialet. Sex stycken kvinnor mellan åldrarna 25–45 har genom semi strukturerade intervjuer utifrån teman intervjuats om deras upplevelser. Dessa teman har berört kvinnornas eventuella erfarenheter av hur hudfärg givits betydelse då det kommer till familjelivet, deras självbild, val av partner och syn på andra. Resultatet visar att alla kvinnor på ett eller annat sätt upplevt att hudfärg haft en betydelse i deras liv. Detta visar sig som starkast inom familjelivet där en ljus hudton uttryckts som vackert och önskvärt medans en mörk hudton anses som något som bör undvikas. Det visar sig också genom ofta förekommande skämt och uttalanden om människor med mörk hud. Resultatet visade också att alla kvinnor upplevde sig själva som exotifierade av andra inom det svenska samhället.

The purpose of our study is to investigate the afroswedish women and their experiences with racism within the media industry. Through previous research, theories and real life stories that afroswedish women, who worked or works within this branch, have attempted to acquire insight of the phenomenon (everyday) racism and how it comes to expression according to the perspective of black women in Sweden. The documented experiences have shown to be a process that constantly occurs, consciously and subconsciously, in the life of black people in Sweden based on privileges. These privileges derive from postcolonialism and have their origin in the white superiority performed against others. This study has demonstrated the afroswedish women working place and its environment, where both positive and negative experiences, always indicated a basis in racism. The result has been discussed with support from previous research and our carefully chosen theories - intersectionality and anti black racism. In our final discussion, we have gathered all data to subsequently highlight our participants' experiences which has shown that the influential media industry needs to continue working against racism.

[pt] A pesquisa buscou refletir sobre as repercussões históricas da Iógica do branqueamento enquanto política, contextualizando-a no cenário brasileiro e entendendo seus desdobramentos. O caminho da presente pesquisa segue uma lógica histórica, debatendo a partir da literatura revisada dos campos da psicologia nas suas vertentes relacionadas ao racismo, branqueamento miscigenação e colorismo. Como meta esperada, esperamos expandir o entendimento teórico dos conceitos de branqueamento, tendo em vista que este, enquanto faceta do racismo, influencia no desenvolvimento dos processos de subjetivação. / [en] The research sought to reflect on the historical repercussions of the whitening logic as a policy, contextualizin it in the Brazilian scenario and understanding its consequences. The path of this research follows a historical logic, debating from the revised literature of the fiel ds of psychology in its aspects related to racism, whitening, miscegenation and colorism. As an expected goal, we hope to expand the theoretical understanding of the concepts of whitening, considering that this, as a facet of racism, influences the development of subjectivation processes.

This dissertation consists of three articles about colorism and its relevance to public administration (PA), with specific focus on local policing. The overarching arguments are: 1) our lack of focus on the nuanced factors related to race have hindered our ability to adequately respond to biased criminal justice (CJ) outcomes; and 2) there are hidden patterns of biased behaviors that originate at the street-level, and these patterns have the propensity to impact every aspect of CJ. Colorism could serve as a more comprehensive approach to addressing racial bias. Colorism is a system of disadvantage and privilege based on skin color, with a bias for lighter skin. Article I introduces colorism to the field of PA, and it uses data on workplace colorism complaints to illustrate how colorism currently intersects with PA. In addition, the article uses scenarios to demonstrate the potential impact colorism might have at the street-level. Article II builds upon the descriptions of colorism provided in Article I by simulating a conceptual model of colorism and local policing. The major finding of this study is that, counter to the expectations of the experiment, those in the middle of the skin color spectrum experienced higher rates of incarceration when aggressive steps were taken to counter colorism. The major contributions from this project include a conceptual model that describes the relationship between the distinct levels of colorism�"individual, interactive and institutional. In Article III, I explore two conceptual models of interactive colorism in a local policing context. In the first model, bias behaviors are less likely to receive a challenge. In the second model, biased behaviors are likely to be challenged by counter-behaviors (e.g., fair policing). Subject-matter experts and non-subject-matter experts were used to select the model that most accurately depicts the phenomenon. I used online focus groups and phone interviews with police officers, theorists (e.g., sociologists, psychologists), and non-subject-matter experts to gather feedback. Majority of the informants recommended that future research on interactive colorism be framed as a bidirectional phenomenon. The informants provided additional considerations for future research, such as the variation in police culture across police departments. / PHD

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