This study focuses on exploring the reasons behind dating choices concerning religion and race. Studies report that race is more important than religion in choosing dating partners. Understanding religious and racial dating preferences and choices can help uncover group relations in the larger society. The present study examines the reasons why someone may be willing to date a group outside their religion but not a group outside their race. A pre-interview survey questionnaire was used to locate interview participants. The first 20 respondents who met the specific criteria of being White, single, and a conservative Christian were selected for a qualitative phone interview. To qualify, the respondents needed to be willing to date at least one group that was not Christian, but unwilling to date certain groups outside their race. The interviews were transcribed and the content was analyzed for patterns and themes using the Grounded theory. The results revealed that all the respondents except one were unwilling to date a Black individual and five were unwilling to date any race but White. The least likely to be considered as dating partners for religious groups were the Muslims and atheists. For race, many of the participants viewed Hispanics and Asians as more culturally or physically similar to them than Blacks. The main reasons why the respondents indicated they were willing to date Jewish and agnostic individuals were that they perceived them as similar to themselves in their belief systems. For both religion and race, the respondents were more willing to consider dating groups that were considered to have less stigma in society. The concept of stigma provides a framework for examining the respondents dating choices.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Johannesburg 2017 / This research report uses In Dependence by Sarah Ladipo Manyika to demonstrate that African romance fiction is not necessarily escapist fantasy. It does this by focusing on the exploration of gender, racism, national and cultural identity in the post-colonial era in this novel that uses the romance template. The close textual analysis that is at the core of this reading is guided by an eclectic theoretical framework made out of several notions, the most important of which are: Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s idea of fiction as a form of language; the understanding that gender and race are socially constructed and can thus be remade or unmade; cosmopolitanism, and particularly the variety known as Afropolitanism. The research report is divided into five chapters. Chapter I, the introductory chapter, plots what the research report is about, explains how the research that led to the writing of the report was carried out, and locates the report in its appropriate intellectual contexts. Chapter II engages with the formal characteristics of In Dependence. Evidence is assembled to support the argument that in In Dependence Manyika creatively enhances the popular romance in the process forging a “fiction language” that she uses to communicate significant social and political messages in a rhetorically powerful manner. Chapter III analyzes the manner in which Manyika uses an inter-racial heterosexual relationship in the novel to explore gender and racism. The key argument pursued in the chapter is that in In Dependence Manyika challenges racialized patriarchal ideologies and envisions a cosmopolitan world in which the genders interact in a humane and fair manner. Chapter IV demonstrates that the story of an interracial romantic relationship that is used to structure the novel problematizes cultural identities and their attendant prejudices such as sexism and racism, and ultimately raises cosmopolitanism as the solution to the problem of intercultural interaction. Chapter V is the Conclusion. The arguments and conclusions of the core chapters of the research report – Chapter II, Chapter III and Chapter IV – are rehashed here. Also stated in this final chapter are the reading’s general conclusions on the novel and its contribution to the romance genre in the broader context of African literature. / MT 2018

In this qualitative study, I examine the persistent trend of black women as an excluded relationship partner for white men. Integral to understanding the exclusion of black women as relationship partners is the construction of black female bodies, by influential white men historically and contemporarily, as the abject opposite of hegemonic femininity, which holds "middle-class, heterosexual, [w]hite femininity" as the norm (Collins 2005:193). This construction essentially places black women outside the bounds of hegemonic femininity, beauty, sexuality, and womanhood. Using the theoretical concept deep frame, which is the "conceptual infrastructure of the mind" (Lakoff 2006a:12) and representative of one's commonsense world view, I argue that the ways in which influential white men have constructed black female bodies is a critical component of the raced, gendered, and classed deep frame of white men. This deep frame undergirds how many white men perceive, interpret, understand, emote, and engage in actions where black women are concerned. Hence in this study, I qualitatively examine, through analyzing and interpreting the in-depth online questionnaires of 134 white male respondents, how the deep frame of white men affects how they perceive black women and ultimately the relationships they seek with black women. The results of the study show that many white male respondents, despite most having very limited or no personal interactions with black women, viewed black women through the one-dimensional lens of the raced, gendered, and classed deep frame. Many respondents perceived black women as unattractive unless capable of a white normative standard, as possessing a negative "black" culture, and as possessing negative and "unfeminine" attributes that make them complicit in their own rejection. These findings show how the deep frame disciplines white men to view black women as "out of bounds" as legitimate relationship partners, and disciplines the types of relationships they seek with black women. The results of this study also reveal that the conceptual approach of deep frame rooted in an understanding of the power of influential white men to control and construct society provides a theoretical alternative to the outmoded interracial marriage theories of caste and exchange.

Some romantic relationship types have a greater likelihood of receiving parental support than do others. Specifically, adults in traditional romantic relationships (i.e., same-race, opposite-sex) perceive more parental support for their relationships than do individuals in socially stigmatized relationships (e.g., interracial, same-sex relationships; Lehmiller & Agnew, 2006). The goal of the current study was to understand better what motivates parents to provide support for their adult children’s romantic relationships. To address this question, the original and a modified version of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1975) were tested. The TRA was implemented to measure whether parents’ attitudes toward showing support and the parents’ subjective norms were associated with the parents’ intentions to provide support for their children’s relationships in the future. In the modified model, subjective norms was reconceptualized to include parents’ perceptions of stigma by associating with their children’s relationships and the perceived threat of sanctions from the parent’s social networks if the parents were to provide support for their children’s relationships in the future. To improve predictive ability of the models, theoretically relevant covariates were included in each model. To capitalize on a variety of viewpoints, this study included parents whose children were either single or in dating relationships. Parents whose child was single completed the questionnaire while imagining his or her child in a traditional, interracial, or same-sex relationship whereas parents whose child was in a dating relationship reported on his or her child’s current relationship. A sample of 438 parents completed an online survey. Overall, across all groups, parents’ attitudes toward providing support were consistently associated with parents’ intentions to provide support. Associations between the parents’ subjective norms and intentions to provide support varied across groups and were not always significantly associated with parents’ intentions to provide support in the future. Furthermore, parents’ motivations to provide support differed among parents who imagined their children in relationships compared to parents whose children were in real relationships, suggesting parents may overestimate problems with their children’s interracial and same-sex relationships and underestimate problems with their children’s traditional relationships than may occur in real-life situations. / text

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 32-34).

Rasideologier och tankar om rashygien är något som präglat svensk historia sedan andra världskriget. Begreppet ras har varit, och är fortfarande idag ett kontroversiellt ämne i Sverige, och har såväl i den akademiska världen som i dagligt tal kommit att bytas ut mot begreppet etnicitet. Tankar om ras och/ eller etnicitet kopplat till sexualitet är i dagsläget föga beforskat i den svenska kontexten. Denna uppsats har som fokus att studera hur ras och/eller etniskt blandade par definierar sig själva, samt hur de upplever att de blir bemötta av sin sociala omgivning i en svensk kontext. Resultaten visar att paren definierar sig på olika sätt, med hänvisning till etnisk tillhörighet eller beskrivningar av synliga skillnader vad gäller hud- och hårfärg. Det är mindre vanligt att par talar om sig själva i termer av skillnader i rastillhörighet. Resultaten visar även att paren bemöts av stereotypa föreställningar kopplat till rasblandade relationer, mer specifikt kopplat till den icke-vita partnern, i både nära så väl som mer avlägsna sociala sammanhang. Dessa föreställningar har inte sällan både en exotifierande och sexualiserande karaktär, där antagandet om den icke-vita partnern som sexuellt exotisk görs. / Race ideologies and thoughts about racial hygiene are things that have characterized Swedish history since World War II. The term race has been, and still is today, a controversial topic in Sweden, and has been replaced by the concept of ethnicity both in the academic and public world. Thoughts of race and/ or ethnicity linked to sexuality have been explored to little extent within the Swedish context. The focus of this thesis is on how interracial and/ or interethnic couples define themselves, and how they experience being perceived and treated by their social surroundings in a Swedish context. The results reveal that the couples define themselves in different ways, referring to ethnic origin or descriptions of visible differences in regard to skin and hair color. It is less common for couples to talk about themselves in terms of racial differences. The results also show that the couples experience that they are met by stereotypical notions of interracial relationships, more specifically linked to the non-white partner, in both close as well as more distant social settings. These notions often have an exotifying and sexualized character, where the assumptions of the non-white partner being sexually exotic is made.

This study analyzes the reactions of interracial relationships within the South Asian Diaspora via film and literature focused on the United States and England. The films examined are Mississippi Masala (1992) and Bend It Like Beckham (2002), and the literature-utilized focuses on cultural identity, interracial dating, the importance of marriage, the Indian community, and gender roles focused on women within the diaspora. The films used encourage the idea of interracial relationships as acceptable and give South Asian women the confidence to be more independent. The intention of this research is to analyze the importance of cultural blending, independence, heritage, and traditional values. The focus behind this research is to understand the battle of traditional versus modern roles for women in the South Asian diaspora, and how independence can be viewed as a form of dishonoring and humiliating their families when they step outside of the cultural box. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

In-depth interviews were conducted with African-American female college students ranging from freshmen to graduate level. Students were asked about their dating preferences for African-American men. The study investigated how physical appearance, trust, and attitudes about interracial relationships affected their dating selection. Symbolic interactionism and dramatugry were the theories used within this study. This study found evidence that supports existing literature on attitudes of distrust among African-American females toward African-American males, with lying, physical aggression, and cheating as top reasons. Distrust based on the females' viewpoints began with listening to warnings from their mothers about men's behavior. This study, however, found that dating preferences among females interviewed did not recognize physical appearance, such as light or dark skin preference and body-frame preference, as a significant factor for date selection. This finding is in contrast to existing literature. Attitude differences between young African-American female college students and the older African-American female college students were found. Freshmen and sophomores related more of listening to social-group attitudes on dating preferences whereas junior, senior, and graduate- level females relied on individual decision making on dating selection. Supporting the current existing literature on attitudes about interracial relationships, the majority of the women interviewed had negative attitudes toward interracial relationships.

Various researchers (e.g., Copeland, 1977; Foster,1973; and Dickson, 1993) have theorized that due to negative self-imagery and the lack of eligible Black men, Black women's self-concept suffers as a result of "losing" potential Black partners to White women. The purpose of the present study was to empirically evaluate the relationship between Black women's self-concept and their attitudes toward Black men dating White women. In addition, level of racial identity development, dating practices, and selfratings of attractiveness were examined as moderating variables. Thirty-six single Black pre-professional (PP) and 36 single Black professional (P) women completed the Demographic Questionnaire, the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS), and the Racial Identity Scale-Version B (RIAS-B). The video vignette depicting a Black male-White female couple was then introduced, and the TSCS was administered for a second time. The results indicated that self-concept of the sample was not influenced by viewing a video of a Black male-White female couple. Moreover, level of satisfaction with physical appearance was not correlated with self-concept. In addition, PP women tended to be unsure of their Black identity while P women were less confused and more comfortable with their Black identity. The effects of Black male-White female relationships on Black women is in its exploratory stage and more research is needed in this area. / Department of Psychological Science

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In one of Uganda’s main national newspapers, the New Vision, women and men advertise that they seek ‘white’ partners. Using emergent design, this study set out to explore this yearning for local - ‘white’ relationships. I conducted exploratory and semi-structured interviews with 20 of these women and men. As I started conducting the interviews, it became clear that this was a topic which provoked emotionally charged responses and a great deal of ‘identity work’, with participants identifying with, or disidentifying from, particular groups and categories, notably ‘prostitutes’ and ‘traditional’, ‘cultural’ or ‘modern’ women and men. Engaging critically with post-colonial writings and contemporary feminist research, I argue that my respondents provided important insights into the broader dynamics of gender, sexuality, race and power, as well as processes of identity construction in post-colonial Uganda. I explore the fantasy constructions and stereotypes perpetuating beliefs in ‘white’ superiority and address the various influences upon which respondents draw to bolster constructions of ‘whites’ as superior. These are marked by explicit beliefs in racial hierarchy, as well as ‘modernisation’ and ‘developmental’ discourses which positively associate ‘modernisation’ with ‘Westernisation.’ I discuss respondents’ negative constructions of local, ‘black’ men and women born out of past experiences with local partners. Male respondents expressed frustration with Ugandan women, whom they constructed as ‘money minded’, whom they believe forfeit dignity, for love of money, in their search for modernity. ‘Tradition’ and ‘culture’ were often invoked by men against women, who were seen as failing to live up to presumed cultural standards of femininity. I also explore female respondents’ appeals to ‘tradition’ and ‘culture’ which they feel benefit Ugandan men to the detriment of women and romantic relationships. I show that female respondents draw on discourses of Western ‘modernity’ and human rights, to illustrate the extent of gendered inequalities in Uganda, and find that Western humanism, embodied in the ‘white’ male, is constructed as a solution to their relationship dilemmas. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In New Vision, een van Uganda se vernaamste nasionale nuusblaaie, plaas vroue, sowel as mans, advertensies waarin hulle aandui dat hulle op soek is na ‘wit’ metgeselle. Hierdie etnografiese studie steek voelers uit en probeer vasstel wat die motivering is om in verhoudings met ‘wit’ metgeselle betrokke te raak. Semigestruktuele onderhoude was met respondente (wat advertensies geplaas het) gevoer. Die studie vind dat respondente hul geslags- sowel as rasse-identiteit konstrueer. In sommige gevalle word dit gedoen deur identiteite te konstrueer waarmee hulle hulself nie wil assosieer nie. Deur bogenoemde in diepte te ondersoek, kry ons insig in die wyse waarop, in die kontemporêre Ugandese konteks, identiteitsvorming plaasvind. Ek ondersoek ook respondente se verbeeldingryke konstruksies en stereotipes wat die opvatting wil vestig dat ‘wit’ gelyk aan ‘superieur’ is. Ek spreek dan ook die verskeie beïnvloedingsvelde aan wat respondente gebruik en waarop hulle hul ‘wit is superieur’ opvatting bou. Ek dui aan dat die beïnvloedingsvelde dikwels gekenmerk word deur ‘n eksplisiete geloof in die bestaan van ‘n bepaalde hiërargie van ras. Diskoerse oor modernisering en ontwikkeling waarin ‘modernisering’ en ‘vooruitgang’ sterk geassosieer of gelykgestel word met verwestering is ook aan die orde van die dag. Voorts bespreek ek respondente se negatiewe konstruksie van plaaslike mans en vroue en die feit dat dit dikwels gebore is uit hul vorige (negatiewe) blootstelling aan plaaslike metgeselle. Manlike respondente spreek dikwels hul frustrasie uit met ‘geldgierige’ Ugandese vroue wat, volgens hulle, van hul eertydse waardigheid afstand doen in hul koorsagtige soek na modernisasie. Mans assosieer sterk met eie ‘tradisie’ en ‘kultuur’ en hulle voel dikwels dat vroue nie voldoen aan die mans se selfopgelegde kulturele standaarde van vroulikheid nie. Voorts ondersoek ek die pleidooie van vroue waarin hulle aanvoer dat sekere ‘tradisionele’ en ‘kulturele’ gebruike Ugandese mans onbillik bevoordeel. Ek dui aan dat vroulike respondente gebruik maak van redenasies oor Westerse modernisasie asook menseregte, in hul pogings om die mate van geslagsongelykheid wat in Uganda bestaan, uit te lig. Laastens vind ek dat Ugandese vroue Westerse humanisme (wat verpersoonlik word deur ‘wit’ mans) beskou as die oplossing vir hul verhoudingsprobleme.