This thesis is an examination of how white women in interracial relationships and/or white mothers of biracial children understand race. Through interviews with six self-identified white women who have black-white biracial children, I seek to understand what role racism plays in their lives and whether these women have a heightened consciousness about race as a result of being in an interracial family. Using their narratives and a spatial framework, I explore the concept of white supremacy, whiteness and blackness, representations of white femininity and black masculinity in the media, and how white women in interracial relationships cross the colourline in their everyday lives. I suggest that white women learn about colourlined spaces in public, but that they also learn about blackness and teach their biracial children about antiracism in private spaces. Overall, white women need to negotiate rules and norms within racial hierarchies in order to navigate white supremacy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OTU.1807/32452 |
| Date | 19 July 2012 |
| Creators | Wilson, Melissa |
| Contributors | Razack, Sherene |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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