Colorism

Title: The Evolution and perpetuation within colorist ideologies that pertain to African Americans. 

Elevator Pitch:

An examination of the social structure, ideas and interactions from slavery to the present in an attempt to analyze the evolution of colorism in the African America culture. By analyzing social interactions we will be able to see how these ideologies have hurt individuals self identification and hindered progression of the African American culture economically, politically and socially. 

Theory:

The main theory that will be used in this analysis will be that of Bourdieu's habitus. By looking at behaviors in the sense of habitus we will be able to see how these ideas have survived over years and see the affect that it has on relationships. The use of this theory will place emphasis on the idea of hierarchies and show how status was a key influence on many individuals perpetuated behaviors. 

Bibliography:

Hochshild, Jennifer and Weaver, Velsa

2007 The Skin Paradox and the American Racial Order. Pp. 643-670. Oxford University Press.

Jones, Robert U.

1964 Colorism and Communism: The Plot against the Negro. Pp. 25-38. University of Northern Iowa.

Norwood, Kimberly J

2014  Color Matters: Skin Tone Bias and the Myth of a Post-Racial America. New York and London.

Wilder, Jeffrianne 

2010 Revisting "Color Names and Color Notions": A Contemporary Examination of the Language and Attitudes of Skin Color Among Young Black Women. Pp. 184-206. Sage Publications, Inc. 

Wilder, Jeffrianne and Cain, Colleen 

2010 Teaching and Learning Color Consciousness in Black Families: Exploring Family Processes and Women's Experiences with Colorism. Pp. 577-604. Sage Publications, Inc.

Shannon Jones

Symposium Topic

Title: Negotiating Liminality: The Multiracial Experience in America

Theory: The theoretical foundation for my paper is Victor Turner’s discourse on liminality. In The Ritual Process: Structure and anti-structure, Turner asserts that the balance between the structured and the unstructured is necessary for social maintenance. In a society of defined social positions, structure is comprised of individuals whose identity and social positions are based on distinct status divisions, measured against the others within the structure. Opposite structure, is anti-structure, where individuals lack social identities, therefore everyone is equal. A component of this anti-structure is the ambiguous liminal entity, which falls between place and position. As liminal entities challenge social boundaries and classifications, they become targets of taboos and prohibitions. I apply this theory of liminality to the multiracial population in America. America’s social construction of race attempts to phenotypically, socially, and politically categorize people. This racial structure has created a population of liminal entities, who fall between the categories we have designed.

Bibliography:

Bradshaw, Carla K.

            1992 Beauty and the Beast: On Racial Ambiguity. In Racially Mixed People in America.

                        Maria Root P.P., ed. Pp 77-88. California: Sage Publications.

Brunsma, David L.,  and Daniel Delgado, and Kerry Ann Rockquemore

2013 Liminality in the Multiracial Experience: Towards a concept of identity Matrix. Identities:

            Global studies in Culture and Power 20(5): 481-502

Jones, N. A. and Bullock, J. J.

2013 Understanding Who Reported Multiple Races in the U.S. Decennial Census: Results From Census

            2000 and the 2010 Census. Family Relations, 62: 5–16. doi: 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2012.00759.x

Rockquemore, Kerry Ann and Davis L. Brunsma

            2008 Beyond Black: Biracial Identity in America. Rowman & Littlefield: Sage Publications

Turner, Victor W.

1969  Liminality and Communitas . In The Ritual Process: Structure and anti-structure.    

Pp 95-103 Chicago:Aldine

Elevator Pitch:           I explore how the American multiracial population negotiates their racial identity in a society determined to racially categorize them.  How one’s identity is socially perceived may not correspond with how one actually identifies.  Our national history has shaped our ideologies and assumptions about race, but this generation of multiracial Americans is blurring the lines of racial identity. Will the multiracial discourse in our country have an impact on our social structure?  

Paper/Presentation tiopic

1. Title (work in progress): The Falsities behind Biological Race

2. Bibliography

Bliss, Catherine

2012. Race Decoded: The Genomic Fight for Social Justice. Proquest ebrary.      http://site.ebrary.com.libproxy.uncg.edu/lib/uncgreen/detail.action?docID=10546502 accessed November 8, 2014

Fabian, Ann

  2010. The Skull Collectors: Race, Science, and America’s Unburied Dead. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Fish, Jefferson M.

2002. Race and intelligence separating science from myth. e-book collection (EBSCOhost). http://site.ebrary.com/id/10477469 accessed November 8, 2014

Graves, Joseph L.

  2004. The Race Myth: Why We Still Pretend Race Still Exists in America. New York: Dutton.

Marks, Jonathan

  1995. Human biodiversity: genes, race, and history. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.

3. Elevator pitch: The idea of biological race was discredited over six decades ago and began to be widely accepted by the anthropological community as a myth by the 1960's. Still over the years, before and after biological race was debunked, studies have been done in craniometry, IQ tests, and genetics to try to validate biological race. Now, even with studies such as the Human Genome Project, biological race is something still widely accepted by the general public today. How has this past believe in biological race affected the views of American people to this day? How is the myth of biological race still not widely known? 

4. Theory: Several studies were done in the past to prove race as biological. Morton studied craniometry (inaccurately) to prove biological race and other physical variations could back up the claim to biological race. These studies detrimentally hurt views on race. While more studies have been done to falsify any claims to biological race, including studies in phrenology, forensic anthropology, and genetics, many people still believe in biology proving race. In the early- to mid-20th century, anthropologists like Franz Boas and Ashley Montagu greatly influenced the then newly changing ideas about race and helped lead to the discoveries made about race today. 

Capstone paper

Capstone Paper

Title: Neanderthal: The ‘New’ Race

Elevator Pitch: Race is a burdensome word when used in relation to human populations.  Despite the pain and negative connotations attached to the word Race it is a permanent part of our lexicon. However culture induced semantic shift in the past has changed the word race over time and the old definition has been proven false.  By inducing a controlled narrowing of the word Race the lexical field that surrounds Race will also be changed.  In this way our cultural worldview will also change.

 Biological race, as we know, is invalid when referring to modern populations since it has been proven that Homo Sapiens Sapiens are genetically more similar that they are different.  Through the research presented here I will show Homo Sapiens Neandertalensis are in fact the one population that fits the biological definition of race.

Theory/Model: The theoretical framework for the semantic shift of the word ‘Race’ will be the Lexical Field theory.  To prove that Homo Sapiens Neandertalensis are the only Homo Sapiens that fit the definition of race the Out of Africa African hybridization-and-replacement model will be used. 

Bibliography

Angela, Piero and Angela. Alberto

            1993    The Extraordinary Story of Human Origins.  Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books

Brace, C. Loring

            2000    Evolution in an Anthropological View.  Walnut Creek: Altamira Press

Bradley, James T.

2013    Brutes or Angels: Human Possibility in the Age of Biotechnology.  Tuscaloosa,:  The University of Alabama Press

Condemi, Silvana and Weniger, Gerd-Christian

2006    Continuity and Discontinuity in the Peopling of Europe: One Hundred Fifty Years of Neanderthal Study, Vol. 1. New York: Springer

Eckhardt, Robert B.

1979    The Study of Human Evolution.  Pennsylvania State University Department of Anthropology, New York: McGraw-Hill

Endicott, Kirk M. and Welsch, Robert l.

2005    Taking sides; Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Anthropology.  3^rd edition, Dubuque Iowa: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.

Garn, Stanley M. PHD

            1960    Readings on Race.  Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas

Green, Richard E. et. al.

2010    A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome.  Science Magazine 7  May,  Vol. 328 (no. 5979): pp. 710-722

Kennedy, Kenneth A.R.

            1975    Neanderthal Man.  Cornell University:  Ithaca New York

Mellars, Paul and Gravina, Brad and Ramsey, Chrisotpher Bronk

2006    Confirmation of Neanderthal/modern human interstratification at the Chatelperronian type-site.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences September 2006. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Sankararaman, Sriram

2014    The genomic landscape of Neanderthal ancestry in present-day humans.  Letter from Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston.  Nature, vol.  507 pp. 354-367

Sankararaman, Sriram and Sankararaman S, Patterson N, Li H, Pa¨a¨bo S, Reich D

2012    The Date of Interbreeding between Neandertals and Modern Humans. PLoS Genet 8(10): e1002947. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002947

Sapir, Edward

2009    Language And Environment.  American Anthropologist, vol 14 issue 2, Oct. 28 pp. 226-242.  Arlington, VA

Scholz, Michael et. al.

2000    Genomic Differentiation of Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Man Allows a Fossil–DNA-Based Classification of Morphologically Indistinguishable Hominid Bones. American Journal of Human Genetics, vol. 66, pp. 1927-1932.  Chicago:  American Society of Human Genetics

Stringer, Chris and McKie, Robin

1996    African Exodus: The Origins of Modern Humanity.  New York, New York: Henry Hold and Co. LLC

Tattersall, Ian

            1998    Becoming Human.  New York: Harcourt Brace

Tattersall, Ian 

2002    The Monkey in the Mirror: Essays on the Science of What Makes Us Human 1^st edition.  Orlando: Harcourt Inc.

Whorf, Benjamin Lee

            1956    Language, Thought, and Reality.

 Willoughby, Pamela R.

2007    The Evolution of Modern Humans in Africa: A comprehensive guide.  African Archeology   Series.  Lanham: Altamira Press

Wolpoff, Milford and Caspari, Rachel

            1997    Race and Human Evolution: A Fatal Attraction.  Boulder: Westview Press

Topic

Tweet This: A research done on the effect social media has on race in America today.

Elevator Pitch:
Millions of users log onto social media sites multiple sites a day. But does their race determine their most-used social media account? This research paper will explore the idea that race has moved into the digital world, showing the lasting effects of racism through social media with the push of a button, text of 140 characters or less, and the "sharing" of viral photos.

Theory:

The theory I plan to use is taken from social psychology, as well as anthropology. I plan on looking and using the social identity approach by Henri Tajfel and John Turner, with a small input by Marx. This theory states that specific ingroup behaviors are predictable, which causes people to discriminate in favor of their own group. I plan on also using Ruth Benedicts perspective of culture configuration and the gestalt theory. This states that we as humans follow the previous instructions even in new settings because it is a basic learned pattern. These two theories are the basic crutch of my research because it shows how people still self segregate in social media because it is learned and people will more likely than not stay in their same social group in social media sites.

Sources:

Burke, James Peter

2006     Contemporary Social Psychological Theories. Stanford University Press.

Bryant, Jennings, and Vorderer, Peter

2013      Psychology of Entertainment. Routledge.

Jenks, Chris

2002      Culture: Critical Concepts in Sociology. Psychology Press. Pp. 104-107.

Moore, Jerry D.

2012       Visions of Culture: An Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists. 4^th edition. AltaMira Press.

Ashforth, Blake E., and Mael, Fred

1989      Social Identity Theory and the Organization. The Academy of Management. 14(1): 20-39.

Topic

Title: “A ‘Side’ of Racism:” An Observation of racial profiling through everyday transactions in restaurants.

Bibliography:

Brewster, Z.W., & Rusche, S.N.

2012. Quantitative Evidence of the Continuing Significance of Race: Tableside Racism in Fill-Service Restaurants. Journal of Black Studies, 43, 359.

Bodvarsson, O., & Gibson, W.

1999. An Economic approach to tips and service quality: Results of a survey. Social Science Journal, 36(1/2), 41-64.

Bonilla-Silva, E., & Forman, T.A.

2000. I am not a racist but…: Mapping White college students’ racial ideology in the USA. Discourse and Society, 11(1), 50-85.

Brewster, Z. W., & Mallinson, C.

2009. Racial differences in restaurant tipping: A labour process perspective. Service Industries Journal, 29(8), 1053-1075.

Brewster, Z. W.

2011. Racialized customer service in restaurants: A quantitative assessment of the statistical discrimination explanatory framework. Sociological Inquiry.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor.

                2008. Food services and Drinking Places. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/

Carton,S. & Kleiner, B.H.

                2001. Discrimination in the restaurant industry. Equal Opportunities International, 20, 128-132.

Elevator Pitch:

                The context of full-service restaurants can be considered as the setting where racial prejudices and discriminatory treatments can be found. Regardless of the claims that racism and discrimination are no longer prominent issues in today’s society, members of racially underrepresented groups continue to experience unequal treatment in everyday public interactions such as restaurants. There have been findings that servers have acted negatively towards different races (African Americans, Hispanics, Indians, etc).

   

Theory:

                The theoretical approach that I will be using is the view of labor and how labor affects culture.  I will discuss Marcel Mauss with his theory of elemental categories and total facts; Bronislaw Malinowski with his theory of the functions of culture; and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown with the theory about the structures of society. 

Paper Topic

 

Same Denomination But Different Distinction: White and Black Christianity

How as our cultural experiences impacted worship and created another racial divide. Let us take a look at religion as a social construct. We are going to start by taking a closer look at the origins of religion of white and black Christianity. We are going to look at the impact of the Maroons on black religion, and impact of industrial and colonial periods.

 

As we analyze the theology of James H. Cone, whose views are supported by the critique of white theology that does not yet recognize its whiteness, we construct an analysis of the pros and cons of Cones works. Working to analyze how and why two groups of people that worship the same God can worship so differently and fail to come together completely.

 

Works Cited

2012. Blum, Edward J., and Paul Harvey. The Color of Christ: The Son of God & the Saga of Race in America.

2006. Goldstein, Eric L. The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race, and American Identity.

2002. Noll, Mark A. Old Religion Ina New World: The History of North American Christianity.

1993. Ownby, Ted. "Cultural Interaction in the Old South." In Black and White, 14.

2014. Shelton, Jason E., and Michael O. Emerson. Black and Whites in Christian America: How Racial Discrimination Shapes Religious Convictions.