Marc P. Johnston-Guerrero

The Meanings of Race Matter College Students Learning About Race in a Not-so-Postracial Era

Given the historical legacies of racial exclusion and disparities within U.S. higher education and contemporary manifestations of racial tensions on college campuses, this study explores the meanings college students make of race within a sociopolitical context often claimed to be “postracial” (i.e., one where race no longer matters). Based on interviews with a sample (n = 40) of undergraduates recruited from two U.S. West Coast public research universities, constructivist grounded theory methods allowed for an emergent understanding of how precollege experiences and campus contexts influenced race-related patterns in students’ experiencing of and learning about race. Such experiences contributed to six patterns of racial meaning (ancestry, culture, concept, embodiment, identity, power) that help explain how college students refute postracial claims and see race mattering (or not) on multiple levels.

Is Transracial the Same as Transgender? The Utility and Limitations of Identity Analogies in Multicultural Education

In June 2015, Melissa Harris-Perry infamously analogized the possibility of trans-Black identity to the reality of transgender identity. Such analogies happen often and are used mostly for the benefit of learning about a less familiar form of identity. Building from a recent article by Suthakaranm, Filsinger, and White (2013) that presented a compelling argument for the use of analogies as an experiential learning tool in multicultural education, we advance the conversation by distinguishing a particular form of analogies: identity analogies. We explore the benefits and challenges of utilizing identity analogies as a tool for multicultural educators within U.S. higher education.

Exploring Race, Culture, and Family in the Identities of Mixed Heritage Students

Family plays an integral role in racial and cultural socialization, yet how mixed heritage students understand the concepts of race and culture in relation to family is unclear. This qualitative study explored the interplay of race, culture, and family in the identity constructions of 25 mixed heritage students. Findings suggest the centrality of culture to identity and that family provides limited sources of racial and cultural knowledge useful for navigating monoracial environments.