Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T04:28:56.083Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

LINKING BLACKNESS OR ETHNIC OTHERING?

African Americans' Diasporic Linked Fate with West Indian and African Peoples in the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2010

Shayla C. Nunnally
Shayla C. Nunnally*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Connecticut
*
Professor Shayla C. Nunnally, Department of Political Science & Institute for African American Studies, University of Connecticut, 341 Mansfield Rd., Unit 1024, Storrs, CT 06269-1024. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Dawson (1994) submits Black linked fate is a major predictor of Black political behavior. This theory conjectures that the experiences of African Americans with race and racial discrimination in the United States unify their personal interests under a rubric of interests that are best for the Black racial group. With increasing Black ethnic diversity in the United States, however, it becomes important to ascertain how African Americans perceive linkages across Black ethnic groups. This study examines African Americans' linkages with West Indian and African peoples in the United States, referred to here as diasporic linked fate. The study tests the influence of parent-child, intra-racial socialization messages on these linkages. Results suggest that, while a majority of African Americans acknowledge Black linked fate, they distinguish these linkages based on ethnicity and have more tenuous linkages with West Indians and Africans in the United States. While intra-racial socialization messages offer some import in explaining perceived differences in Black ethnic groups' living experiences, more frequent experiences with racial discrimination, and membership in a Black organization offer more import in explaining diasporic linked fate.

Keywords

Black Linked FateBlack DiasporaIntraracial IdentityRacial SocializationWest IndianAfricanAfrican American
Type
State of the Art
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , Fall 2010 , pp. 335 - 355
Copyright
Copyright © W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abdul-Raheem, Tajudeen (1996). Introduction: Reclaiming Africa for Africans—Pan-Africanism: 1900–1994. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem (Ed.), Pan-Africanism: Politics, Economy, and Social Change in the Twenty-First Century, pp. 1–30. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Ackah, William B. (1999). Pan-Africanism: Exploring the Contradictions: Politics, Identity, and Development in African and the African Diaspora. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing.Google Scholar
Alex-Assensoh, Yvette M. (2000). Introduction. In Alex-Assensoh, Yvette M. and Hanks, Lawrence J. (Eds.), Black and Multiracial Politics in America, pp. 1–14. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Allen, Richard L., Dawson, Michael C., and Brown, Ronald E. (1989). A Schema-Based Approach to Modeling an African American Racial Belief System. American Political Science Review, 83(2): 421–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allport, Gordon W. (1954). The Nature of Prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Assensoh, Akwasi B. (2000). Conflict or Cooperation?: Africans and African Americans in Multiracial America. In Alex-Assensoh, Yvette M. and Hanks, Lawrence J. (Eds.), Black and Multiracial Politics in America, pp. 113–132. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo (2001). White Supremacy and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldwell, Robert and Jefferson, Stephen D. (2002). An Exploration of the Relationship between the Racial Identity Attitudes and the Perception of Racial Bias. The Journal of Black Psychology, 28(May): 174–192.Google Scholar
Carter, Niambi M. (2007). The Black/White Paradigm: African Americans, Immigration, Race, and Nation in Durham, NC. PhD Dissertation, Department of Political Science, Duke University.Google Scholar
Cohen, Cathy. (1999). Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cross, William E. (1991). Shades of Black: Diversity in African-American Identity. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Davis, F. James (1991). Who Is Black?: One Nation's Definition. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Dawson, Michael C. (2001). Black Visions: The Roots of Contemporary African-American Ideologies. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Dawson, Michael C. (1994). Behind the Mule: Race and Class in American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Demo, David and Hughes, Michael (1990). Socialization and Racial Identity among Black Americans. Social Psychology Quarterly, 53(4): 364–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foner, Nancy (2001). West Indian Migration to New York: An Overview. In Foner, Nancy (Ed.), Islands in the City: West Indian Migration to New York, pp. 1–22. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanchard, Michael (1999). Afro-Modernity: Temporality, Politics, and the African Diaspora. Public Culture, 11(1): 245–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haney-Lopez, Ian (2006). White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Harris-Lacewell, Melissa V. (2004). Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hesse, Barnor (2007). Racialized Modernity: An Analysis of White Mythologies. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30(4): 643–663.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hochschild, Jennifer (1996). Facing Up the American Dream: Race, Class, and the Soul of a Nation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, Jennifer V. and Cothran, Mary E. (2003). Black versus Black: The Relationships among African, African American, and African Caribbean Persons. Journal of Black Studies, 33(5): 576–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones-Correa, Michael (2000). Immigrants, Blacks, Cities. In Alex-Assensoh, Yvette M. and Hanks, Lawrence J. (Eds.), Black and Multiracial Politics in America, pp. 133–164. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Kessler, Ronald C., Mickelson, Kristin D., and Williams, David R.. 1999. The Prevalence, Distribution, and Mental Health Correlates of Perceived Discrimination in the United States. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 40(September): 208–230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kinder, Donald and Sanders, Lynn M. (1996). Divided by Color: Racial Politics and Democratic Ideals. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McAdam, Doug (1982). Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency: 1930–1970. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McAdoo, Harriette Pipes (Ed.) (2007). Black Families. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Omi, Michael and Winant, Howard (1994). Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1980s. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Orr, Marion (1999). Black Social Capital: The Politics of School Reform in Baltimore, 1986–1998. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.Google Scholar
Peters, Marie Ferguson (1985). Racial Socialization of Young Black Children. In McAdoo, Harriette Pipes and McAdoo, John Lewis (Eds.), Black Children: Social, Educational, and Parental Environments, pp. 159–173. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, Thomas F. (1986). The Intergroup Contact Hypothesis Reconsidered. In Hewstone, Miles and Brown, Rupert (Eds.) Contact and Conflict in Intergroup Encounters, pp. 169–195. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd.Google Scholar
Phelps, Rosemary E., Taylor, Janice D., and Gerard, Phyllis A. (2001). Cultural Mistrust, Ethnic Identity, Racial Identity, and Self-Esteem Among Ethnically Diverse Black University Students. Journal of Counseling and Development, 79(2): 209–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, Reuel R. (2000). Afro-Caribbean Immigrants, African Americans, and the Politics of Group Identity.In Alex-Assensoh, Yvette M. and Hanks, Lawrence J. (Eds.), Black and Multiracial Politics in America, pp. 15–59. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Rogers, Reuel R. (2006). Afro-Caribbean Immigrants and the Politics of Incorporation: Ethnicity, Exception, or Exit. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders Thompson, Vetta L. (1992). A Multi-faceted Approach to the Conceptualization of African American Identification. Journal of Black Studies, 23(September): 75–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders Thompson, Vetta L. (1994). Socialization on Race and Its Relationship to Racial Identification among African Americans. Journal of Black Psychology, 20: 175–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders Thompson, Vetta L. (1995). The Empirical Characteristics of the Multidimensional Racial Identification Scale. Revised. Journal of Applied Psychology, 21(18): 1502–1516.Google Scholar
Sanders Thompson, Vetta L. (1999). Variables Affecting Racial-Identity Salience Among African Americans. The Journal of Social Psychology, 139(6): 748–761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders Thompson, Vetta L. (2001). The Complexity of African American Racial Identification. Journal of Black Studies 32(2): 155–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders Thompson, Vetta L. (2002). Racism: Perceptions of Distress Among African Americans. Community Mental Health Journal, 38(2): 111–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders Thompson, Vetta L. and Akbar, Maysa (2003). The Understanding of Race and the Construction of African American Identity. The Western Journal of Black Studies, 27: 80–88.Google Scholar
Sawyer, Mark Q. (2006). Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sellers, Robert M. and Shelton, Nicole J. (2003). The Role of Racial Identity in Perceived Racial Discrimination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43(5): 1079–1092.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigelman, Lee and Welch, Susan (1991). Black Americans' View of Racial Inequality: A Dream Deferred. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stoller, Paul (2001). West Africans: Trading Places in New York. In Foner, Nancy (Ed.), New Immigrants in New York, pp. 229–250. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tate, Katherine (1993). From Protest to Politics: The New Black Voters in American Elections. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
U.S. Census Bureau (2007). The American Community—Blacks: 2004. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. ⟨http://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/acs-04.pdf⟩ (accessed October 10, 2009).Google Scholar
Vickerman, Milton (1994). Responses of West Indians to African Americans: Distancing and Identification. In Dennis, Rutledge M. (Ed.), Research in Race and Ethnic Relations Vol. 7, pp. 80–128. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Vickerman, Milton (2001). Jamaicans: Balancing Race and Ethnicity. In Foner, Nancy (Ed.), New Immigrants in New York, pp. 201–228. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Von Eschen, Penny M. (1997). Race against Empire: Black Americans and Anticolonialism, 1937–1957. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Waters, Mary (1994). Ethnic and Racial Identities of Second Generation Black Immigrants in New York City. International Migration Review, 28(4): 795–820.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waters, Mary (1999). Black Identities: West Indian Immigrant Dreams and American Realities. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, Joseph L. (1984). The Psychology of Blacks: An Afro-American Perspective. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc.Google Scholar
Zaller, John (1992). The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar