Doctoral Dissertation Research: Black, Brown or Asian? : Afro- and Indo-Caribbean Immigrants Encounter Race in the United States

传统上，学者们通过“黑白”色线的透镜来理解美国的种族等级制度，这反映了我们历史上最重要的种族区别轴的首要地位。然而，旧的黑白模式越来越不足以理解美国的种族和民族类别。种族关系的黑白模式的首要地位下降，突出了对种族/少数民族群体之间关系的奖学金的迫切需要。该项目利用非洲裔和印度-加勒比裔移民到美国的独特情况，审查黑人和亚裔少数群体之间的阶层划分，以满足这一新出现的需求。 这两个群体有着相似的文化背景，但在美国被分为不同的种族/族裔群体。该分析结合了对美国非洲裔和亚裔加勒比移民的收入和居住地点的定量研究，以及对移民的深入访谈，这些移民试图更好地了解他们在自己的母国的种族和族裔认同。本项目将丰富我们对少数民族间关系如何可能重塑21世纪世纪美国日益多样化和迅速变化的种族和民族景观的理解。本研究以非洲裔和印度裔加勒比移民为例，探讨：（1）黑人和亚洲人的表型在劳动力和住房市场上如何被对待，控制文化特征和人力资本（2）来自同一派遣社会的文化融合的黑人和亚洲移民如何对美国种族类别作出反应，（3）哪些因素预测了非洲裔和印度裔加勒比人在回应美国种族类别时做出的种族选择。第一个问题评估种族归属对社会经济机会的影响。后一个问题考察了种族认同如何递归地重塑现行的种族等级制度。 一个混合的方法是用来回答这些问题。多变量分析的数据从美国社区调查的公共使用微观数据样本被用来比较结构纳入的结果在美国的非洲裔和印度-加勒比人。一年的人种学观察，并从120个扩展访谈的数据来阐明如何非洲裔和印度-加勒比移民作出民族种族的选择，以应对美国的种族背景。实地调查将在纽约进行，纽约长期以来一直是非洲裔和印度-加勒比移民到美国的主要目的地，今天仍然拥有美国最大的加勒比人口。 这项研究将揭示在21世纪世纪美国日益多样化的马赛克种族/民族关系的演变性质有价值的光。

Scholars have traditionally understood the American racial hierarchy through the lens of the "Black-White" color line, reflecting the primacy of our most historically consequential axis of racial distinction. However, the old Black-White model is increasingly inadequate for understanding racial and ethnic categories in the United States. The declining primacy of the Black-White model of race relations highlights the urgent need for scholarship on relationships between racial/ethnic minority groups. This project addresses this emerging need by examining inter-minority stratification between those classified as Black and those classified as Asian by taking advantage of the unique case of Afro and Indo-Caribbean immigrants to the United States. Both groups share similar cultural backgrounds while being classified in the United States into different racial/ethnic groups. The analysis combines a quantitative study of the earnings and residential locations of Afro and Asian Caribbean immigrants to the United States with in-depth interviews of immigrants that seek to better understand their own racial and ethnic identification in their adopted home country. This project will enrich our understanding of how inter-minority relations will likely to reshape 21st Century America's increasingly diverse, and rapidly shifting racial and ethnic landscape.Using the case of Afro- and Indo-Caribbean immigrants, this study thus examines: (1) How Black and Asian phenotypes are being treated in the labor and housing market, controlling for cultural characteristics and human capital (2) How culturally integrated Black and Asian immigrants from the same sending societies react to American racial categories, and (3) What factors predict the kinds of ethno-racial choices that Afro- and Indo-Caribbeans make in response to US racial categories. The first question assesses the effect of racial ascription on socio-economic opportunity. The latter questions examine how racial identification may recursively reshape the prevailing racial hierarchy. A mixed-methods approach is used to answer these questions. Multivariate analyses of data from the American Community Survey's Public Use Micro-Data Samples are used to compare structural incorporation outcomes among Afro- and Indo-Caribbeans in the US. One year of ethnographic observation, and data from 120 extended interviews are used to shed light on how Afro- and Indo-Caribbean immigrants make ethno-racial choices in response to the American racial context. Fieldwork will be conducted in New York, which has long been the primary destination for Afro- and Indo-Caribbean immigrants to the US, and which today still boasts America's largest Caribbean populations. This study will shed valuable light on the evolving nature of racial/ethnic relations in 21st Century America's increasingly diverse mosaic.