Doctoral Dissertation Research: Situating Multiethnic Racial Identity in Neighborhood and Household Contexts

在美国城市地区，不同种族的拉丁裔和非拉丁裔白人之间的多种族和混合种族家庭伙伴关系正变得越来越普遍，但研究人员除了人口和地理比例外，对这些家庭几乎一无所知。社会科学家对多种族、混血家庭如何理解和体现种族和民族认同，以及他们如何选择自己的居民区并与之互动，知之甚少。关于“住在哪里？”的决定？被列为混合种族家庭面临的最重要问题之一，因为他们必须从一系列社区中选择居住地点，这些社区通常以单一种族类别为标志。社区塑造了潜在的社会互动，从而影响了混合种族家庭中民族和种族身份的形成和确立。这项博士论文研究项目将研究一种类型的混合种族家庭，包括洛杉矶大都会地区的一对夫妇，其中包括一名非拉丁裔白人(以下简称“白人”)和一名具有墨西哥血统的拉丁裔(以下简称“墨西哥人”)。博士生将研究家庭和家庭成员的种族和民族认同形成过程与家庭和邻里环境的多标量相互作用。这项研究将对地理上详细的机密人口普查数据进行严格的表格和地图量化分析，并对居住历史进行定性分析，采访墨西哥母亲和来自墨西哥白人家庭的成年多种族儿童。该项目将(1)研究WM家庭相对于其他洛杉矶地区家庭的居住分布，并描述WM家庭中多种族儿童相对于家庭人口结构和邻里种族构成的种族认同特征；(2)评估与儿童种族和民族社会化相关的WM家庭层面的认知和居住决策；以及(3)评估WM家庭和邻里环境对WM多种族子女种族和民族认同形成和表达的双重影响。本项目将通过研究影响认同形成的多种社会环境中的两个(家庭和社区)来加强对种族和民族认同发展的理解。这个项目设想家庭既是影响个人身份的背景社会环境，也是集体身份断言、谈判和制定的主观单位。类似的分析在学术界基本上没有，因为主要关注的是个人，而不是家庭。这项研究对WM家庭的关注产生了更广泛的科学影响；WM家庭是一种混合种族家庭类型，比其他多种族和多种族的伴侣关系要常见得多，但也几乎被研究人员忽视。WM家庭可能会保留伴侣的种族和民族认同的元素，以及家庭复杂的种族认同，而种族认同可能会在家庭居住决定中表现出来，这些决定与大多数同种族的白人或拉丁裔家庭的决定相似，但又截然不同。WM家庭可能不会被吸引到由任何一方的种族群体成员主导的居民区。这项研究将探讨拉美裔文化和种族认同如何融入和/或改变美国白人的文化和种族认同，并提供关于混血家庭在大城市地区定居的关键经验信息。最后，作为博士论文改进奖资助的研究，该项目的实施将有助于为有前途的年轻学者建立坚实的独立研究计划。

Multiethnic and mixed-race household partnerships between Latinos of varied racial origin and non-Latino Whites are becoming ever more common in U.S. urban areas, yet researchers know almost nothing about these households beyond their demographic and geographic rates of occurrence. Social scientists understand little about how multi-ethnic, mixed-race households comprehend and enact racial and ethnic identity or about how they select and interact with their residential neighborhoods. Decisions about "Where to Live?" rank among the most important issues that confront mixed-race families because they must select residential locations from among a set of neighborhoods that are typically marked in terms of single racial categories. Neighborhoods shape potential social interactions and thus influence the formation and enactment of ethnic and racial identities within mixed-race households. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine one type of mixed-race household, couples including a non-Latino White (hereafter referred to as "White") and a Latino of Mexican heritage (hereafter referred to as "Mexican") in one metropolis, the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The doctoral student will examine the multi-scalar interactions of family and family members' racial and ethnic identity formation processes with household and neighborhood contexts. The study will employ a rigorous combination of tabular and cartographic quantitative analysis of geographically detailed confidential census data with qualitative analysis of residential history interviews with Mexican mothers and adult multiracial children from White-Mexican (WM) households. The project will (1) examine the residential distribution of WM households relative to other L.A. area households and characterize the racial identification of multiracial children in WM households relative to household demographic structure and neighborhood racial composition, (2) assess WM family-level perceptions and residential decisions related to the racial and ethnic socialization of children, and (3) evaluate the dual impacts of WM household and neighborhood contexts on the formation and expression of racial and ethnic identity among WM multiracial offspring.This project will enhance understanding of racial and ethnic identity development by examining two of the multiple social settings (households and neighborhoods) that impact identity formation. This project conceives of the household as both a contextual social setting that affects individual identity and as a subjective unit of collective identity assertion, negotiation, and enactment. Similar analyses are largely absent in academia because of substantive foci upon individuals rather than households. Broader scientific impacts arise from the study's focus on WM households; a mixed-race household type that is far more common that other multiethnic and multiracial partnerships but that is also nearly ignored by researchers. WM households might retain elements of both partners' racial and ethnic identifications and the household's complex racial, and ethnic identity might manifest itself in family residential decisions that are similar to but quite distinct from those of most same-race White or Latino households. WM households might not gravitate towards residential neighborhoods that are dominated by members of either partner's racial group. This research will address the manner with which Latino cultures and racial identities blend into and/or alter those of White America and offer crucial empirical information about where mixed-race households settle within large metropolitan areas. Finally, as research funded by a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award, this implementation of this project will facilitate the establishment of a solid independent research program for a promising young scholar.