Multiracial college students’ experiences with multiracial microaggressions

“What Are You?” Conceptualizing the Complexities of Bicultural and Biracial College Student Experiences

“…Bicultural and biracial college students face common struggles associated with academic and social adjustment to higher education (e.g., time management, study skills, making friends; Conley, Kirsch, Dickson, & Bryant, 2014). However, they often experience additional adversities compared with their White counterparts (J. C. Harris, 2017;Leon & Osetek, 2016-2017. In this section, we review how challenges influence students' mental health and well-being.…”

“…For instance, a student may have witnessed or experienced hate crimes or acts of terror on campus (in their microsystem) while simultaneously experiencing the adverse effects of national policy changes (in their exosystem), such as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (more commonly known as DACA). Navigating multiple cultures across different layers in one's ecosystem is challenging and requires vigilance to move fluidly between identities and contexts while combating marginalization and oppression (Leon & Osetek, 2016-2017. An additional barrier that bicultural and biracial students face involves building a support network and feeling a sense of belonging within the university community.…”

“…Recent research extended this early framework and supports ways in which cultural and racial identity serve as strengths and protective factors among bicultural and biracial students. Coping mechanisms, including forming communities with those of similar backgrounds and educating peers of similar and different backgrounds about their identity, culture, and history (Leon & Osetek, 2016-2017Museus et al, 2015), demonstrate connectedness to these students' bicultural identity. A well-developed bicultural or biracial identity is associated with positive mental health and well-being (Lusk, Taylor, Nanney, & Austin, 2010;Maffini & Wong, 2012).…”

17.3 Full Issue

“…For classroom teachers and college professors, the first day of classes can create anxiety about name pronunciation. While it may not appear overtly racist when instructors avoid calling on students with non-Eurocentric names because of their fear of mispronouncing a student's name, it can cause a student to feel invisible, humiliated, and disconnected from the classroom space (Harris, 2017;Kohli & Solórzano, 2005). As educators, we have a responsibility to learn how to correctly pronounce our students' names as a way to value and honor their families and identities.…”

Engaging with the other

“…They claimed that institutions either denied their multiracial identities or assumed a monoracial identity. Harris (2017) argues that "tacit understandings of race, and what it means to be and act monoracial, stem from white ideology, are filtered through and maintain monoracist structures, and result in individual multiracial microaggressions that permeate and are endemic to US society and higher education" (p. 440). There is limited research on the participation of multiracial students in high impact practices.…”