Raising “Antiracist Disruptors”: Illuminating Socialization Practices that Support Antiracism in Multiracial Households

Abstract

Although an emerging body of literature has advanced our knowledge of how monoracial parents can support their multiracial children in understanding the ethnic-racial identities they hold, there is a dearth of research exploring how parents socialize their children towards antiracism. Drawing from ten interviews with monoracial parents of multiracial children, this paper illuminates how parents leverage multiracial socialization practices, as identified in previous academic research, to instill an antiracist orientation in their children. Using consensual qualitative analyses, we find that although all parents had a vested interest in the wellbeing and identity development of their multiracial children, parents qualitatively differed in their ability and willingness to instill an antiracist orientation in their children. Specifically, parents in our sample exhibited five approaches to multiracial socialization, ranging from those that reinforced dominant racial ideologies to those that explicitly aimed to prepare youth to become antiracist activists. We also describe how monoracial parents’ lived experiences are implicated in their engagement in multiracial socialization practices, especially those that better position them to prepare their children to engage in antiracism. Our findings illuminate how monoracial parents may engage in a repertoire of strategies in order to foster antiracism in multiracial children, molding the next generation of “antiracist disruptors.”

Multiracial Multilinguals: How Language Influences Multiracials’ Interpersonal Relationships

“…The racial and/or ethnic socialization (RES) experiences of Multiracials differs from that of monoracials (Hughes et al, 2006;Vezaldenos et al, 2023). RES encompasses various aspects, one of the most pivotal being language socialization, which includes HL acquisition.…”

Multiracial Generations: Interpersonal Experiences of Interminority Multiracials and Half-White Multiracials

“…The racial and/or ethnic socialization (RES) experiences of Multiracials differs from that of monoracials in several ways given that they differ from both of their parents (Christophe et al, 2021;Doucet et al, 2019;Greif et al, 2022;Hughes et al, 2006;Vezaldenos et al, 2023). The ontological levels at which these differences exist (e.g., phenotypic, genetic proportion, social perception, etc) likely influences Multiracials' RES in context specific ways.…”

Growing Up, Learning Race: An Integration of Research on Cognitive Mechanisms and Socialization in Context

“…Much of the recent literature on racial socialization has focused on ways to promote antiracism, mostly within families. Strategies that encourage antiracism include talking about the historical and contemporary manifestations of systemic racism and its impact on multiple racial groups and promoting action to disrupt systemic racism (Perry et al 2022, Vezaldenos et al 2023). We have already described Anderson and colleagues (2019) RECAST model as an example that encourages racial coping and reduces racial stress in racial socialization processes in Black families.…”