Ghania
Professor Goeller
Research in Disciplines
February 24,2013
Research Proposal
Working Title: Racism and it’s consequences amongst
college students
Topic
My research focuses
on the role of racism in colleges. It will also talk about different levels of
racism faced by students with different ethnicities. The research will also
mention the concept of stereotypes formed by
“ The Theory of Cognition”. The
paper will talk about the effects of racism on student’s academic performance,
based on Jane Elliot’s “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” exercise. Moreover, it will
unfold the types of “internalized racism/covert” and “ overt/obvious racism”
which play a major role in big time Private schools.
Research
Question
Can
the difference in academic performance between white and colored skin students
be explained by examining the theories that mention the effects of overt and
covert racism amongst multiethnic students? Or is it just a matter of
associating stereotypes to skin colors ?
Theoretical Frame
In
Jane Elliot’s experiment of “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes”, she demonstrates that
racism is interrelated to the performance of students. This experiment mentions
“ Social Cognitive Theory” proposed by Neal E. Miller and John Dollard in 1941.
Social cognitive theory is a learning theory based on the idea that people
learn and generate their own native theories by observing what others do. This
theory emphasizes a large difference between an individual’s ability to be
morally competent and morally performing . Racism undermines an individual's
ability to perform, by underscoring their capabilities. I am interested in
inquiring how the social cognitive theory affects the academic performance of
students facing racism. I am also curious to know the role and effect of
university policies on the issue of racism.
The topic of racism amongst students in today’s multi ethnic colleges has raised a lot of
brows . There are a number of books, scholarly articles and journals written
about racism and it’s consequences. I am an international student, with a
different ethnic background from “white” americans, so i think the topic of
stereotypes being attached to skin colors and racism relates to me. Although
not in college life but in personal life when I moved to US I faced racism and
I can relate to it too. The concept of attaching stereotypes to skin colors
also relates to me, because being a “desi”, which means Indian or Pakistani
attaches a tag that “You must be good at Maths”. In my calc class last semester
one of my classmates thought I was better than her in math and when I asked her
the reason, she replied “ because Indians are good at math”. So , is it that
all desis are good at math? Obviously not ! I was never good at math, it was
just that I practiced a lot to get a B plus in my Calc class. I know a family friend who studies in UK and
was beaten up by black college students just because he was a Pakistani. I have
various life experiences which can tap into my topic of racism and stereotypes.
I think the concept of racism leads to the idea of stereotypes.
Research
and Plan
As mentioned above my research will include
Jane Elliot’s experiment of Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes , which reflects the idea that
people’s performance is affected by their social standing.
So, If a student was told that he or
she is inferior to others then it would deteriorate his/her’s performance.
Whereas, if the same student was told that he/she is superior to other than it
would change his/her’s attitude towards others and would also improve
performance. This is the most relevant research on my topic as it demonstrates
the direct effect of racism on individual student’s capabilities by the process
of social cognition. I want to further scrutinize these factors. My research
also emcompasses the study “Critical Race Theory, Racial Microaggressions, and
Campus Racial Climate: The Experiences of African American College Students”
done in University of California . This study mentions critical race theory as
a framework providing an examination of racial microaggressions and how they
influence the collegiate racial climate. The study on “Anger, racism, caste
discrimination, and posttraumatic stress disorder in African-American and
Indian college students” also talks about the negative psychological impact of
racism amongst African American and Indian college students. I have also read
through the article “ Invisible Racism” by Cabrera, L who uses Antonio
Gramsci's theory of hegemony and Paulo Friere's conception of liberatory praxis
and examines how white male college
students' racial ideologies both reinforce and challenge the existing racial
paradigm. This refers to covert racism coming into effect. I am also looking at
other articles such as “The Metastereotypes and the black white divide: A
Qualitative View of Race on an Elite College Campus”. This article also talks
about the development of the concept of stereotypes in a college campus and
also about it’s consequences. Furthermore, I am also looking into the article
“Racial stereotypes and gender in context”. It gives insightful and interesting
relationship between stereotypes concepts and academic performance. It is
greatly related to my main field of research. As states in all of the above
mentioned articles, racism does play a major role in student’s academic
performance and mental health, but i will explore any other limitations or
exceptions to this topic.
Bibliography
1.Cabrera, Nolan L. "Invisible
Racism: Male, Hegemonic Whiteness in Higher Education." RU Libraries. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb.
2013. http://search.proquest.com/docview/304855289/fulltextPDF?accountid=13626
2.Jenifer, Ericka S. "Anger,
Racism, Caste Discrimination, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in
African-American and Indian College Students." RU Libraries. N.p., n.d. Web. 25
3."Social Cognition." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Feb.
2013. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
4.Solorzano, Daniel, Miguel Ceja, and
Tara Yosso. "Journal of Negro Education." JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2696265
5.Torres, KImberly, and Camille Z.
Charles. "The Internalization of Stereotypes : Black Stereotypes about
Black University of Pennsylvania Students." RU Libraries. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
6."Racial
Stereotypes and Gender in Context." Sex Roles : A Journal Of Research,
n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. http://search.proquest.com/docview/225373602/fulltextPDF?accountid=13626
