Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Research Proposal


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

4 comments:

  1. I think you need a little more focus here. What critical controversy regarding race as a factor on college campuses do you want to address? And to what end? Is there a controversy surrounding the different performance of white and non-white students in college? And is it definitely connected to stereotypes? That seems like an old-fashioned notion. For example, most of the research I have seen suggests the high drop-out rate of African-American students has more to do with social class and economic differences, which just tend to correlate to race. Meanwhile, female African-American students tend to have higher graduation rates than males -- so what does that say about stereotypes? I could see if you first established that there is a problem (say, for example, with graduation rates) and that it had been connected to stereotypes. But you instead seem to begin with the idea that stereotypes are causing some specific problem, but you never show what that would be.

    If you start with a problem or a critical controversy, it will really help you focus your attention on racism. For example: there is a lot of discussion these days regarding the value of diversity on college campuses, and that is one of the main arguments for race-based admissions (as in the Fisher vs U of Texas case before the Supreme Court). That could be one site of critical controversy regarding race: what is the value of diversity on campus? Or campus speech codes. During the 1990s there were a lot of speech codes enacted with the intent of penalizing racist and sexist speech, but some have argued that these policies merely drove such speech underground or have prevented real dialogue on issues of race on college campuses.

    If you start with the reason why race matters at college, then you will be much better at organizing sources that help you to address the issue. As it is, it looks like you just have a collection of sources regarding stereotypes but no clear agenda in how to use them.

    References
    I have difficulty finding most of the sources you list because you are not giving full citation information. The Jstor links I can follow because they are "stable" links -- the rest are temporary links. And the information you give is incomplete. For instance, the Nolan Cabrera reference appears to be his dissertation, but your reference does not indicate that.

    Please do not list Wikipedia as a source. You are welcome to use that to help you understand the issues, but don't use it as a reference.

    Please improve your citations in revising. And try to figure out the critical controversy if you can.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Some books you might look at:

    Two-Faced Racism: Whites in the Backstage and Frontstage by
    Leslie Picca and Joe Feagin -- my impression is that they rely upon the theories set forth in Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts by James C. Scott, which is also interesting.

    Race and Class Matters at an Elite College by Elizabeth Aries

    Speaking of Race and Class: The Student Experience at an Elite College by Elizabeth Aries and Richard Berman

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the help, I have modified my topic to " Racism: as a consequence of the value of diversity at college campuses".

    ReplyDelete
  4. The contradictory question would be that does race talk at college exacerbate racism?

    ReplyDelete