Access Type
Open Access Thesis
Date of Award
January 2012
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
Heather E. Dillaway
Abstract
Most literature on racial ambiguity focuses on individuals of mixed-race. While this type of literature is invaluable in understanding racial identity and all of its intricacies, the experiences of single-race individuals are marginalized. How do people who are single race experience racial ambiguity? Do their experiences differ from those of mixed-race individuals? For this study, nineteen individuals (single and mixed-race) who consider themselves to be racially ambiguous were interviewed and asked open-ended questions. The transcribed and coded interviews yielded important information on their self-perceptions, what they get mistaken for, how it makes them feel, and how they deal with their racial ambiguity. The findings provide a more complex definition of "racial ambiguity," and also open the door to possible future study on the differentiation between the terms "race" and "ethnicity."
Recommended Citation
Vargas, Cindy Veronica, "What Are You? A Study Of Racial Ambiguity" (2012). Wayne State University Theses. 219.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_theses/219