Researching Race

Drawing upon ethnographic research, the author uses detailed case study examples to show how race and ethnicity is produced, negotiated and resisted in qualitative research encounters.

The question of why we need to think about how we research race demands a conceptualization of race that captures both its social construction and its temporal evolution. We need both an understanding of race and clarity about how we talk about it in our design and conduct of research, and in how we interpret and apply it in our findings. As a field, we can use research on race and racism in education to help construct social change. Our purpose with this volume is to underscore the persistence of the discriminatory actions—processes—and the normalization of the use of race (and class)—conditions—to justify the existing and growing disparity between the quality of life and opportunity for middle-class and more affluent Whites and that for people of color and people of color who live in poverty. As editors of this volume, we wonder what more we could learn and understand about the process and condition of race if we dare to ask bold questions about race and racism and commit to methods and analyses that respect the experiences and knowledges of our research participants and partners.

This new work brings together contributions from some of the leading researchers in the field, using the benefit of their experience to explore the practical and ethical issues involved in researching in this often controversial field.

This book is an examination of what it means to be "conscious" of race when one is doing research. There are those who argue that just to acknowledge race is to perpetuate the biological myth of race. But, this book warns, that is to confuse the biological with the social, further arguing that the race of the researcher can be a significant factor in what information is revealed by interviewees, and that this needs to be considered when planning a study or reviewing its results. This book is the authors attempt to initiate a serious discussion of the potential ethical, emotional, analytical, and methodological dilemmas generated by racial subjectivities, racial ideologies, and racial disparities in research. c. Book News Inc.

This new work brings together contributions from some of the leading researchers in the field, using the benefit of their experience to explore the practical and ethical issues involved in researching in this often controversial field.

In traditional educational research, race is treated as merely a variable. In 1995, Gloria Ladson-Billings and William F. Tate, IV argued that race is under-theorized in education and called for educational researchers to pay closer attention to the relationship between race and educational inequity (Ladson-Billings and Tate, 1995). In particular, they argued, drawing on legal scholar, Derrick Bell’s notion of Racial Realism (Bell, 1995), that racialized inequities are not accidental or aberrant; rather, racialized educational inequities are the result of particular and specific policies and practices that are designed to maintain particular forms of dominance and marginalization. More specifically, Bell and later Ladson-Billings and Tate, argue that racial inequity persists despite liberal policies and legislation that were ostensibly designed to eradicate it. The Racial Realist perspective takes into the consideration the longevity and history of racism, racial inequity and White supremacy in the U.S. and serves as a mirror to reflect back the limitations of proposed policies and legislation that fail to address those issues. In this way, Critical Race Theory and the scholars who draw on CRT, view our work as an important “check and balance” in the effort toward racial equality.

Race and racism have become huge areas of study in the social sciences over the past two decades. However, whilst this has been reflected in the growing body of theoretical and empirically based work, surprisingly little has been published that explores the methodological and practical issues involved in researching race. In Researching Race and Racism Martin Bulmer and John Solomos have brought together contributions from some of the leading researchers in the field, using the benefit of their experience to explore the practical and ethical issues involved in doing research in this sometimes controversial, often heavily politicised field. This book will provide students and researchers - both new to the field and experienced alike - with an invaluable tool to help them find their way.

A white woman studies upper-class eighth grade girls at her alma mater on Long Island and finds a culture founded on misinformation about its own racial and class identity. A black American researcher is repeatedly assumed by many Brazilian subjects to be a domestic servant or sex worker. Racing Race, Researching Race is the first volume of its kind to explore how ideologies of race and racism intersect with nationality and gender to shape the research experience. Critical work in race studies has not adequately addressed how racial positions in the field--as inflected by nationality, gender, and age--generate numerous methodological dilemmas. Racing Research, Researching Race begins to fill this gap by infusing critical race studies with more empirical work and suggesting how a critical race perspective might improve research methodologies and outcomes. The contributors to the volume encompass a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds including anthropology, sociology, ethnic studies, women=s studies, political science, and Asian American studies.