Racialized Emotions as Maps and Compasses for Students of Color Navigating a Predominantly White University

Abstract

Students of color in predominantly White institutions (PWI’s) encounter racial microaggressions, the often subtle, but powerful, offensive experiences that are steeped in racism and occur in the course of everyday life. They also experience racial microaffirmations—moments where their racial identities or racialized realities are affirmed, validated, supported, or protected. We employ sociologist Bonilla-Silva’s concept of racialized emotions to analyze 16 student narratives describing racial microaggressions and racial microaffirmations; Bonilla-Silva defines racialized emotions as those that arise specifically within one’s racial hierarchy and shape one’s experiences within it. We find that racialized emotions are like navigational tools. Like maps, they allow students to understand the terrain of racial interaction. Like compasses, they help students find their way through said terrain in a predominantly White, often racist, institution. This article makes a distinctive contribution by exploring the relationship between racialized emotions and racial microaggressions and microaffirmations within a higher education context.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 A few students only shared a microaggression story and some shared more than one microaggression or microaffirmation story.

2 Tabitha and Nora had the option of being interviewed separately, but they chose to be interviewed together and to discuss a shared experience.

3 Participants were asked open-ended questions that allowed them to identity their race/ethnicity, immigrant background (if relevant), gender, and sexual orientation.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Spencer Foundation.