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Racial Becoming: How Agentic (Self-Initiated) Encounter Events Inform Racial Identity Refinement

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Racial Becoming: How Agentic (Self-Initiated) Encounter Events Inform Racial Identity Refinement City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 5-2019 Racial Becoming: How Agentic (Self-Initiated) Encounter Events Inform Racial Identity Refinement Devin A. Heyward The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3086 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] RACIAL BECOMING: HOW AGENTIC (SELF-INITIATED) ENCOUNTER EVENTS INFORM RACIAL IDENTITY REFINEMENT by DEVIN A. HEYWARD A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York. 2019 ii © 2019 DEVIN A. HEYWARD All Rights Reserved iii Racial Becoming: How Agentic (self-initiated) encounter events inform racial identity refinement by Devin A. Heyward This manuscript has been read and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in Psychology in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ____________________ ______________________________ Date Tamara R. Buckley, PhD Chair of Examining Committee _____________________ _____________________________ Date Richard Bodnar, PhD Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Michelle Fine William E. Cross Justin T. Brown Alondra Nelson THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iv ABSTRACT Racial becoming: How agentic (self-initiated) encounter events inform racial identity refinement by Devin A. Heyward Advisor: Michelle Fine, PhD and Tamara R. Buckley, PhD Racial identity literature has typically focused on identity formation through a series of stages. It also has centered how the experience of negative encounter events informs racial identity formation. With the advent of new genealogical and genomic technology, it is imperative to expand the focus of identity literatures to include encounter events, which participants elect to experience (i.e. self-initiated or agentic encounter events). By using this frame, identity processes become fluid and informed by individual life experiences. In the context of this study, direct to consumer genetic ancestry tests (DTC-GAT) are operationalized as a self-initiated encounter event. Participants were enrolled in an arts-in-education program that connects self-identified Black Americans with their ancestral roots through theater and genetic ancestry tests. The study uses a series of methods: theater performance; critical identity maps; modified life narrative interviews; participant observation; and group interviews to understand how agentic encounter events inform understandings of the self and others. Each of the eight participants took a genetic ancestry test to determine their country of origin. Over the course of three weeks, participants explored their personal histories, while creating theater pieces reflective of their hopes and experiences. Subsequent interviews highlighted how participants internalized the genetic test results in varying ways. Results indicated that similar themes related to self-determination, identity formation, confronting ancestral traumas, concerns about future steps, respect, and feelings of belongingness reverberated across interviews. Overall, this v research opens the possibility of integrating new information generated by genetic ancestry tests into an ever-evolving and dynamic self, creating new avenues for exploration within critical social psychology. Keywords: genetic ancestry testing; racial becoming; racial identity; self-initiated encounter events; theater vi Acknowledgements First, I’d like to thank Tamara Buckley, Michelle Fine, and Bill Cross for helping to navigate me through this process with their unwavering support and guidance. Your questions and ideas forced me to dig deeper into my own thinking and I’m grateful for this support. Thank you to Justin Brown for his support as my colleague and friend. Your advice has been supportive in a multitude of ways. Thank you to Alondra Nelson for her support on my work and continuing to inspire my own research interests. Special thanks to my crew – Arita Balaram, Priscilla Bustamante, Allison Cabana, and Tellisia Williams. Your support through these last few years has been nothing short of magical. I am honored to have a community that I can work with and have fun with seamlessly. I’d also like to thank the following people who’ve been with me throughout my academic career – Monique Guishard, Atasi Das, Amanda Marin-Chollom, Whitney Richards-Calathes, Sonia Sanchez, Deshonay Dozier, Chinyere Okafor, Loren Cahill, Alyssa Wheeler, Prakriti Hassan, Stefani Wallace, Jenn Chmielewski, and Kim Belmonte. I’d like also like to thank my 2010 cohort mates – Patrick Sweeney, Wen Liu, Naomi Podber, Silvana Ramos, Denise Choi and Brian Johnston for your support. Special thanks to Nsangou, Lavonda, Nikkole, Tracy, Tyshawn, Sean, Nathan, Dennis, Celestine, Allicia, Willie, and Juaquin. Last but certainly not least, I’m thankful for my parents for continuing to be beacons of support for me throughout this never-ending journey. To my mom, Debra Cardoza, your unwavering grace in the face of insurmountable obstacles has been awe-inspiring and I am honored to be your daughter. To my dad, Calvin Heyward Jr., your work ethic and love for my sisters and I has been a source of strength and I appreciate all that you have done for us. To my sister, Dana Heyward, thank you for keeping me sane and standing by my side through vii everything. To my grandparents, Sadie Heyward, Barbara Igle, and Paul Igle, I hope that I continue to make you proud. Thank you for supporting me. Lastly, I’d like to thank the women and men, known and unknown, named and unnamed, who have come before me on this journey. May I continue to carry forth the legacy you have set forth. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vi Chapter 1: Racial Becoming ........................................................................................................... 1 Racial Becoming ......................................................................................................................... 3 Racial Identity Research and Theory .......................................................................................... 7 Nigrescence, Nigrescence Expanded, and Nigrescence Recycling ......................................... 9 The Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity ........................................................................ 12 Racial Awakening ...................................................................................................................... 13 Black (Diasporic) Performance ................................................................................................ 15 Social ghosts and the body – Southland (1951) and Walking out the Dark (2001) .............. 16 Genetic Ancestry Testing ........................................................................................................... 18 Interpreting genetic testing results – Reconciliation and healing in the 21st Century .......... 20 The Present Work ...................................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 2: Methods and Analysis for the Present Study .............................................................. 26 Background information on TCP .............................................................................................. 26 Methods ..................................................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 3: The Science of Genetic Ancestry Testing and Processes of Becoming ...................... 34 Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) and Genetic Ancestry Testing: How it appears through performance .............................................................................................................................. 34 Royally Black ......................................................................................................................... 35 Proof (aka “Are…You…Black…Enough? – The Game Show) ............................................. 38 The Meaning of the Results ....................................................................................................... 39 Kujichagulia: Reclamations of self and history through DTC-GAT ..................................... 40 (Re)awakened tensions .......................................................................................................... 42 Social ghosts and (ancestral) traumas: Colorism and fetishization through rape and sexual assault .................................................................................................................................... 43 Mysticism and spirituality through ancestry ......................................................................... 48 Chapter 4: Life Narratives ............................................................................................................ 52 Respectus ................................................................................................................................... 53 “Do you see me?” Do you see us? .......................................................................................
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