EXPLORING THE COMMUNICATIVE IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION OF DESCENDANTS OF ROBERTS SETTLEMENT Charnell Peters A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May 2018 Committee: Lisa Hanasono, Advisor Sandra Faulkner Radhika Gajjala © 2018 Charnell Peters All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Lisa Hanasono, Advisor This study used communication theory of identity (CTI) and critical race theory (CRT) to investigate the identities of descendants of Roberts Settlement, an early mixed-race settlement in Indiana. Twenty-four descendants of Roberts Settlement were interviewed to understand how Roberts descendants communicate their identities and how race in the US context has shaped their identities. In-depth interviews were conducted in one-on-one settings; interview transcripts were coded using open and axial coding, as described in grounded theory, and were analyzed according to the four frames and identity gaps of CTI, with consideration to the tenants of CRT. The findings show that Roberts descendants communicate their identities in diverse ways, notably: their personal racial identities develop over time and are sometimes fluid; their conceptions of family are diverse and tie them to a larger, imagined community, with histories of racial passing affecting degrees of relational closeness; many enact their identities as descendants through attending annual homecomings at the settlement and/or learning about the settlement’s history; and many find significance in their identities as people who belong to the Black community and to the Roberts Settlement community. Participants experienced identity gaps and displayed various negotiation strategies for those gaps. The findings of this study exemplify the social, cultural, and political forces that create and maintain race in the US, as well as their influence on individual and communal racial identity. As the first research to specifically investigate Roberts descendants, this study provides practical implications for Roberts Settlement as an organization and suggests future research on communication’s role in racial and communal identity development. iv Dedicated to the Roberts women v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project would not have been possible without the support and aid of many people. First, I would like to thank Dr. Lisa Hanasono for her steadfast guidance and encouragement. To Dr. Radhika Gajjala and Dr. Sandra Faulkner, thank you for your voices, which strengthened this work. To Dr. Lara Lengel, thank you for encouraging me to pursue this project in the first place and for believing in this study even before I did. To my many supportive peers, whose own work inspires me to do better and whose kindness has surely sustained me, especially those in the 405, thank you for your love. And lastly, to the many friends and family members, both new and old, who made this possible, I am forever grateful. Paula, Bryan, Lezli, and La Vella, your support has meant the world. To the board of Roberts Settlement, thank you. Thank you, also, to each participant whose voices are the life of this work. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 Background of Study ................................................................................................. 2 Definition of Terms.................................................................................................... 3 Rationale .................................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................... 8 Critical Race Theory .................................................................................................. 8 Communication Theory of Identity ........................................................................... 11 Identity Gaps .................................................................................................. 13 Race in the US Context .............................................................................................. 13 Historical Overview ....................................................................................... 14 Race and the Law ........................................................................................... 15 Slave codes......................................................................................... 15 Census ................................................................................................ 16 Anti-miscegenation laws .................................................................... 17 Definitions of Race ........................................................................................ 17 Race as biological .............................................................................. 17 Race as social construction ................................................................ 18 Race as socio-biological .................................................................... 19 Early African American and Mixed-race Settlements ............................................... 19 Genealogy ............................................................................................................ 21 Genealogy through Family Stories ................................................................ 21 vii Genealogy as Personal and Communal.......................................................... 22 Genealogy as Empirical and Narrative .......................................................... 23 Chapter Summary ...................................................................................................... 23 Research Questions .................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER 3. METHOD ....................................................................................................... 25 Grounded Theory ........................................................................................... 25 Positionality ....................................................................................... 26 Permission from Institutional Review Board (IRB) ...................................... 28 Approval from Roberts Settlement Board ..................................................... 28 In-Depth Interviews ....................................................................................... 29 Interview Settings and Tools ......................................................................... 30 Participant Selection ...................................................................................... 30 Memoing ........................................................................................................ 31 Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 32 Poetic Transcription ....................................................................................... 33 Chapter Summary ...................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER 4. RESULTS ....................................................................................................... 38 Personal Layer ........................................................................................................... 40 Racial Identity Development ......................................................................... 41 Racial awareness ................................................................................ 41 Racial struggle ................................................................................... 42 Racial acceptance ............................................................................... 43 Fluidity of Racial Self-Identification ............................................................. 44 viii Personal Significance of Roberts Heritage .................................................... 46 Personal-Enacted Identity Gap ...................................................................... 48 Negotiation ......................................................................................... 49 Negotiation ......................................................................................... 51 Relational Layer ......................................................................................................... 52 “When I Found Out We Family, We Family” ............................................... 52 Geographic influence on closeness .................................................... 54 “The Difference between Knowing and Knowing” ....................................... 55 “They Vanished off the Face of the Earth” .................................................... 56 Relational-Personal Identity Gap ................................................................... 58 Discrimination.................................................................................... 59 Negotiation ................................................................................. 61 Misinterpreting race ........................................................................... 61 Negotiation ................................................................................. 63 Relational-Enacted Identity Gap .................................................................... 64 Negotiation ........................................................................................