Cornell study: Barack Obama's election changed African-American perceptions of being black
Cornell University | Thursday, February 16, 2012
"Obama's election triggered deep explorations or 'encounter experiences' in which these African-Americans (in our study) were challenged to think through the importance and positive value that can be associated with being black," said Anthony Burrow, assistant professor of human development in Cornell's College of Human Ecology, co-author of the study with Anthony Ong, associate professor of human development at Cornell, and lead author Thomas Fuller-Rowell, Ph.D. '10, now a Robert Wood Johnson postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison . . .
To examine the impact of the election of the first African-American president on racial identity, the researchers surveyed more than 300 African-American undergraduate students from two large research universities in the Northeast before and after the 2008 election. They looked at the importance of race to a person's self-concept (centrality), whether or not they feel good about being part of their racial group (private regard) and how they perceive their racial group to be viewed by others (public regard) . . .
The team found increases in all three aspects of racial identity immediately after the election. Their results also suggest overall enduring increases in public regard. However, long-term increases in private regard were more likely among those who explored their racial identity more following the election.
"One main message here is that important race-relevant social or political events can shift the way individuals think about their race as well as their perception of how others view their race," said Burrow.
read more: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Feb12/RacialIdentity.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
