Names will never hurt me?

• Published in: Harvard educational review Vol. 74; no. 2; pp. 175 - 208
• Main Authors: Varma-Joshi, Manju, Baker, Cynthia J, Tanaka, Connie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, MA Harvard Education Publishing Group 01-07-2004; Harvard University; Harvard Education Press
• Subjects: Adolescents; Area Studies; Blacks; Bullying; Canada; Children; Community Relations; Cultural Pluralism; Discrimination; Diskriminierung; Educational Experience; Educational sciences; Educational sector; Einstellung (Psy); Eltern; Emotional abuse; Empirische Untersuchung; Ethnic minority, racial problems, cultural differences; Focus Groups; Foreign Countries; Interview; Jugendlicher; Kanada; Lehrer; Minderheit; Minorities; Minority Group Children; Minority Group Students; Minority Groups; Minority students; New Brunswick; Prejudice, Racial; Racial Attitudes; Racial Bias; Racial Differences; Racial harassment; Racism; Rassismus; School Culture; School violence; Schools; Schule; Schüler; Segregation, Social; Social aspects; Social Networks; Sociology of culture; Sociology of education; Student Attitudes; Student Experience; Student Reaction; Urban Areas; Verbale Aggression; Whites; Youth; Canada; New York; Thousand Oaks California; United States > US; School Life; Insult; Teacher role; Racism; Ethnic Minority; Adolescent
• ISSN: 0017-8055; 1943-5045
• DOI: 10.17763/haer.74.2.p077712755767067

In this article, [the authors] examine the impact of racialized name-calling on a group of twenty-six "visible minority" youth from New Brunswick, Canada. Through one-on-one interviews and focus groups, the authors compare views held by visible minority students and their parents to the views of White authority figures regarding the significance of racism and racialized name-calling at school. While White authority figures often view name- calling - even that of a racialized nature - as common adolescent behavior, the visible minority participants equate such name-calling with a serious form of harassment and violence. The authors contend that much of the disparity in these views is the result of White authority figures' perception of racialized name-calling as isolated incidents rather than part of a continual pattern of harassment encountered by visible minority students. As a result of this disparity, the authors identify three responses to racism that the youth participants typically enact: splintered universe, spiraling resistance, and disengagement. These responses are often destructive to visible minority students and negatively affect their school experiences. The authors recommend increased attention by school authorities to the everyday racist assaults that visible minority students have to endure. (DIPF/Orig.).