The Complexity of Black Biracial Identity Within the Contexts of Peer and Faculty Interactions at a Predominately White Institution

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between identity and the university community for Black, biracial women students within a predominantly white institution. Using intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989) and aspects of racial identity, racial identification, and racial category (Rockquemore et al., 2009) as conceptual frames, we sought to understand the experiences of two Black biracial women. We extend the prior literature through an examination of the identity and community development of biracial women undergraduate students who identify as Black. Research typically looks at Black people as a homogenous group (Patton et al., 2016), often involving Black men from low-socioeconomic status backgrounds as the defining group. This chapter examines the experiences of Black/white biracial women who are expressing their identities within a teacher education program and interact with various individuals, including each other and their peers, and program faculty. We explore how these students’ racialized and gendered identities influence their interactions with various faculty and students who they consider to be intergroup or intragroup members of Black/white biraciality.