1. Traumatic Racism and the Research Process: Researcher and Participant Racial Identity
Lauren Mizock, MA
Debra Harkins, PhD
Suffolk University
Diversity Challenge 2008 Boston, MA.
Welcome! My name is Lauren Mizock and I’m coming from the clinical psychology department at Suffolk University in Boston.
My co-author is Dr. Debra Harkins, who unfortunately could not be here today.
Our initial abstract for this conference was focused on survey data on how Helms’ racial identity schemas predicted research attitudes among black and white-identified participants.
However, we were encouraged to re-focus on themes of trauma in our mixed method study.
And it so happened that the history of traumatic racism in research was a central theme in our interview data.
If you’re still interested in the survey results, I’d be happy to share those with you after the presentation.

2. In our interviews, we examined how black and white-identified participants talked about race and identity to black versus white researchers.
Before exploring the stories of traumatic racism that were told in a research setting, often to myself, the white researcher, it is important to acknowledge the history of traumatizing racism in research.
From the Tuskegee syphilis study (as depicted in this image) to nonconsensual gynecological surgeries performed on enslaved women at the turn of the century, that history runs wide and deep, and is likely to continue to impact research attitudes today.
The literature indicates that, understandably, many African Americans report a cultural mistrust of researchers, especially white ones.
We developed this research question of the impact of researcher race on data collection based on my experience in a previous study, in which I felt a tiny fraction of the pain associated with white researchers for many participants of color.
The study was investigating ways to make sexual health counseling more accessible to African American women.
I struggled for several months to recruit participants for this study. I was turned away by several colleges who often stated that they were “protective of their students of color in research”. I found myself starting to feel desperate, shut down, crying for days. I was aware of the history of racism in research, but being the naïve white researcher that I was, I assumed that if I described my cultural competency as a white researcher that I would be gain access to participants. However, I realized that as I asserted my cultural competency, I denied my place in the research.
And so we embarked on a study to examine the effects of researcher race and racism on the research process.
A white researcher from U.S. Public Health Service gives an injection to a participant of the Tuskegee syphilis “study.”

3. Qualitative Study Method
Participants
40 undergraduates from a northeastern university who took part in the qualitative survey
20 black participants (f = 13, m = 7), 20 white participants (f = 13, m = 7)
1 female black researcher and 1 female white researcher  2 same-race, and 2 cross-racial dyads (total 4 dyads, 40 interviews)
Procedure
30 to 60 minutes semi-structured interviews
cultural and racial identity and reflection on research interview
Analysis
Multiracial research team
Selection of recurring themes from transcripts (e.g., colorblindness, multicultural identity, racist humor, etc.)
The qualitative portion of our study included…

4. Literature on Traumatic Racism
Traumatic nature of racism (Bryant-Davis & Ocampo, 2005; Phan, 2003; Rosenblatt & Wallace, 2005).
Individuals may respond to covert and overt racism in similar manners (Bryant-Davis & Ocampo, 2005).
Ambiguity of racism & need for hypervigilance can contribute to traumatic aspects of the racism (Sin, 2005)
Repeated incidents/multiple microaggressions increase the traumatic nature of the experience (Bryant-Davis & Ocampo, 2005)
One of the central themes that emerged from the narrative interviews were stories of traumatic racism.
Racism within the history of research has clearly been traumatic, and many studies have validated that racism can be traumatic in nature in general
Findings indicate that survivors of repeated instances of trauma may respond to covert/subtle and overt racism in similar manners.
The ambiguity of racism and the need to be hypervigilant about it can contribute to traumatic aspects of the racism
Repeated incidents/multiple microaggressions increase the traumatic nature of the experience

5. Analysis of Racial Dyads
4 excerpts from each of 4 researcher-race dyads
Examining researcher-participant race interaction shapes data on racism and trauma
Acknowledging:
Race is socially constructed
Race is a social reality  disparities
White researcher location
To investigate the effects of traumatic racism on research, we selected 4 relevant passages from narrative interviews to highlight some of the ways in which researcher and participant race may interact to heighten or provide support for traumatic aspects of racism, to examine how researcher and participant race shape the story that is told.
Before examining the 4 excerpts:
1) I wanted to point out that to avoid essentialism, we do not wish to generalize themes in black and white participant speech in our study, given the large degree of within group differences within each racial category, which have been socially constructed to begin with. However, while race is a social construct, it is a social reality, creating disparities based on perception of race.
2) Also, bear in mind that the interpretations are filtered through the lens of a white woman with various privileges and power that shape not only the data that is collected but also the way in which I interpret it.

6. Black Participant-Black Researcher
P: I went to find someone to help her and she was like, “You black people don’t know anything.” R: She really said that. P: Yeah. So. I kind of lost my job right there. R: How did you react? P: I kind of lost my job that day. Well now looking - because I was younger – now looking at it, if I had handled it a way, like it not have been black and ghetto, because I know she was expecting that and I gave in to her expectations R: Well, she was inappropriate. P: Yes she was.
(Haitian American female participant)
Here is an excerpt, from an interview with a black participant and the black researcher.
[Read slide]
“black and ghetto” – As the white researcher, I imagine that I might have asked more about how she referred to her behavior as “black and ghetto” questioning what I see as a potentially pejorative label to her understandably emotional response to the customer. This may have increased distance from the experience, highlighting our different perspectives, and I wouldn’t have stayed with her in her experience. But the black researcher showed her shared understanding of this phrase and stayed with participant in the situation, validating her experience.
2) “Yeah it was” - with the response of “Yeah it was”, the participant shows the positive effects of this shared understanding
-resilience – clarifying the potential possible empowerment in the research setting, where validation of the experience of racism can increase emotional coping and resiliency

7. Black Participant-White Researcher
Participant (P): I guess just kind of like be careful of the questions you ask just because I feel like a lot of black people have gone through racism and it still really hurts. And like, any kind of question could just set them off. I mean like, with any race just like, when you ask racially motivated questions it could really like damage them almost, to kind of like relive those experiences.
Researcher (R): What was it like for you sort of talking about those today? Did it feel damaging?
P: I mean it hurt a little bit. Just because like there was some things I hadn’t thought about in a while. But I mean, like I feel like I’ve grown up, I’m past it. And like I just have to get over it. Like it’s happened already.
(African American male participant)
Here is an excerpt between the white researcher, myself, and a black-identified, ethnically African American participant. He is responding to a question about suggestions he might have for white researchers doing race and ethnicity research.
[Read slide]
Them - Note use of “them” in his initial statement. While we have had a conversation about his experiences of racism, he refers to black people as them instead of including himself, possibly to be deferential and to avoid confrontation which he may think might make me uncomfortable.
Like/kind of – He uses the words “like” and “kind of like”, softening the effect of his statement of how talking about racism with a white researcher might feel damaging
It – I introduce the word “it into the conversation, objectifying the conversation we have had out of my own intent to escape the room and avoid feeling confronted with his feeling that I may have created another traumatic experience of racism.
A little bit - He softens his statement of hurt with modification of “a little bit” potentially due to protecting a traditional notion of masculinity and protecting against giving the researcher the power to increase trauma in the experience
5) I’m past it – attempts to reduce the pain and immediacy of traumatic experiences of racism but asserting that he must move past them, even if they still, understandably, haunt him, typical of survivors of trauma.
Our passive language shows how we distance ourselves from the conversation, leave the room when the conversation feels too painful or confrontational, and how my responses as a white researcher can increase the pain associated with racism

8. White Participant-Black Researcher
P: If we were to have you know, Oh we’re going to Kick-Your-Ass-Black-Day, they would hate us. And then it would be on the news. And just like every little thing that we do, they like make it so much bigger but if they do it it’s okay. That’s how it felt like when I was younger.
R: Mm hm. (Pause). So you feel like it’s unequal.
P: Definitely unequal. Like they have like the upper hand.
(Irish American female participant)
This is an excerpt from an interview with a white participant and the black researcher that was particularly hostile on the part of the white participant, but highlighted similar ideas presented among other white participants, just more directly.
[Read slide]
1) Kick-Your-Ass-Black-Day – the participant suggests revenge for the “cracker day” she experienced in grade school, which she reported included white students being attacked by black students. The Kick-Your-Ass-Black-Day functions as an indirect attack against the researcher’s race
2) We – she shows her position in this scenario as a white person, suggested in her use of “we”
3) They – she makes vague reference to black people with “they”, avoiding use of the term “you” to avoid direct reference and confrontation of the researcher’s race
4) Mm hm – The researcher attempts to find a way to understand where the participant is coming from in her potentially traumatic racist statement that may be aggressive toward the researcher
5) You – researcher attempts to bring the participant back into the room,
6) That’s how it felt like when I was younger – here the participant takes a passive voice, after making her attack, running out of the room.
This excerpt reflects the way in which white participants might use the research setting as a place to enact racism, whether intentional or unintentional that may have traumatic effects for researchers of color.

9. White Participant-White Researcher
R: Yeah. When have you noticed people of color being treated unfairly?...
P: …It’s just, you see a lot maybe when you go to [coffee shops] and you order a coffee and the person in front of you can’t deal with you know the cashier in the same way. They get the order wrong, they might mumble under their breath, “Oh, if you spoke English it would be easier.” Or something like that, you know? So I see it in small doses like that but never something really traumatic.
(Italian American female participant)
Here is an excerpt very typical of interviews between white participants and the white researcher.
[Read slide]
1) You – refers to white people observing racism
2) They – people of color working
3) They/their – racist white people
 Extremely passive language, so far removed from the issue, so far out of the room
4) Never something really traumatic – denial of trauma;
-Whites may dismiss the trauma of racism, due to lack of awareness of the dramatic impact of racism on those who experience it, attributing claims of traumatic racism as the individual’s hypersensitivity.
-Those who deny the traumatic nature of racism in fact may also be in a place of denial and discomfort with racism (Bryant-Davis & Ocampo)
Presence of white researcher allows white participants to truly escape the issue, assuming that the white person will understand this passivity and permit it to occur. (Tim Wise)

10. Summary of Selected Responses Racism Experiences
Black Participant
White Participant
Black Researcher
Shared understanding bolsters resilience to traumatic racism.
White participant enacts racism in research setting
White Researcher
Racism stories include high trauma content.
Passivity towards and denial of traumatic racism.
This table summarizes key findings from the 4 excerpts we have taken from the interviews.
An advantage of the black-researcher, black-participant dyad was a communication of shared understanding that made telling stories of traumatic racism feel more comfortable.
The highest trauma content in stories of racism occurred in an interview with the white researcher and a black participant.
In contrast, an interview with a black researcher and white participant included the white participant’s description of racism being perpetrated against mostly whites by people of color, conveying a sense of unfairness, while the white researcher conducted an interview with a white participant in which she denied that racism might be traumatic for people of color.

11. Lessons Learned
“If I’m not what I’ve been told I am, then you aren’t either. And that is the crisis.” James Baldwin
In the end the research reminds me of how difficult this work is. That no matter how passionate about the work and committed to it I am, that I still distance myself from it. For example, I procrastinated more than usual on this study, wanting distance from the work and avoiding it. Perhaps the deepest fear is to reinforce the racism that has occurred in research thus far. And in a racist society, to a certain extent reinforcing racism can be hegemonic. What we must do is to constantly expose problems as they occur, speak openly and with an open heart about these experiences in order to raise consciousness in the work that we are doing.

12. Thank you!
Questions? Comments?

13. References
Bryant-Davis, T., & Ocampo, C. (2005). The trauma of racism: Implications for counseling, research, and education. The Counseling Psychologist, 33,
Phan, T. (2003). Life in school: Narrative of resiliency among Vietnamese-Canadian youths. Adolescence, 38,
Rosenblatt, P. C., & Wallace, B. R. (2005). Narratives of grieving African-Americans about racism in the lives of deceased family members. Death Studies, 29,
Sin, C. H. (2005). Experiencing racism: Reflections on the practice of research with minority ethnic older people in Britain. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 8,
Wise, T. (2005). White like me: Reflections on race from a privileged son. Brooklyn, NY: Soft Skull Press.