Institute on Race and Ethnicity- Category A (Research)

René Antrop-González and William Vélez, UW-Milwaukee
Mary Beltrán, UW-Madison
Joan Fujimura, UW-Madison
Joshua Garrison, UW-Oshkosh
James Geidner, Jennifer Christensen and Tracy Fabian, UW-Superior
Jeffrey Lewis, UW-Madison
Mara Loveman, UW-Madison
Katie Mosack, UW-Milwaukee
Mary Louise Roberts, UW-Madison
Erica Weisgram, UW-Stevens Point
Lee Willis, UW-Stevens Point
Robert Zeidel, UW-Stout

René Antrop-González, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, and William Vélez, Department of Socioloy, UW-Milwaukee - "Making the Invisible Visible: Examining the Schooling Experiences of High Achieving African-American and Latina/o Urban High School Youth"
This qualitative study will compare and contrast social, academic, and institutional factors that may attribute to the high academic achievement of African-American and Latina/o working class public high school youth in Milwaukee attending the same school. For this project, two types of data will be collected - interviews and written observations of students in their classes and interactions with peers.

Mary Beltrán, Department of Communication Arts, UW-Madison - "Latinos in the Age of Television: Visibility, Agency, and Authorship, From Ricky Ricardo to Ugly Betty"
The representation of Latinos, now the largest non-white ethnic group in the U.S., is increasingly important to consider in historical and contemporary surveys of network and cable TV programming. Latinas/os have long been invisible and stereotyped in U.S. television. However, their presence in English-language television programming has seldom been scrutinized through scholarly analysis. This grant will facilitate research on the evolution of Latina/o participation and representation over the decades.

Joan Fujimura, Joan Fujimura, Department of Sociology, UW-Madison - "Exploring Concepts of Race and Ethnicity in Human Genetic Variation Studies"
This proposal is part of a project to analyze how human genetic variation researchers operationalize concepts of "population," with emphasis on the use or avoidance of race/ethnicity descriptors. In studies of human disease and evolution, notions of "population" are important for grouping samples, yet often ambiguously correspond to national, race, or ethnic categories. Through observation and interviews, the researcher will investigate how these categories and population concepts develop and radiate, and map out their practical and ethical implications.

Joshua Garrison, Department of Educational Foundation, UW-Oshkosh - "Growing Up on the Margins: Plantations, Projects, Prisons and the Adultification of the African-American Child, 1800-2000"
Throughout history, the African-American child has been transformed into an adult by scholars and policymakers alike. Work that examines the developmental impact of slave plantations, housing projects, and prisons often portrays black children as "adult-like," having either forfeited their childhood by committing adult sins, or having been robbed of it by avaricious and violent adults. Too often, researchers have imposed upon African-American children ethnocentric ideals that ignore the many fields of experience that young people have had in American history. This project critically evaluates the "adultification" of African-American children in history and offers a critique of scholarship that portrays young people as adult-like.

James Geidner and Jennifer Christensen, Teacher Education Department, and Tracy Fabian, Department of Counseling Professions, UW-Superior - "Culture and Response to Intervention"
Academic interventions at the college level for ethnic and racial minority students are not well understood. This research will examine Response to Interventions (RTI) for full-time minority students enrolled at a comprehensive college campus. Tiered interventions, of increased intensity, are a commonly employed instructional strategy for struggling and underperforming students. RTI is the hallmark of the 2005 reform to federal education law, commonly called IDEA. This model, however, is not commonly employed in higher education. Students move through three tiers of intervention. The first and third tiers are designed to specifically address academic needs of the student. In the proposed model, Tier II is designed to assist the student with creating a cultural bridge between the home and college. It is believed that the RTI model will better address the academic needs of minority students, improve student performance, and increase retention rates.

Jeffrey Lewis, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, UW-Madison - "Content and Geography of Support for African-American Boys in Grades 4-6"
This study will examine the content and geography of social support for the education of African-American boys in grades 4-6. Interviews are being conducted with 60-75 boys to identify who provides instrumental, emotional, and informational support for school-related experiences. Preliminary results indicate the boys receive support from social families beyond their household, and that they have more traditional and non-traditional male involvement than is assumed.

Mara Loveman, Department of Sociology, UW-Madison - "U.S. Colonial Rule and the Social Significance of Race in Puerto Rico"
According to official census results, Puerto Rico's population "whitened" dramatically in the early twentieth century, shifting from about 60% white in 1899 to nearly 80% white by 1950. The project investigates the combination of demographic, political, and sociocultural dynamics that account for this shift. The final product will be a book that examines how U.S. colonial rule changed the social meaning of race in Puerto Rico in the first decades of the twentieth century. The book will also contribute to broader scholarly debate about how imperial rule can unsettle and reposition racial boundaries of both colonized and colonizing societies.

Katie Mosack, Department of Psychology, UW-Milwaukee - "Cultural and Linguistic Barriers to Optimal Health Care Experiences among Older Russian Immigrant Women with Hypertension"
This study will examine: (i) health-related beliefs and psychological and cultural factors related to hypertension self-management; and (ii) how cultural and linguistic barriers affect the patient-provider relationship, illness experiences, and treatment compliance among Russian-speaking immigrant women over the age of 64 in Milwaukee. The data resulting form this research will set the stage for the development of a culturally-appropriate intervention to minimize the incidence of uncontrolled hypertension by fostering health-promoting behavior choices within this population.

Mary Louise Roberts, Department of History, UW-Madison - "French Accusations of Rape against African-American GIs, 1944-1946"
This project looks at accusations of rape against African-American GIs during the American military presence in France in 1944-1945. Funds will be used to consult the court martial transcripts of eleven soldiers who were summarily executed in Normandy, France, on charges of rape in the summer and fall of 1944. This research interrogates an American victory that in popular culture has come to be known too simply as "the good war." It will bring to light the often racist military justice system of the U.S. Army during the Second World War, and correct a romanticized view of France as an oasis of racial tolerance.

Erica Weisman, Department of Psychology, UW-Stevens Point - "The Interaction of Race and Gender in Children's and Adolescents' Interest in and Judgments of Occupations"
This study will examine how witnessing gender and racial segregation of occupations impacts children's and adults' status judgments of and interest in occupations. Research has demonstrated that African-American children perceive jobs with African-American workers as lower in status and less desirable than jobs with European American workers. Previous work has also demonstrated that the gender of workers affects European American children's occupational interest and status ratings. This study will examine the intersection of race and gender as applied to African and European American children's (and adult's) status ratings and interest in novel occupations.

Lee Willis, Department of History, UW Stevens Point - "The Clandestine Slave Trade in the United States, 1808-1865"
Research will be conducted on the clandestine slave trade in the U.S., 1808-1865. Though outlawed by Congress in 1808, the international (or clandestine) slave trade continued until the Civil War. Newspapers and court records document incidences of slavers and planters who were caught, but they do not document the trade that remained clandestine - the likely majority whose forced migration eluded authorities. The 1870 federal population census is the first reliable canvassing of African-American nativity in the nineteenth century. A team of four student researchers will scroll through the census and catalog all individuals who listed Africa as their birthplace. By the end of the project, the research team will be able to map out - county by county and state by state - potential survivors of the clandestine slave trade.

Robert Zeidel, Social Science Department, UW-Stout - "Robber Barons and Wretched Refuse: Issues of Immigrant Employment during the Era of American Industrialization, with Special Attention to Chinese on the Pacific Coast"
This project seeks to investigate the historical attitudes and behaviors of employers towards immigrant employees during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, 1865-1921. Specifically, it will focus on the hiring of Chinese Americans, who were the first non-Europeans, and non-whites, to immigrate to the U.S. in large numbers, and the first group to be systematically excluded by U.S. statute.