“What Are You?”: Racial Ambiguity and the Social Construction of Race in the Us Page: 83
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CHAPTER 7
STUBBORN STEREOTYPES
Expectations of racial/ethnic characteristics are deeply ingrained in most people in the
United States and frequently manifest themselves as stereotypes of various groups. Basically,
stereotypes are generalizations about groups based on inadequate and/or false information
(Schaefer, 2011). Racially ambiguous people would seem to be in a perfect position to dispel
stereotypes because they tend to be the catalyst for racial curiosity, and thus may participate in
conversations about race, but instead they find that other people are not easily dissuaded from
racial preconceived notions, even those founded on stereotypes. Interviewees mentioned
stereotyping 269 times. Because stereotypes are based on inadequate or incorrect information,
one would hope stereotypes would be debunked whenever more and better information is
provided, but racially ambiguous people know that this debunking process does not always work
in casual encounters or even in ongoing relationships as coworkers, friends or even spouses.
Racially ambiguous people report when they tell who they are racially, other people disbelieve
them, taunt and tease them, reject them and sometimes get angry enough to fight them. Racially
ambiguous people very often disprove racial expectations and stereotypes, but find that the odd
racial etiquette of the United States allows not only any person to demand to know one's race but
also to reject the answer if it defies stereotypes. If these stereotypes are to hold the force of
shared truth, then everyone must conform to them, and therefore, as the flawed logic of
racialization goes, racially ambiguous people have to be lying about their race.
Racially ambiguous people are constantly told that because they do not fit racial/ethnic
stereotypes, they cannot possibly be a member of the groups to which they belong. Ignorance is
the genesis of some of these stereotypes. The interviewees report that in school, in the media, in83
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Smith, Starita. “What Are You?”: Racial Ambiguity and the Social Construction of Race in the Us, dissertation, May 2012; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc115163/m1/90/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .