Theorizing Racial Microaffirmations as Response to Racial Microaggressions

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Abstract

In this paper, we create a language for the everyday strategies of affirmation that Communities of Color engage as a response to racial microaggressions. Qualitative data with Students of Color is used to support our theorizing of racial microaffirmations--the subtle verbal and/or non-verbal strategies People of Color engage that affirm each other’s dignity, integrity, and shared humanity. These moments of shared cultural intimacy allow People of Color to feel acknowledged, respected, and valued in a society that constantly and perpetually seeks to dehumanize (Pérez Huber, 2018; Solórzano, Pérez Huber, & Huber-Verjan, in-press). We argue racial microaffirmations are a response to racial microaggressions as strategies to resist the subjugation of Communities of Color within the context of white supremacy.

Authors

• Lindsay Pérez Huber, California State University - Long Beach

• tamara gonzalez, California State University - Long Beach

• Gabriela Robles, California State University - Long Beach

• Layla Huber-Verjan, Archer School for Girls

• Daniel Gilbert Solorzano, University of California - Los Angeles