Interracial Dialogues in Dixie: The Therapeutic Sharing of Racialized Emotions

• In Event: 1284 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 06. Racialized Emotions

Abstract

This qualitative study analyzing mixed-race focus groups fills important gaps in the existing literature and advances knowledge in three key ways: First, this study focuses on Alabama, a state in the heart of Dixie, which given its history of racial injustice is in need of analysis and scholarly attention. Second, it advances sociological knowledge in contributing to the understanding of racialized emotions. Specifically, it examines the expression of therapeutic racialized emotions, when individuals are allowed to express emotions in a safe space which encourages therapeutic sharing between participants. Finally, this study helps establish that emotions are not slippery; they are identifiable and we can strengthen our empirical efforts by working across disciplines with some of the growing emotions’ analysis in computer science.

Author

• Jeneve R. Brooks, Troy University