Intimate Interventions: Responses to Racism in Private Spaces

• In Event: 1283 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 13. Racial / Ethnic Inequality

Abstract

Anti-racism policy and practice has largely focused on responses to racism in public or quasi-public settings. The possibilities for anti-racism within the often private spaces of family life have not been examined in depth in the anti-racism literature. This is in spite of the role families play in socialisation processes. This paper explores how families negotiate instances of racism, reflecting on the potential for and unique impediments to anti-racist performances in families. The affective relationships between family members become primary when considering responses to racism in families. The familial rules and practices guiding these social interactions are unique. With reference to the bystander anti-racism literature, this paper asks how appropriate a bystander framework is for understanding negotiations around racism in families. Interviews conducted as part of a larger study show how the nature of familial relationships has an, not necessarily predictable, effect on responses to racism in these spaces.

Author

• Jacqueline Nelson, University of Technology Sydney