Interracial intimacy : how mixed couples negotiate and narrate their identity and experience
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Sociology, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Sirari, Tanvi
issued: 2022-10-05T23:00:57Z
issued: 2022
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: The rising number of interracial couples in Canada has often been interpreted as a success of multicultural inclusion. This dissertation questions this assumption by examining the experiences of interracial couples and how they identify themselves and their relationships. Through 87 in-depth interviews with 29 interracial couples in Vancouver, I investigated how couples narrate their stories of intimacy in relation to larger national narratives of Canada as a multicultural nation. My research led to four key findings. First, most of the couples in my study were affectively invested in dominant discourses of multiculturalism. While many viewed it as reflecting their values and aspirations, others were critical of how this national narrative muted certain aspects of their identity and experiences while deflecting attention from racism in Canadian society. For example, couples with Black partners faced greater hostility due to their interracial status and were more critical of racial inequalities in Canada. This can be understood in the context of anti-Black racism in Vancouver and Canada. People of colour said that their white partners had a legitimation effect on them and made them more acceptable in social spaces dominated by whiteness. Second, Québécois and Anglo-Canadian couples in my study expressed a desire to be considered ‘mixed’ in the Canadian context, given the historical relations of colonialism, power and domination between the two groups. Their reflections offer new possibilities for understanding whiteness in Canada. Third, for some of the couples I interviewed, interracial relationships offered opportunities for white partners to cultivate racial literacy by learning from their partners' experiences of racialization and empathetic identification. However, most male white partners in my study refused to recognize their own racial privilege and diminished their partners’ experiences of racialization. Cultivation of racial literacy required people of colo…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/82826
note: INTERRACIAL INTIMACY: HOW MIXED COUPLES NEGOTIATE AND NARRATE THEIR IDENTITY AND EXPERIENCE by Tanvi Sirari A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Sociology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) October 2022 © Tanvi Sirari, 2022 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Interracial Intimacy: How Mixed Couples Negotiate and Narrate Their Identity and Experience submitted by Tanvi Sirari in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology Examining Committee: Renisa Mawani, Professor, Department of Sociology, The University of British Columbia Supervisor Gillian Creese, Professor, Department of Sociology, The University of British Columbia Supervisory Committee Member Amy Hanser, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, The University of British Columbia Supervisory Committee Member Carrie Yodanis, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, The University of British Columbia University Examiner Minelle Mahtani, Associate Professor, Institute for Social Justice, The University of British Columbia University Examiner iii Abstract The rising number of interracial couples in Canada has often been interpreted as a success of multicultural inclusion. This dissertation questions this assumption by examining the experiences of interracial couples and how they identify themselves and their relationships. Through 87 in-depth interviews with 29 interracial couples in Vancouver, I investigated how couples narrate their stories of intimacy in relation to larger national narratives of Canada as a multicultural nation. My research led to four key findings. First, most of the couples in my study were affectively invested in dominant discourses of multiculturalism. While many viewed it as r…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2022-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0421074
language: eng
degree discipline: Sociology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Mawani, Renisa, 1970-
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/82826