Documenting Weblog expressions of racial microaggressions that target American Indians.

Abstract

The authors obtained and analyzed data from 10 weblogs (989 pages of raw data), in which online forum contributors expressed varying views on the discontinuation of a university’s racialized mascot (i.e., Chief Illiniwek). First, the authors used a modified consensual qualitative research approach (C. E. Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997) to identify common themes among the data. Next, they used the Sue, Capodilupo, et al. (2007) racial microaggressions model to situate the themes from the current investigation within a relevant, parsimonious theoretical framework. The data fit well within the 3 broad categories of racial microaggressions identified previously in the literature (i.e., microinsults, microassaults, and microinvalidations). Extending the previous racial microaggressions model, 7 themes emerged from the data that comprised microaggressions targeting American Indians: (a) advocating sociopolitical dominance, (b) alleging oversensitivity, (c) waging stereotype attacks, (d) denying racism, (e) employing the logics of elimination and replacement, (f) expressing adoration, and (g) conveying grief. Some themes are consistent with previous microaggressions research, whereas others are specific to the current investigation. Implications for future research and campus interventions are discussed.