An Existential Gaze at Multiracial Self-Concept: Implications for Psychotherapy

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

The journalistic survey, and monographic studies of Obama have been joined by some important anthologies. One of the ﬁrst notable anthologies written about race and Obama was edited by historian and political scientist Manning Marable and civil rights attorney Kristen Clarke. This volume, entitled Barack Obama and African American Empowerment: The Rise of Black Americas New Leadership (2009), traces the evolution of black leadership and black politics since the civil rights movement, including essays that speciﬁcally interrogate the intersection of race and gender. The Speech: Race and Barack Obama’s A More Perfect Union Speech (2009), edited by Denean Sharpley-Whiting, includes key chapters on the Obama speech by Bakari Kitwana and William Julius Wilson. Social scientists Matthew Hughey and Gregory S. Parks compiled an edited volume entitled The Obama’s and a (Post) Racial America? (2011), which examines the unconscious anti-black bias harbored by whites in US society, including commentaries by some noted race scholars. These are but a few of the torrent of scholarly publications on race and the Obama phenomenon. For an extensive list of over 400 publications on Obama see Steven F. Riley’s Mixed Race Studies website: http://www.mixedracestudies.org?cat=63.

Hettie V. Williams and G. Reginald Daniel, “Preface,” in Race and the Obama Phenomenon: The Vision of a More Perfect Multiracial Union, eds. G. Reginald Daniel and Hettie V. Williams (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2014). xvii.

An Existential Gaze at Multiracial Self-Concept: Implications for Psychotherapy

An Existential Gaze at Multiracial Self-Concept: Implications for Psychotherapy

Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Volume 50, Number 3 (July 2010)
DOI: 10.1177/0022167810365909

Matthew J. Taylor, Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Missouri, St. Louis

John T. Nanney
Department of Psychology
University of Missouri, St. Louis

Multiracial self-concept is conceptualized using an existential framework. First, the authors offer an analysis of how existential concerns are revealed within the multiracial experience, employing the theoretical constructs of terror management and social identity theories. Expanding on this foundation, they apply Heideggerian notions of human existence and self to multiracialness. And finally, using the aforementioned analysis as a backdrop, the authors discuss the emergence of existential themes in psychotherapy with multiracial individuals.

Read or purchase the article here.

Tags: John Nanney, John T. Nanney, Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Matthew J. Taylor, Matthew Taylor

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Mixed Race Studies

An Existential Gaze at Multiracial Self-Concept: Implications for Psychotherapy

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