Black-Asian American Identity: An Exploratory Study on How Internalized Oppression Impacts Identity Development

Black-Asian American identity is an area that remains underrepresented in research on biracial identity. A qualitative study using grounded theory methods was conducted on 10 Black-Asian American adults (9 women and 1 man) investigating the impact of internalized oppression on the narratives and cultural affiliations preferred by biracial Black-Asian Americans. Interviews were conducted within a constructivist-interpretivist paradigm, transcribed and analyzed through grounded theory coding methods by two coders (Charmaz, 2014; Ponterotto, 2005). Four selective codes and 13 axial codes were identified to represent emergent themes in the data: (a) racial identity conflict with Asian or Black communities; (b) navigating privilege and internalized racism; (c) factors facilitating biracial identity development; (d) hypersexualization. Clinical implications, limitations of the study, and areas for future research are discussed. What is the public significance of this article? A qualitative study using grounded theory methods explores the identity development of 10 biracial Black-Asian Americans through interviews that were analyzed to yield emergent themes reflecting shared experiences of racialization and marginalization, as well as privilege. Findings provide greater breadth of understanding on what constitutes as the Asian American narrative; clinical suggestions, limitations, and future areas of study will be discussed.