I just saw this on CNN a few moments ago and I am just wowed by this story and intrigued at the same time.
Full story here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...years.html
So this Caucasian woman has since 2007 been passing herself off, a poser, if you will, as an African-American woman, and has risen in the ranks of the NAACP as a local chapter president.
From an anthropological, sociological and psychological perspective I find this fascinating. For some reason Ms. Dolezal identifies as a black woman. Her parents also raised 4 adoptive black children (three African-American, one Haitian), so that may have played a part (not saying that is either good or bad). She may have some intellectual interest in African culture as she was growing up. It would be interesting to learn from a psychological perspective why she would identify as black. The history has been that light-skinned, mulatto, African-Americans have passed for white. This is the reverse, and it seems to me to be a new creature to learn about.
Ethically however, she is in deep shit. She lied on her forms about her race, and she is now a professor of African-American Studies at a college, and a local NAACP chapter president. It will be interesting to see how this story will end.
Quote:Rachel Dolezal, Spokane's NAACP Chapter President and part-time Africana Studies professor at Eastern Washington University, has been misleading people about her ethnicity for years, her parents say.
Full story here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...years.html
So this Caucasian woman has since 2007 been passing herself off, a poser, if you will, as an African-American woman, and has risen in the ranks of the NAACP as a local chapter president.
From an anthropological, sociological and psychological perspective I find this fascinating. For some reason Ms. Dolezal identifies as a black woman. Her parents also raised 4 adoptive black children (three African-American, one Haitian), so that may have played a part (not saying that is either good or bad). She may have some intellectual interest in African culture as she was growing up. It would be interesting to learn from a psychological perspective why she would identify as black. The history has been that light-skinned, mulatto, African-Americans have passed for white. This is the reverse, and it seems to me to be a new creature to learn about.
Ethically however, she is in deep shit. She lied on her forms about her race, and she is now a professor of African-American Studies at a college, and a local NAACP chapter president. It will be interesting to see how this story will end.
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."--Thomas Jefferson
