Rice Allyship Movement’s Racial Allyship Toolkit: Guidelines to Teaching an Effective Workshop

Abstract

This mixed methods study explores the experiences and perceptions of interracial dating, interracial relationships, and racial allyship among undergraduate students at Rice University and high school students at Kinder High School for Performing and Visual Arts. In fall 2017, over thirty-four Rice undergraduate students chosen through a multi-layered sampling technique were split into three focus groups and asked questions that fit broadly into the following categories: Socialization prior to Rice, attitudes and perceptions towards interracial dating, students’ experiences with engaging in interracial dating/hook-up relationships, and levels of romantic interaction and family. Findings indicated that white male and Asian female pairings are perceived to be the most frequent type of interracial relationship, parental influence may prevent an individual from entering into an interracial relationship, and there is little, if any, discussion of interracial relationships among black students. Quantitative survey analysis found that these perceptions indeed turned out to be true in that white male and Asian female pairings are the most frequent type of interracial relationship on Rice’s campus, and respondents also indicated a desire for increased racial allyship on-campus. Based off of this response, racial allyship workshops were designed and tested with students at Kinder High School for Performing and Visual Arts, with a toolkit created based off of these previous findings. Future research could build off these preliminary conclusions by having researchers conduct more workshops in diverse areas and with diverse populations, better incorporating LGBTQ+ perspectives, and further breaking down race-class interactions and intersectionality.