'Insiders' or 'outsiders'? Lone mothers of children from mixed racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Lead Research Organisation:
London South Bank University
Department Name: Fac of Arts and Human Sciences
Abstract
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People |
ORCID iD |
| Chamion Caballero (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Caballero C
(2014)
The Entrepreneurial University
Caballero C
(2014)
Mixed emotions: Reflections on researching racial mixing and mixedness
in Emotion, Space and Society
Caballero C
(2012)
The Diversity and Complexity of the Everyday Lives of Mixed Racial and Ethnic Families Implications for Adoption and Fostering Practice and Policy
in Adoption & Fostering
| Description | Firstly, the findings clearly demonstrate the need to consider lone mothers of mixed racial and ethnic children and their families as a diverse group. In addition to racial, cultural and ethnic mixing in their own backgrounds, mothers were also diverse in terms of their trajectories and experiences of lone motherhood, their relationships with children's fathers and their families, their social class and employment histories and their approaches to parenting. The diversity of personal histories and experiences of the mothers strongly challenges presumptions made about them and highlights the limitations of essentialised understandings of mixed racial and ethnic families. Certainly, the findings seem to suggest there may be a disparity between the types of support useful to these mothers and the types of support they are sometimes assumed to need. Furthermore, it was clear that the terminology used by the mothers and the children to describe their mixedness and that commonly used by practitioners and policymakers was very different, suggesting further discrepancies between 'lived' and official perspectives. Secondly, while traditional perspectives on white lone mother mixed racial and ethnic families have tended to assume a lack of what Twine has called 'racial literacy', this was strongly refuted by the majority of the white mothers in this study. Drawing on familial and social networks, as well as their own skills and resources, these mothers mostly worked consciously to impart racial and cultural knowledge to their children to provide them with a sense of identity and belonging, though the ways in which they did this differed. Thirdly, whilst mothers' experiences varied within as well as across neighbourhoods, some experiences and issues appear more specific to residential area. Mothers had very strong feelings about neighbourhood - each neighbourhood in the study was seen to have its own clear social identity, which mothers felt had a significant influence on their and their children's experiences. Mothers across the sample frequently considered choices around residential location and schooling in relation to identity and belonging, though their reasons and opportunity to do so differed. The significance of neighbourhood - amongst other factors - in shaping mothers' everyday experiences is a key part of moving towards a more multi-dimensional understanding of mixed racial and ethnic families. |
| Exploitation Route | As a small-scale exploratory study, care should be taken to understand the findings as insights rather than generalisations. Nevertheless, these insights are useful for contributing towards scholarly understandings of lone mother mixed racial and ethnic families, as well as those for relevant practitioners and professionals. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education |
| Description | Findings from the project have been used to inform public and practitioner understandings of lone mothers of mixed racial and ethnic children and their families. For example, the findings have fed into a BBC2 Newsnight report on 'Mixed Race Britain' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15164970) in 2011 and formed the basis of an article published in the journal Adoption and Fostering. In response to the article, the Head of Research at the British Association for Adoption and Fostering recommended that it should be required reading for social workers. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2011 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Other |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Media: BBC2 Newsnight |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | In Oct 2011, Dr Caballero spent time aiding BBC2 Newsnight with the content of their special feature on Mixed Race Britain and was interviewed by the presenter, Mark Easton. The production team noted that Dr Caballero's input greatly helped shaped their research and therefore content of the special feature. It is estimated that in 2011 Newsnight averaged 664,000 viewers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Presentation - 'Insiders' or 'Outsiders'?: Lone Mothers of Children from Mixed Racial and Ethnic Backgrounds, London South Bank University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Talk sparked questions and discussion N/A |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www1.lsbu.ac.uk/ahs/downloads/intersecting-family-lives-flyer.pdf |
| Description | Presentation: 'Lone mothers of children from mixed racial and ethnic backgrounds : a Bristol case study', Thistle Hotel, Bristol |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Scientific meeting (conference/symposium etc.) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | paper presentation |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This seminar, held on the 28th June 2011 at the Thistle Hotel in Bristol, presented general findings from the project. It discussed participants' experiences of bringing up their children and what supports or challenges they face in doing so, particularly in relation to the neighbourhoods in which they live. Presentation of the findings were reflected on by the discussant (Marvin Rees) and the general audience. Several representatives from local government, charity and community organisations asked for further detailed information regarding the findings and expressed interest in collaborating on future work in the area. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/RES-000-22-3723/outputs/read/c308993c-46da-4070-a383-232bdf87a8... |
| Description | Presentation: The diversity and complexity of the everyday lives of mixed racial and ethnic families - Implications for adoption and fostering practice and policy, BAAF |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The invited presentation resulted in a 30 minute question and answer session around the findings and the ways they could be drawn upon in social work practice. After the talk, a number of practitioners contacted me for further information regarding the findings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www1.lsbu.ac.uk/news-php/newsarchive.php?newsid=775 |