Ascribed Versus Self-Determined Identity: Critical Interpretive Inquiry Into The Subjectivity Of Microminority Identity

Oftentimes minorities are perceived through an external racial lens by peers and personnel in educational institutions. Furthermore, the literature often homogenizes minorities into broad racial groups such as Black, Asian, and Hispanic. This study has been designed to explore if there is a discrepancy between internal, subjective perceptions and external, institutional perceptions regarding the identity of micro-minorities (i.e., minorities who are part of very small groups or of no group at all).This qualitative critical study was conducted on the campus of a four-year university in North Carolina. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with six international students from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Some of the participants reported not being able to identify with groups they were homogenized within by the institution based on race. Instead, they considered themselves part of very small and specific groups or of no group at all. Additional findings revealed that the way these participants perceived their identity diverged significantly from institutional perceptions: Most participants considered culture and not race as central to their identity. Furthermore, the data suggested that being part of a small minority group or no group at all results in a very different experience than being part of a larger group. I chose critical race theory as the theoretical framework for this exploratory study, which also contained a self-reflective component designed to supplement, compare, and contrast the experiences of the participants with my own.