Participants Needed: Interracial Relationships Study

When Boston College graduate student Marya Mtshali took the course Politics of Black Sexuality, she noticed a glaring need when it came to research around interracial relationships, particularly those involving Black women and White men:

Marya Mtshali, PhD Student
Department of Sociology
Boston College

"Practically all of the research I came across or found on Google Scholar about interracial couples was about Black men with White women and how Black women were upset by interracial relationships.  I noticed a gap in the literature that I think is important to fill."

And that is exactly what she aims to do through her exploratory sociological study on the experiences of Black female-White male interracial couples. Marya will be using this research for her doctoral thesis and a published article in a peer reviewed journal.  She hopes her research can provide a better overall picture of interracial couples and that the information will add to better understanding of the way race and gender intersect.



So if you are a Black woman in an "intimate" relationship with a White man or a White man in an intimate relationship with a Black woman (for purposes of this study, intimate is defined as being together consistently for at least one year), between the ages of 18 - 65, please consider helping Marya out and volunteering for this study.  Interviews typically last between 1 and 1.5 hours and consist of questions about your demographics, upbringing, dating history, and experiences from your current relationship.  Interviews are taped and stored under password protected files, using pseudonyms and other generic references to minimize the collection of personally identifiable information.  Ideally Marya would like to interview both members of the couple, but participation from both isn't required.

Now, Marya only needs ten couples or participants, but I'm hopefully optimistic that between all of us and the people that we know, we can make sure she has ten and then some.  And in case you're wondering, I'm signed up for my interview next week.

To learn more about Marya and the study visit: http://sites.google.com/site/blackfemalewhitemalestudy/

Although the site includes geographic requirements, as this point Marya is interested in participants regardless of where they live.  If you're interested in participating, email Marya directly at blackfemalewhitemalestudy@gmail.com
I thank you in advance.