An Afro-American Perspective On Interethnic Communication

This paper reports the results of four studies examining how Afro-Americans perceive interethnic communication with whites. Using an interpretive, cultural perspective, Afro-American descriptions of satisfying and dissatisfying conversations were obtained through open-ended questionnaires and interviews. Qualitative and quantitative analyses identified 7 issues Afro-Americans perceive as salient to their interethnic communication satisfaction: negative stereotyping, acceptance, expressiveness, authenticity, understanding, goal attainment, and powerlessness. This analysis also identified 5 conversational improvement strategies (assertiveness, open-mindedness, avoidance, interaction management, other-orientation) Afro- Americans believe that they or their conversational partner can use to improve the quality of communication. These issues and improvement strategies are taken to reflect an implicit, Afro-American theory of communication which is independent of age, sex, family income, geography, and ethnic identity.