The Dynamics of Contact: Engaging Optimal Intergroup Conditions and Communication Practices to Lead Interracial Conversations about Race

Abstract

Amidst a U.S. sociopolitical climate of interracial tension and unrest due to systemic inequity between white and Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, social justice organizations bring members of diverse communities together to talk about race, racial inequity, and injustice. Such social contact can be the site of reduction in prejudice toward other groups (Allport, 1954), and having a facilitator guide these conversations has been found to be an important part of making these conversations more effective in bridging group divides (Schoem & Hurtado, 2001). Scholars (e.g., Gaertner, 1996; Schoem & Hurtado, 2001; Zúñiga & Nagda, 2001) have theorized which conditions and communication practices are expected to support positive intergroup contact, but they have not looked at what occurs when enacting them. Instead, previous research has emphasized the characteristics and outcomes of these conditions and communication practices. This dissertation examines the dynamics that facilitators describe when implementing both in communities. As conversations about topics like race are often complex, fraught, yet crucial to bridging divides, it is important to understand the realities of enacting the conditions and communication practices meant to support these conversations. Facilitators in this study described the dynamics involved in implementing seven conditions and six communication practices aimed, specifically, at creating a container for dialogue that supports participants in recognizing their shared humanity and disrupts negative racial assumptions.