Caliendo, S. M. & McIlwain, C. D. (Eds.). (forthcoming, 2010). Routledge companion to race & ethnicity. London: Routledge.

The concepts of race and ethnicity are complex and have powerful implications for social grouping, identity formation and maintenance, and governance. This volume presents multiple perspectives on themes related to issues central to race and ethnicity from a variety of academic fields. Starting with an examination of the history and origins of race as a construct, through discussions of whiteness; colonization; public policy; social movements; immigration; globalization; the intersection of race, gender and sexuality; and popular culture, leading scholars offer insight into the challenges that have resulted from White supremacy and oppression through the lens of racial and ethnic classification. The first half of the book presents ten essays by political scientists, communication scholars, an education scholar and experts in global studies. The second half features shorter entries on some seventy concepts related to understanding race and ethnicity from a global and multi-disciplinary perspective, including work by historians, anthropologists, sociologists and psychologists, among others. All entries are followed by a list of “key readings.” The book functions as a broad yet probing starting point for further inquiry.

Caliendo, S. M. (forthcoming, 2011). Inequality in America: Race, poverty and fulfilling democracy's promise. Boulder, CO: Westview.

Inequality in America expores racial and economic inequality in America by virtue of one of the most prominent elements of contemporary democratic theory: representation. Readers to consider their own place in American democracy with respect to these issues by centering discussion on two axes of disadvantage: systemic and individual. From the systemic angle, Caliendo explains how American capitalism and institutionalized racism have simultaneously enabled some persons from oppressed groups to find success in the middle‐ and upper classes while allowing a cycle of poverty (and privilege) to perpetuate such that it is difficult for a person who is born poor to escape poverty. From the individual angle, Caliendo addresses the psychological underpinnings of racism and classism so that readers come to understand how subconscious processes complicate the genuine attempts for people of color and the poor to be truly “seen” as equal to Whites and/or those in the middle‐ and upper classes. In both respects, discussion is grounded in the concept of representation as a democratic ideal. That is, there is explicit discussion of the types and styles of American representation in the context of economic and racial inequality and as manifested through public policy at various levels of government. Further (and perhaps most uniquely), Caliendo argues that a failure to use precise language to differentiate between systemic level oppression and individual‐level prejudice has resulted in slowed or stalled progress toward economic and racial justice through historic and contemporary representation.

McIlwain, C. D. & Caliendo, S. M. (2009). Black messages, White messages: The differential use of racial appeals by Black & White candidates. Journal of Black Studies, 39: 732 - 743. download PDF

McIlwain, C. D. & Caliendo, S. M. (2009). Permissible discrimination: The view from Congress. In Tamara L. Roleff (Ed.), Issues that Concern You: English Language Learners. Chesterfield, MI: Greenhaven Press.

McIlwain, Charlton D. (2007). Race, pigskin, and politics: A semiotic analysis of racial images in political advertising. Semiotica, 167-1/4: 169-192. download PDF

McIlwain, Charlton D. (2007). Perceptions of leadership & the challenge of Obama's Blackness. Journal of Black Studies, 38:64-74. download PDF

McIlwain, Charlton D. (2007). Racial identity, ideology and the youth vote: Observations from the 2004 presidential campaign. American Behavioral Scientist, 50: 1231-1238. download PDF

McIlwain, C. D. (2007). The NAACP. In Lynda Lee Kaid and Christina Holtz-Bacha (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Political Communication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Caliendo, S. M. & McIlwain, C. D. (2007). Minorities' involvement in politics. In Lynda Lee Kaid and Christina Holtz-Bacha (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Political Communication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

McIlwain, C. D. (2007). Black politics. In William A. Darity et al. (Eds.) International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd Edition. Michigan: MacMillan/Thomson Gale.

Caliendo, S. M. & McIlwain, C. D. (2006). Minority candidates, media framing, and racial cues in the 2004 election. Harvard International Journal of Press Politics, 11: 45-69. download PDF

McIlwain, C. D. & Caliendo, S. M. (2005). Political issues in Black politics. In Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama (eds.), Encyclopedia of Black Studies. Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Sage Publications. 139-141.

Caliendo, S. M. & McIlwain, C. D. (2005). Race and Political Advertising. In Samuel J. Best and Benjamin Radcliff (Eds.) Polling America: An Encyclopedia of Public Opinion. Westport, CT: Praeger. 641-646.

Tracking Trends in Minority Representation: Early Findings from the Congressional Candidate Dataset Project

Some of the most fundamental questions about the nature of representation in a democracy – including representation of women and racial minorities – can be answered by understanding the relationship amongst candidates, potential voters, and electoral outcomes. However, the lack of a comprehensive and accessible collection of relevant data has presented a challenge for political scientists who wish to explore these questions. We have been in the process of compiling a dataset that will include demographic information about each congressional candidate (date of birth, gender, race), electoral district/state (percentage of each racial designation), campaign finance and electoral outcome information for all U.S. House and Senate primary and general election contests since 1972. This paper features a descriptive account of the general election races for the U.S. House between 1972 and 2006, including correlations among some of the key variables that heretofore have not been available in one place. Findings reveal the extent to which gender and race are related to fundraising and electoral success in various electoral contexts. We discuss trends over the time period and offer suggestions for further inquiry.

This paper will be presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 22-25, 2010, Chicago, Illinois.

Racial Discourse in Political Advertisements: An Historical View

We explore the extent to which and the ways in which racialized messages have been used in election campaigns that feature racial minorities.  We compiled a unique database by viewing and recording information about some 1,200 political advertisements from federal election contests where at least one of the candidates was a member of a racial minority group.  In this paper, we present a descriptive account of the types of messages that have been used, differentiating between racist and racial appeals and implicit and explicit messages.  We also take into consideration candidates’ parties, the region of the country in which the contests took place, the year of the election, and the specific type of appeal that was made to identify trends in racialized campaign discourse over the past three decades. Results reveal that both White candidates and minorities appeal to race but in vastly different ways.  Analysis includes discussion about the implications for research on the effects of such messages on potential voters.

This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, September 3-6, 2009, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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Effects of Racial and Racist Appeals on Black Voters

We seek to understand how racist appeals by White candidates affect Black respondents’ perception of a Black and White candidate in a biracial election contest, as well as how appeals to Black authenticity affect Black respondents’ perceptions of two Black candidates vying for office against one another. We offer the results of two experiments conducted with national random samples of African Americans wherein participants were exposed to implicit racial or racist campaign advertisements by a candidate in a fictitious congressional election.  Findings reveal that previous work on racist and racial messages are inadequate for explaining the effect of racialized communication in these contexts.

This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 2-5, 2009, Chicago, Illinois. 

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Racial Priming and Campaign Ads: The Effect of Context

Winners and Losers: Factors Contributing to Minority Candidates' Successes and Failures in American Elections, 1990-2006

Having compiled a heretofore unavailable list of federal election contests involving at least one minority candidate between 1990 and 2006 (both challengers and victors), we now have a unique data set that includes a number of variables such as amount of money raised/spent by the candidates, incumbency status, racial makeup of districts, exit poll data, amount of news coverage, and degree of racialized news coverage. Based on these data, we provide a descriptive composite of minority candidate characteristics and an assessment of what factors tend to relate to minority candidates’ success or failure between over the past sixteen years.

This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 2-6, 2008, Chicago, Illinois.  

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Racial Frames and Potential Effects of Minority Candidates in the 2008 Presidential Election

We explore the degree to which media coverage of the 2008 Democratic presidential nominating contests contribute to perceptions of minority candidates in the mass public. We examine the attribute framing of candidates in news media coverage from January 1, 2007 through January 15, 2008. Specifically, we quantitatively content analyze newspaper coverage to identify the presence of racial attributes (such as the mention of race, the race of candidates, race of voters, and other racial language) and character attributes (such leadership, trust, and intelligence). These data are compared with public opinion data regarding the candidates over the same time period. Results suggest that stories about minority candidates contain racial references more frequently than stories that involve only white candidates, and, contrary to expectations, emphasis on character traits often seen as detrimental to black candidates does not seem to harm support for Barack Obama.

This paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 2-6, 2008, Chicago, Illinois. 

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Black to Reality: Entertainment Television as a Priming Agent for Race-Based Evaluations of Candidates

Given the widespread tendency to avoid direct discourse about race in America (specifically among whites), we seek to better understand whether racial messages that heighten our awareness about race have an effect on voter decision-making. Rather than focusing on messages from news media or political advertising as priming agents, we explore the potential effect of popular culture. Specifically, we provide results of an experimental design where respondents were exposed to candidate advertisements in the context of one of two prime time reality television programs: Black.White. (which focuses on race relations in America) and Fear Factor (specifically, an episode that has no explicit racial content). Embedded candidate ads are drawn from a fictitious bi-racial election (a white candidate versus an African American candidate) and contain one of two types of racial messages from the white candidate: an implicitly racial message or no racial message at all. Due to limited data at the time of presentation, results are overwhelmingly inconclusive. We offer insight into the types of analysis that will be possible when more data is collected, as well as discussion of the gaps in the literature that necessitate such a study.

This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, August 30 - September 2, 2007, Chicago, Illinois.

Racialized Media Framing in Federal Elections, 1990-2006

Scholars have responded to the increase in racial minority involvement in federal elections by examining the types and extent of racial messages in campaign communication. Others have focused on third-party messages, particularly those found in the mass media. Building off and improving on the work of earlier cross-sectional studies, this paper features a comprehensive analysis of all federal election contests between 1992 and 2006 where at least one candidate in the general election was either a racial minority. We pay particular attention to the relationship between the level of racial framing and the focus (or lack thereof) on public policy issues, as well as the comparison between biracial and uniracial contests. Finding suggest that racial references are more common in stories about contests that feature a racial minority candidate, but such references do not necessarily constitute a "racial frame." Further, references to race do not preclude discussion of substantive policy issues.

This paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 12 - 15, 2007, Chicago, Ilinois.

The Effects of Racial Messages in Televised Campaign Advertising: A Multi-Contextual Experimental Study

The extant literature in the areas of race, campaign communication and voting behavior has left unaddressed a number of issues that we explore in this paper. Previous studies have focused almost solely on the perceptions of black candidates by white voters; we are interested in understanding how racial cues in political advertising affect voter voters' (both black and white) evaluations of candidates of either race. This paper presents the results of a 2 (race of candidates: black vs. white, black vs. black) X 3 (racial messages: implicit racial message vs. no racial message vs. explicit racial message) independent groups stimulus-posttest experimental design pilot study wherein participants are exposed to campaign advertisements that were carefully crafted and produced specifically for this project. We test the effects of racial messages on vote choice and candidate evaluation in both biracial (African American v. white) and all-black contests, controlling for a number of theoretically- grounded independent variables. Results highlight the way information processing of ads with racial content affects the evaluation of candidates in multiple election contexts, as well as the degree to which such messages are effective in priming preexisting racial attitudes. In short, what we know about how racial messages affect white voters differs from the reality of the way racial messages work in the context of black voters where both candidates in the election are also black.

Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April, 2006, Chicago, Illinois.

Shades of Black and Brown: Minority Congressional Candidates and Their Opponents in Multiple Contexts

This paper contributes to studies concerned with how the news media cover and frame elections involving minority candidates. We seek to ascertain the veracity of previously-drawn conclusions that show that the media disproportionately makes race a central reference point in bi-racial elections. This paper presents the conclusions of a content analysis study of national and local newspaper coverage of nine election contests from the 2004 cycle, including five U.S. Senate contests and four U.S. House contests. These contests reflect various forms of racial diversity of the candidates involved and the majority voting population. Our analysis focuses on several factors that we hypothesize significantly contribute to various forms of racial reference (some of which have not been a part of similar studies) including: the racial composition of the candidates (bi-racial including white, black and Hispanic/Latino candidates, as well as contests with two black candidates); the racial composition of voters; and the competitiveness of the race. We are also interested in whether the form of coverage differs significantly between bi-racial election contests involving African American candidates and those involving Latino candidates, as well as coverage of contests where both candidates are African American.

This paper was presented at the annual meetings of the American Political Science Association, September 1-4, 2005, Washington, DC.