Internalized Racism Survey Experiment

This study will document the prevalence and effects of “colonization of the mind” or internalized racism. Internalized racism when non-White individuals consciously or subconsciously accept inequality with Whites. Very little research measures internalized racism or documents its effects in African settings, even though African scholars and activists consistently highlight internalized racism as a social problem in African societies. Existing literature suggests that internalized racism (1) biases African citizens toward harsher evaluations of their own governments, (3) increases citizens’ expectations of encountering ethnic bias, and (3) changes patterns of political participation. This study will document internalized racism and its effects through a survey with an embedded experiment, implemented in partnership with the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics (Nairobi, Kenya). We will recruit 750 Kenyan respondents, with a targeted sample size of 600. The study has three objectives: (1) refine and test an original scale to measure internalized racism among Kenyan respondents, (2) test a new method to reduce internalized racism in the short term, and (3) causally identify colonial mentality’s effects on Kenyan citizens’ political attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Some participants will randomly receive a treatment to reduce internalized racism. This treatment is expected to improve their evaluations of government performance, to reduce their perceptions of ethnic bias, and to alter respondents’ intentions to participate in politics. To our knowledge, this study will be the first large-scale attempt to document internalized racism among East Africans. Additionally, it will be the first survey to test whether internalized racism affects African citizens’ interactions with their government. This project has been re-registered following updates to the uploaded pre-analysis plan. See the linked project to access the new version.