From an African Diasporic lens, and a Historical Sociology methodology, this dissertation investigates the ways in which intersecting connections of Blackness, space/geography, and identity-formation play a significant role in the formation of racial hierarchy. Applying theoretical concepts of racial formation theory, métissage, and intersectionality to my case study, the Creoles of Color and Coloureds are two ethnic groups that have similar historiographies in regards to their identity formation. The European-elite categorized, socially-constructed, and transformed heterogeneous ethnic groups into homogenous mixed-raced people and positioned in métissage, an ideology of "neither White, nor Black," establishing dialectical- and multifaceted-consciousness. The objectives of this study are to: 1) Examine how the concepts of space and identity formation articulate themselves in Westbury (Johannesburg) and the 7th Ward (New Orleans); 2) Investigate how race ideology continues to marginalize people of color in South Africa and the United States; and 3) Survey how Coloureds and Creoles interpret and incorporate Black consciousness, the African Diaspora, intersectionality, cultural-formation, and space theoretical concepts into their own identity through archived research, participant observations, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups.
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