Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

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  • Who are the Blacks? The Question of Racial Classification in Brazilian Affirmative Action Policies in Higher Education

    Who are the Blacks? The Question of Racial Classification in Brazilian Affirmative Action Policies in Higher Education

    Cahiers de la Recherche sur l’Éducation et les Savoirs
    Number 7 (October 2008)
    18 pages

    Luisa Farah Schwartzman, Assistant Professor in Sociology
    University of Toronto

    Debates about racial classification and its agreement with the uses of “race” and “color” in everyday life have been central to the discussion about affirmative action in Brazil. Using quantitative and qualitative data regarding the relationship between socio-economic status and racial identification in Brazilian universities, this paper investigates how particular kinds of policies may have different impact in terms of which particular “kinds” of individuals are benefited. I argue that both the labels that are used and the socio-economic limits that are imposed may have significant and not always intuitive consequences for which individuals are admitted, and for how contestable their eligibility will become. The label negro, when used as the sole criterion for admissions, may be too restrictive and exclude “deserving” non-whites from these policies. On the other hand, because potential non-whites from higher socio-economic classes are more likely to come from “multi-racial” families, the absence of a socio-economic criterion may lead to a substantial number of candidates who may feel that they can lay claims to a wide range of racial labels, not all of which may be acceptable to policy designers and scrutinizers concerned with restricting eligibility for quotas to “deserving” candidates.

    Read the entire article here.

  • Politics: President Obama, of All People, Should Know That Some Rights Can’t be Left to the States

    Politics: President Obama, of All People, Should Know That Some Rights Can’t be Left to the States

    The New Gay
    2011-07-18

    Tony Phillips

    In 1961, when Barack Hussein Obama II was born in the brand new State of Hawaii, laws on the books in 22 of the other 49 United States forbade the marriage of his White American mother to his Black Kenyan father. Arizona’s anti-miscegenation law prohibiting marriage between whites and any persons of color was repealed in 1962. Similar laws in Utah and Nebraska were overturned the following year. Indiana’s law prohibiting interracial marriage held out until 1965, Maryland’s until 1967, the same year that such laws were finally overturned in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Loving v. Virginia that ended all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States…

    …Yes, we all know about America’s racially conflicted past, so what’s the point?
     
    The point is that it’s incomprehensible to me that Barack Obama, a man whose legitimacy as an American has been publicly questioned by hate-rousing provocateurs, a man whose early life confounds the prevailing norms of his generation, a man whose ascendency in the 21st Century was made possible only by the bravery of justice-seekers in the 20th, that he, of all people, would be behind the times on marriage equality. How is it possible that his stance on gay marriage is still evolving?…

    Read the entire article here.

  • Performative Aspects of Brazilian Music as a Means of Creating Identity in Rio de Janeiro

    Performative Aspects of Brazilian Music as a Means of Creating Identity in Rio de Janeiro

    Universität Wien
    October 2008
    215 pages

    Adriana Ribeiro-Mayer

    In Rio de Janeiro’s multi-ethnic society with its colonial and slave-based past creating a common identity is a major problem. Standard Portuguese, as opposed to spoken “Brazilian”, is remote to many Brazilians. Therefore, music and dance, the Carnival events and Baile Funk, substitute for language-based common performances. They have become extraordinarily big events based on a “sincretized” rhythm, on the body and mostly Afro-Brazilian body movements.

    With the help of “participant observation” and “ero-epic conversation” I tried to participate as closely as possible in numerous events and describe them in performance protocols. These I analyzed according to the concepts of performance theory.

    Richard Schechner’s emphasis on deep structures (such as the escola rehearsals) and rules; Victor Turners shift from play to ritual; Nicholas Cook’s “process-“ rather than “product-character” of performances and the musical work, e.g. a samba-enredo, as giving performers something to perform; Erika Fischer-Lichte’s emphasis on co-presence, interaction and feed-back as well as the body and its expressions; and finally Johan Huizinga’s prediction of a shift in social play, trough rules, competition and the audience to more seriousness. All these concepts of performance theory both proved useful tools, and at the same time were put to an interesting re-evaluation when applied to these mostly Afro-Brazilian events.

    Rio’s Carnival’s counter-world has to fulfill so important and different needs in a divided society that it split to be able to present opportunities for spontaneous play of the individual, e.g. in the street blocos and the Intendente Magalhães parades, and to present a choreographed show of unity and common identity, in the main sambodrome parades. Baile Funk has so far catered for the first needs, i.e. entertainment and individual expression, as it has not involved all layers of carioca society through city-wide events.

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Introduction
    • 2. Rio de Janeiro Society and the African Influence
      • 2.1 The African Population in Brazil
      • 2.2 The African Population in Rio de Janeiro
      • 2.3 Abolition of Slavery
      • 2.4 African Cultural Heritage
    • 3. Identity in a mixed Society
      • 3.1 The Situation of Afro-Brazilians today
      • 3.2 Affirmative Action? Quotas for “Black” Students
    • 4. Concepts of Performance
    • 5. The Method of “Participant Observation” and “Ero-Epic Conversation”
      • 5.1 Questions of Presentation
      • 5.2 Research Trips
    • 6. Hypothesis
    • 7. Carnival and Samba in Rio
      • 7.1 Origins of Samba and Carnival in Rio
        • 7.1.1 Samba
        • 7.1.2 Carnival
      • 7.2 The Escolas de samba
        • 7.2.1 Origins and Evolution of the Escolas de Samba
        • 7.2.2 The Special Group Escolas de Samba
        • 7.2.3 Case study “Madureira”
        • 7.2.3.1 Escolas de Samba from Madureira
        • 7.2.4 Preparation of the Parades
        • 7.2.4.1 Cidade do Samba – Samba City
        • 7.2.5 The Sambodrome
        • 7.2.6 The Competition “The Best Escola de Samba of the Year”
      • 7.3 Performative Aspects of Samba and the Escolas’ Parades
        • 7.3.1 Dramaturgy of the Parades
        • 7.3.1.1 Example: Sequence of the 2008 Portela parade
        • 7.3.1.2 Performance Protocol of the Escolas’ parade
          • 7.3.1.2.1 Preparation Events
          • 7.3.1.2.2 Rehearsals in the Quadras
          • 7.3.1.2.3 Street Rehearsals
          • 7.3.1.2.4 Portela Rehearsal in the Sambodrome
          • 7.3.1.2.5 Group A parade – Formation and Dissolution
      • 7.4 Social and Economic Aspects of the Escolas de Samba for Rio
    • 8. Funk Carioca
      • 8.1 Origins
      • 8.2 Funk Carioca music
        • 8.2.1 Charme
        • 8.2.2 Proibidão
        • 8.2.3 Erotic funk
      • 8.3 Performative Aspects of Baile Funk
        • 8.3.1 The Dramaturgy of Baile Funk
        • 8.3.2 Performance Protocol Baile Funk
          • 8.3.2.1 Baile Funk in a Suburb
          • 8.3.2.2 Baile Funk in Rio downtown
      • 8.4 The Rio Hip Hop Movement
      • 8.5 Baile Funk vs. Samba Parades and Rehearsals
      • 8.6 The Social and Economic Aspects of Baile Funk
    • 9. Interpretation
      • 9.1 Performance Theory applied to Samba and Funk Performances
        • 9.1.1 The Parade of Império Serrano in the Sambodrome
        • 9.1.2 Rehearsals
        • 9.1.3 Traditional parades on Intendente Magalhaes Avenue
        • 9.1.4 Baile Funk
      • 9.2 Samba and Funk’s Contribution to Rio’s Cultural Identity
      • 9.3 Examples of Samba-Enredo and Funk Carioca Lyrics
        • 9.3.1 “Bum, Bum, Paticumbum” – Samba-enredo
        • 9.3.2 “Guerreiros da Paz” – Funk Carioca
    • 10. Conclusions
    • 11. Zusammenfassung
    • 12. Resumo
    • 13. Bibliography
    • 14. Glossary
    • 15. Abstract in English
    • 16. Abstract auf Deutsch
    • Appendix

    Read the entire dissertation here.

  • Brazil’s new racial reality: Insights for the U.S.?

    Brazil’s new racial reality: Insights for the U.S.?

    Race-Talk
    The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity
    2011-07-19

    Cheryl Staats, Research Assistant

    Brazil has been a long-standing place of interest for many scholars due to its fluid racial categorization that focuses on phenotype rather than hypodescent.  With the release of Brazil’s 2010 census data, the newly-minted “minority-majority” country only further piques the interest of many in the U.S. as our country quickly approaches its own “racial tipping point” in approximately 2042.  What insights can the U.S. gain from Brazil and its experiences with this demographic transition thus far?  While the two countries possess similar yet distinct racial histories, some possible parallels are worth considering.
     
    Non-white birth rates outpacing those of white women is one of the key factors in the U.S. demographic transition, as twelve states and the District of Columbia already have white populations below 50% among children under age five.  Seven additional states are poised to also attain a “minority majority” designation among children within the next decade.
     
    Similar to the U.S., one of the drivers behind the numeric rise of nonwhites in Brazil has been the rise of the non-white birth rate.  Moreover, experts also cite an increased willingness of Brazilians to self-identify as black or pardo, a Brazilian term akin to mestizo or mixed race.  Among the reasons attributed to this include: a period of economic growth that is helping to dispel associations between poverty and skin color; increased presence of blacks in high-profile positions, including the appointment of a black judge to Brazil’s Supreme Court and the country’s first black actor in a leading telenovela role; and a sense of hope that is permeating the country…

    Read the entire article here.

  • The “inter” land: Mixing autobiography and sociology for a better understanding of twenty-first century mixed-race

    The “inter” land: Mixing autobiography and sociology for a better understanding of twenty-first century mixed-race

    Villanova University
    October 2009
    105 pages
    Publication Number: AAT 1462397
    ISBN: 9781109073102

    Felicia Maria Camacho

    A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of The Department of English Villanova University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in English

    In contemporary autobiographies by black/white biracial Americans, personal identity is a major source of conflict. The proposed study will address topics that are key to an understanding of biracial subjectivity and identity as presented in these autobiographies. The first chapter addresses the physicality of biracial people, paying special attention to such topics as family resemblance in interracial families, and the trope of “biracial hair” which is used as a metaphor for a distinct biracial identity that is neither black nor white. The second chapter examines another identity choice for black/white biracial subjects: singular black identity. It shows how biracial individuals can turn on its head the traditional notion of the “tragic mulatto” who is forced by the one-drop rule to accept his/her blackness. By exploring and honestly acknowledging the social experiences of both parents, the biracial individual can come to assert a healthy black identity. The final chapter links black/white biracial identity with intrinsically multiracial Latino identity. Do ethnicity, nationalism, and language suggest a way to avoid the black/white binarism of American society?

    While examining these issues of biracial identity, this study will engage in a commentary on the relationships between and among various academic disciplines. When analyzing literature about race, critics often turn to race theory for secondary material. However, contemporary race theory does not do much to engage and illuminate these autobiographies of biracialism. Interestingly, sociological texts speak more directly to the “biracial phenomenon.” Therefore each chapter of this study shows how sociology and autobiography complement one another and provide a fuller, more informed picture of biracial identity.

    Table of Contents

    • Abstract
    • Introduction
    • Chapter One: The Roots of Biracialism: Physical Appearance, Inheritance, and Identity in the Autobiographies of Elliott Lewis, Angela Nissel, and June Cross
    • Chapter Two: The End of Tragedy: The New Biracial Subject, Self-Exploration, and Singular Black Identity in the Autobiographies of James McBride and Barack Obama
    • Chapter Three: Finding the Third Space: Jews, Latinos, and Black/White Biracialism in the Autobiographies of Rebecca Walker, Elliott Lewis, and Angela Nissel
    • Conclusion
    • Works Cited

    Purchase the dissertation here.

  • SOCI 006-601: Race and Ethnic Relations

    SOCI 006-601: Race and Ethnic Relations

    University of Pennsylvania
    Department of Sociology
    Fall 2011

    Tamara Nopper, Adjunct Professor of Asian American Studies

    The election of Barack Obama as the United States’ first Black president has raised questions about whether we have entered a post-racial society.  This course examines the idea of racial progress that is at the heart of such a question, paying close attention to how social scientists have defined and measured racial inequality and progress in the last century.  We will consider how dramatic demographic shifts, the growing number of interracial families and individuals who identify as mixed-race, trans-racial adoptions, and the increased visibility of people of color in media, positions of influence, and as celebrities inform scholarly and popular debates about racial progress.  Along with some classic works, we will also read literature regarding the class versus race debate and color-blind racism.  In the process, students will become familiar with sociological data often drawn from in debates about racial progress and will also develop analytical and critical thinking skills.
     
    Course Professor:

  • “The Last Stand”: The Fight for Racial Integrity in Virginia in the 1920s

    “The Last Stand”: The Fight for Racial Integrity in Virginia in the 1920s

    Richard B. Sherman, Chancellor Professor of History
    College of William and Mary

    The Journal of Southern History
    Volume 54, Number 1 (February, 1988)
    pages 69-92

    By the 1920s many southern whites had come to believe that the race question was settled. White supremacy had been assured and the subordinate position of blacks effectively guaranteed by ostensibly constitutional methods of disfranchisement, Jim Crow laws, and other forms of racial discrimination. In Virginia, however, a small but determined group of racial zealots insisted that such steps were not enough. The race problem, they argued, was no longer political; it was biological. Believing that extreme measures had to be taken to prevent the contamination of white blood, they initiated and led an emotional campaign for stringent new laws to preserve racial integrity. Without these, they warned, amalgamation was inevitable. These racial purists were convinced that their fight was a “Last Stand” to keep America white and to save civilization itself from downfall. The campaign for racial integrity in Virginia was not the product of a great popular ground swell. Rather, it was primarily the work of this dedicated coterie of extremists who played effectively on the fears and prejudices of many whites. Ultimately they were able to achieve some, although not all, of their legislative goals. Their activities, nonetheless, were significant and had an impact on Virginia that was felt long after the 1920s.

    During the first two decades of the twentieth century a number of steps had been taken in Virginia to “settle” the race question and to guarantee white supremacy. One of the most important measures had been the adoption of a new constitution in 1902 with provisions that severely contracted the franchise. As a result Virginia came to be controlled by a remarkably small political and social elite, while blacks were largely eliminated as a political force capable of providing…

  • The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach about Human Difference

    The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach about Human Difference

    University of California Press
    June 2011
    328 pages
    Paperback ISBN: 9780520270312
    Hardcover ISBN: 9780520270305
    Adobe PDF E-Book ISBN: 9780520950146
    ePUB Format ISBN: 9780520950146

    Ann Morning, Associate Professor of Sociology
    New York University

    What do Americans think “race” means? What determines one’s race—appearance, ancestry, genes, or culture? How do education, government, and business influence our views on race? To unravel these complex questions, Ann Morning takes a close look at how scientists are influencing ideas about race through teaching and textbooks. Drawing from in-depth interviews with biologists, anthropologists, and undergraduates, Morning explores different conceptions of race—finding for example, that while many sociologists now assume that race is a social invention or “construct,” anthropologists and biologists are far from such a consensus. She discusses powerful new genetic accounts of race, and considers how corporations and the government use scientific research—for example, in designing DNA ancestry tests or census questionnaires—in ways that often reinforce the idea that race is biologically determined. Widening the debate about race beyond the pages of scholarly journals, The Nature of Race dissects competing definitions in straightforward language to reveal the logic and assumptions underpinning today’s claims about human difference.

  • The Origins, Current Status, and Future Prospects of Blood Quantum as the Definition of Membership in The Navajo Nation

    The Origins, Current Status, and Future Prospects of Blood Quantum as the Definition of Membership in The Navajo Nation

    Tribal Law Journal
    University of New Mexico School of Law
    Volume 8 (2007-2008)
    pages 1-17

    Paul Spruhan, Law Clerk
    Navajo Nation Supreme Court, Window Rock, Arizona

    In this article, the author discusses the origin of the Navajo Nation’s blood requirement. Mr. Spruhan examines the intended purpose of the quarter-blood quantum definition and the role of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He reviews the current status, regulation, and recent attempts to change the quarter-blood quantum requirement. He discusses the future of the quarter-blood quantum requirement with respect to the Navajo Nation Council’s 2002 resolution known as the “Fundamental Laws of the Diné,” a resolution mandating the application of traditional law, customary law, natural law, and common law to the Navajo Nation Government and its entities. In this regard, Mr. Spruhan inquires as to the impact the “Fundamental Laws of the Diné” will have on the quarter-blood quantum requirement and future membership requirements.

    In the last few years, scholars, reporters, lawyers, and the general public have focused much attention on tribal membership requirements. Recent controversies over membership of “Freedmen,” or descendants of slaves, in the Cherokee Nation and other Oklahoma tribes have produced scholarly and popular discussions of what it means to be “Indian” and a member of a tribal nation. Enrollment controversies among gaming tribes in California and recently recognized tribes in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, among others, have exposed acrimonious disagreements within tribal communities over how to define tribal membership. Tribes have disenrolled whole extended families and entire categories of members by reviewing prior enrollment records, or amending their laws to redefine membership eligibility. Popular press reports and scholarly articles on these controversies have introduced the concepts of “blood quantum” and “tribal membership” to a wider non-Indian audience. The resulting publicity has tested the power of tribal nations to define their membership independent of state and federal judicial and political control, as calls for outside intervention increase.

    In the midst of these controversies, a recent panel at a continuing legal education seminar held in Window Rock, the capital of the Navajo Nation, discussed whether the Nation would experience similar membership controversies in the future, and how such issues might be approached under Navajo law. This article arises out of a presentation the author gave at that seminar on the origins of the Navajo Nation’s current membership rule, which requires a person to have at least one-quarter Navajo “blood.” The presentation described the origins of this requirement in light of the origins of “blood quantum” in federal Indian law, which the author has described in two previous law review articles.

    Based on that presentation and the presentations of other panelists, as well as a lively discussion with members of the audience, this article aims to do several things. In Part I, the article describes the origins of the Navajo Nation’s quarter-blood requirement in an attempt to answer the question: how and why did the Navajo Nation adopt blood quantum as the definition for membership? Part I describes how that requirement came about through the resolutions and minutes of meetings of the Navajo Nation Council, and examines what Council delegates thought they were accomplishing through the quarter-blood definition. Part I also discusses the role of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the development of that membership definition. In Part II, the article discusses the current status of the quarter-blood requirement, how the Navajo Nation regulates it, and recent attempts to change the requirement. In Part III, the article analyzes the future prospects for the quarter-blood requirement, and blood quantum generally, in light of recent developments in Navajo Nation statutory law and the jurisprudence of the Navajo Nation Supreme Court concerning the “Fundamental Laws of the Diné.”…

    …How might the quarter-blood requirement fare under a Fundamental Law analysis? Would the fact that blood quantum is not a traditional Navajo concept affect its enforceability? The concept of “blood quantum” originated in Anglo-American colonial law to define the status of mixed-race people and bar them from rights afforded whites. The federal government adopted this pre-existing concept to define “Indian” and “tribal member” for various purposes long before the Navajo Nation Council adopted blood quantum in 1953. Traditionally, Navajos use clanship to define identity. Each Navajo has four clans he or she identifies himself or herself by: the mother’s clan, the father’s clan, the maternal grandfather’s clan, and the paternal grandfather’s clan. A Navajo is a member of his or her mother’s clan and is “born for” his or her father’s clan. According to Navajo history, there were four original clans, and many clans that were subsequently adopted. Some of the adopted clans originate from Pueblo or other tribal peoples, as well as Mexicans, who were adopted into Navajo society. Various “non-Navajos” were absorbed into the Navajo people, and clans were created to conform them to the existing system of identity. Navajos also define themselves by “cultural identity markers” derived from origin stories, identified by one Navajo scholar, Lloyd Lee, as “worldview, land, language, and kinship.” Practicing the principles of hozho and sa’ah naaghai bik’eh hozhoon, speaking the Navajo language, and recognizing Navajo kinship, Lee argues, are the true definition of Navajo identity. Blood quantum plays no part in these conceptions of Navajo identity. Significantly, these concepts were essentially absent from the discussions of the prior Council in adopting the quarter-blood requirement…

    Read the entire article here.

  • Invitation to Participate in Groundbreaking Study of Racial Identity

    Invitation to Participate in Groundbreaking Study of Racial Identity

    If you are a person at least 18 years old, who is commonly identified as black, African American, biracial, mixed, or multiracial, but do not yourself subscribe to racial identity as part of your sense of self, please consider reviewing the information at www.racetranscenders.com to see if you might be interested in participating in an important study of this identity disposition.