Mixed Race Studies

Dealing with Diversity: Media Course Study Guide

Kendall Hunt
2008
100 pages
Edition: 04
ISBN: 978-0-7575-4772-0

Author(s): Governors State University

This course was developed to help you recognize and appreciate the differences and the similarities among diverse groups and individuals in a multicultural society.

Living in the U.S.A. in the 21st century poses some of the most complex challenges this nation has ever faced. Our dependence on technology and fossil fuels, our addiction to 24/7 media, the changes in immigration, and the unparalleled quest to accumulate personal property have all created increased class stratification as well as segregation throughout our society. Global interdependence has brought the world closer together which means the impact of natural disasters, hunger, disease, and international conflicts now affects the whole planet.

Expected Student Outcomes

1. Recognize the societal implications of our nation’s changing demographics.
2. Explain the importance of understanding and respecting cultural differences.
3. Develop strategies to promote intercultural awareness between different groups and among individuals within these groups.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Class I: Introduction and Overview
Explores our own individual ethnic/racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds.

Class 2: Social Interaction Model
Discusses how to use a social interaction model (SIM) that maps how humans interact in culturally diverse settings.

Class 3: Negotiating Cultural Communication
Explores some of the varieties of communication styles that exist in the U. S. as well as in other cultures around the world. Video guests: Dr. Brad Allison, Superintendent of Schools for Albuquerque, New Mexico; Professor Gordon Barry, University of California at Los Angeles. Studio Guests: Dr. Gloria Delany-Barmann and Dr. Lourdes Kuthy, Professors in the Department of Educational and Interdisciplinary Studies at Western Illinois University; Dr.juliaYang, University Professor of Psychology and Counseling at Governors State University.

Class 4: The Changing Face of America and the World
Concentrates on the rapidly changing demographic trends in the United States and around the world. Video inserts and guests: Plaza De Los Angeles; Professor Alexander Astin, University of California at Los Angeles; Professor Gary Orfield, Harvard University; Justino Petrarca, attorney.

Class 5: Immigration, Social Policy, and Employment
The history of immigration laws in the U.S. Video guests: Marian Smith, Chief Librarian at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS); Dr. Suarez-Orozco; David Duke, author; Professor Carlos Munozjr, University of California at Berkeley; Dr. Samuel Betances, Professor Emeritus at Northeastern Illinois University; Professor Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, Harvard University.

Class 6: Race: The World’s Most Dangerous Myth
Explores one of our nation’s most complex and pressing problems, the concept of race. Video guests: Dr. Michael Omi, Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley; racialist Arthur Jones of the American First Committee; Dr. Jerry Hirsch, Distinguished Professor in Psychology and Genetics at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana.

Class 7: Social Class Issues
The impact of social economics on the lives of families and individuals in the U.S; the plight of the homeless and what can be done about this growing problem. Video guests: Professor Lani Guinier of the Harvard Law School; Professor Peggy Macintosh,Wellesey University; Dr. Gary Orfield, Harvard University; Dr. Keri Kerber, Bridgewater State College, Connecticut. Studio guest: Dr. Mary Arnold, University Professor of Psychology and Counseling at Governors State University.

Class 8: Gender Issues
Examines the multifaceted issues surrounding gender in our society. Video inserts and guests: Video class discussion of Robert Bly’s book, Iron John; Professor Peggy Mclntosh.Wellesey College. Studio guest: Ms. Cindy Guerra from the National Organization ofWomen (NOW).

Class 9: Native Americans, Part I
Case study of Illinois’ Dickson Mounds Museum and the controversy surrounding it. In addition we hear from a variety of Native American students, professors, and administrators at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Video Inserts and guests: Dickson Mounds Museum in Lewiston, Illinois;John Wilmer, Barry Eagle and joe Martin, Professor Guy Senese, Professor Louise Lockard, Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff. Studio guests: PamAlfonzo, Menominee Cultural Center in Chicago, and Antonia Sheeny, California ManPower.

Class 11: Hispanic/Latino Americans, Part I
The variety of cultural groups that are classified under the Latino/Latina label. Population projections.Video guests: Dr. Samuel Betances, consultant and Professor Emeritus of Northeastern Illinois University; Professor Ronald Gallimore, University of California at Los Angeles; Professor Carlos Munoz Jr., University, of California at Berkeley; Professor Marcelo Suarez-Orozco of Harvard University. Studio guest: Dr. Estella Lopez of Northeastern Illinois University.

Class 12: Hispanic/Latino Americans, Part 2
Hostos Community College of the City University of New York and its unique programs serving a mainly Latino community in New York City. Video guests: Ethno-musician Jesus “CHUY” Negrette; students and faculty at Hostos Community College; New York City Councilman Guillermo Linares. Studio guest: Dr. Estella Lopez of Northeastern Illinois University.

Class 13: African Americans, Part I
Examines the changing demographic and socioeconomic data of this group and how these data compare to those of other groups in our society. Video inserts and guests: Birmingham Civil Rights Museum; Tamarjacoby, author. Studio guest: Gary Flowers, National Field Director for Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

Class 14: African Americans, Part 2
Issues of social justice, ethnocentrism, education. Video inserts and guests: Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor and chair, Department of Black Studies, California State University, Long Beach; Dr. Lisa Deipit, Professor of Education at Georgia State University; the rebuilding of the Amistad at Mystic, Connecticut. Studio guest: Gary Flowers, National Field Director for Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

Class 15: Asian Americans
The many cultures that fall under the label of Asian Americans; dynamics of current immigration policy; case study of Koreans in the Chicago, Illinois area. Video inserts and guests: Dr. Michael Omi, Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley; Korean American community in Chicago; Professors Kwang Chung Kim of Western Illinois University and Shin Kim of the University of Chicago. Studio guests: Gloria Chu, an immigrant from China; Dr. Jagan Lingamneni, an immigrant from India; and Peter Pham, an immigrant from Vietnam.

Class 16: Arab Americans
Arab Americans as the new ethnic villains in our media and folk knowledge; ignorance of most Americans about the actual contributions and history of the varied groups making up this category. Video guest: Dr. Jack Shaheen, consultant on the media images/portrayals of Arabs. Studio guest: Rafeeqjaber, President of the Islamic Association for Palestine.

Class 17: European Americans
The impact of language and religion nationally as well as globally. Video guests: Carol & Isadore Ryzak, Polish Americans. Studio guest: Dominic Candeloro, Italian American.

Class 18: Creole and Mixed Ethnic Americans
What happens to individuals when they mix with others of different ethnic groups. Video guests: Dr. Joseph Logsdon, University of New Orleans an authority on Creole culture;”Mixed race” couple Reggie and Diane Alsbrook, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Studio guests: “Mixed race” couple Jane Hu (Chinese) and Eric Skotmyr (Norwegian American).

Guidance document 10: Dual Heritage pupils

Ethnic Minority Services
Nottingham City Council Children Services
November 2005
20 pages

Jane Daffé, Senior EMA Consultant
Nottingham City, LA

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Terminology
3. Statistics
4. Identity
5. Dual Heritage Voice
6. Educational research
7. Curriculum, resources, role models
8. Conclusion
9. Appendix
   1. Recommended Resources Reflecting the Lives of Dual Heritage Children and Families
   2. Poem: Blended
   3. Dual Heritage Quiz

Introduction

The primary focus of this document are children of Dual Heritage who have one White parent and the other of African Caribbean background. Although pupils of Dual Heritage in our schools have a much wider range of ethnic backgrounds (White/Asian etc), the specified target group is our most significant Dual Heritage group in Nottingham, both in terms of numbers and concerns related to underachievement and exclusion. Some factors and experiences will be of relevance to other pupils of differing Dual Heritage, some of relevance to other Black pupil groups.

I hope to have produced a guidance document that will be of practical use to teachers in schools; within each sub-section are highlighted actions and recommendations which will enable schools to audit their current situation, develop their practice and create an increasingly inclusive whole-school ethos that is supportive and relevant for Dual Heritage pupils and families.

Terminology

The term Dual Heritage will be employed throughout this document; although labels are rarely unanimously agreed upon, it is currently considered by many to be a more acceptable and positive description than the still frequently used ‘mixed race’ (our pupils in schools often use the latter, and sometimes still the term ‘half-caste’).

Why not ‘mixed race’?
It is scientifically agreed that different ‘races’ do not exist, only one Human Race, therefore a shift from using the term ‘race’ seems to be the common order. Further, the word ‘mixed’ can have negative connotations in relation to identity e.g. ‘mixed up’, implying confusion and also that the original elements from both heritages are inevitably lost or changed.

Why not half-caste?
‘Caste’ is derived from the Portuguese word ‘casta’, meaning lineage or breed. In human culture, it refers to rigid social divisions, as in the Hindu caste system. Societies with a low degree of social mobility such as South Africa under apartheid and the practice of slavery in the Southern United States could be described as caste-based societies – the connotations of oppression are clear. Moreover, ‘half’ clearly implies lacking and incomplete, indicating inferiority…

Read the entire report here.

Intelligence of Negroes of Mixed Blood in Canada

The Journal of Negro Education
Volume 10, Number 4 (October, 1941)
pages 650-652

H. A. Tanser

Miscegenation, as between the White and Negro races, presents an interesting field for study. Herskovits, Hooton, Peterson and Lanier, and others have attempted to investigate such so-called racial differences as those which concern colour of skin, hair and eyes, thickness of lips, the nasal breadth, prognathism, interpupillary distance, texture of hair, etc. An attempt has also been made to study the relationship between intelligence and certain Negroid traits. As a result of his research a few years ago Herskovits came to the conclusion that the American Negro is forming a type which lies somewhere between the European, the African, and the American Indian. The increasing uniformity of type in the American Negro he attributes to social rather than biological factors. Peterson and Lanier, after testing ninety-one cases on the Otis, and forty-nine cases on the Myers, report that there is no significant relation between lightness of skin colour and intelligence. They find a coefficient of correlation of .044±.067 for the first group, and .180±.091 for the second group.

While Davenport and Steggerda, on investigation of race crossing in Jamaica, hold the opinion that crossing Whites and Negroes results in disharmonic combinations, Reuter, on the other hand, champions the cause of mulattoes on account of the hybrid vigour they display as compared with the general lack of achievement on the part of full-blooded Negroes. He makes the interesting contention that mulattoes are the result of a process of biological selection in which the best elements of the Negro race have been assimilated into the mixed blood of the mulattoes. He also makes the observation that in the days of slavery the White masters naturally selected the intellectually superior Negro women for their mistresses. He and Herskovits further contend that this process of biological selection has been perpetuated by the tendency that exists for talented Negroes to marry girls whose skin is light in colour. On account of the social cleavage that still exists between the Whites and Negroes, to a greater extent in the Southern States and to a less extent in the Northern States and Canada, one would naturally expect that any race crossing that takes place would represent the best elements of the Negroes and the less superior elements of the Whites.

In investigating the intelligence of Negroes, Mixed-bloods, and Whites, the present writer would like to emphasize…

Read or purchase the article here.

Multiracial Identity Development

Arlington Public Schools
Clarendon Education Center
2801 Clarendon Boulevard, Suite 308
Arlington, Virginia
2011-11-30, 10:00-12:00 EST (Local Time)

Have you ever wondered about how children from multiracial backgrounds develop their racial identity?  Please join us in welcoming Dr. Ricia Weiner, Ms. Eleanor Lewis, and Ms. Veronica Sanjines, School Psychologists, who will share valuable information with families and school staff about the stages and factors that impact the development of identity in multiracial children.
 
In this exciting session, Dr. Weiner, Ms. Lewis and Ms. Sanjines will review current theories, explain and dispel myths and inaccuracies, and help participants understand external influences in multiracial identity development.  They will also explore the impact of adoption and exposure to multiple languages on this population.  Participants will learn specific factors that support successful and adaptive multiracial identity development.

For more information, click here.

A critical ethnography of biracial elementary teachers: Biracial identity development and its effect on teaching practices and racism prevention

Alliant International University, San Diego
2010
480 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3428767
ISBN: 9781124269009

Jon E. Kingsbury

A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Faculty of the Hufstedler School of Education Alliant International University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education

The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to develop a critical ethnographic methodology to examine the experiences that led a select group of elementary teachers to self-identify as biracial. Additionally, through the use of critical systems analysis, this inquiry explored the perspectives of the informants with regard to racism at the classroom and the greater school or district levels. In order to collect data, in-depth phenomenological interviews were conducted with two self-identified biracial elementary teachers from the southern California area. These interviews were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. This inquiry sought to create an interview structure that would ensure a critical ethnographic approach to data generation that resulted in the development of the Figure Eight Interview Model, wherein the research process is dominated by two distinct research settings. The first is where the researcher and the informant are working collaboratively during the actual interviews. The second setting is where the researcher and the informant are working independently, using grounded theory to critically analyze the data transcribed from the previous interview. The analyses were then discussed at the next interview, where thematic categories were developed. These two settings were repeated three times, with each interview building on the previous and becoming more focused. Using system and social integration levels of critical systems analysis, themes were uncovered in order to develop theory for addressing, reducing, and ultimately preventing racism in classrooms and schools. These themes, along with the Figure Eight Interview Model, can be refined and expanded through further research done by professional development planners, multicultural educators, and qualitative researchers.

Table of Contents

• LIST OF FIGURES
• 1 . INTRODUCTION
  • Purpose of the Study
  • Significance of the Study
  • Assumptions of the Study
  • Delimitations of the Study
  • My View of Humanity and Racism
• 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
  • Racial Identity Development
    • Introduction
    • Monoracial Identity Models
    • Biracial Identity Models
    • Racial Identity Development and Teachers
    • Comments on Review of Racial Identity Models
  • Teachers’ Biographies
    • Perspectives on Teachers’ Biographies
    • Development of Teachers’ Biographies
    • Purpose and Value of Teachers’ Biographies
  • Multicultural Education
    • History and Development of Multicultural Education
    • Definitions and Goals
    • Teachers’ Role in Multicultural Education
  • Conclusions From the Review of the Literature
  • Research Questions in Light of the Literature Review
• 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
  • Research Paradigms
  • Critical Ethnography
    • Sociohistorical Development
    • Conceptual and Philosophical Framework
    • Feminist Methodology
    • Critical Theory
  • Research Design of the Study
    • In-Depth Phenomenological Interviewing
    • Sampling Strategy
    • Selection of Informants
    • Content and Conduct of the Interviews
    • Data Analysis
    • Carspecken’s Stages for Critical Research
    • Data Generation and Data Management
    • My Role as Researcher
    • Trustworthiness
• 4. ASSESSING THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
  • Procedural Aspects of the Study
    • Number of Informants
    • Commitment of Time
    • Use of Instruments
    • Components of the Data Analysis
    • Summary of Procedural Aspects
  • Theoretical Concerns Within Critical Ethnography
    • Empowerment
    • Contextualization of Data
    • Romanticism
    • Validity/Trustworthiness
    • Summary of Theoretical Concerns
  • Criteria Within the Figure Eight Interview Model
    • The First Interview
    • The Second Interview
    • The Third Interview
    • Summary
• 5. MY ANALYSIS AND RESPONSES TO THE STUDY
  • The Research Questions
    • Research Question 1
    • Research Question 2
    • Research Question 3
    • Research Question 4
    • Research Question 5
  • My Summary of Our Study
    • Assessment of the Methodology
• 6. INFORMANTS’ RESPONSES TO OUR STUDY
  • Opening Comments/General Discussion
  • Time and Reflection Process I
  • Number of Participants
  • Length of Interviews
  • API Scores
  • Time and Reflection Process II
  • Role of Family
  • Self-identification Statements
  • Sociohistorical Context
  • Theoretical Elements
  • Empowerment of Informants
  • Time and Reflection Process III
  • Asian Pacific Islanders Educators Association
  • Their Mothers’ Influence
  • Weddings and Extended Families
  • Their Mothers as “Victims”
  • My Error in Identifying a Relationship
  • Regional Cultural Differences
  • Changes in Biracial Demographics
  • Their Physical Ambiguity
  • The Use of the Word “Threat”
  • School and Community Cultures
  • “Addressing” Versus “Reducing and Preventing”
  • Institutional Racism
  • San Diego’s Blueprint for Success
  • Changes in the American Culture
  • Truthfulness in My Re-Presentation
  • Stages of Biracial Identity Development
  • Closing Comments
  • Analysis of Informants’ Responses
    • Research Process
    • Critical REID Factors
    • Their Mothers’ Influence
    • Empowerment
    • Institutional Racism
    • Sociohistorical Contextualization
    • Hierarchy of Racism
  • Summary
• 7. SUMMARY CHAPTER
  • Research Findings
  • Research Questions
  • Possible Shortcomings
    • Focus of Study
    • Peer Debriefers
  • Figure Eight Interview Model
    • Theoretical Foundations
    • Figure Eight Interview Model’s Effectiveness
    • Summary: Figure Eight Interview Model
  • Critical Ethnography
    • Empowerment
    • Data Contextualization
    • Catalytic Validity
    • Validity/Trustworthiness
    • Summary
  • Ethical Implications of an Organic Inquiry
  • Developmental Biracial REID Model
  • Implications and Applications for Practice
    • Professional Educators
    • Qualitative Researchers
  • Personal Reflections
• REFERENCES CITED
• APPENDICES
  • A. SELF-IDENTIFICATION OF RACIAL IDENTITY STATEMENT
  • B. FAMILY HERITAGE WORKSHEET (FIGURE B1)
  • C. WRITTEN CONSENT FORM
  • D. SUGGESTIONS FOR REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WRITING
  • E. PERSONAL HISTORY OF IDENTITY WORKSHEET (FIGURE E1)
  • F. SUGGESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS OF TRANSCRIPTS
  • G. SUGGESTIONS FOR COMMENTS ON INTERVIEWER’S ANALYSIS
  • H. CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS HANDOUT
  • I. POEM: “I AM INVISIBLE”
  • J. INFORMANTS’ REFERENCE SHEET

List of Figures

1. Racial/ethnic identity development models
2. Moments of ethnography
3. Conceptual Figure Eight Interview Model
4. Procedural Figure Eight Interview Model
5. List of established interview questions
6. Five stages for critical qualitative research
7. Interpretation of Carspecken’s (1996) research design
8. Summary of responses to research questions
9. Biracial identity development continuum

Purchase the dissertation here.

There are Italians with black skin

Africa News
2010-05-28

Stephen Ogongo

Interview with Sabrina Jacobucci, President of Association of Afro-Italian Children

To be black and Italian at the same time is a new reality the Italian society is still struggling to accept.  Adoption and increase in the number of mixed marriages between Italians and Africans are gradually leading to an increase in the number of Black Italian children, the so-called Afro-Italians.  But the Italian society seems unprepared to cater for the social and educational needs of these children.  In this exclusive interview with Africa News, Ms. Sabrina Jacobucci, aka Flora NW, President of the Association of Afro-Italian Children, reveals the reasons that led to the foundation of the Association, the problems mixed heritage children face in the country, and suggests what should be done to make the education system more responsive to the needs of mixed heritage children.

Sabrina, please share with us the story behind the formation of the Association of Afro-Italian Children.

The Association was initiated by an Italian mother of two mixed-race children born abroad, who, when returning to Italy, started to express the need of meeting other black children since they were the only black children in school, in their block, whenever they went to the park or to after school activities. They started to ask: why aren’t there children like us on TV or on advertisements?  The Italian mother started to look for a group where children could meet other black children, but could only find associations of various migrant communities, or churches which catered for the Nigerian, or the Congolese or the Ghanaian and so forth.  The children could not, though, identify with any ethnic or migrant community in particular, being black Italians. So to answer the children’s need to see themselves represented, this woman started to look for other parents of black or mixed-race children to set up a group where the kids could, at least once a month, meet and feel stronger, in a society where to be black is often neither appreciated nor valued.

When was it founded?

A couple of years ago.

Who was involved?

I, the white Italian mum of Black Italian daughters (who also share an English, Nigerian and Jamaican mixed parentage), had the idea of setting up a group where my children could meet other Afro-Italian children. I thought gathering other parents of black children willing to meet would be easy.

Unfortunately, the number of black and mixed-race children is very low in Rome, especially in my area. So I started to “advertise” on the web, first of all on www.insenegal.org, a site which has a rich forum where a number of mothers of children having a Senegalese father write. But most of them weren’t from Rome. So I wrote to other parents’ forum, but they were attended mostly by parents of white children. And then, on one of these forums, I met the adoptive mum of a girl of Nigerian parentage, who shared the same need as mine. We were then joined by other adoptive and biological parents of black and mixed-race children, thanks to the website I manage http://afroitaliani.splinder.com, where I announce our meetings and other activities…

…From your experience, in Italy, are mixed heritage children facing different problems from those of other children?

Mixed race children often face the same issues black mono-heritage children face. No matter their skin tone, they are seen as black and therefore it is healthier and more empowering for them to identify as such, without denying their dual heritage at the same time. A racist is not going to ask them whether they are mixed-race. And yes, black and mixed race children definitely face different problems from those of white children…

…Do you think the education system in Italy fully caters for the needs of mixed heritage children?

I don’t think so. I don’t think the education system has even started to consider or understand the needs of mixed heritage children or of black children for that matter. They are invisible to the system because they are not even seen as a group. Also, mixed heritage is a concept that encompasses too broad a category. Our experience is that of parents of mixed-race children, black/white, and as such they face the same problems of institutional racism embedded in the education system black “mono-heritage” children face. I think that to separate mixed-race children from the black children amounts to “fractioning” the black community, and at this moment, when the community needs unity and strength, is not advisable…

Read the entire interview here.

When Gray Matters More Than Black or White: The Schooling Experiences of Black-White Biracial Students

Education and Urban Society
Volume 45, Number 2 (March 2013)
pages 175-207
DOI: 10.1177/0013124511406917

Rhina Maria Fernandes Williams, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education
Georgia State University, Atlanta

Although research is scant, there is a growing interest in the manifestation of the racial and cultural context on the schooling of biracial students. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the schooling experiences of 10 Black–White biracial students. Specifically, the goals of the study were to (a) identify the factors Black–White biracial students, ages 16 to 22, perceive as influential in their schooling; and (b) identify the factors the students’ parents perceive as influential in their children’s schooling. This study includes a brief review of the literature related to the schooling experiences of Black–White Biracial students. A qualitative phenomenological methodology was used to guide the design, implementation, and analysis of the study. The findings from the interviews with the biracial youth and their parents resulted in five themes, which were (a) region and school diversity; (b) peers; (c) teachers; (d) curriculum; and (e) socioeconomic status. Implications for researchers, policy makers, and teachers are outlined.

Read or purchase the article here.

Race, Racism, and Multiraciality in American Education

Academica Press
2006
504 pages
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Paper ISBN: 1-933146-27-3

Christopher Knaus, Associate Professor of Education
California State University, East Bay

This research monograph analyses and describes how multiracial undergraduates have come to think about race and racism. The work begins with an overview of the problem of race and racism in education, then discusses the way in which race is typically construed along a continuum of mono-racial thinking( a surprisingly inept conceptualization given the increasing birth rates of mixed or multiracial school populations). The text is then split into seven distinct case studies based on individuals with multiracial, multicultural and ambiguous racial identities and their K-12 experience. Since this work is part of a growing field of research that incorporates a critical analysis of race and racial identity theory it also moves the discussion into areas of multiracial experience and concludes with analysis of higher education’s role in developing awareness of the dynamics and suggestions for practioners in helping the student navigate the question “ What are you?” in a society so long divided along traditional color lines.

The Complexities of Identity: Teaching Michelle Cliff’s Abeng to High School Students

Minnesota English Journal
Volume 45 – Fall 2009
pages 19-33

Angie Iserman, English Teacher
Owatonna High School, Owatonna, Minnesota

When I decided to return to the role of student in order to obtain my graduate degree, my hope was I could bury myself within two genres of literature: adolescent and multicultural. Now, a year later, I have read several books in both genres and consistently find myself grappling with a single theme: identity. This may be due to the fact that both adolescent literature and multicultural literature readily lend themselves to the investigation of this theme, but I believe my fascination with it also stems from my experience as a high school English teacher. So far, much of my teaching career has been spent in classrooms filled with seventh, eighth, and ninth graders, and I have witnessed the struggle of these students to define themselves on a daily basis. Sometimes, it even seems like these students change their identities by the hour.

While changes in identity manifest themselves in students of all cultures, such changes are most easily observed in students who want to belong to two cultural groups at once. In particular, I am reminded of a Muslim student at the school where I teach who comes to school dances in traditional Muslim garb and who subsequently changes into pants as soon as possible after arriving in order to integrate herself into the dominant culture of the American teenager. As if the struggle to define one’s identity during adolescence is not challenging enough, this student must also create an identity for herself while straddling two cultures.

Being more than familiar with the struggle to find one’s identity, I was immediately drawn to the plight of Clare, the biracial protagonist in Michelle Cliff’s Abeng. After being introduced to this novel in one of my graduate courses, I decided to further explore Cliff’s assertion that the survival of a biracial person is dependent upon whether or not this person is able to create an identity for himself/herself. To do this, I investigate the current research on biracial children, the historical context of the novel, and the influences on Clare’s identity. Then, I use the novel itself to suggest biracial people must develop identities for themselves if they are to continue living. Finally, I conclude by discussing the pedagogical implications of studying identity in Abeng and in multicultural literature in general.

Although this comes as no surprise to teachers who are witnessing shifts in the racial and ethnic composition of their classes, Barbara Tizard and Ann Phoenix in their book Black, White or Mixed Race? state that current data indicates “there are a growing number of people in racially mixed relationships and marked increases in the number of people of mixed parentage”. As children with mixed parentages become more common, one must question the impact this will have on their identities. Will such children classify themselves as black, white, or biracial? How will society define them? How will society’s definition of them affect their lives socially, economically, and emotionally? In the past, it was believed people of mixed-race would suffer from an identity crisis. This sentiment is echoed in Black, White, or Mixed Race? when the authors assert: “‘The prevailing view of mixed children is that they have identity problems because of their ambiguous social position… the stereotype of the tortured misfit’”.

However, recent research suggests this notion of mixed-raced children suffering from an identity crisis is fictitious. As Tizard and Phoenix state, “It is now much more commonly recognized than previously that people of ‘mixed parentage’ largely do not suffer from racialised identity problems [. . .]” (54). As evidence of this conclusion, Tizard and Phoenix cite a study which suggests “that up to the age of 9, at any rate, the majority of mixed-parentage children did not suffer from identity problems; she [the researcher] found them to be happy and secure with an intermediate identity”.

Yet, this conclusion seems premature when one considers the works of authors with mixed-race parentage, such as Michelle Cliff. In fact, Cliff undermines recent research’s assertions that biracial children will not fall victim to identity crises when she comments in interviews on the similarities between herself and Abeng’s protagonist Clare. She is quoted as saying, “‘I was a girl similar to Clare and have spent most of my life and most of my work exploring my identity as a light-skinned Jamaican, the privilege and damage that comes from that identity’” (Dagbovie 96). Obviously, Cliff, like Clare, struggles, or struggled, to define herself…

Read the entire article here.

Mixed Matters: Mixed-race pupils discuss school and identity

Troubador Publishing
March 2011
128 pages
198×127 mm
ISBN: 9781848765719

Denise Williams

Mixed Matters responds to the dearth of literature about the experiences of mixed-race pupils in British schools. It seeks to examine how much credence schools should give to pupil identities when one parent is white British and the other is of black British/Caribbean heritage, as well as offering practical advice on how to improve the educational outcome of mixed-race children.

More often than not, mixed-race pupils are simply referred to as black and tend to be encompassed in a larger, more diverse group of black pupils, but the increased presence of mixed-race pupils in schools needs to focus the efforts of education professionals to address issues of race, ethnicity and culture.

Mixed Matters is essential reading for all educational professionals who want to get to grips with the issues that face mixed families and the pupils themselves as they share their personal experiences of what it is like to be them in the British schooling system. The young people featured in this book challenge some of the commonly held assumptions made about them – especially regarding their aspirations.

This book contains some resources that can be used to support work with mixed-race pupils as well as initial training and professional development of teachers. The book also details the approach of Mix-d, formerly the Multiple Heritage Project, in organising youth conferences and training youth facilitators of mixed-race to lead their peers in discussions about school and identity.