Mixed Race Studies

Phillip Handy examines how children form racial identities in multiracial families

Research Highlights
Rutgers University
2009-04-22

The election of America’s first mixed-race president has created new interest in what it’s like to grow up as a multiracial child. A Rutgers senior majoring in sociology and psychology has already received input from about 930 multiracial people from across the country to help provide some answers.

Phillip Handy, who grew up in Howell and has a white mother and an African-American father, was actually pondering the phenomenon before the presidential campaign ever began. In 2006, he helped form an organization called Fusion, the Rutgers Union of Mixed People, aimed at uniting people who identify with, or are interested in, the multiracial experience. A year ago, Handy was included in a New York Times article and video about mixed race.

Handy’s early interest in the field has now blossomed into academic research, which he will discuss in a panel presentation at the Aresty Undergraduate Research Symposium called Race and Gender in the Family: A Mixed-Race Perspective.

Handy’s work explores how the strength of the relationship between a multiracial child and his or her parent of the same gender impacts racial identity and awareness. He hypothesizes that the children closer to the same-gender parent will gravitate toward that parent’s characteristics. In addition, he predicts that this effect will be more prominent in families where gender roles are more clearly defined…

Read the entire article here.

Author Dr. Bonnie M. Davis Guest on Mixed Chicks Chat

Mixed Chicks Chat (The only live weekly show about being racially and culturally mixed.  Also, founders of the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival)
Website: TalkShoe™ (Keywords: Mixed Chicks)
Episode: #135 – Bonnie M. Davis, Ph.D.
When: Wednesday, 2010-01-06, 22:00Z

Bonnie M. Davis, Ph.D., Author and Educator
Educating For Change^®

Bonnie M. Davis is a veteran teacher of 37 years who is passionate about education. She has taught in middle schools, high schools, universities, homeless shelters, and a men’s prison. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including Teacher of the Year, the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Anti-Defamation League’s World of Difference Community Service Award. Davis has presented at numerous national conferences and provides services to schools through her consulting firm, A4Achievement. Her publications include The Biracial and Multiracial Student Experience: A Journey to Racial Literacy (2009), How to Coach Teachers Who Don’t Look Like You (2007), How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You (2006), African-American Academic Achievement: Building a Classroom of Excellence (2001) and numerous articles on literacy instruction. Dr. Davis will be the keynote and featured speaker at the National Association of African-American Studies (NAAAS) 2010 Teacher Summer Conference, June 27-30, 2010 in Orlando, Florida.  She received her BS in education, her MA in English, her MAI in communi­cations, and her PhD in English.

“If Races Don’t Exist, Then Why Am I White?”: The Race Concept Within Contemporary Forensic Anthropology

Focus Anthropology: A Publication of Undergraduate Research
Issue VIII: 2009
Kenyon University
20 pages

M. Todd Gross
Western Michigan University

It is fundamental for human beings to ask why and how things happen. Looking across the globe it is clear that this human tendency to explore our world manifests itself in a multitude of ways and in response to a variety of experiences. Among those who partake in the exploration of our world, some think the most honest way to answer the questions of “why” and “how” are through science. Broadly speaking, science is stated as analysis based upon observations made of an objective, observable reality. Since it involves the exploration of an objective reality, the accuracy of the labels and terms used to describe that reality are of utmost importance. In this paper, various issues will be examined in the biological and social sciences to show that the use of the race concept for Homo sapiens by forensic anthropologists is inaccurate and is both biologically and socially irresponsible. Available to forensic anthropologists are more responsible alternatives for assessing human skeletal remains, such as matching various morphological characteristics to those individuals found on missing person reports.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1
Race as Biology? 1
Race as Culture 3
Race in Forensic Anthropology 6
Misperceptions of Race in Forensic Anthropology 10
Alternatives to “Racial” Assessment of Human Skeletal Remains 13
Keeping Things in Perspective 15
Conclusion 15
Bibliography 16

Read the entire article here.

Barack Obama’s Improbable Election and the Question of Race and Racism in Contemporary America

Journal of Black Studies
January 2010
Volume 40, No. 3

Guest Editor
Pamela D. Reed, Assistant Professor of English Composition and Africana Literature
Virginia State University

The Journal of Black Studies has now issued two special issues on President Barack Hussein Obama. “The Barack Obama Phenomenon” (Mazama, 2007) examines the historic candidacy of the then Illinois Senator. The present issue explores Obama’s nascent presidency and matters of race and racism, both in the run-up to and in the wake of his landmark victory.

Try as one might, it is not possible to minimize the centrality of race in all areas of American life, even now. Indeed, since the inception of the American republic, built on the backs of enslaved Africans, race and color have been the ultimate determinants of socioeconomic status. For over four centuries, dating from around the mid-15th century, millions of Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic Ocean, and scores of them were brought to the United States, where their forced labor provided the engine for the American capitalist machine…

…Whatever the case, W. E. B. Du Bois’s prescient statement (1903) regarding the problem of the color line in the 20th century is no less true today—even as we head into the second decade of the 21st century. Be that as it may, Barack Hussein Obama is the 44th President of these United States. As a result, scholars will undoubtedly dissect his election and his presidency for the foreseeable future. We begin that process herein.

Table of Conents

• Pamela D. Reed – Introduction: Barack Obama’s Improbable Election and the Question of Race and Racism in Contemporary America. pp. 373-379.
• Philip S. S. Howard – Turning Out the Center: Racial Politics and African Agency in the Obama Era. 380-394.
• Christopher J. Metzler – Barack Obama’s Faustian Bargain and the Fight for America’s Racial Soul. pp. 395-410.
• Martell Teasley and David Ikard – Barack Obama and the Politics of Race: The Myth of Postracism in America. pp. 411-425.
• Thomas Edge – Southern Strategy 2.0: Conservatives, White Voters, and the Election of Barack Obama. pp. 426-444.
• Felix Germain – “Presidents of Color,” Globalization, and Social Inequality. pp. 445-461.
• Pearl K. Ford, Tekla A. Johnson, and Angie Maxwell – “Yes We Can” or “Yes We Did”?: Prospective and Retrospective Change in the Obama Presidency. pp. 462-483.
• David Mastey – Slumming and/as Self-Making in Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father. pp. 484-501.

 
Read the entire introduction here.

Proposed Session: Multiracial/ethnic families

XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology
Sociology on the Move
International Sociological Association
2010-07-11 through 2010-07-17
Gothenburg, Sweden

Programme Coordinators

Rudy R. Seward, Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, and Associate Chair of Sociology
University of North Texas, USA

Ria Smit, Associate Professor of Sociology
University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Organizers:

Cynthia M. Cready, Associate Professor of Sociology
University of North Texas, USA

George Yancey, Associate Professor of Sociology
University of North Texas, USA

Empirical and theoretical papers that address any aspect of multiracial/ethnic families are invited for this session. Possible topics include: attitudes toward racial/ethnic dating and intermarriage and multiracial/ethnic families; trends in racial/ethnic dating and intermarriage; individual- and community-level effects on racial/ethnic dating and intermarriage; the impact of racial/ethnic dating and intermarriage on other aspects of individual and community life; representations of multiracial/ethnic families in the media; interracial/ethnic adoption; socialization in multiracial/ethnic families; racial/ethnic identity of children from multiracial/ethnic families; identity issues among adults in multiracial/ethnic families; developmental outcomes of children from multiracial/ethnic families; theoretical and methodological approaches and challenges to the study of multiracial/ethnic families; and the interaction of social policy and multiracial/ethnic families.

For more information, click here.

Identity & Issues for Multiracial Students and College Campuses (Pre-Conference Institute #111)

NCORE^® 2010
23 Annual National Conference on Race & Enthnicity in American Higher Education
National Harbor, Maryland
2010-06-01 through 2010-06-05

A three‑part, highly interactive institute designed to provide participants a greater understanding of racial identity development for multiracial people and the issues surrounding them as they interface with different racial groups in their respective sociocultural environments. Using an assortment of educational approaches, the institute (1) presents historical and current models of racial identity development in multiracial people; (2) provides in‑depth reflection on personal perspectives and assumptions about multiracial identity; (3) discusses the implications of defining one’s self as multiracial, in campus and contemporary social settings; and (4) outlines some ways to promote inter‑group dialogue and coalition building between different racial groups and multiracial people on campuses and in community settings. The institute includes dialogue among participants who bring a wide range of perspectives about what it means to be multiracial on campus. In addition, the institute provides opportunities for participants to assess programs at their colleges and universities and develop action plans to further address the multiracial issues on their campuses. Presentations, experiential activities, and small- and large-group discussions allow participants to actively engage throughout the institute.

Overall Objectives:

1. Provide an overview of theoretical approaches to identity development of multiracial people.
2. Provide a minimum of three creative and experiential tools for exploring and understanding multiracial identity.
3. Provide roundtable discussions to address contemporary issues faced by Multiracial people on college campuses.
4. Provide roundtable discussions to assist participants in evaluating and growing their own institution’s multiracial programs.

Facilitated by: Charmaine L. Wijeyesinghe, Meg Chang and Dennis Leoutsakas.

For more information, click here.

AAST 398M – Multi-Racial Asian Americans

University of Maryland
Spring 2010

The multiracial American population is increasing exponentially, as are available services and organizations to support it. With these shifts in mind, this class will examine multiracial America yesterday, today, and tomorrow, with an emphasis on multiracial Asian America in particular. Some questions of interest: what is the public consciousness of multiracial peoples? What is public policy regarding multiracial peoples? How do multiracial peoples view their struggles for identity, equity, and community? What “infrastructure” exists to support the multiracial population, and in what ways does it provide or fail to provide support? Having identified the crucial issues facing multiracial America, the class will culminate in collaborative projects to address them.

Sixth Annual Ray Warren Multicultural Symposium (2009): Mixed: The Politics of Hybrid Identities

Lewis and Clark College
Portland, Oregon
2009-11-11 through 2009-11-13

Events

• “Obama and the Biracial Factor: Race, Sexuality, and the Battle for a New America” – Andrew Jolivétte (Introduced by Brenda Salas Neves, L&C student and symposium co-chair)
• “Secrets of a Mixed Race Child” – Dmae Roberts (Introduced by Parasa Chanramy, L&C student and symposium co-chair)
• Interracial Relationships, Adoption, and Identity – Moderator: Reiko Hillyer with Jiannbin Shiao, Astrid Dabbeni, Nicole Cullen, Hanako Conrad
• Remix: Identities and Artistic Expression – Moderator: Franya Berkman with Dmae Roberts, Gerardo Calderón, Nelda Reyes, Christabel Escarez and Nico Jose
• “The Future of Multiracial Politics” – Kim Williams (Introduced by Chris Wendt)
• Indigeneity and Cultural Exchange – Moderator: Elliott Young with Se-ah-dom Edmo, Tana Atchley, Muki Hansteen Izora, L&C students Lu’u Nakanelua and Allison Perry
• Nation-Building and Mixed Populations – Moderator: Rich Peck with Oren Kosansky, Cari Coe, Osaebea Amoako, Tim Moore
• Race Monologues – Identity: According to Whom? (Introduced by Parasa Chanramy) with L&C students Christabel Escarez, Adrian Guerrero, Temesghen Habte, Christina Herring, Jessica Houston, Nico Jose, Yollie Keeton, Rhea Manley, Jasin Nazim,Goldann Salazar, Jared Schy, and Madelyn Troiano

Anomaly: A New Documentary Film About Mixed Race Identity

African Diaspora Film Festival

• Tuesday, 2009-12-01 at 17:50 EST (Local Time) – Anthology Film Archives, 2nd St. and 2nd Ave., New York, New York
• Wednesday, 2009-12-09 at 19:30 EST (Local Time) – Cowin Center, Columbia University Teachers College, 525 W. 120th St., New York, New York

Jessica Chen Drammeh
2009
47 minutes
In English

Barack Obama‘s presidency highlights the continued struggles around U.S. race issues. “Anomaly” provides a thought-provoking look at multiracial identity by combining personal narratives with the larger drama of mixed race in American culture. The characters use spoken word and music to tell their stories of navigating a complex racial landscape. Q&A with the director after the screening.

View the trailer here.

Who Counts?: Science, Demography and the Social “‘There’s No One as Irish as Barack O’Bama’: The Policy and Politics of American Multiracialism”

Lecture
2009-11-17 21:00Z
Mencoff Hall, 68 Waterman St.

Jennifer L. Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government and Professor of African and African-American Studies
Harvard University

For the first time in American history, the United States’ 2000 census allowed individuals to choose more than one race. That new policy sets up our exploration of whether and how multiracialism is entering Americans’ understanding and practice of race. Using a policy feedback framework, we find that multiracialism is becoming institutionalized, that the small proportion of Americans who define themselves as multiracial is growing, and that the evidence suggests a continued rise.

Increasing multiracial identification is also made more likely by racial mixture’s growing prominence in American society. However, the politics side of the feedback loop is complicated by the fact that identification is not identity; traditional racial or ethnic loyalties and understandings remain strong, including among potential multiracial identifiers. We expect mixed race identity to be contextual, fluid, and additive, so that it can be layered onto rather than substituted for traditional monoracial commitments. If this development continues to take hold, it has the potential to change much of the politics and policy of American race relations.