Mixed Race Studies

Why are mixed-race people perceived as more attractive?

Perception
Volume 39, Issue 1 (2010)
pages 136-138
ISSN: 0301-0066 (print), 1468-4233 (electronic)

Michael B. Lewis, Senior Lecturer of Psychology
Cardiff University

Previous, small scale, studies have suggested that people of mixed race are perceived as being more attractive than non-mixed-race people. Here, it is suggested that the reason for this is the genetic process of heterosis or hybrid vigour (ie cross-bred offspring have greater genetic fitness than pure-bred offspring). A random sample of 1205 black, white, and mixed-race faces was collected. These faces were then rated for their perceived attractiveness. There was a small but highly significant effect, with mixed-race faces, on average, being perceived as more attractive. This result is seen as a perceptual demonstration of heterosis in humans—a biological process that may have implications far beyond just attractiveness.

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Personality Characteristic Adaptations: Multiracial Adolescents’ Patterns of Racial Self-Identification Change

Journal of Research on Adolescence
Volume 20, Issue 2 (June 2010)
Pages 432 – 455
Published Online: 2010-03-08
DOI: 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00638.x

Rodney L. Terry
Statistical Research Division, U.S. Census Bureau

Cynthia E. Winston, Associate Professor of Psychology
Howard University, Washington, DC

For multiracial adolescents, forming a sense of self and identity can be complicated, even at the level of classifying themselves in terms of racial group membership. Using a Race Self Complexity (Winston et al., 2004) theoretical framework, this study used an open-ended question to examine the racial self-identification fluidity of 66 adolescents during the 7th, 8th, and 11th grades. This sample included 22 Black/White1 multiracial adolescents, as well as a matched sample of 22 Black and 22 White adolescents. Seventy-three percent of the multiracial adolescents changed their racial self-identification in the form of two time change patterns with a number of consolidating and differentiating racial self-identification variations. There was no change for the monoracial adolescents. These results suggest that within the lives of multiracial adolescents, the process of racial self-identification may be a personality characteristic adaptation to the meaning of race in American society that may change across time, place, and role.

Read or purchase the article here.

Intercultural Marriage and Family: Beyond the Racial Divide

The Family Journal
Volume 9, Number 1 (2001)
pages 39-42
DOI: 10.1177/1066480701091008

John McFadden, The Benjamin Elijah Mays Distinguished Professor Emeritus
University of South Carolina

Intercultural marriages have emerged as a central theme in discussion, not only among helping professionals but also the general public. Issues surrounding these conversations involve areas such as race, ethnicity, culture, and religion. The racial divide certainly permeates the thinking of many individuals as it affects couples and families. This article focuses on trends in intercultural marriages and how these relationships influence dynamics among families and the development of children and adolescents. Stages of acceptance toward intermarriages beyond the racial divide and empowerment traits for interracial marriages and family are introduced.

Read or purchase the article here.

Anomaly: A documentary fim about multiracial identity

Langston Hughes African American Film Festival
Sunday, 2010-04-18 13:30 PDT (Local Time)
Central Cinema, 1411 21st Avenue (at Union), Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 686-6684

Jessica Chen Drammeh, Director/Producer

Sharon Smith, Co-Producer

Anomaly is a groundbreaking documentary film that takes an insider’s look at the experiences of multiracial Americans. Through personal narratives, Anomaly stimulates viewers to think about identity, family and community in a changing world.

The film features interviews and performances by:

• Gabriella Callender of Mahina Movement
• Michelle Myers of Yellow Rage
• Pete Shungu
• Thaddeus Rutkowski

The film also includes interviews with community expert Eric Hamako, Jen Chau of Swirl, Inc., Michele Elam (professor at Stanford University), Ann Morning (professor at New York University), and Jennifer Chan (professor at San Francisco State University).

For more information, click here.

The New Ingredient in the Identity of Black Biracial Children

The Chicago Tribune
Op-Ed
December 1996

Larry E. Davis, Dean and Donald M. Henderson Professor of Social Work and Director of the Center on Race and Social Problems
University of Pittsburgh

[Republished in the Race and Social Problems: Interview with Dean Larry E. Davis post of the Social Work Podcast]
 
Some parents of black biracial children are being unrealistic. It is a mistake to promote a biracial identity for children born to black and non-black parents. African Americans are a multiracial people. It is estimated that well over 70 percent of African Americans have white ancestry, while others have ancestors who are Native American, Hispanic and Asian. Virtually all African Americans can identify some relative who is “mixed with something.”

So what is new in the identity of today’s children born to black and non-black parents? Only the identities of non-black parents. For the first time in this country, large numbers of non-black parents wish to be identified as the parents of a child by a black person. Historically, the parents of children born to black and non-black unions have been severely castigated, which largely explains their traditional invisibility. It is understandable that parents want to share in their children’s racial identities…

Read the entire op-ed here.

Race and Social Problems: Interview with Dean Larry E. Davis

The Social Work Podcast
2008-03-24

Jonathan B. Singer, Assistant Professor of Social Work
Temple Univerisity

Interview with
Larry E. Davis, Dean and Donald M. Henderson Professor of Social Work and Director of the Center on Race and Social Problems
University of Pittsburgh
 
[Episode 36] Today’s podcast is on Race and Social Problems. On January 15, 2008, I spoke with Dr. Larry E. Davis, Dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh, the Donald M. Henderson Professor, and Director of the Center on Race and Social Problems. In our conversation, Dean Davis defined racism, the role of race in understanding social problems, and about how issues of race may or may not change as the percentage of whites in the United States continues to decrease discussed. We talked about some of the racial and gender issues in the current election and talked about how race is different from gender as a point of diversity. We also talked about race and social work, and what social workers can do to fight racism. We ended our conversation with a discussion of the Center on Race and Social Problems and what the Center is doing to fight racism.

1. Beginning of the interview and definition of Race and Social Problems: [01:58]
2. “The major definition of race has been color” [02:31]
3. Mulattos and Octaroons [3:30]
4. The New Ingredient in the Identity of Black Biracial Children [4:49]
5. “African Americans are a multi-racial people.” [5:13]
6. “America may have biracial children, but there are no biracial adults.” [5:37]
7. What makes race a social problem? [9:36]
8. How will issues of race change now that Hispanics are the majority minority group? [11:06]
9. There is less than a percentage point difference between the number of African American and Hispanics in the United States according to the 2000 Census [11:59]  (Note: In the 2000 US Census, 75.1% of Americans identified as White. 12.5% identified as Hispanic or Latino. 12.3% identified as Black or African American.)
10. Why should social workers be concerned about race? [15:00]
11. How can race be a more defining issue for America than gender? [18:19]
12. Will people vote with their racial or gender identities in the presidential election? [21:47]
13. Is it detrimental to the Democrats to have two traditionally oppressed groups represented in the front-runners? [24:10]
14. Dean Davis defines and discusses his concept “Psychological Majority” [26:43]
15. What can social workers do to fight racism? [31:25]
16. Should other schools of social work have a center on race and social problems? [36:29]
17. Center on Race and Social Problems lecture series [38:26]

Listen to the podcast here (Due to large file size, right-click and save to your computer).  Running Time: 00:45:17.

Singer, J. B. (Host). (2008, March 24). Race and social problems: Interview with Dean Larry E. Davis [Episode 36]. Social Work Podcast. Podcast retrieved April 17, 2010, from http://socialworkpodcast.com/2008/03/race-and-social-problems-interview-with.html

The Aftermath of “You’re Only Half”: Multiracial Identities in the Literacy Classroom

Language Arts
Volume 83 Number 2 (November 2005)
pages 96-106

Elizabeth Dutro, Assistant professor of Literacy
University of Colorado

Elham Kazemi, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education
University of Washington

Ruth Balf, Fourth/Fifth-Grade Teacher
Seattle Public Schools

Children grapple with the complexities of race and what it means to claim membership in racial categories.

The children in Ruth’s fourth/fifth grade classroom had been engaged for weeks in a literacy project in which they researched and shared an aspect of their cultural background. The children interviewed their parents, consulted books and the Internet, wrote reports, gathered artifacts, created art projects, and, finally, put together a poster presentation to share with peers from other classrooms. The project seemed to be an important curricular move in this highly diverse urban classroom. Ruth wanted to demonstrate that knowledge from home cultures is valued, allow children time to share that knowledge with one another, and make visible the rich array of life experiences represented by children in this classroom.

For the public presentations of their projects, the students stood beside their posters and answered questions as children visiting from other classrooms walked around the room. It seemed to have gone well—an observer would have seen students speaking knowledgeably and comfortably about their work as guests wound their way through the room, pausing to ask questions of individual children. It was only after the visitors left that Ruth discovered that the afternoon had not been a positive celebration for some students. Zack lingered in the classroom after school, looking upset. He shared that two girls from another class had said, “He’s only half. He’s not really from South Africa,” when they viewed his project. He said, “Why would they say that? That makes me mad. Just because I’m not all African.” While they were talking, Stephanie walked over and said that people had said the same thing to her. She said that sometimes people think she’s Indian, but she’s black and white. Ruth asked Zack and Stephanie what they would like to do. She offered to call a class meeting the next day if they wanted to discuss these issues with their classmates. They agreed that they would like to share their experiences. The next morning, Zack, Stephanie, and their classmate Jeff (who identified as Filipino/white) led their peers in a discussion that engaged complex issues of race and identity.

The public presentations of the project resulted in feelings of hurt and frustration for these three biracial students as other children questioned their claims to their own racial identities. However, it was also the public presentations of the projects—specifically the issues of multiracial identity that the presentations raised—that transformed the culture project from a rather straightforward attempt to acknowledge and celebrate diversity into a critical literacy project in which children grappled with the complexities of race and what it means to claim membership in racial categories. In this article, we share these children’s experiences and reflect on what it takes to value multiracial identities and support children as they tackle important issues of race that those identities raise…

…When the children met on the rug the morning after the poster presentations, the biracial children launched a discussion that raised critical and complex issues of race, racial identity, and racial categories.  Excerpts from that debrief discussion represent how the children and Ruth grappled with these issues and illustrate the role that multiracial identities played in shaping the nature of their talk about race. These children’s words and experiences provide the basis for our implications regarding the role that multiraciality might play in engaging issues of race in elementary classrooms…

Read the entire article here.

Faces of the Future: An Exploration of Biracial Identity Development and Racial Identification in Biracial Young Adults

Smith College School for Social Work
Northampton, Massachusetts
2009
119 Pages

Dana L. Benton

A project based upon an independent investigation, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work.

This research study examines how biracial young adults experience the process of racial identification and racial identity development. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the growing body of knowledge budding around this topic. This study utilized a mixed methods approach to explore the racial demographics and quality of relationships in bi racial young adults social networks across their life span; experiences with ascribed and self declared racial identifications, as well as, thoughts, feelings and attitudes about being biracial. The experiences of N=53 biracial young adults, 18 to 35 years of age, were collected through an anonymous, online survey created by the research. The results of this study suggest that (1) Racial self identification in biracial people can vary across person, time and place (2) Social Factors and Racial Group Membership can be important to biracial peoples racial identity development and racial self identification (3) Inquiry into a biracial persons racial identification can evoke a variety of emotions (4) Biracial people’s attitudes about being biracial can range from negative to positive. This study considers these findings and offers clinical practice as well as research implications for future best practices.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER IV FINDINGS
CHAPTER V DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

APPENDICES
Appendix A: Human Subjects Committee Approval Letter
Appendix B: Informed Consent Form
Appendix C: Recruitment Tool
Appendix D: Referral List
Appendix E: Questionnaire
Appendix F: Figure 1: Age of Respondents
Figure 2: Gender of Respondents
Appendix G: Figure 3: Respondent U.S. Region Reared In
Figure 4: Respondents Country Reared In
Appendix H: Figure 5: Educational Level of Respondents
Figure 6: Income Level of Respondents
Appendix I: Figure 7: Change in Racial Self Identification
Appendix J: Table 1: Racial Composition of Social World
Appendix K: Figure 8: Race of Biological Parents
Figure 9: Quality of Parental Relationship
Appendix L: Figure 10: Quality of Relationships with Extended Family
Figure 11: Familial Acceptance & Participants’ Mixed Race Ancestry
Appendix M: Table 2: Respondents’ Racial Identifications (1)
Table 3: Respondents’ Racial Identifications (2)
Appendix N: Table 4: Respondents’ Racial Identifications (3)
Table 5: Respondents’ Monoracial Identifications
Appendix O: Table 6: Comparison of Racial Self Identifications
Appendix P: Figure 12: Emotional Responses & Racial Inquiries
Figure 13: Emotional Responses & Ascribed Racial Identifications
Appendix Q: Table 7: Grouping of Racial Self Identification Options

Read the entire project here.

Strategies Multiracial College Women Use to Navigate Monoracial Systems

Education and Human Sciences, College of (CEHS) Open Access Theses and Dissertations from the College of Education and Human Sciences
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
May 2009
248 pages

Minisa Michiko Chapman-Huls
University of Nebraska – Lincoln

A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

An exploration of the college experiences of multiracial women uncovered the strategies they used to navigate the monoracial system of predominately white institutions. A purposeful sample of 18 women who were multiracial was chosen. Data was collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews. Participants’ stories represented multiracial experiences at thirteen different undergraduate institutions. A participant’s precollege experiences, identity and the college’s peer culture impacted how she approached social situations in the highly homogenous and monoracial setting at college. Participants took on the roles of pacifist, non-conformist, and activist to successfully navigate college environments and social scenarios. The findings also support prior study on the identity development of multiracial college students. Childhood experiences shaped the racial identity of participants that was affirmed and challenged, but not changed by college factors and experiences. Significant factors to the identity development of participants at college were academic courses, faculty and peers. Implications of the findings and limitations of the study are discussed.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: Introduction
Significance of research
Statement of the Problem
Purpose of the study
Definitions
Limitations and delimitations

CHAPTER 2: Review of Literature
Identity Development of Multiracial Individual
Psychological Studies of Impact of Multiracial Identity
Racial Categorization of Mixed-race Persons
Racial Attitudes towards multiracial Individuals
Experiences of Multiracial College Students
Summary

CHAPTER 3: Methods
Purpose
Characteristics of Qualitative Research
Research Design
Data Collection
Managing and Recording Data
Data Analysis Strategies
Ethical Considerations
Validity
Particiment Vignettes
Findings

CHAPTER 4: Foundations for Success: Development of Strategies to Successfully Naviage Monoracial Systems
Racial Identity and formation
Childhood Experiences
Summary

CHAPTER 5: The College Experience: Test of Strategy
Challenges to identity
Resources for support
Summary

CHAPTER 6: Strategies for Success
Playing the role of Pacifist
Playing the role of NonConformist
Playing the role of Activist
Summary

CHAPTER 7: Thoughts and Suggestions
Implications
Further Research
Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDICES
Appendix A: Participant Consent Form
Appendix B: E-Mail Invitation to Participants
Appendix C: Interview Protocol

Read the entire dissertation here.

Opting for White: choice, fluidity and racial identity construction in post civil-rights America

Race & Society
Volume 5, Issue 1 (2002)
Symposium on The Latin Americanization of Race Relations in the United States edited by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
Pages 49–64

Kerry Ann Rockquemore, Associate Professor of Sociology
Univerisity of Illinois, Chicago

Patricia Arend, Lecturer in Sociology
Babson College, Babson Park, Massachusetts

Historically, racial identity for persons with one Black and one White parent assumed the development of a Black identity in accordance with the one-drop rule. However, empirical research on the multiracial population suggests that there exists wide variation in racial identification. We explore the interpretive power of [Eduardo] Bonilla-Silva’s Latin Americanization model to explain racial identity construction among a sample of 259 mixed-race respondents.We highlight case studies of individuals who have constructed a White identity in order to illustrate how structural changes in race relations have increased the range of racial identities available to multiracial people. While we observe variation in racial identification among our respondents, their “choices” continue to be differentially available due to their physical appearance and social context.

Read the entire article here.