Mixed Race Studies

Virtual release party for ‘Raising Mixed Race’ – December 11th, 2015

Facebook Release Party
2015-12-11, 17:30-21:30Z (09:30-13:30 PST)

Join us for giveaways, Q&A, discussion, and much more as we celebrate the launch of Raising Mixed Race.

Publishing in December 2015, Raising Mixed Race by Sharon Chang is the first book to examine the complex task of supporting young children who are “two or more races” and Asian. To celebrate, the author has organized a virtual release party complete with over 20 giveaways.

For more information, click here.

Analogizing Interracial and Same-Sex Marriage

Philosophy and Rhetoric
Volume 48, Number 4, 2015
pages 561-582

Isaac West, Associate Professor of Communication Studies
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee

“Like race” analogies have been critiqued from various perspectives, and this article enters that conversation to engage those criticisms from a rhetorical perspective. In short, this article makes a case for resisting proscriptive judgments about these analogies until they have been contextualized and afforded their complexity as rhetorical figures. A rhetorical perspective of analogies engages them not as truth statements or as part of propositional logic (a monological view of communication) but instead as invitations to explore similar sets of relationships that are qualified through continued dialogue (a dialogical view of communication). Through a case study of a highly recirculated issue of the Advocate, this essay demonstrates the productive possibilities and limitations of analogical reasoning.

Read or purchase the article here.

Crossing the Line: Multiracial Comedians

University of Michigan
Shapiro Undergraduate Library
919 South University Avenue
Screening Room 2160
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1185
2016-01-21, 16:00-17:00 CST (Local Time)

Karen E Downing, Host Contact

This full-length documentary (2007, 59 mins.) analyzes how mixed-race comedians mediate multiracial identities and humor. Crossing lines of racial, ethnic, and cultural acceptability by their very existence, multiracial comedians reveal that meanings of race vary across ethnic combination, gender, place, and time.

The film features the experiences, perspectives, and performances of American comedians of more than one racial ancestry. The timeliness of multiracial comedians’ roles as crossracial mediators is underscored as they provide insight into controversies over how comedians express race (i.e., Michael Richards’ use of the N-word, Rosie O’Donnell’s slurs), and other debated meanings of race in an increasingly diverse society. Exploring these questions exposes the very nature of where pain and laughter come from in a racially divided world.

This is one of a year-long series of events that explore what it means to be multiracial in a monoracially conceived world.

This film will be followed by discussion. For more information, click here.

Chasing Daybreak: A Film About Mixed Race in America

University of Michigan
Shapiro Undergraduate Library
919 South University Avenue
Screening Room 2160
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1185
2016-01-19, 12:00-14:00 CST (Local Time)

Karen E Downing, Host Contact

This is one of a year-long series of events that explore what it means to be multiracial in a monoracially conceived world.

In 2005, the MAVIN Foundation, the nation’s largest mixed race organization, sponsored the Generation MIX National Awareness Tour to raise awareness of America’s multiracial baby boom. Chasing Daybreak (2006, 71 min.) follows the five Generation MIX crew members as they travel 10,000 miles across the country in a 26-foot R.V. and spark discussions on race, mixed race and diversity. As the crew meets with hundreds of people from U.S. Senator Barack Obama to Bubba the tow truck driver, they share their hopes, fears and aspirations for the future of race in America.

The screening will be followed by a discussion. For more information, click here.

Sock and Buskin’s new production combines history and mysticism

The Brown Daily Herald
Providence, Rhode Island
2015-11-16

Jennifer Shook, Staff Writer

‘The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry’ examines journey of Black Seminoles to Oklahoma

In Sock and Buskin’s newest production “The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry,” legend and history come together to present a portrait of mid-19th-century life from a segment of the American population not usually depicted: the Black Seminoles, a group of black and Native American people.

Written by Marcus Gardley, assistant professor in playwriting, and directed by Kym Moore, associate professor of theatre arts and performance studies, “The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry” follows a community of Black Seminoles forced to relocate from Florida to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. There, they create a new community and culture that is entirely their own while struggling with their racial and cultural histories. The Black Seminoles also face continued rivalries both within their community and with the neighboring Creek tribe. While the play depicts the plight of the diverse Seminole community, it also incorporates a mystical undercurrent that allows for a more metaphorical interpretation of its larger themes…

Read the entire article here.

People Of Color With Albinism Ask: Where Do I Belong?

Code Switch: Frontiers of Race, Culture and Ethnicity
National Public Radio
2015-12-07

Anjuli Sastry

Growing up, Natalie Devora always questioned how she fit into her African-American family.

“Everyone was brown, and then there was me,” Devora says. “I’m a white-skinned black woman. That’s how I navigate through the world. That’s how I identify.”

Devora has albinism, a rare genetic expression that leads to little or no melanin production. No matter what race or ethnicity someone with albinism is, their skin and hair appear white because of a lack of pigment. It is estimated that one out of every 18,000 to 20,000 people born in America each year has some form of albinism, according to the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation.

Devora grew up in Oakland, Calif., where, every so often, strangers would ask her mother about her “white” child. It made Devora question where she belonged…

…That brings us back to the original question. In a society where race is intrinsic to the fabric of our society — leaving aside the myths of post-racialism and colorblind politics — where do people of color, but without color, fit? Do they need to fit? And how should everyone else change their own perceptions about albinism?…

Read the entire article here.