Mixed Race Studies

Measuring Race and Ancestry in the Age of Genetic Testing

Demography
2021-04-12
26 pages
DOI: 10.1215/00703370-9142013

Sasha Shen Johfre, Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Sociology
Stanford University, Stanford, California

Aliya Saperstein, Associate Professor of Sociology; Benjamin Scott Crocker Professor in Human Biology
Stanford University, Stanford, California

Jill A. Hollenbach, Associate Professor of Neurology
Weill Institute for Neurosciences
University of California, San Francisco, California

Will the rise of genetic ancestry tests (GATs) change how Americans respond to questions about race and ancestry on censuses and surveys? To provide an answer, we draw on a unique study of more than 100,000 U.S. adults that inquired about respondents’ race, ancestry, and genealogical knowledge. We find that people in our sample who have taken a GAT, compared with those who have not, are more likely to self-identify as multiracial and are particularly likely to select three or more races. This difference in multiple-race reporting stems from three factors: (1) people who identify as multiracial are more likely to take GATs; (2) GAT takers are more likely to report multiple regions of ancestral origin; and (3) GAT takers more frequently translate reported ancestral diversity into multiracial self-identification. Our results imply that Americans will select three or more races at higher rates in future demographic data collection, with marked increases in multiple-race reporting among middle-aged adults. We also present experimental evidence that asking questions about ancestry before racial identification moderates some of these GAT-linked reporting differences. Demographers should consider how the meaning of U.S. race data may be changing as more Americans are exposed to information from GATs.

Read the entire article here.

Growing up Ethiopian and German

Ethiopian Observer
2021-05-20

Tigist Selam

Born to an Ethiopian mother and a German father, Tigist Selam enjoyed the diverse experience of growing up in Nigeria, Argentina, and foremost Germany. In an article featured in the book “One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race“, Tigist explores the complexities of racial classifications, and the different ways that people live and experience Blackness.

I personally identify as Black racially, Ethiopian, and German/ American culturally. I never say that I’m Black except in a political context because I don’t even know what that means. Like being Black. What is Black culture? Is it African culture? Is it the Caribbean? To me, culture is very specific and I’m multicultural. So, when I identify as Black, I’m making a political statement; I am not trying to simplify my own cultural complexity.

My father was born in 1945. That’s the end of World War II. He still had the swastika in his passport and on his birth certificate. And my mom, she survived Haile Selassie and Mussolini. Both of my parents are very proud to be German, very proud to be Ethiopian, respectively. Very, very strong people identity-wise. But they’re not very sensitive when it comes to race. To them, everybody else is an idiot. And that was really helpful growing up because my mom never backed down. When she didn’t get seated, she would say something or not pay for the meal. My dad took me voting when i was 11. I was forced to watch international news every day. So me and my brother got politicised at a very early age. But it was also the experience of living everywhere-Nigeria for two years, Argentina for three years, Germany ten years, and now America off and on for 10 years…

Read the entire article here.

“I wrote Mixed/Other to add some much-needed nuance to a conversation that is so frequently stilted and oversimplified in mainstream spaces. Perceptions of mixedness are still so frustratingly binary and often centred around whiteness – I wanted to challenge those narratives and open a more inclusive conversation. I wanted to tell stories or joy, hope and belonging as well as the more painful and sometimes complicated parts of being mixed. It’s the book I wanted to read in my teens and early twenties.” —Natalie Morris

Isabella Silvers, “Natalie Morris: “Ideas of mixedness are binary and centred around whiteness”,” Mixed Messages, April 19, 2021. https://mixedmessages.substack.com/p/natalie-morris-ideas-of-mixedness.

Mixed-Race? Black-Asian? Blasian? A Qualitative Study

2021-05-23

Ayumi Matsuda Rivero, Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology
University of California, San Diego

I am a multiracial Latinx-Asian doing research on the unique experiences of multiracial Black-Asians.

I am exploring how these individuals navigate and negotiate their ethnic and racial identity in predominantly white, Black, and Asian spaces. The first part of my research involves a short survey followed by interviews via Zoom. To be eligible for the study participants must either identify as multiracial Black-Asians or have parents who identify as Black and Asian.

If you decide to participate in this study, you will be interviewed on subjects that include:

1. your racial and ethnic identity,
2. the racial and ethnic identity of your family,
3. your earliest memories of race/ethnicity,
4. explicit/implicit messages you received about race by family and by others such as teachers, friends, communities, etc.,
5. experiences of differential treatment based on race/gender,
6. perceptions of race/gender stereotypes, and
7. when you feel one or more of your identities most strongly. This completely voluntary, and your personal identifiers will be anonymized.

If you’d like to participate or have any questions about the study, please contact me directly at aematsud@ucsd.edu.

Multiracial Families Study: Seeking Multiracial Teens and their Parents/Caregivers

Arizona State University
2021-05-20

Annabelle Lin Atkin, PhD, Postdoctoral Scholar
T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics
Arizona State University

We would like to invite families with a Multiracial American teen between the ages of 14 and 18 to take a survey! The Multiracial teen and their parents/primary caregivers will each take a 20-30 minute survey and each be compensated with a $10 USD Amazon gift card.

Please find more information and sign up for the study here.

The findings from this research will be used towards educating society about Multiracial experiences and developing workshops and interventions for parents with Multiracial children.