Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

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  • Blood, Race, and National Identity: Scientific and Popular Discourses

    Blood, Race, and National Identity: Scientific and Popular Discourses

    Journal of Medical Humanities
    Volume 23, Numbers 3-4 (December, 2002)
    Pages 171-186
    Print ISSN: 1041-3545; Online ISSN: 1573-3645
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1016890117447

    Allyson Polsky McCabe, Lecturer in English
    Yale University

    This essay examines the symbolic significance of blood in the twentieth century and its role in determining the composition of a national community along racial lines. By drawing parallels between Nazi notions of blood and racial purity and historically contemporaneous U.S. policies regarding blood and blood products, Polsky reveals a disturbing proximity in discourse and policy. While the Nazis attempted to locate Jewish racial essence and inferiority in blood and instituted eugenic measures and laws forbidding racial admixture, similar policies existed in the U.S. based on the so-called one drop rule that systematically discriminated against African Americans.

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  • Meeting the Needs of Multiracial and Multiethnic Children in Early Childhood Settings

    Meeting the Needs of Multiracial and Multiethnic Children in Early Childhood Settings

    Early Childhood Education Journal
    Issue Volume 26, Number 1 (September, 1998)
    Pages 7-11
    Print ISSN 1082-3301; Online ISSN: 1573-1707
    DOI 10.1023/A:1022974423276

    Francis Wardle

    Early childhood programs have been in the forefront of implementing a multiracial curriculum. Early childhood educators need to extend these approaches to support and embrace multiracial and multiethnic children. These are children whose biological parents crossed traditional U.S. Census categories to have children. To meet the unique needs of these children and their families, early childhood educators need to engage in staff training, provide classroom materials, work closely with parents, and challenge the single race approach to multicultural education.

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  • Examining Ethnic Identity and Self-Esteem Among Biracial and Monoracial Adolescents

    Examining Ethnic Identity and Self-Esteem Among Biracial and Monoracial Adolescents

    Journal of Youth and Adolescence
    Volume 33, Number 2 (April, 2004)
    pages 123-132
    Print ISSN: 0047-2891; Online ISSN: 1573-6601
    DOI: 10.1023/B:JOYO.0000013424.93635.68

    Jeana R. Bracey
    University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

    Mayra Y. Bámaca
    University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

    Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor
    Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

    The psychological well-being and ethnic identity of biracial adolescents are largely underrepresented topics in current scholarly literature, despite the growing population of biracial and multiracial individuals in the United States. This study examined self-esteem, ethnic identity, and the relationship between these constructs among biracial and monoracial adolescents (n = 3282). Using analysis of covariance, significant differences emerged between biracial and monoracial adolescents on both a measure of self-esteem and a measure of ethnic identity. Specifically, biracial adolescents showed significantly higher levels of self-esteem than their Asian counterparts, but significantly lower self-esteem than Black adolescents. Furthermore, biracial adolescents scored significantly higher than Whites on a measure of ethnic identity, but scored lower than their Black, Asian, and Latino peers on the same measure. Finally, correlational analyses revealed a significant and positive relationship between ethnic identity and self-esteem for all groups.

    The number of interracial marriages in the United States, as well as the number of interracial individuals, has steadily increased since the 1967 Supreme Court repeal of laws barring interracial marriages (Root, 1992; Wardle, 1987). In response to a long-term debate over the addition of a multiracial category for the 2000 census (Rockquemore and Brunsma, 2002), a compromise was made that allowed respondents to select multiple racial categories, resulting in approximately 2% of the population self-identifying as multiracial (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). Despite these figures, this segment of the population remains largely invisible in the area of scholarly research. Much of the literature on biracial or multiracial populations tends to be theoretical (Phinney, 1990), and the limited empirical work has been based largely on small clinical samples or samples recruited via snowball sampling techniques (Phinney and Alipuria, 1996).

    Given the growing visibility of biracial families in society, it is critical to learn more about the developmental outcomes of adolescents within these families, specifically with regard to their psychological adjustment. Understanding the complexity and impact of diversity on adolescent development should be at the forefront of our priorities. Two interrelated psychological factors in need of more in-depth examination among biracial adolescents are ethnic identity and self-esteem. Despite the fact that self-esteem, as an evaluative measure of psychosocial adjustment, is linked to major mental health outcomes, researchers have not focused on examining the self-esteem of biracial adolescents…

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  • Biracial-Bisexual Individuals: Identity Coming of Age

    Biracial-Bisexual Individuals: Identity Coming of Age

    International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies
    Issue Volume 5, Number 3 (July, 2000)
    Pages 221-253
    ISSN 1566-1768 (Print) 1573-8167 (Online)
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1010137025394

    J. Fuji Collins, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Health & Wellness – Vice Chancellor
    University of California, Merced

    There is considerable controversy regarding the means by which bisexual and biracial individuals achieve a sense of identity. In this paper, the concepts of bisexual and biracial identity are reviewed, and the literature on identity developmental models are critiqued. Further, a qualitative study is presented that explored the complexity of biracial identity development in Japanese-Americans. It is based on the constant comparative method of analysis, or grounded theory. The study focused on how Japanese-Americans perceived themselves in relation to other individuals, groups, and/or their environment. Findings related to initiating explorations of identity and perseverance in pursuing a biracial identity, which depended on the degree of support or negative experience within their social networks. Participants explored identity options attempting to develop their own meaning of identity, to develop a confident sense of themselves and secure a positive ethnic identity. Based on research and dialogue, there appears to be parallels between bisexual and biracial identity development. A model is proposed that suggests that individuals who are bisexual or biracial go through four phases in their development of their positive identity. These phases are: Phase I—Questioning/Confusion; Phase II—Refusal/Suppression; Phase III—Infusion/Exploration; and Phase IV—Resolution/Acceptance. These phases describe people who have two distinct identities that place them in a position of self-devaluation. From there they move to a position where there is a positive perception of identity based on the coexistence of their identities.

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  • Multiracial Children in Child Development Textbooks

    Multiracial Children in Child Development Textbooks

    Early Childhood Education Journal
    Volume 35, Number 3 (December, 2007)
    Pages 253-259
    Print ISSN: 1082-3301; Online ISSN: 1573-1707
    DOI 10.1007/s10643-007-0157-8

    Francis Wardle

    The 2000 US census was the first to allow respondents to check more than one race/ethnic response for their identity. About 6.8 million Americans did so, and a disproportionate percentage of them were children under age 18 years old. The purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which this change is reflected in contemporary child psychology textbooks. Twelve books were examined to determine whether they covered multiracial and multiethnic children. Results of this study showed that only two of these books addressed issues related to the healthy development of multiracial/multiethnic children in any detail; and, while several used terms such as biracial and bicultural, these terms were always used to describe single-race minority children living in a majority context. The discussion section covers possible reasons for this omission.

    For the first time in many years the 2000 U.S. Census allowed people in the United States with more than one racial/ethnic heritage to accurately report their racial/ethnic identity to their government (Williams, 2006). Respondents were permitted to check more than one response to the question of racial or ethnic identity (U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 2000). In response to this change, 6.8 million Americans identified themselves with more than one racial/ethnic category. Further, forty percent of these respondents were children under 18 years of age (U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 2000). This radical change was the result of a powerful grassroots effort of various multiracial groups and individuals in this country before the 2000 census, including parents—biological and adoptive—of multiracial children (Williams, 2006). Thus this statistical change in the demographics of this country truly reflects a change in the thinking of many parents; it′s not simply an artifact of government policy.

    The question this study addresses is whether the shift in the way the U.S. government categories its citizens is reflected in college textbooks published since the change was made. Specifically, I selected textbooks that cover child development and human development, because racial and ethnic identity has come to be considered a critically important aspect in the development of healthy children. The definitions I use are, multiethnic: a person or child whose acknowledged identity includes the two U.S. Census ethnic categories (Hispanic/non Hispanic); multiracial: a person or child whose acknowledged identity includes two or more of the U.S. Census categories (Wardle & Cruz-Janzen, 2004). Clearly, many children can be considered multiethnic and multiracial, especially as these terms are currently in considerable flux…

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  • The racial canons of American sociology: Identity across the lifespan as biracial alternative

    The racial canons of American sociology: Identity across the lifespan as biracial alternative

    The American Sociologist
    Volume 31, Number 1 (March, 2000)
    pages 86-93
    Print ISSN: 0003-1232; Online ISSN: 1936-4784
    DOI: 10.1007/s12108-000-1006-z

    Ronald E. Hall, Professor of Social Work
    Michigan State University

    The fabric of American sociology is woven from societal belief and tradition. Sociology is thus, to some extent, a manifestation of canons. While research has concluded no single model of racial identity based in fact, sociologists apply racial canons in conformation to cultural tradition and Western belief systems. Traditions and beliefs are reflected in sociological research, literature, and various theoretical constructs. In the aftermath, racial canons pertaining to the identity of biracial Americans assume the force and merit of fact.

    In the search for knowledge and scientific evidence the weight of canons is not irrelevant to the direction of sociological conclusions. Assumed truths may be expressed directly or indirectly to explain certain social phenomena. This allows for particular bodies of knowledge to be implicitly defined by canons. Occasionally, more explicitly, canons define a social phenomenon. For example, the canons of race category define the theory of racial identity by specifying what kinds of attributes designate race. In this instance sociologists frequently make use of what is perceived as universal fact. Racial canons are presented as if there were general agreement about their validity, even though this validity cannot be demonstrated (Bennett, 1996)…

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  • White Women in Interracial Families: Reflections on Hybridization, Feminine Identities, and Racialized Othering

    White Women in Interracial Families: Reflections on Hybridization, Feminine Identities, and Racialized Othering

    Gender Issues
    Volume 14, Number 2 (June, 1994)
    pages 49-72
    Print ISSN: 1098-092X, Online ISSN: 1936-4717
    DOI: 10.1007/BF02685656

    Carmen Luke, Emeritus Associate Professor of Education, and Director of the Centre for Women’s Studies
    James Cook University, Queensland, Australia

    Interracial unions, biracial and bicultural children are social facts of modern multicultural societies, yet they have been almost completely overlooked by scholars. What little research is available on interracial family formations and identity is largely based in psychological, sociological, social psychological, social work and counselling theories. Interracialism has not been taken up at all by feminists, postcolonial theorists, or multicultural research.

    This essay is concerned with race and gender identity politics among white women living in interracial relationships, particularly in families with biracial and monoracial children. I report here on published research on inter- and biracialism, and include some data from pilot interviews I conducted with white women in interracial families with whom I share work relationships and friendships. I discuss, first, the politics of voice and identity in the context of current debate over speaking rights, racial and cultural identities. I then briefly survey recent research on biracial children before turning attention to white women in interracial relationships. Drawing on existing research and my own data, I discuss relationships between interracial couples and their own parents, the politics of managing their biracial children’s schooling, and the often contradictory logics of the cultural and gender regimes women marry into. I conclude that current theories of identity politics are analytically inadequate for describing how racisms operate within a racially unmarked dominant culture because racial identity is theorized exclusively as an identity marker of groups and persons of color…

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  • Are multiracial adolescents at greater risk? Comparisons of rates, patterns, and correlates of substance use and violence between monoracial and multiracial adolescents.

    Are multiracial adolescents at greater risk? Comparisons of rates, patterns, and correlates of substance use and violence between monoracial and multiracial adolescents.

    American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
    Volume 76, Number 1 (January, 2006)
    pages 86-97
    DOI: 10.1037/0002-9432.76.1.86

    Yoonsun Choi, Associate Professor of Social Service Administration
    University of Chicago

    Tracy W. Harachi, Associate Professor of Social Work
    University of Washington

    Mary Rogers Gillmore, Director and Professor of Social Work
    Arizona State University

    Richard F. Catalano, Bartley Dobb Professor for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Director, Social Development Research Group
    University of Washington

    Rates and patterns of substance use and violent behaviors among multiracial adolescents were examined and compared with 3 monoracial groups, European, African, and Asian Americans. The relationships between ethnic identity and the subjective experience of racial discrimination, substance use, and violent behavior were also examined. The authors found multiracial adolescents reporting higher rates of problem behaviors. Several significant relationships between ethnic identity and racial discrimination were found with these problem behaviors.

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  • Under and Beyond Constraints: Resource Allocation to Young Children from Biracial Families

    Under and Beyond Constraints: Resource Allocation to Young Children from Biracial Families

    American Journal of Sociology
    Volume 112, Number 4 (January 2007)
    pages 1044–1094
    ISSN: 0002-9602/2007/11204-0003
    DOI: 10.1086/508793

    Simon Cheng, Associate Professor of Sociology
    University of Connecticut

    Brian Powell, Rudy Professor of Sociology
    Indiana University

    Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99, the authors examine the extent to which biracial families differ from monoracial families in their transmission of resources to young children. In these analyses, the authors demonstrate the utility of distinguishing not only between white—biracial and nonwhite—biracial families and but also between even more refined measures of biracial families (e.g., white father/Asian mother). The authors find that, in most cases, biracial families provide comparable or greater economic and cultural resources to their children than do their monoracial counterparts, but offer fewer advantages in interactional/social resources. This overall pattern remains even after sociodemographic factors are taken into consideration. Exceptions to this pattern also are identified and explored. Implications for our understanding of racial stratification, interracial relations, and the role of both human agency and constraints on intergenerational transmission of resources are discussed.

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  • Biracial identity and social marginality

    Biracial identity and social marginality

    Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal
    Issue Volume 7, Number 4 (August, 1990)
    Pages 319-337
    Print ISSN: 0738-0151, Online ISSN: 1573-2797
    DOI 10.1007/BF00757029

    Philip M. Brown
    Phoebe Hart House, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

    This comparative analysis of classic and recent literature explores the developmental and social implications of biracial identity in the U.S. Though specific attention was given to Black-White biracial persons, a broader analysis yielded some surprising insights into the nature and implications of the biracial personality and the accompanying differences in interpersonal styles and social relationships.

    Despite the persistent cultural stereotypes depicting the United States as a cultural melting pot, rigid divisions between economic, class, racial and ethnic groups endure. Ours is a heavily stratified society with distinct boundaries and rigid barriers around socially defined groups, roles and status positions. These circumstances are difficult enough for Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and other groups who do not fit neatly into mainstream White society (and are, therefore, socially marginal). However, what happens to those individuals whose racial and cultural heritage is rooted in both White and non-White groups? These individuals belong to both while simultaneously not fully belonging to either (e.g. Black and Caucasian). Dual racial identity likewise implies a dual ethnic and cultural focus as well. For the biracial person these two cultural connections are reflected in the type of life one leads; the nature of one’s achievements and failures; as well as other social attitudes and aspirations…

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