MIXED RACE 3.0 |
Cultural Weekly
2015-02-28
Ulli K. Ryder, Ph.D.
Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts
Ryder, Ulli K. and Marcia Alesan Dawkins (eds.), Mixed Race 3.0: Risk and Reward in the Digital Age (Los Angeles: USC Annenberg Press, 2015).
We are scholars who have been thinking with a “mixed mind-set” for quite a while. We are also multiracial. For us, being multiracial is a discursive, dialectical method of identity formation concerning mixed race individuals’ and interracial families’ experiences, perspectives, and concerns. As scholars, we research multiracial identities from many different angles, primarily looking at everyday practices such as identity formation and “passing,” but also thinking about how multiracial identities connect to technology, business, politics, activism, and culture.
As a result, this book is about multiracial identities and the risks and rewards they offer. Each chapter dissects this controversial term—multiracial—and the risks and rewards it represents in a unique way. The macro level studies included argue that the historical production of race as a technology of management was used on a large scale to rank and order society, allocate resources and, in the process advantage and disadvantage certain groups. On the other hand, the personal meditations included demonstrate how mixed race operates as an identity and technology of power. By using and redefining racial categories in new ways, these contributions show us how to mobilize race in public and private…
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Tags: Cultural Weekly, Marcia A. Dawkins, Marcia Alesan Dawkins, Marcia Dawkins, Ulli K. Ryder, Ulli Kira Ryder, Ulli Ryder