Interview With Sharon H. Chang on Raising Mixed Race |
Interview With Sharon H. Chang on Raising Mixed Race
Hapa Mama: Asian Fusion Family and Food
2015-12-07
Grace Hwang Lynch (HapaMama)
I’ve been reading a new book by Sharon H. Chang called Raising Mixed Race. You might remember Sharon, a Seattle-based writer and scholar, from her guest post A Multiracial Asian Mom Wonders How Her Son Will See Himself (Routledge 2015). With chapter titles that are analogies to home construction (Foundation, Framing, Wiring, etc.), the book aims to get to the historical ideas behind the way we talk about race, including the concept of mixed race identity. I was especially interested because the research focuses specifically on Asian multiracials. Recently, I had a chance to interview Sharon about her work. Read on…
HapaMama: First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself, how the idea for Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Asian Children in a Post-Racial World came about and the process of researching and writing it.
Sharon H. Chang: I’ve worked with families and children for over a decade in various capacities: as a teacher, parent educator, administrator, school owner, etc. I hold a Master’s degree in Human Development with an Early Childhood Specialization and Raising Mixed Race actually grew out of my Master’s thesis. At the time I had just had my son and was struggling to find resources that would support our mixed race family. Frustrated beyond belief (particularly since I thought things would have changed by now) I finally decided to head into the field and conduct research myself. I interviewed 68 parents of 75 young multiracial Asian children around questions of race, racism and identity. I then compiled and analyzed those interviews, about 800 pages of transcripts, while simultaneously researching critical mixed race studies. Several years later I am at last thrilled to debut the book we are about to see today…
Read the entire interview here.
Tags: Grace Hwang Lynch, Hapa Mama, Hapa Mama: Asian Fusion Family and Food, Sharon Chang, Sharon H. Chang