Mixed Race Studies

On Being Mixed Race: I am Not a Percentage or a Fraction

The Radical Notion
2016-01-12

Nicola Codner
Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom

I’ve noticed frequently when I’m having a conversation with someone about my racial identity, I start to feel frustrated by some of the language that comes up. To clarify my father is black Jamaican, Nigerian and white British, and my mother is white British.

My earliest memories are of being described racially as ‘half-caste’. This was an acceptable term back in the 80’s, in the UK, to describe someone whose parents are of different races. People don’t tend to use this word anymore unless they are from older generations and unaware that it is not politically correct. The word ‘caste’ originates from the Spanish/Portuguese word ‘casta’ which means ‘pure’. Describing someone as half-caste is to imply they are only half pure which has obvious racist implications. This term was my first introduction to the idea that I had an identity that could be broken down into numerical fractions…

Read the entire article here.

Mixed race identity and counselling

Therapy Today
Volume 26, Issue 10 (December 2015)
pages 16-20

Nicola Codner
Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Nicola Codner describes her own identity as a mixed race woman and calls on counsellors to learn more about the psychosocial needs of our third largest ethnic minority group

I felt compelled to submit an article to Therapy Today because I’m aware that, as a mixed race woman (of black Jamaican, Nigerian and white British heritage), every time I pick up a copy of the journal I’m scanning for articles on mixed race identity and counselling/mental health. I rarely find anything on the topic and when I do it tends to be a mere few lines or paragraphs that only acknowledge the lack of attention paid to this group. This is disappointing and frustrating. Mixed race identity and issues are so invisible in the counselling world, despite the fact that this section of the population is the fastest growing and the third largest ethnic minority in the UK.

Dialogue around issues affecting mixed race children, adults and families, is increasing slightly in the UK but it is still insubstantial. I notice in the US (where the mixed race population is also quickly increasing) this is a different story. Research on the mixed race population is more abundant and counsellors are being made aware that they need to be able to consider the needs of this part of the population and be able to show specific competence in working with this group. Research in the UK is minimal and counselling books that focus exclusively on mixed race people are absent. As noted by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, social policy makers are taking a slow-paced approach to including mixed race Britons, despite the fact we are the country with the most mixed relationships in the developed world.

It was only in 2001 that the racial category of mixed race was added to the National Census of Population. The term is most commonly understood as applying to people who have one white parent and one parent from an ethnic minority. However, this traditional understanding of the term excludes those who have parents of different races where neither parent is white. Again, there is more dialogue around this in the US where it is more commonly acknowledged that our general understanding of who is included in the mixed race category needs to broaden. It’s also important to acknowledge that not all people who have parents of different races will identify as mixed race, which means the mixed race population could be larger in the UK than is currently observed (as an example, some people of black and white parentage may choose to identify solely as black). In addition some mixed race people are of more than two races which is often ignored…

Read the entire article here.

Let’s Talk Internalised Racism

Zusterschap: A blog for women who want to challenge social norms.
November 2015

Nicola Codner
Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom

All women have to check themselves for internalized misogyny because we live in a patriarchal society. Similarly, all people of colour have to check themselves for internalised racism due to living in a structurally racist society. While looking at internalised misogyny can be difficult, as a woman of colour I’ve noticed I find it much harder to talk about internalised racism – something about it feels more painful and taboo.

I’m scared of being judged about it by white people and people of colour and I feel ashamed of it in a way I don’t about internalised misogyny. I think this may be to do with the level of dehumanisation the black race has faced through slavery and colonisation so maybe there is something protective there about wanting to avoid the hurt that can come with digging up the topic. It’s quite possible after all that my Jamaican ancestors were slaves as Jamaica was a country which was colonised by the British. Also, I feel more vulnerable as a person of colour discussing internalised racism because I’m in a minority and minorities have to be strong in many ways to survive; it’s not easy to show how we’ve been wounded when we can feel precarious in society anyway. I think for many, part of the issue is not having the vocabulary to discuss the problem. In fact, I only learned the phrase ‘internalised racism’ a few years ago…

…As I got older I did start to accept my identity more – or at least I thought I did. I experienced more subtle racial oppression in upper school which centred mainly round my hair and sometimes my mixed race identity specifically. Some of this bullying came from not just white students but black students too. The stereotype that mixed race kids are cute and special in some way possibly buffered me from some suffering but I did not fit the stereotype of being mixed race and attractive. I had big frizzy hair, braces, glasses and my features were seen as more typically ‘black.’ Eventually, as a young woman, I ditched my glasses and braces and I managed to fit the stereotype of being mixed race and attractive more comfortably. However, what many people don’t realise is that if you embrace that stereotype to prop up your self-esteem in the face of racism it can have a nasty fallout for you. I know this because after years of hating my appearance and thinking I was ugly it seemed quite appealing to buy into the idea that being mixed race was somehow intrinsically beautiful…

Read the entire article here.

The answer seems to be that mixed race people urgently need to be more represented in UK social policy and mental health experts need to do the groundwork of converting academic texts on mixed race identity into their practice. We are in a quandary though as for this to happen more academic research on mixed race identity is needed in the UK in the first place. The future for the mixed race population is currently not looking very bright in my opinion where academia is concerned.

Nicola Codner, “Academia and the Identity of Mixed-Race Women,” Ain’t I A Woman Collective, November 10, 2015. http://www.aintiawomancollective.com/academia-and-the-identity-of-mixed-race-women.

Academia and the Identity of Mixed-Race Women

Ain’t I A Woman Collective
2015-11-10

Nicola Codner
Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Image: Vox Efx

I am a 35-year old mixed race woman (Black Jamaican, Nigerian and White British), born and living in Leeds, Yorkshire the UK and I recently completed a counselling diploma. As part of the work I had to do to achieve my diploma I had to do a great deal of work around examining my racial and cultural identity. It was also part of the course requirements that I had to do 20 hours of personal counselling.

I didn’t know it when I started the diploma but I had a massive amount of work that I needed to do around exploring my identity as a mixed race woman. This emerged when I started my personal counselling. I began to realise I had a lot of unresolved feelings around past experiences of racism and the lack of understanding and acknowledgement I had met as a mixed race female. I also needed to look at issues to do with race within my family as well as ancestral baggage…

Read the entire article here.