Mixed Race Studies

IN THE WHITE FRAME : An interview with mixed-race dancers Angel Langley & Jasmmine Ramgotra

Multiracial Asian Families: thinking about race, families, children, and the intersection of mixed ID/Asian
2016-08-30

Sharon H. Chang

STRANGE COUPLING is an annual juried exhibition of collaborations between University of Washington (UW) student artists and local professional artists. Over a decade old, the School of Art + Art History + Design program aims to connect campus and community through teamwork and direct engagement. This year I was entirely captivated by one of twelve projects, a performance piece entitled In The White Frame by mixed-race student dancers Angel Langley and Jasmmine Ramgotra with local sound artist/composer/teacher Byron Au Yong. The piece is a stunning work of art and innovative look at the experience of multiraciality within our white dominant culture.

Performed Friday June 10 at Seattle’s King Street Station, In the White Frame is a 20-minute structured improvisation that utilizes movement, materials, sound and space. The audience — who does not sit — is invited to participate but also come and go at will. “We wanted to create something that was structured and improvisational,” said Jasmmine, “And we had an intention to do it about identity.”

Over coffee with me at Columbia City Bakery in Seattle, Angel and Jasmmine sit down to tell more about creating this beautiful piece. They recall at their first meeting with Byron months ago talking about the prevalence of racial dichotomies in society right now. “We knew we wanted to do [something] about our own experience,” reflects Jasmmine. At the same time the three artists had discussed how art is often presented in white-framed gallery spaces. That was when Angel had an epiphany. She had been reading Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Asian Children In a Post-Racial World and learning about Joe R. Feagin’s theory of the white racial frame for the first time. “I remember giving [the book] to Jasmmine like you need to read this chapter on white framing cause this is what we’re doing,” says Angel. But also “what does that mean being our identities in a high art space, a white-framed gallery?” Jasmmine can’t hide her enthusiasm, “I was like oh my god that makes so much sense.”

To give form to their improvisation they brainstormed a wordlist with Byron. “Ideas of what mixed race peoples are,” explained Angel, “like superhuman, mixed.” Mutt was one of them says Jasmmine “because someone called me that before and I was like wow. Really?” The dancers nod to themselves about such contradictions. Mixed race identity is supposed to be fluid so fluidity was also on their wordlist. But the reality is that being multiracial is often a polarized, painful experience via other peoples perceptions. The truth of this dichotomy compelled them to add stuck to their list too. “Like more ugly or more beautiful,” Angel gives another example. “Just this idea you’re either a superhuman, or you’re a piece of shit.”…

Read the entire interview here.

How To Talk To Your Kids About Race

Roundhouse Radio, 98.3 FM
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Thursday, 2016-07-14, 17:00-18:00Z (10:00-11:00 PDT)

Live Call-in: How to talk to your kids about race

With author and educator Sharon Chang, author of “Raising Mixed Race” and host Minelle Mahtani

It’s been a tough news week. The media has been full of stories about police shootings, Black Lives Matter demonstrations, and violence. As a parent you know that your kids are not immune to these stories. They are discussed on the playground just as surely as they are discussed in the office. So how can you talk about race with your kids during these turbulent times? When your children ask you what Black Lives Matter is, what’s your answer? How do you explain the spate recent police shootings? To get some tips on how to tackle these difficult topics, tune into Sense of Place on Roundhouse Radio 98.3 FM, www.roundhouseradio.com Thursday at 10 am. Minelle Mahtani hosts Sharon Chang, author of the book Raising Mixed Race. Together – they’ll be answering your questions about how to talk to children about issues related to race…

For more information, click here.

These 2 Ads Might Say Everything About How Global Racism Really Is

Multiracial Asian Families: thinking about race, families, children, and the intersection of mixed ID/Asian
2016-06-26

Sharon H. Chang

sigh.

SIGH.

Siiiiiiiiigh.

Alright that’s done. I want (pause) — well I don’t want, but feel like I need to show you two TV ads recently posted to YouTube literally within days of each other. Both are out of east Asia, Japan and China respectively. The first is a Toyota commercial out of Japan. It portrays a shiny techno-future funneled through the nostalgic eyes of a white father and happy memories of his mixed race Japanese family/children:

Not super hard to read the messaging here right? Japan is changing. Got it. Changing for the better. Got it. Symbolized by this mixed race family. Got it. And importantly, symbolized by this mixed race family with a white father. Got it. Now let me pause and give nod to something super important here. It is rare to see mixed families portrayed at all in Japan, a nation with an impressive history of racial-ethnic purity rhetoric, xenophobia, violent discrimination and practice. So yes I completely get that this Toyota commercial is a step forward.

At the same time it isn’t.

Now, check out this second commercial for Qiaobi laundry detergent out of China which has been airing at least since April…

…

Read the entire article here.

Book reading with SHARON H. CHANG: Raising Mixed Race

Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience
719 South King Street
Seattle, Washington 98104
Thursday, 2016-06-02, 18:00-20:00 PDT (Local Time)

Sharon H. Chang has worked with young children and families for over a decade. She is a scholar and activist who focuses on racism, social justice and the Asian American diaspora with a feminist lens.

She will read from her inaugural book, Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Asian Children In a Post-Racial World.

Her writings have appeared in BuzzFeed, Hyphen Magazine, ParentMap Magazine, Seattle Globalist and more. She is also a consultant for Families of Color Seattle and is on the planning committee for the Critical Mixed Race Conference.

Sharon will be available after the book reading to sign copies of her book. Books will be available for sale in The Wing Marketplace.

This event is free and open to the public.

For more information, click here.

“Passing” “Presenting” & the Troubled Language of Mixed Race

Multiracial Asian Families: thinking about race, families, children, and the intersection of mixed ID/Asian
2016-04-21

Sharon H. Chang

I’m a light-skinned mixed race Asian/white woman. I don’t deny it. On my lightest day, in the deep of winter, under cover of endless Seattle clouds, I could definitely hold my arm next to some white people and almost match (though the tinting never seems quite right). Because I’m non-Black and light-skinned I am not vulnerable to police brutality, housing discrimination, hate crimes, excessive surveillance, racial bullying and assault, and the many, many forms of violent oppression acted upon visibly Brown and Black peoples every day. This is undoubtedly a privilege, one that I actively acknowledge and try to hold in constant consciousness and conscientiousness as I write about race and am involved in social justice work. My main responsibility is often going to be de-centering myself to make room for the voices of others most impacted; to listen, not lead; support and even sometimes leave spaces entirely because my presence may interrupt safety and sacredness.

And yet, these are the things that have been said to me recently by whites and people of color (POC), men and women, young and old:

What are you? Because if you had said you were white – I would’ve believed you.

Man! How do you people do that international thing??

Excuse me, I’m sorry, but can I ask what your mix is?

There is no pure Asian anymore.

You Asian? I need help with my gardening.

So what do you do?

Are you a flight attendant, stewardess?

While I always need to be aware of my light-skinned privileges, I also have to hold being read by others as “definitely not white” a lot of the time. That matters. I, like everyone else, am a racialized body in a racialized/racist place. I am not Brown or Black and it’s incumbent upon me to be eternally thoughtful about this. But I am not often seen as white either. Could I describe myself as white? I could try. But does that reflect who I am? Or how the world sees me? Or, more importantly, does it prepare me to deal with the racial-boundary policing I butt up against? Absolutely not.

So why am I starting to see so many mixed race peoples foreground their whiteness as more significant than their color – when the world around them doesn’t actually allow that?…

Read the entire article here.

A conversation on what it means to be mixed race

New Day Northwest
KING TV 5
Seattle, Washington
2016-03-30

Margaret Larson, Host

The last Census report taken in 2010 showed that the population identifying themselves as multi-racial grew by 32% over the census in 2000.

One local author is raising awareness with a new book called ‘Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Asian Children In a Post-Racial World‘.

Sharon Chang visited New Day NW to talk about what it means to be mixed race in our current culture.

To learn more about Sharon or buy her book, visit her blog.

Watch the interview here.

Book Review – Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Asian Children in a Post-Racial World

Mixed Race Feminist Blog
2016-03-18

Nicola Codner
Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Asian Children in a Post-Racial World, Sharon H. Chang, Routledge, 2016, 264pp, £27.99, ISBN 978-1612058481

I was really excited to finally get my hands on a copy of this excellent book which focusses on how to navigate successfully raising Asian multiracial children in today’s world. The main argument of the book is that in order to do this parents must analyse their own understanding of racial issues, and seek to expand their knowledge and awareness in this area so they can adequately support their offspring. Considering the content of the book, the mention of ‘a post-racial world’ in its title can only be taken as tongue-in-cheek since the writer argues throughout the text that the world is anything but this and sets about exposing how white racism continues to be pernicious and pervasive, simply mutating over time rather than weakening in power.

The book is split into an introduction followed by 8 chapters and is based on an interview study conducted by the author with multiracial Asian parents. The study explored multiracial Asian parents’ approaches to parenting in conjunction with their attitudes regarding race. Chang, who is an activist, writer and scholar, is multiracial Asian herself, as is her husband. The study highlighted parents often neglect appropriate conversations around race with their children and thus do not support them in developing good self-esteem and coping skills when it comes to dealing with racism…

Read the entire review here.

Helping mixed-race Asian kids navigate a world that isn’t post-racial

The Seattle Times
2016-03-16

Jerry Large, Columnist

Sharon H. Chang is author of “Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Children in a Post-Racial World.” (Courtesy of Sheila Addleman)

Seattle author writes about the challenges of raising multiracial Asian children in America and helping then overcome racial biases.

If you have mixed-race kids, teach mixed-race kids or know any mixed-race kids, you should read Sharon Chang’s book. Chang is a local writer and mom who saw a vacuum and tried to fill it with information she wishes her own parents had.

The book is “Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Asian Children in a Post-Racial World,” and yes, that last phrase is meant tongue in cheek. This definitely is not a post-racial world, and one of the strengths of Chang’s book is that it helps people see how race continues to shape our lives.

Chang grew up in Southern California, the daughter of a Taiwanese father and white American mother. She’s lived in Seattle for 16 years and is married to a man who grew up on Vashon Island. His father is white and his mother is from Japan, so they’ve had lots of conversations about growing up mixed and not having anyone explain how people might react to them, or why.

How does a kid feel when relatives, or strangers, openly comment on their features — “That’s a good nose” or “Too bad about the eyes”? What does a parent say when a child says, “Mommy, I want blond hair”?…

Read the entire article here.

The Racial Reality of Being Mixed Race

91.3 KBCS Radio
Bellevue, Washington
2016-03-04

Sonya Green, News & Public Affairs Director

What does it mean to mixed race? It’s a term recognized but rarely considered in conversations about race and racial identity. However, it should be since according to reports, multiracial individuals are the fastest growing youth group. Seattle-based author activist, Sharon H. Chang debuts her first book Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Asian Children In a Post-Racial World. Sonya Green interviewed Sharon. She started by defining what race means.

Listen to the interview (00:17:02) here.

Feature: Five Qs with Sharon H. Chang

Writing like an Asian: Thoughts on writing, composition, and issues of identity
2016-02-26

Jee Yoon Lee, Lecturer in English/Adjust Professor
Georgetown University/George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Sharon H. Chang worked with young children and families for over a decade as a teacher, administrator, advocate and parent educator. She is currently an award-winning author, scholar and activist who focuses on racism, social justice and the Asian American diaspora with a feminist lens. Her inaugural book Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Asian Children In a Post-Racial World was released in 2015/2016 to rave reviews. Her pieces have additionally appeared in BuzzFeed, ThinkProgress, Hyphen Magazine, ParentMap Magazine, The Seattle Globalist, AAPI Voices and International Examiner. She also serves as a consultant for Families of Color Seattle and is on the planning committee for the Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference.

(Q1) How did the project for writing the book Raising Mixed Race begin? How did you decide which stories to include?

Well the process of coming to my mixed race consciousness and passion for social justice writing is hard to milestone because it’s a human one that extends, and will continue to extend, across my lifetime. That said there have been catalyzing events and one of the most important ones was having my son in 2009. You know up until that point I always had a sense of the racialized world we live in (and most of us do) but I didn’t have a deep understanding or language to articulate anything. When you have a child however everything changes because suddenly there’s the responsibility of communicating crucial ideas, values, and concepts to a young person you love with all your heart…

…(Q4) What can you tell us about the work you have been doing as a teacher, activist, and parent educator? Are there particular works that you have found useful in facilitating discussion about what it means to be part of mixed raced community?…

…Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of useful resources for facilitating discussion about what it means to be part of mixed race communities. There is a growing body of academic work, art, think pieces, buzzy stuff, and such, a lot of which you can access on the Mixed Race Studies site curated by Steven F. Riley. But frankly, where is the mixed race community anyway? Is there one? When I get asked to do community work I’m usually asked to tailor generally to race and away from mixed race. And even in the classroom, whether primary/secondary school or higher ed, multiracial conversations are often relegated to units within a curriculum rather than being a whole focus. You can’t major (or minor?) in mixed race studies in college. This, again, despite the fact multiracial is the fastest growing identification among youth. We still have a long ways to go…

Read the entire interview here.