Mixed Race Studies

Mixed emotions: Reflections on researching racial mixing and mixedness

Emotion, Space and Society
Volume 11, May 2014
pages 79–88
DOI: 10.1016/j.emospa.2013.07.002

Chamion Cabellero, Senior Research Fellow
Social Capital Research Group
London South Bank University

Researching racial and ethnic issues can involve entering a highly emotive terrain and the subject of ‘mixed race’ is no exception. The growing collection of both historical and contemporary accounts of those who are perceived to be mixing or of mixed race highlight the often intense emotions involved in crossing perceived boundaries of colour and culture. Yet, whilst discussions of the sensitivities and politics facing those mixing or of mixed race form the backbone of much research into the subject, much less is said about these issues in relation to the research process. Such reflections, however, are important not only for making sense of the frequent intensity of emotion that emerges from such research but also as regards constructing, conducting and disseminating it. Drawing in particular on a number of research projects conducted by the author and colleagues, this paper will discuss some of the emotive issues involved in researching the notion of ‘mixedness’ and their methodological implications for researchers as well as the research field itself.

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Lone mothers of mixed racial and ethnic children in Britain: Comparing experiences of social attitudes and support in the 1960s and 2000s

Women’s Studies International Forum
Volume 34, Issue 6, November-December 2011
Pages 530-538
DOI: 10.1016/j.wsif.2011.06.007

Rosalind Edwards, Professor of Sociology
University of Southampton

Chamion Cabellero, Senior Research Fellow
Social Capital Research Group
London South Bank University

This article places side-by-side the views from lone mothers bringing up children from mixed racial and ethnic backgrounds in mid-1960s and early 2000s Britain, to consider whether the sorts of social attitudes and support these mothers experienced have changed or persisted over the past half century. The analysis compares and contrasts the general social and official attitudes that lone mothers of mixed children feel that they encounter, the support they receive from the fathers of their children, and their relationships with their own and the father’s wider family, the neighbourhood and friendship networks they draw on, and the formal supports available to them across time. The article concludes by considering some indicative trajectories of change and constancy that looking at these social attitudes and supports reveals, around negative assessments and their social expression, expectations of fathers, the availability of wider family, and the importance of informal daily support from other mothers in the same situation.

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