Mixed Race Studies

No, Bill Clinton, we’re not ‘all mixed race’ – and you of all people should know that

The Independent
London, United Kingdom
2016-02-15

Remi Joseph Salisbury

If you’re claiming you’re ‘colour-blind’, you’re not being progressive. You’re part of the problem

In a seemingly fear-fuelled attempt to halt the rapidly growing popularity of Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton has once more turned to her husband – her “secret weapon” – to move along the discussion. Except it’s all gone terribly wrong.

At a rally in Memphis on Friday, Bill Clinton demonstrated his ineptitude in offering any meaningful contribution to political debates about racial equality when he argued that “we are all mixed-race people”.

This comment – an attempt to downplay the significance of race – represents a lack of respect towards, and disregard for, the lives of people of colour living in the United States.

Bill Clinton has had a lot of opportunities to think about race. He might have thought about the centrality of race to prejudice in US society when his “tough on crime” stance saw him introduce the 1994 crime bill. When this bill supported a burgeoning prison-industrial complex that disproportionately incarcerates African Americans, often for non-violent and petty crimes, he might have stopped to think about race…

Read the entire article here.

CERS hosts Critical Mixed Race Studies postgraduate symposium

School of Sociology and Social Policy
Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies
University of Leeds
2013-08-08

Peter Edwards, Faculty Web Development Officer

Mixing Matters: Critical Intersectionalities

The Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies (CERS) held its first interdisciplinary, international postgraduate symposium on the 18th May 2013 entitled ‘Mixing Matters: Critical Intersectionalities.’ This symposium aimed at engaging with ideas from the field of Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS) was the first of its kind in the UK and enabled national, international and Leeds based postgraduate students to present their research in this dynamic field. The debates within CMRS have been circulating for some time within various disciplines but which simultaneously have remained marginal within broader studies on ethnicity and ‘race’. Furthermore, the debates have largely been centred on the United States context and not taking into account the globality of mixed-race identity which varies across time and space, an idea which the keynote speaker (Rebecca King O’Riain) discusses in her book Global Mixed Race. This symposium was developed in response to this marginalisation focusing on describing and analysing mixed-race identities in both the UK and international contexts.

It was well attended and received by staff and students from within the faculty and beyond. There were a significant number of non-academic participants who travelled from far afield to engage with the day’s presentations and debates. Dr Rebecca King O’Riain (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) gave a keynote addressing the importance of expanding mixed-race studies beyond US borders and explored the dynamics of mixing in Zambia, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Brazil, Germany and Japan, among other locations. Dr. Shirley Tate (University of Leeds) who conceived of the idea of the symposium gave a second keynote on the mixed race question in regards to Black beauty.

The symposium was also comprised of two panels with papers on a variety of topics which reflect the diversity of research interests in the field:

• Theory, experience and activism in CMRS
• Mixed race male experiences in UK education
• Chicano epistemology
• Mixed-heritage in fostering and adoption policy
• Bio-power and the politicisation of mixed-race in East Africa
• Dougla identities in Trinidad
• The influence of hip hop on mixed-race identity…

…Speakers: Emma Dabiri, Remi Salisbury, Veronica Cano, Julia Koniuch-Enneoka, Angelica Pesarini, Kav Raghunandan, and Jenn Sims

Read the entire report here.

Researching ‘Mixed-Race’ Male Experiences in Education in the United Kingdom

Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies
School of Sociology and Social Policy
University of Leeds
2012-12-20

Hi all,

I’m a researcher from The University of Leeds (UK) based in the Centre for Ethnicity and Racism studies.

I’m currently carrying out research into ‘mixed-race’ male experiences in education in the UK. I’m in contact with a couple of researchers in the US and hopefully may develop some comparative work to improve experiences in both the US and the UK.

Whilst ‘black’ male education experiences are heavily theorised there is an absence of research into mixed-race male education…

I’m looking for male participants aged between 18-32 who identify as being of Black African Caribbean and White British parentage.

The research will be an interview (no more than 30 minutes), the interview arrangements will be down to interviewee preferences, I’m open to use digital methods such as Skype, Instant messaging etc… I’m also more than happy to conduct face-to-face interviews.. I’m based in Manchester and Leeds areas.

The interview will unstructured and would allow you to share your experiences and take the conversation where you want to.

Anyone interested (or want more information) please memail me; R.Salisbury@leeds.ac.uk.

Thank you,

Remi Salisbury

Mixing Matters: Critical Intersectionalities: Call For Papers

Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies (CERS)
University of Leeds
2013-05-18

An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Symposium on Critical Mixed Race Studies

The Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies (CERS) at the University of Leeds invites postgraduate research students to participate in a one-day symposium which will be held on 18 May 2013. The aim of this symposium is to explore and consider what constitutes Critical Mixed Race Studies as an emerging field of intellectual enquiry.

Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS) is a rapidly growing body of scholarship and through the continued challenging of essentialized conceptions of ‘race’ and ethnicity, CMRS becomes an emerging paradigm for examining the politics of ‘race’, racism and representation. CMRS can be defined as “the transracial, transdisciplinary, and transnational critical analysis of the institutionalization of social, cultural, and political orders based on dominant conceptions of race. CMRS emphasizes the mutability of race and the porosity of racial boundaries in order to critique processes of racialization and social stratification based on race. CMRS addresses local and global systemic injustices rooted in systems of racialization” (Critical Mixed Race Studies Association). In this transnational, interdisciplinary symposium, we seek to explore these components through the lens of intersectionalities in individual experience, theorising and activism.

This symposium is open to postgraduate researchers across a range of disciplines whose work is pertinent to and reflected within the broad field of Critical Mixed Race Studies. We invite papers that address this theme and hope to welcome national and international postgraduate research students from a wide range of disciplines.

Deadline for proposals: 8th March 2013

To submit a proposal, send a title and abstract (200-250 words) to the organizing committee, cmrs.symposium@leeds.ac.uk

Attendance at this conference is free; all other queries should be directed to the above address.

For more information, click here.