Mixed Race Studies

Interracialism: Biracials Learning About African-American Culture (BLAAC) with Dr. Zebulon Vance Miletsky

State University of New York, Stony Brook
Frank Melville Jr. Memorial Library
Central Reading Room
100 Nicolls Road
Stony Brook, New York 11794
2020-02-19, 16:00-17:15 EST (Local Time)

Zebulon Vance Miletsky, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and History

A discussion of interracialism and interracial marriage, and the phenomenon of “anti blackness”—identity and mixed race in the 21st century, and the possible stakes for those who identify as multiracial and biracial—in these politically divided times.

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Relation of multiracial identity statuses to psychosocial functioning and life satisfaction

State University of New York, Albany
2007
129 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3272360
ISBN: 9780549120537

Krista Marguerite Damann

The current “multiracial baby boom” (i.e., the steady increase in this population as well as in the ability to identify them from census data) underscores the need for research on normative experiences of mixed race individuals. The current study, which tested the relation of multiracial identity statuses to psychosocial functioning, was based on the Multiracial-Heritage Awareness and Personal Affiliation (M-HAPA) theory of multiracial identity, developed by Choi-Misailidis (2004). This identity model consists of four multiracial identity statuses: (a) marginal, or lack of affiliation with any racial group, (b) singular, or the affiliation with one racial group to the exclusion of others, (c)  integrated-combinatory, or an identification that combines the racial heritages of both parents, and (d) integrated-universality, or a sense of connection with members of other racial groups. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to explore the degree to which the four multiracial identity statuses as defined in the M-HAPA theory differentially predicted self-reported self-esteem, depression, life satisfaction, and social functioning in a national sample of nonclinical multiracial adults.

Results indicated that as a group, the four M-HAPA statuses significantly predicted substantial, unique proportions of variance in participants’ reported self-esteem, depression, life satisfaction, and social functioning, over and above various demographic factors (i.e., age, annual income, education level, marital status, and current mental health treatment). However, only two of the four identity statuses, marginal and integrated-combinatory, were uniquely associated with the criterion variables. As predicted, the marginal status was associated with relatively poorer psychosocial functioning, whereas the integrated-combinatory was associated with relatively better psychosocial functioning. Moreover, as predicted, no unique relationship was found between singular and levels of depression. As a group, the multiracial identity statuses accounted for the greatest variance in social functioning (21%).

All results are tempered by the mediocre fit of the data to the M-HAPA model, as indicated by a confirmatory factor analysis and by the small proportion of the sample endorsing “some agreement” with the marginal and singular identity statuses.

The results are discussed with respect to theory, research, and practice. Suggestions for further study of this understudied population are provided.

Purchase the dissertation here.

Inside the Color Line: Reading Biracialism in Twentieth Century American Culture

State University of New York, Albany
2005
191 pages
Publication ID: AAT 3181801
ISBN: 9780542221538

Habiba Ibrahim, Assistant Professor of English
University of Washington

A Dissertation Submitted to the University at Albany, State University of New York in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (College of Arts & Sciences, Department of English)

This project is conceived as an exploration of myth and society with regard to racial ambiguity in twentieth century literature and film. It attempts to trace “mixed” racialism as it acts as an alibi for cultural phenomena including those surrounding the (truth and fiction of the) color line. Through an analysis of various moments in twentieth century American culture, this project seeks to demonstrate that racial mixedness has and continues to function as a sign under which the aporia of national self-definition finds expression

Table of Contents

• Introduction: The Mulatto/a and the Task of Representation
• Chapter One: Passing Confrontations with Black Masculinity in The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and Flight
• Chapter Two: Canary in a Coal Mine: Negotiating/Narrating Difference through Racial Mixedness in Caucasia and “Recitatif”
• Chapter Three: A Cross Between Reason and Feeling: Questions of Emergence and Textuality in The Intuitionist, Shadows and Cane
• Chapter Four: “The Thing Became Real”: Selfhood, the Image and Misrecognition in Quicksand and Mixing Nia
• Bibliograpy

Purchase the dissertation here.