{"id":10505,"date":"2010-12-04T21:40:30","date_gmt":"2010-12-04T21:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=10505"},"modified":"2010-12-04T21:43:05","modified_gmt":"2010-12-04T21:43:05","slug":"between-boxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=10505","title":{"rendered":"Between boxes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between boxes<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

the Burr
\nKent State University
\nFall 2005
\npages 50-55<\/p>\n

Story by Jessica Rothschuh
\n<\/strong>Photo illustration by Clarissa Westmeyer
\n<\/strong>Photos by Lauren Arendt<\/strong><\/p>\n

For some multiracial students, college becomes a time to discover their heritages and shape their identities<\/em><\/p>\n

HER DARK HAIR IS PULLED BACK IN BRAIDS, LEAVING HER FACE OPEN, TWO large, dark eyes peering out from long eyelashes. Her skin is a warm almond color. Her ethnicity is hard to put a finger on. She could pass as Hispanic or Native American.<\/p>\n

Jalayna Nadal, freshman Latin American studies major from Edinboro, Pa., is both. Her father is black and Cherokee<\/a>, and her mother is Puerto Rican<\/a> and white.<\/p>\n

Developing her multicultural identity has been a lifelong process for Nadal, and college is a time to further explore her multiple heritages, shaping her cultural identity as she learns more about herself and her roots.<\/p>\n

For biracial and multiracial students like Nadal, college may prove both exciting and difficult. Mixed-race students in particular can experience an intense desire to discover their heritages and create their racial identities, but they also can feel pressure to define themselves. For the first time, students are searching for identities outside the environment in which they were raised, without the constant support of family…<\/p>\n

…College is another step away from his culture, Isaacs says. \u201cBecause I\u2019m not around my father as much, I don\u2019t assert my Hawaiian identity as much.\u201d Here, he hasn\u2019t found a place he really fits in, and when he returns to Hawaii<\/a>, it is hard to feel he still belongs there, either. \u201cYou\u2019re just stuck in limbo,\u201d Isaacs says. \u201cYou have to be kind of like a cultural chameleon<\/a> in a sense.\u201d Isaacs says he adapts his identity to those around him, and it is easy for him to blend in because he looks white.<\/p>\n

For some biracial students, however, being a chameleon is hard. \u201cThe problem that they face saying, \u2018I am biracial,\u2019 is other people saying, \u2018No, you\u2019ve got to choose,\u2019 \u201d says Angela Neal-Barnett<\/a>, associate professor and research psychologist. \u201cWith biracial adolescents, you get two things happening: They choose to identify with one race or they choose to develop a biracial identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more than five years, Neal-Barnett has been studying the phenomenon of \u201cwhite acting\u201d in minority adolescents. Through her research, she has talked with biracial youth, most of whom are primarily black and white. \u201cOne\u2019s skin color can run the gamut, and one\u2019s hair color and texture can run the gamut. You have students who look white, but their racial identity is black or biracial,\u201d she says. In fact, the biracial adolescents Neal-Barnett has spoken with almost always choose to identify as black or biracial. Very few identify as white…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Between boxes the Burr Kent State University Fall 2005 pages 50-55 Story by Jessica Rothschuh Photo illustration by Clarissa Westmeyer Photos by Lauren Arendt For some multiracial students, college becomes a time to discover their heritages and shape their identities HER DARK HAIR IS PULLED BACK IN BRAIDS, LEAVING HER FACE OPEN, TWO large, dark […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,2895,8,20],"tags":[4626,4621,4623,4625,4622,4624],"class_list":["post-10505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-campus-life","category-media-archive","category-usa","tag-angela-neal-barnett","tag-clarissa-westmeyer","tag-jessica-rothschuh","tag-kent-state-university","tag-lauren-arendt","tag-the-burr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}