{"id":38979,"date":"2015-01-02T21:16:39","date_gmt":"2015-01-02T21:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=38979"},"modified":"2017-02-05T20:38:37","modified_gmt":"2017-02-05T20:38:37","slug":"dr-rebecca-king-oriain-gives-opening-keynote-address","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=38979","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Rebecca King O’Riain gives opening keynote address"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Rebecca King O’Riain gives opening keynote address<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Maynooth University<\/a>
\nMaynooth University Department of Sociology<\/a>
\nMaynooth, County Kildare, Ireland
\n2014-11-27<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr. Rebecca King-O’Riain<\/a> gave the opening keynote address on “mixed race, transconnectivity and the global imagination” at the critical mixed race studies conference<\/a> on 13 November, 2014 at DePaul, University on Chicago, USA.<\/p>\n

Her talk examined two key questions – ‘Is there such a thing as Global Mixed Race? If so, what is it, where did it come from and is it a good thing?’. Below is the abstract for her talk.<\/p>\n

If race gains meaning through the process of racialization, this meaning only makes sense within very specific local contexts entwined with complex local histories, which in turn shape local political, economic and social arrangements. Mixed-race studies started primarily in the United States and has been deeply shaped by the politics of race in that context, with strong racial boundaries and the legacy of the \u2018one drop rule\u2019. How then do we make sense of mixed race as a global phenomenon across the globe without losing the specificity of local context from which it derives its meaning?<\/p>\n

Drawing on our recent edited volume Global Mixed Race<\/em><\/a>, I use empirical research from Kazakhstan, Okinawa, Zambia, Trinidad and Tobago, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico, as well as the UK, Germany, and Canada, to ask what happens when we take mixed race on the road? Because as Mahtani<\/a> (2014) keenly observes, it is not just about asking \u2018what are you?\u2019 but also about asking \u2018where (in the world) are you?\u2019…<\/p>\n