Mixed Race Studies

Blaxican Identity: An Exploratory Study of Blacks/Chicanas/os in California

National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies Annual Conference
35th Annual Conference
2008-04-01
11 pages

Rebecca Romo
University of California, Santa Barbara

This paper explores the life experiences of Blaxicans, or multiracial individuals who are the products of unions that are composed of one biological (or birth) parent who is identified and designated as Mexicana/o or Chicana/o, and one parent who is identified and designated as African American or Black. Most research on racial intermarriage and multiracial offspring in the United States has concentrated on European American unions with African Americans or other people of color and their descendants. Research on “dual-minority unions” and their offspring is scant (Wallace 2001). The examination of how identity formation operates among multiracial offspring whose biological parents are non-white is limited and informs the basis of this investigation of Blaxican identity. In this introduction, I discuss the literature related to Blaxican identity, including: Black identity, Chicana/o identity, and dual-minority multiracial identity. The goal of this paper is to investigate how mixed-race Black and Chicana/o individuals racially identify and to examine the processes that influenced their decision of racial self-identification.

Read the entire paper here.

Thinking and living in, out, and beyond the box: Exploring Racial and Cultural Complexity in Identity among Adoptive Multiracial Families and Persons

Racial Identity and Cultural Factors in Treatment, Research, and Policy
The Ninth Annual Diversity Challenge
Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture
Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
2009-10-23 through 2009-10-24

Gina Miranda Samuels, Associate Professor
School of Social Service Administration
University of Chicago

Under the direction of Dr. Janet E. Helms, the Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture (ISPRC) sponsored its 9th annual Diversity Challenge at Boston College October 23-24, 2009. This year’s focus was the integration of principles of racial identity and cultural theories in treatment, research, education, and policy. The conference drew over 300 participants and hosted more than 80 different sessions allowing scholars, practitioners, educators, community activists and policy makers a forum to extend the dialogue to address some of the unanswered questions from very different perspectives.

Read Dr. Samuel’s presentation here.

Star-Light, Star-Bright, Star Damn Near White: Mixed-Race Superstars

The Journal of Popular Culture
Volume 40, Issue 2 (April 2007)
pages 217–237
DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5931.2007.00376.x

Sika Alaine Dagbovie, Professor of English
Florida Atlantic University

In an episode of the “Chris Rock Show,” comedian Chris Rock searches the streets of Harlem to find out what people think of Tiger Woods. When he asks three Asian storekeepers if they consider Woods Asian, one replies, “‘Not even this much,” pressing two of his fingers together to show no space. This comic scene and the jokes chat surround Wood’s self-proclaimed identity reveal a cultural contradiction that I explore in this essay, namely the simultaneous acceptance and rejection of blackness within a biracial discourse in American popular culture. Though Wood’s self-identification may not fit neatly into the black/white mixed-race identity explored in this project, he still falls into a black/white dichotomy prevalent in the United States. The Asian storekeepers agree with Rock’s tongue-in-cheek suggestion that Tiger Woods is as black as James Brown, opposing sentiments like “The dude’s more Asian than he is anything else” on an Asian-American college Internet magazine (“Wang and Woods”). Woods cannot escape blackness (a stereotypical fried-chicken-and-collard-green-eating blackness according to Fuzzy Zoeller), and yet he also represents a multicultural posterboy, one whose blackness pales next to his much-celebrated multi-otherness.

Through advertising, interviews, and publicity, biracial celebrities encode a distinct connection to blackness despite their projected (and sometimes preferred) self-identification. Drawing from Richard Dyer’s Stars I read biracial celebrities Halle Berry, Vin Diesel, and Mariah Carey by analyzing autobiographical representations, celebrity statuses, public reception, and the publicity surrounding each of the…

Read or purchase the article here.

A phenomenological study of the experience of biracial identity development in Black and White individuals

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
2007-04-23
101 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3312832

Niccole K. Brusa

Racial identity literature neglects biracial identity development. Given the tremendous increase in interracial partnerships and biracial children in the United States over the past three decades and the impact that racial identity has on fostering a sense of self and belonging, this is an important phenomenon to study.

In this qualitative phenomenological study, the process of biracial identity development was explored by interviewing six self-identified biracial first-generation offspring of one self-identified White biological parent and one self-identified Black biological parent. The semi-structured interview questions were organized around five main areas: memorable experiences regarding race, representation of and communication about race in the family and community, racial appearance, the participants’ beliefs about biracial identity development, and general feedback. Consistent with qualitative data procedures, these interviews were analyzed and coded through content analysis for the purpose of developing interpretive themes.

Fourteen themes emerged through the data analysis. External factors and situations such as inquires from other people brought about awareness of race. Participants also reported differences in how race was represented and addressed in their families and communities. Furthermore, some participants experienced racism and prejudice in their communities whereas other participants had positive experiences in their communities. All participants perceived themselves as looking biracial, yet all participants were also perceived by others as racially ambiguous. Other people also associated negative personality characteristics with the participants’ physical appearance. For the women participants, their hair was a defining feature for them when it came to others’ assumptions about their race. In general, all the participants were satisfied with their racial appearance, yet a common realm in which participant’s felt that their biracial appearance became a problem was during their dating experiences.

Participants attributed their biracial identity development to their backgrounds and lack of pressure to define themselves exclusively as one race. Additionally, participants believed that their identity development makes them place more emphasis on others’ personality characteristics rather than other’s race, more open-minded to multiple viewpoints, and more comfortable in multiple environments. Additional feedback from the participants included the theme of external factors such as other people’s attitudes creating challenges in biracial identity development rather than internal conflicts. In addition, implementing an accurate racial classification system was also addressed. This study supports this criticism of much of the literature on biracial identity development because the participants’ reported many positive experiences and personality traits resulting from their biracial identity.

Purchase the dissertation here.

Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference

DePaul University, Lincoln Park Campus
DePaul University Student Center
2250 N. Sheffield
Chicago, Illinois USA 60614
2010-11-05 through 2010-11-06

Sponsored by DePaul University Asian American Studies and Latin American and Latino Studies and co-sponsored by the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University and the MAVIN Foundation.

“Emerging Paradigms in Critical Mixed Race Studies,” the first annual Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference, will be held at DePaul University in Chicago on November 5-6, 2010.

The CMRS conference brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines nationwide. Recognizing that the diverse disciplines that have nurtured Mixed Race Studies have reached a watershed moment, the 2010 CMRS conference is devoted to the general theme “Emerging Paradigms in Critical Mixed Race Studies.”

Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS) is 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.

Fanshen Cox, Tiffany Jones, and myself will participate in a Greg Carter (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) moderated round-table discussion titled “Exploring the Mixed Experience in New Media” on 2010-11-05 from 10:15 to 12:15 CDT at the conference.

View the finalized schedule here.

Organizers:

Wei Ming Dariotis, Assistant Professor Asian American Studies
San Francisco State University, IPride Board
dariotis@sfsu.edu

Camilla Fojas, Associate Professor and Chair
Latin American and Latino Studies
DePaul University

Laura Kina, Associate Professor Art, Media and Design and Director Asian American Studies
DePaul University

Comparing biracials and monoracials: Psychological well-being and attitudes toward multiracial people

The Ohio State University
2008
108 pages
Publication ID: AAT 3332205

Peter J. Adams

A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University

The study of biracial individuals and their unique experience has been limited. As biracial individuals increase in number, understanding their experiences will become more important to psychologists and mental health professionals.

The purpose of the study was to compare biracial individuals and monoracial individuals on measures of psychological well being, ethnic identity, and attitudes towards biracial people. The present study examined one general research question and three hypotheses: General Research Question & Hypotheses . (1) Will scores on measures of ethnic identity, individual self-esteem, collective self-esteem, subjective well being, and attitudes toward biracial children significantly differ between biracial and monoracial groups? (2) Bracey, Bamara, and Umana-Taylor’s (2004) results on self-esteem and ethnic identity will be replicated in this study on adults. (3) When compared to monoracial individuals, biracial individuals will have significantly more positive attitudes towards biracials (4) A positive relationship exists between psychological well being and attitudes towards biracials for biracial individuals.

Participants completed a web-based survey from an undisclosed location of their choosing. Participants were solicited from various multicultural and professional psychology list serves and through Ohio State University’s Research Experience Program.

Results indicated that biracial adults appear to be as psychologically well adjusted as their monoracial counterparts. Results even suggested that biracial adults have more realized ethnic identities than their monoracial counterparts. Bracey et al.’s (2004) results were replicated in the present study (biracials were found to be as psychologically well adjusted as monoracials). Also, a positive relationship was found between biracial individuals’ psychological well being and their attitudes towards multiracial children. Support for the second hypothesis was not found – biracial individuals in the study did not have more positive attitudes toward biracials than their monoracial counterparts.

Implications of the findings along with the limitations of the study are discussed. Recommendations of future research are also given.

Purchase the dissertation here.

Color Struck: Essays on Race and Ethnicity in Global Perspective

University Press of America
April 2010
516 pages
Paper ISBN: 0-7618-5064-3 / 978-0-7618-5064-9
Electronic ISBN: 0-7618-5092-9 / 978-0-7618-5092-2

Edited by

Julius O. Adekunle, Professor of History
Monmouth University, West Long Branch, New Jersey

Hettie V. Williams, Lecturer, African American History
Department of History and Anthropology
Monmouth University, West Long Branch, New Jersey

Color Struck: Essays of Race and Ethnicity in Global Perspective is a compilation of expositions on race and ethnicity, written from multiple disciplinary approaches including history, sociology, women’s studies, and anthropology. This book is organized around a topical, chronological framework and is divided into three sections, beginning with the earliest times to the contemporary world. The term “race” has nearly become synonymous with the word “ethnicity,” given the most recent findings in the study of human genetics that have led to the mapping of human DNA. Color Struck attempts to answer questions and provide scholarly insight into issues related to race and ethnicity.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction

Part 1: The First Complex Societies to Modern Times

1. Race, Science, and Human Origins in Africa
Julius O. Adekunle

2. Race and the Rise of the Swahili Culture
Julius O. Adekunle

3. ‘Caste’-[ing] Gender: Caste and Patriarchy in Ancient Hindu Jurisprudence
Indira Jalli

4. Comparative Race and Slavery in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity: Texts, Practices, and Current Implications
Magid Shihade

5. The Dark Craven Jew: Race and Religion in Medieval Europe
James M. Thomas

6. Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Racial Slavery in the New World
Kwaku Osei Tutu

7. The Yellow Lady: Mulatto Women in the Suriname Plantocracy
Hilde Neus

Part 2: Race and Mixed Race in the Americas

8. Critical Mixed Race Studies: New Approaches to Resistance and Social Justice
Andrew Jolivétte

9. Militant Multiraciality: Rejecting Race and Rejecting the Conveniences of Complicity
Rainier Spencer

10. Whiteness Reconstructed: Multiracial Identity as a Category of “New White”
Kerry Ann Rockquemore and David L. Brunsma

11. Conversations in Black and White: The Limitations of Binary Thinking About Race in America
Johanna E. Foster

12. The Necessity of a Multiracial Category in a Race-Conscious Society
Francis Wardle

13. Mixed Race Terminologies in the Americas: Globalizing the Creole in the Twenty First Century
DeMond S. Miller, Jason D. Rivera, and Joel C. Telin

14. Examining the Regional and Multigenerational Context of Creole and American Indian Identity
Andrew Jolivétte

15. Race, Class, and Power: The Politics of Multiraciality in Brazil
G. Reginald Daniel and Gary L. Haddow

16. All Mixed Up: A New Racial Commonsense in Global Perspective
G. Reginald Daniel and Gary L. Haddow

Part 3: Race, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Contemporary Societies

17. Black No More: African Americans and the ‘New’ Race Science
Hettie V. Williams

18. Contesting Identities of Color: African Female Immigrants in the Americas
Philomina Okeke-Ihejirika

19. Burdened Intersections: Black Women and Race, Gender, and Class
Marsha J. Tyson Darling

20. Ethnic Conflicts in the Middle East: A Comparative Analysis of Communal Violence within the Matrix of the Colonial Legacy, Globalization, and Global Stability
Magid Shihade

21. Ethnic Identity in China: The Politics of Cultural Difference
Dru C. Gladney

22. Shangri-la has Forsaken Us: China’s Ethnic Minorities, Identity, and Government Repression
Reza Hasmath

23. The Russian/Chechen Conflict and It’s Consequences
Mariana Tepfenhart

Contributors
Index

Chameleon Changes: An Exploration of Racial Identity Themes of Multiracial People

Journal of Counseling Psychology
Volume 52, Number 4 (October 2005)
pages 507-516
DOI: 10.1037/0022-0167.52.4.507

Marie L. Miville
Teachers College, Columbia University

Madonna G. Constantine
Teachers College, Columbia University

Matthew F. Baysden
Oklahoma State University

Gloria So-Lloyd
Oklahoma State University

The current study explored essential themes of racial identity development among 10 self-identified multiracial adults from a variety of racial backgrounds. Participants were interviewed using a semistructured protocol, and the interviews were recorded, transcribed, and then coded for themes by research team members. Four primary themes were identified: encounters with racism, reference group orientation, the “chameleon” experience, and the importance of social context in identity development. A number of subthemes also were identified. Although several of the themes mirrored those associated with contemporary biracial and multiracial identity development models, new themes centering on the adoption of multiple self-labels reflecting both monoracial and multiracial backgrounds emerged as well. Implications of the findings for future research and practice are identified.

Read the entire article here.

Multiracial-heritage awareness and personal affiliation: Development and validation of a new measure to assess identity in people of mixed race descent

Fordham University
2003-03-05
222 pages
Publication ID: AAT 3098135

SooJean Choi-Misailidis

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Psychology at Fordham University

The Multiracial-Heritage Awareness and Personal Affiliation (M-HAPA) Theory was proposed to account for mixed race identity. M-HAPA Theory suggests that mixed race identity could be conceptualized by three identity types: Marginal Identity Status, in which the individual does not affiliate with any of the racial groups in their heritage; Singular Identity Status, in which an individual affiliates solely with one racial group in their heritage; and Integrated Identity Status, in which the mixed race individual integrates many racial groups into their identity.

A self-report measure (M-HAPAs), based on the M-HAPA Theory, was devised and administered to a diverse group of 364 multiracial individuals. Participants were recruited through three major universities in Hawaii. Psychometric properties of the measure were evaluated; the new instrument demonstrated good internal consistency reliability. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that though both 3- and 4-factor models were interpretable, the extraction of the 4-factor model was indicated. Further examination of the results of the exploratory factor analysis revealed that Integrated Identity Status was composed of two sub-types: the Combinatory Factor, in which the mixed race individual integrates their affiliations with all of the racial groups in their heritage into their identity; and the Universality Factor, in which the individual identifies with the commonalities among all racial groups.

Construct validity was evaluated by comparing the participants’ responses on the M-HAPAs to measures of ethnic identity, ego identity, self-esteem and social desirability. The findings were, in general, consistent with hypotheses drawn from the preponderance of literature that suggested relationships between these variables. The results of the current study lend support to the validity of the proposed Multiracial-Heritage Awareness and Personal Affiliation Theory.

Purchase the dissertation here.

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.