Mixed Race Studies

“What are you?” Biracial Perceptions of Persistent Identity Questions when Bodily Appearances signify Race

Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association
Sheraton New York
New York, New York
2005-05-26 through 2005-05-30
23 pages

Erica Butcher
Ohio State University

This qualitative study examines the perceptions of Biracial females persistently questioned about their identity when bodily appearance suggests race. The participants frequently approached by random strangers and questioned about their race, articulate how they interpret identity questions. The “What are you?” phenomenon that they routinely experience, is understudied in the fields of interpersonal communication, sociology and psychology. Social Legitimacy is considered in relation to acceptance of racial identities when bodily appearance is not consistent with expectations. The participants experiences suggest that many people still rely on appearance as a signifier of race despite the growing multiracial population in the U.S. This study raises questions for future research that should consider how changing demographics in the U.S. might influence perceptions of bodily appearance in conjuncture with the construct of race.

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Black Is, Black Ain’t: Biracials, Middle-Class Blacks, and the Meaning of “The Black Community”

Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting
Hilton San Francisco
San Francisco, California
2009-08-09
46 pages

Cherise A. Harris, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Connecticut College

Nikki Khanna Sherwin, Assistant Professor of Sociology
University of Vermont

Various scholars have claimed that forging a sense of group cohesion amongst Black Americans is a necessary step toward Black liberation. Our research questions the extent to which group cohesion is possible given the increasing diversity of Black America, particularly its socioeconomic and cultural diversity. In in-depth interviews with 33 middle-class Blacks and 40 Black-White biracials, we explore the variation in the Black experience and the challenges this presents for group cohesion. Specifically, we examine: 1) the similarities and differences in the experiences of both groups, 2) their experiences with rejection and marginality by other Blacks, 3) how they negotiate this rejection, and 4) the extent to which all of the above are shaped by culturally constructed ideas of Blackness. As is consistent with other studies, we find that ideas about “authentic” Blackness have lead to a splintering of the Black community along class and racial-cultural lines. However, we also find evidence of greater tolerance for the community’s racial diversity than its class diversity. Nevertheless, the data presented here suggest that the increasing heterogeneity of Black America poses significant challenges to group cohesion and thus the ability to mobilize for the sake of racial advancement.

…For Black-White biracials and middle-class Blacks, living between the prescribed cultural and class lines of Black America yield life experiences that differ significantly from what is considered the norm. As a result of their class status, Black middle-class Americans must often negotiate life in both Black and White spaces and frequently experience both spatial and philosophical differences from their Black working- and lower-class counterparts. Similarly, Black-White biracials must negotiate both of their racial heritages and manage their identities in both public and private ways. The experiences of these individuals indicate that living between the lines of socially constructed notions of Blackness carries a number of social and psychological implications. These realities raise questions about the degree to which both groups feel attached to other Blacks as well as the degree to which other Blacks feel attached to them, and thus the degree to which they perceive themselves and other Blacks as part of the fictive Black family, as Stubblefield proposes…

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Social Comparisons, Social Networks, and Racial Identity: The Case of Black-White Biracial Americans

Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting
Hilton San Francisco
San Francisco, California
2009-08-08
47 pages

Nikki Khanna Sherwin, Assistant Professor of Sociology
University of Vermont

Cathryn Johnson, Professor of Sociology and Director of Graduate Studies
Emory University

A growing body of work examining biracial identity points to the importance of social networks in shaping racial identity, yet few studies explore how social networks shape identity. Adding to previous work, we discover a key process mediating between social networks and racial identity – social comparisons (Festinger 1954). Drawing on interview data with 40 black-white biracial Americans, we find that they compare themselves to others on several dimensions to shape their racial identities, and that they invoke both “realistic” comparisons (comparisons with real others) and “constructive” comparisons (comparisons with imagined others). We argue that the types of comparisons they use (whether “realistic” or “constructive”) are largely influenced by the racial composition of their networks and have implications for their racial identities. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical implications of these findings and offer two propositions regarding the relationships between social networks, social comparisons, and identity more generally.

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Biracial Identity Theory and Research Juxtaposed with Narrative Accounts of a Biracial Individual

Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal
Volume 27, Number 5 (October 2010)
pages 355-364
DOI: 10.1007/s10560-010-0209-6

Simon Nuttgens, Professor of Psychology
Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada

With the increase in mixed-racial parentage in North America comes increased scholarly activity intended to bring greater understanding to the biracial experience. Such efforts, while undoubtedly informative and helpful, fall short when set aside the actual narrative accounts of a biracial individual’s life experience. In this paper I first explore the typical, negative, portrayal of the biracial experience found within social scientific literature, and then compare this with the narrative accounts of a biracial individual. Through this exercise it is shown that factors such as the specific racial parentage and socio-cultural context can have a positive effect on what usually is viewed as a problematic psychosocial experience.

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Biracial Japanese American identity: An evolving process.

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology
Volume 6, Number 2, (May 2000)
pages 115-133
DOI: 10.1037/1099-9809.6.2.115

J. Fuji Collins, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Health & Wellness – Vice Chancellor
University of California, Merced

Explored the complexity of biracial identity development in Japanese Americans, focusing on how Japanese Americans perceive themselves in relation to individuals, groups, and their environment. 15 semistructured interviews with 8 men and 7 women (ages 20–40 yrs), each with 1 Japanese parent and 1 non-Asian parent were conducted. Identity development among participants varied. It was a long-term process involving changes in the individual–environment relationship, which differed in the way individual participants influenced or selected from environmental opportunities, even creating or recreating some aspects. Within a given setting, as youths, the potential for social experiences were relatively fixed and changed only gradually. As adults, there were opportunities for participants to select their own social and geographic settings, providing opportunity for change. In their new environments, participants were exposed to new contacts and role models, acquired new behavioral repertoire, and underwent role transitions. Depending on this, new and different aspects of biracial identity developed. Participants indicated it was an emotional and conflictual process to positive assertion of identity. Before reaching this, all of the participants experienced periods of confusion.

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Thinking outside the (black) box: Measuring black and multiracial identification on surveys

Social Science Research
Volume 36, Issue 3, September 2007
Pages 921-944
DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2006.07.001 

Mary E. Campbell, Associate Professor of Sociology
University of Iowa

To better understand the diversity of the multiracial population, compare multiracial data to single-race data, and evaluate the rigidity of racial boundaries, we must understand the single-race identification choices of multiracial respondents. Many studies assume that this pattern will be straightforward for multiracial respondents who choose a part-black identification, with virtually all choosing a “black” single-race identification. I investigate whether this assumption is justified by available survey data. Using the May 1995 Current Population Survey’s Race and Ethnicity Supplement, I explore the single-race identifications of individuals who have chosen a part-black multiracial label on a survey. I find that single-race identification choices on forced-choice questions vary considerably across family heritage groups, with those who choose a “black-American Indian” identity extremely likely to select a black single-race identity, while other groups like “black-whites” have substantial variation in single-race identifications. Identification patterns vary significantly by age, family context and survey characteristics.

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Understanding Identity Differences among Biracial Siblings

American Sociological Association
Annual Meeting 2010
Regular Session: Multi-Racial Classification/Identity
Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Monday, 2010-08-16, 16:30-18:10 EDT (Local Time)

Session Organizer: Rebecca C. King-O’Riain, Senior Lecturer of Sociology, National University of Ireland-Maynooth 
Presider: Carolyn A. Liebler, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Minnesota

Melissa R. Herman, Assistant Professor, Sociology
Dartmouth University

This paper examines identity differences among a sample of 256 biracial siblings. We find that gender, age, and ancestry have modest relationships with identity, but that phenotype, racial context, language use, and social psychological factors have stronger relationships.

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Fluid or Fixed: Which is Better? Multiracial Identity Consistency and Emotional Well-Being in Adolescence

American Sociological Association
Annual Meeting 2010
Regular Session: Multi-Racial Classification/Identity
Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Monday, 2010-08-16, 16:30-18:10 EDT (Local Time)

Session Organizer: Rebecca C. King-O’Riain, Senior Lecturer of Sociology
National University of Ireland-Maynooth 

Presider: Carolyn A. Liebler, Assistant Professor of Sociology
University of Minnesota

Ruth H. Burke
University of Pennsylvania

Rory Kramer
University of Pennsylvania

Camille Zubrinsky Charles, Professor of Sociology and the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor in the Social Sciences; Director, The Center for Africana Studies
University of Pennsylvania

Traditional theories of multiracial identity propose that multiracial individuals go through a period of “crisis” in which their racial and ethnic identity is fluid and inconsistent. These theories argue that such fluidity leads to emotional stress. Recent research has shown that this fluidity is more related to socioeconomic status and background and that racial consistency is not a necessary or ideal goal for multiracial individuals. At the same time, others have shown how to measure consistency of identity in survey research such as Add Health but have not yet studied whether or not consistency is related to negative emotional outcomes. In this paper, we expand those measures to include Hispanic ethnic identity in our measure of consistency and test whether or not inconsistency of racial and/or ethnic identity is related to depression. We find that the older, more linear theories of multiraciality are not correct and that fluid identities are not significantly related to higher scores on a standard measure of depression. The paper concludes by discussing how these findings highlight the importance of producing new theories of racial identity that consider fluidity and multidimensionality of racial identity as a natural and neutral part of an individual’s identity.

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Robert Stafford of Cumberland Island: Growth of a Planter

University of Georgia Press
1995
376 pages
Illustrated
Trim size: 6 x 9
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8203-1738-0

Mary R. Bullard

Society, politics, agriculture, and mixed-race unions in a coastal Georgia planter community

Robert Stafford of Cumberland Island offers a rare glimpse into the life and times of a nineteenth-century planter on one of Georgia’s Sea Islands. Born poor, Robert Stafford (1790-1877) became the leading planter on his native Cumberland Island. Specializing in the highly valued long staple variety of cotton, he claimed among his assets more than 8,000 acres and 350 slaves.

Mary R. Bullard recounts Stafford’s life in the context of how events from the Federalist period to the Civil War to Reconstruction affected Sea Island planters. As she discusses Stafford’s associations with other planters, his business dealings (which included banking and railroad investments), and the day-to-day operation of his plantation, Bullard also imparts a wealth of information about cotton farming methods, plantation life and material culture, and the geography and natural history of Cumberland Island.

Stafford’s career was fairly typical for his time and place; his personal life was not. He never married, but fathered six children by Elizabeth Bernardey, a mulatto slave nurse. Bullard’s discussion of Stafford’s decision to move his family to Groton, Connecticut—and freedom—before the Civil War illuminates the complex interplay between southern notions of personal honor, the staunch independent-mindedness of Sea Island planters, and the practice and theory of racial separation.

In her afterword to the Brown Thrasher edition, Bullard presents recently uncovered information about a second extralegal family of Robert Stafford as well as additional information about Elizabeth Bernardey’s children and the trust funds Stafford provided for them.

Mixed-race women’s experiences cannot be separated from the history of race and gender politics and contemporary racial debates. The history of hybridity is one in which bodies of mixed-race people have been observed, theorized about, and used as evidence in racial power debates, but their individual experiences are often disregarded. Women of mixed heritage, mixed white and “of color,” are caught in these politically charged, race-based controversies. Given general heteronormative assumptions, as women, and thus as people who can potentially bear offspring and who are expected to assume primary responsibility for raising children in a patriarchal culture, mixed-race women occupy a particularly charged social position. No matter what path a mixed-race woman chooses, she can be perceived as a traitor to both whites and people of color—a traitor to either side of her family, a traitor to equity, a traitor to cultural preservation, and a traitor to cultural purity.

Silvia Cristina Bettez. “Mixed-Race Women and Epistemologies of Belonging,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. 2010, Volume 31, Number 1, pages 142-165.