Mixed Race Studies

Yaba Blay | One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race

Author Events
2021-03-04

Host:

Imani Perry, Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies; Faculty Associate in the Program in Law and Public Affairs and Gender and Sexuality Studies
Princeton University

Referred to by Michael Eric Dyson as “one of the most brilliant and committed critics and advocates writing and thinking and working on behalf of Black people today,” Dr. Yaba Blay is a scholar, activist, and cultural consultant. Focusing on Black women and girls through topics like personal identity and body image, she has launched a number of viral media campaigns, produced the CNN documentary Who is Black in America?, and is an internationally renowned public speaker. Her work has appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Essence, and EBONY, and she has appeared on CNN, BET, and NPR, among other media outlets. In One Drop, Blay questions conventional perceptions of Blackness in order to create and understand a more diverse worldwide community.

Watch the interview here.

Multiracial Experiences in Higher Education: Contesting Knowledge, Honoring Voice, and Innovating Practice

Stylus Publishing
2021-02-17
Paperback ISBN: 9781642670691
E-Book (ePub) ISBN: 9781642670714
Hardback ISBN: 9781642670684
Lib E-Book ISBN: 9781642670707

Edited by:

Marc P. Johnston-Guerrero, Associate Professor
Department of Educational Studies
Ohio State University

Charmaine L. Wijeyesinghe, Ed.D., Consultant and Author in Organizational Development and Social Justice Education

Foreword by:

G. Reginald Daniel, Professor of Sociology
University of California, Santa Barbara

Recipient of the 2021 Innovation Award of The Multiracial Network (MRN)

In the last Census, over 9 million people – nearly 3% of the population – identified themselves as of two or more races. The proportion of college students who identify as Multiracial is somewhat higher, and growing. Although increasing at a slightly slower rate, Multiracial faculty and staff are also teaching and working on campuses in greater numbers. Together, Multiracial people from diverse backgrounds and in various roles are influencing college and university culture, practices, and climate.

This book centers the experiences of Multiracial people, those individuals claiming heritage and membership in two or more (mono)racial groups and/or identifies with a Multiracial term. These terms include the broader biracial, multiethnic, and mixed, or more specific terms like Blasian and Mexipino.

In addressing the recurring experiences of inclusion, exclusion, affirmation, and challenges that they encounter, the contributors identify the multiple sites in higher education that affect personal perceptions of self, belonging, rejection, and resilience; describe strategies they utilized to support themselves or other Multiracial people at their institutions; and to advocate for greater awareness of Multiracial issues and a commitment to institutional change.

In covering an array of Multiracial experiences, the book brings together a range of voices, social identities (including race), ages, perspectives, and approaches. The chapter authors present a multiplicity of views because, as the book exemplifies, multiracial people are not a monolithic group, nor are their issues and needs universal to all.

The book opens by outlining the literature and theoretical frameworks that provide context and foundations for the chapters that follow. It then presents a range of first person narratives – reflecting the experiences of students, faculty, and staff – that highlight navigating to and through higher education from diverse standpoints and positionalities. The final section offers multiple strategies and applied methods that can be used to enhance Multiracial inclusion through research, curriculum, and practice. The editors conclude with recommendations for future scholarship and practice.

This book invites Multiracial readers, their allies, and those people who interact with and influence the daily lives of Multiracial people to explore issues of identity and self-care, build coalitions on campus, and advocate for change. For administrators, student affairs personnel, and anyone concerned with diversity on campus, it opens a window on a growing population with whom they may be unfamiliar, mis-categorize, or overlook, and on the need to change systems and structures to address their full inclusion and unveil their full impact.

Table of Contents

• Foreword —G. Reginald Daniel
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part One: Framing Multiracial Experiences in Higher Education
  • 1) Insights on Multiracial Knowledge, Voices, and Practices: Lessons From Our Lives and Work—Charmaine L. Wijeyesinghe and Marc P. Johnston-Guerrero
  • 2) Multiracial Identity on Campus: Identities and Experiences of Multiracial People in Higher Education—Kristen A. Renn
  • 3) The Naming and Framing of Identity: Reflecting on Core Concepts Through the Experiences of Multiracial People—Charmaine L. Wijeyesinghe
  • 4) Monoracism: Identifying and Addressing Structural Oppression of Multiracial People in Higher Education—Jessica C. Harris, Marc P. Johnston-Guerrero, and Maxwell Pereyra
• Part Two: Multiracial Narratives Across the Higher Education Landscape
  • 5) Back to Black—Nick Davis
  • 6) On the Path to Multiracial Consciousness: Reflections on My Scholar-Practitioner Journey in Higher Education—Victoria K. Malaney Brown
  • 7) Being Mexipina in Higher Education—Rebecca Cepeda
  • 8) Remembering to Resist Racist Colonial Forgetting on Campus—e alexander
  • 9) Existing In-Between: Embodying the Synergy of My Ancestors—Naliyah Kaya
  • 10) Reflections of a Creole, Indigenous, Afro-Latin Scholar: From Community to the Classroom—Andrew Jolivétte
• Part Three: Strategies and Tools for Enhancing Multiracial Inclusion
  • 11) Contextualizing Multiraciality in Campus Climate: Key Considerations for Transformative Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—Chelsea Guillermo-Wann and Marc P. Johnston-Guerrero
  • 12) Building Multiracial Aikido: A Student Social Justice Retreat—Charlene C. Martinez and Stephanie N. Shippen
  • 13) Mixed and Multiracial Student Organizations on Campus: The Necessity of Weaving Together Art and Critique—Orkideh Mohajeri and Heather C. Lou
  • 14) Critical Mixed Race Studies: Rooted in Love and Fire—Nicole Leopardo, Kira Donnell, and Wei Ming Dariotis
• Part Four: Future Directions
  • 15) Intergenerational Reflections and Future Directions—Marc P. Johnston-Guerrero, Charmaine L. Wijeyesinghe, and Lisa Combs
• Editors and Contributors
• Index

Meet The Quebec Dads Making Beautiful Black And Mixed-Race Dolls

The Huffington Post
2021-02-10

Amélie Hubert-Rouleau

A little girl with her Ymma doll. INSTAGRAM/YMMA.WORLD

“We realized that the Black dolls were missing.”

Ymma’s website prominently features a Nelson Mandela quote: “It is in your hands to make a better world for all who live in it.”

Gaëtan Etoga and Yannick Nguepdjop take that literally. The two Quebec dads founded the company, which makes Black and mixed-race dolls, to inspire children and expose them to difference…

Read the entire article here.

The Cultural Coach: Being biracial should be a bridge, not a wall

The Philadelphia Daily Sun
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2020-12-31

Linda S. Wallace

Dear Cultural Coach:

I am one of four biracial children in my family. My grandfather and I were doing an essay on the state of Black youths in America. I brought the question to my grandfather, “Where do I fit in?” My grandfather’s reaction was, “What do you mean?” I explained that I am neither Black nor white. Then he asked me how I felt, and I said, “At school, for example, when I hang out with the Blacks, then the Black girls see me as a Black girl. But when I hang out with the white girls, some Black girls see me as a white girl.” In my family on my mom’s side, my grandfather does not claim me.”

In between two worlds

Dear In Between:

You belong to the cultural communities of both your mother and your father.

It is unfortunate that some of your relatives won’t claim you because you are biracial. Please don’t let their beliefs define you. Don’t ever give anyone the power to change the way you feel about yourself.

Every so often in life, you will cross paths with individuals who are prejudiced or just mean. It is important to learn how to repel these statements so that you can hold on to self-confidence and pride…

Read the entire article here.

Raising Multiracial Children, Part 2: Anti-Blackness in Multiracial Families

EmbraceRace
2020-07-24

Hosted By:

Andrew Grant-Thomas, Co-Founder
Melissa Giraud, Co-Founder

Guest Speakers:

Dr. Victoria K. Malaney Brown, Director of Academic Integrity
Columbia University, New York, New York

Dr. Marcella Runell Hall, Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students
Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts

Dr. Kelly Faye Jackson, Associate Professor of Social Work
Arizona State University

In Part 2 of this conversation about raising multiracial kids, our guests – Drs. Victoria Malaney Brown, Marcella Runell Hall and Kelly Faye Jackson – return to discuss anti-Blackness and how anti-Black messaging shows up in multiracial families (including non-Black families). Referencing recent examples from social media, our guests breakdown three common myths that perpetuate anti-Blackness within multiracial families, and describe how these myths negatively impact the identity development of multiracial Black children specifically. We also talk about concrete steps that parents and caregivers can take now to actively reject White supremacy and anti-Blackness and build resilience as a multiracial family.

Be sure to check out the previous conversation in this pair, Raising Multiracial Children, Part 1: Examining Multiracial Identity.

Watch the video and read the transcript here.

Raising Multiracial Children, Part 1: Examining Multiracial Identity

EmbraceRace
2020-07-24

Hosted By:

Andrew Grant-Thomas, Co-Founder
Melissa Giraud, Co-Founder

Guest Speakers:

Dr. Victoria K. Malaney Brown, Director of Academic Integrity
Columbia University, New York, New York

Dr. Marcella Runell Hall, Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students
Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts

Dr. Kelly Faye Jackson, Associate Professor of Social Work
Arizona State University

Roughly one in seven U.S. infants (14%) are multiracial or multiethnic (Pew, 2017), but what does it mean to be multiracial? It’s complicated!

In Part 1 in this conversation about raising multiracial kids we speak with our guests – Drs. Victoria Malaney Brown, Marcella Runell Hall and Kelly Faye Jackson – about some of the complexities of identifying with more than one race, and about the pivotal role families play in shaping how multiracial children come to understand themselves and the world around them. This dynamic is especially complex in this historical moment as the United States comes to terms with its own White supremacist roots.

Our guests describe the challenges and strengths of identifying with more than one racial group, highlighting examples from recent research, and draw from their own personal experiences as multiracial individuals and parents of multiracial children. As always we end with your questions and comments.

Watch the video and read the transcript here.

Biracial Families: Crossing Boundaries, Blending Cultures, and Challenging Racial Ideologies

Springer International Publishing
2019
260 pages
9 illustrations in colour
Hardcover ISBN 978-3-319-96159-0
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-96159-0
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-96160-6

Edited by:

Roudi Nazarinia Roy, Associate Professor and Child Development and Family Studies Area Coordinator
California State University, Long Beach

Alethea Rollins, Instructor, Child and Family Development
University of Central Missouri

• Provides a lifespan overview of the diverse experiences of biracial families
• Includes research on transracial and international adoption
• Offers historical background on race in America
• Highlights areas for future research

This interdisciplinary volume surveys the diverse experiences of biracial families, both across and outside the black/white binary. The book examines the deep-rooted social contexts that inform the lifespan of interracial families, from dating and marriage through the stages of parenthood, as well as families’ unique responses and realities. Through a variety of structures and settings including blended and adoptive families, contributors describe families’ strengths and resilience in meeting multiple personal and larger social challenges. The intricacies of parenting and family development are also revealed as an ongoing learning process as parents and children construct identity, culture, and meaning.

Among the topics covered:

• Social constitutionality of race in America: some meanings for biracial/multiracial families.
• Interracial marriages: historical and contemporary trends.
• Racial socialization: a developmental perspective.
• Biracial families formed through adoption.
• Diverse family structures within biracial families.
• Racial identity: choices, context, and consequences.
• Addressing lingering gaps in the existing literature and highlighting areas for future study, Biracial Families gives readers a fuller understanding of a growing and diversifying population. Its depth and breadth of coverage makes the book an invaluable reference not only for practitioners and researchers, but also for educators and interracial families across the spectrum.

Table of contents

• Introduction / Roudi Nazarinia Roy
• Social Constitutionality of Race in America: Some Meanings for Bi/Multiracial Families / Farrell J. Webb, JahRaEl Burrell and Sean G. Jefferson
• Questions and Concerns Regarding Family Theories: Biracial and Multiracial Family Issues / Farrell J. Webb and Vanessa Gonlin
• Partnering Across Race /James E. Brooks and Jeremy Lynch
• Interracial Marriages: Historical and Contemporary Trends / Chalandra M. Bryant and Jeneé C. Duncan
• Transition to Parenthood / Roudi Nazarinia Roy
• Parenting Mixed-Race Children / Fabienne Doucet, Marcella Runell Hall and Melissa Giraud
• Racial Socialization: A Developmental Perspective / Alethea Rollins
• Biracial Families Formed Through Adoption / Leigh A. Leslie, Katie M. Hrapczynski and Jennifer L. Young
• Diverse Family Structures Within Multiracial Families / Henry L. Harris, Katie W. Lamberson and Clare P. Merlin
• Racial Identity: Choices, Context, and Consequences / Annamaria Csizmadia and Susan White
• New Directions / Alethea Rollins

Black, White, Other: In Search of Nina Armstrong

Zondervan (an imprint of HarperCollins Christian Publishing)
2011-09-13
224 pages
Paperback ISBN: 9780310396192

Joan Steinau Lester

Book Summary

Nina never thought about being biracial until her parents divorced. Now it feels like everyone is forcing her to choose her identity, and in her hometown of Los Angeles, racial tensions flare. Conflicted and alone, Nina turns to the story of her ancestor who escaped slavery, hoping to find wisdom and direction while also learning who she truly is.

About the Book

Identity Crisis.

As a biracial teen, Nina is accustomed to a life of varied hues—mocha-colored skin, ringed brown hair streaked with red, a darker brother, a black father, a white mother. When her parents decide to divorce, the rainbow of Nina’s existence is reduced to a much starker reality. Shifting definitions and relationships are playing out all around her, and new boxes and lines seem to be getting drawn every day.

Between the fractures within her family and the racial tensions splintering her hometown, Nina feels caught in perpetual battle. Feeling stranded in the nowhere land between racial boundaries, and struggling for personal independence and identity, Nina turns to the story of her great-great-grandmother’s escape from slavery. Is there direction in the tale of her ancestor? Can Nina build her own compass when landmarks from her childhood stop guiding the way?

How Policies Can Address Multiracial Stigma

Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences
First published 2020-10-01
pages 115-122
DOI: 10.1177/2372732220943906

Diana T. Sanchez, Professor of Psychology
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick

Sarah E. Gaither, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
Duke Identity and Diversity Lab
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

Analia F. Albuja, National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow
Duke Identity and Diversity Lab
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

Zoey Eddy, Research Assistant
Self and Social Identity Lab
University of California, Santa Barbara

Twenty years ago, Multiracial Americans completed the U.S Census with the option to indicate more than one race for the first time. As we embark on the second anniversary of this shift in Multiracial recognition, this article reviews the research related to known sources and systems that perpetuate Multiracial-specific stigma. Policy recommendations address the needs and the continued acknowledgment of this growing racial/ethnic minority population.

Key Points

• Multiracial individuals represent a growing majority in the racial/ethnic minority population
• Multiracial people encounter specific forms of stigma
• Multiracial-specific stigma uniquely impacts the psychological and physical health of Multiracial individuals
• Policies can address Multiracial-specific stigma (e.g., more detailed assessments of race/ethnicity, revisiting Multiracial language, Multiracial-specific health interventions)
• Recommended policy changes will make better use of human capital for everyone by increasing accuracy in population estimates used to distribute educational and health care resources, as well as improving health care delivery (e.g., transplant matching).

Read the entire article in HTML or PDF format.

Volunteers Needed for Research Study on Multiracial Individuals

2020-10-06

Jessica Harris, M.A., Clinical Psychology Psy.D. Graduate Student
California School of Professional Psychology
Alliant International University, Fresno, California

I am a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University-Fresno inviting you to participate in a research study to understand the experiences of multiracial individuals.

To participate in the study, you must:

• Be 18-years of age or older.
• Have biological parents from different racial/ethnic minority backgrounds (e.g., Black, Asian, Latinx, Native American). Or, at least one biological parent must belong to two different racial/ethnic minority groups.
• Currently live in the United States.

The entire online survey is anticipated to take 15-20 minutes to complete. Please note the survey does ask about multiracial experiences, participation is entirely voluntary, and that you are free to withdraw at any time. If you have any questions concerning the research study, please email me at jharris2@alliant.edu, or my dissertation chair, Dr. Jennifer Foster, at jfoster1@alliant.edu.

Upon completion of the survey, you will have the opportunity to enter a drawing to win 1 of 2 $50 (USD) Amazon gift cards. Providing your information for the drawing is completely voluntary.

The survey link is included here: https://tinyurl.com/mltiracial

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Jessica Harris, M.A.