Mixed Race Studies

The Politics of Bisexual/Biracial Identity: A study of Bisexual and Mixed Race Women of Asian/Pacific Islander Descent

San Diego State University
First Published: 1999
Reprint: 2006
120 pages
ISBN 1-23456-789-0

Beverly Yuen Thompson, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies
Texas Woman’s College

The construction of certain behaviors and physical characteristics into an acceptable and recognized “identity” is a phenomenon that is meaningful to the specific location and historical moment. “Identities” may not travel well across certain places and historical epochs because of the intricate cultural meanings associated with them. The United States in the late twentieth century is one location in which certain identities are constructed and understood in relation to national history and to political and social issues of the historical era that created such locations. “Identities” in the U.S. have largely been based on membership in groups and classes in which people experience oppression or are denied opportunity because of that membership. For an identity to be understood as such, two factors are typically present: (1) the identity is forced upon the group in a manner which often reduces the group to stereotype and homogeneity for certain reasons such as to justify their (marginal) position in society; (2) the group members more or less accept the identity or label as significant to their self-understanding (and their position in society), although they may or may not accept the meanings that come along with the identity. Identities, therefore, are understood by both group members and non-group members as a legitimate self-label, though the ways in which either view the identity may diverge. Identities based on hegemonic cultural membership, such as white, male, heterosexual, or middle class, are often not employed as self descriptive terms unless one is differentiating one’s self from members of oppressed groups. Identities have largely been constructed in American society based on membership in recognized oppressed groups….

..Biracial identity challenges the construction of mutually exclusive racial categorizations by incorporating an understanding of miscegenation and racial mixing that produces individuals who have a diverse background of racial and ethnic characteristics. This racial mixing may stem from parents or grandparents from different racial and/or ethnic groups or from a cultural history in which racial intermixing was a common occurrence, such as the Caribbean or Hawaii. Biracial identity implies that individuals have an understanding of their diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and believe that this is an important aspect of their identity and use this concept to describe their racial makeup.

Bisexuality and biraciality as occurrences and concepts involve more than our current construction and indeed it has been argued that they have been present throughout human history (e.g., Stonequist; Haeberle & Gindorf). However, our understanding of bisexuality and multiraciality is relatively recent and the construction of them as identities is arguably quite unique. In order to understand bisexual and biracial identities in their present construction, it is crucial to review briefly the historical, legal, political, economic and social processes that influenced their treatment and embodiment. Therefore in the remainder of this introduction I will review the historical construction of Asian American experiences within the U.S. I will also give an overview of the treatment of bisexuality and homosexuality in relation to the socio-political context of placing bisexuality and homosexuality together based on the premise that it was under “homosexuality” that bisexuals were persecuted. I will then compare and contrast the historical process in the creation of biracial and bisexual identities and the issues that arise when both these identities reside in the same subject…

Read the entire thesis here.

Mixed-Race Identity Politics in Nella Larsen and Winnifred Eaton (Onoto Watanna)

Ohio University
English (Arts and Sciences) Department
November 2001
217 pages
Advisor: David Dean McWilliams

Sachi Nakachi

A dissertation presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy.

The dissertation examines how two women authors of mixed-race, Nella Larsen and Winnifred Eaton (Onoto Watanna), resisted American identity politics in their works.  The ideological complexities of mixed-race identity, which is “in-between” races, are the focus of my argument. To discuss what Judith Butler calls “the performativity of identity” in the interracial context, “passing,” “masquerading” and “mimicking” are used as key strategies. I examine whether the space of hybridity, in which the incompatible notions of difference and sameness exist together, opens up the horizon of transformation of significations . In Chapter One, I discuss how Larsen used her “mulatto” heroines to criticize the essentialist notion of identity. I probe how crossing boundaries (passing, geographical crossing and transgressing sexual norms) functions in her novels. In Chapter Two, I examine the works of Winnifred Eaton, who passed as Japanese in her authorship. By crossing the “authentic” ethnic boundaries and placing herself in a fictional identity, Eaton challenged racism and sexism. The dynamics of Orientalism, race and gender in Eaton’s works are examined in this chapter. Postmodern feminist theories and postcolonial theories are used in tandem to support my argument, which tries to discuss how the system of racial oppression operates in multi-racial/multi-ethnic women’s literature.

Read the entire dissertation here.

The Relationship Between Multiracial Identity Variance, Social Connectedness, Facilitative Support, and Adjustment in Multiracial College Students

University of Oregon
June 2008
151 pages

James Lyda

A Dissertation presented to the Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Services and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Research has suggested that multiracial individuals may vary in how they racially identify depending on the context in which they operate (Renn, 2004; Root, 1998, 2003).  To examine this assertion, multiracial identity and variance in multiracial identity were examined in this exploratory study of a nationally representative sample of 199 multiracial college students.  Additionally, the relationship of multiracial identity variance with factors common to adult transitional development and to the college student experience, including social connectedness, various forms of facilitative support, college adjustment, and depression, were also examined in this study.  Sex differences among these study variables were also explored.

The results of descriptive analyses revealed that this generally connected, adjusted, and non-depressed sample consistently varied their racial identity depending on their context.  Results of Pearson product-moment correlations among study variables for the whole sample demonstrated that this multiracial identity variance was not related to adjustment, social connectedness, facilitative supports, or depression. But results differed when breaking down the sample by sex. For males, increased variance in multiracial identity across contexts was related to lower perceived availability of, support from, and connectedness to student support groups. For females, increased multiracial identity variance was related to lower participation in ethnic and cultural student support groups.  A series of subsequent simultaneous multiple regression analyses revealed that increased involvement in one form of facilitative support in the college environmentethnic/cultural student support groups- actually predicted lower multiracial identity variance for the sample.

Regarding connectedness, for the entire sample, higher social connectedness was related to higher college adjustment but lower participation in ethnic and cultural student support groups.  Sex differences also emerged for connectedness. For males, social connectedness was directly related to availability of student groups, adjustment, and institutional attachment, and for females social connectedness was directly related to college adjustment, but inversely related to participation in ethnic/cultural groups.

Table of Contents

I. RATIONALE
Historical, Political, and Social Implications of Mixed Race Identity
Racial and Ethnic Identity
Multiracial Identity Models
Monoracial Identity Development Models
Biracial and Multiethnic Identity Development Models
Ecological Models of Multiracial Identity Development
Wardel and Cruz-jansen’s Model
Root’s Model
Multiracial Identity Variance
Social Connectedness
Social Connectedness and Multiracial Identity: Influence of Sex
Facilitative Support
College Adjustment
Depression
Purpose of This Study
Research Questions

II. METHODOLOGY
Participants
Measures
Demographics
Multiracial Identity Variance
Social Connectedness
Facilitative Supports
College Adjustment
Chapter
Depression
Procedures
Pmticipant Recruitment
Data Collection
Sample Size

III. RESULTS
Overview
Preliminary Analyses
Descriptive Analyses
Multiracial Identity Variance
Sex Differences
Social Connectedness
Sex Differences
Perceptions of Facilitative Student Supports
Sex Differences
College Adjustment
Sex Differences
Depression
Sex Differences
Correlation Analyses
Multiracial Identity Variance
Social Connectedness
Facilitative Supports
College Adjustment
Depression
Regression Analyses
Explaining Multiracial Identity Variance.
Explaining Social Connectedness.
Explaining Depression
Summary of Results

IV. DISCUSSION
Main Findings: Relationship Among Variables
Demographics
Multiracial Identity Variance
Social Connectedness
Facilitative Supports
College Adjustment
Depression
Sex Differences
Implications of the Findings
Study Limitations
Future Research and Intervention
Conclusion

APPENDICES
A. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
B. INFORMED CONSENT STATEMENT
C. MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS
REFERENCES

….Overall the sample was racially diverse, predominantly female, and came from highly educated parents.  The sample was racially diverse in the sense that multiple combinations of multiracial heritage were represented.  This is important in validating the sample as a cross section of the multiracial population, which distinguishes the current study from previous multiracial identity research that has focused specifically on a limited representation of specific bi- or multiracial sub-groups, such as black/white biracial individuals (Shih & Sanchez, 2005; Wardle & Cruz-Jansen, 2004). The sample tended to consist of participants with highly educated parents and as a result were likely to be of higher socioeconomic status. It is unknown if the general socioeconomic status of the sample is representative of the multiracial college student population as a whole.  Also, women outnumbered men three to one. These factors are important when considering the generalizabiity of these results…

Read the entire dissertation here.

Shifting Whiteness: A Life History Approach to U.S. White Parents of “Biracial” or “Black” Children

Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Joshua Carter Woodfork, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005

This research examines how the experiences of parenting “biracial” or “black” children have affected the beliefs of white parents who have published books and essays regarding their situations.  The participating parents claim that because of their relationship with their children of African descent their self-understandings, including their own sense of their racial identity, are altered.  They now speak of themselves as “not quite white,” “black by proxy,” or as a “bridge” (between the races).  My dissertation, “Shifting Whiteness: A Life History Approach to U.S. White Parents of ‘Biracial’ or ‘Black’ Children,” explores how such parents talk about and conceptualize their experiences, including the implications of these parents’ claims of racial identity transformation.

This dissertation posits that the white parents’ shift in attitudes and beliefs reflects their vivid engagement with the racism and racial experiences that their children endure.  The discord between the parents’ claim of racial transformation and their continued benefiting from white privilege is also examined. Consideration of the parents’ shifts provides a better understanding of racial beliefs and transformations at the individual, micro-level, which contributes to society’s general knowledge about the conception of race.

Understanding white parents’ decisions to write about their identity transformations as—to use Michael Omi and Howard Winant’s (1994) phrase—a “racial project,” I investigate its aims and limits, exploring which racial projects are presented by this group of U.S. white parents of biracial and black children. John L. Caughey’s (1994) approach to how individuals operate with “cultural traditions” and ideas of “border crossing” also provide theoretical frameworks.  Tools of analysis include ethnographic life history methods, textual analysis, critical race theory, and intersectional analysis.  My research method involves complementing a close reading of the writings of these authors that are white and parents with qualitative ethnographic life history interviews that gather detailed information from each of these individuals. I treat their publications together with my transcribed interviews as case studies through which I compare and contrast the similarities and differences in the belief changes and shifting that these informants have undergone, as well as their current constructions of race.

Read the entire dissertation here.