Mixed Race Studies

Ethnic identity of biracial individuals with one Asian parent

California State University, Long Beach
2006
66 pages
Publication Number: AAT 1437924
ISBN: 9780542893049

Christina A. Nguyen

A Thesis Presented to the Department of Social Work, California State University, Long Beach In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Social Work

The purpose of this study was to examine ethnic identity of biracial, Asian individuals. Level of exposure to Asian culture of biracial Asian individuals was examined to find if there was a significant difference between males and females and with which parent he/she identified more strongly (i.e., Asian parent vs. other parent) and how they were influenced by their Asian culture. Self-administered surveys were gathered from a sample of 32 biracial, Asian individuals.

Results indicated that there was no significant difference between males and females and their levels of exposure to their Asian culture. However, results did indicate that males identified with their Asian parent more often than their female counterparts. Overall, most respondents felt accepted by their Asian community. Implications for social work practices and recommendations for future research were also addressed.

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What Obama Isn’t: Black Like Me on Race

New York Daily News
2006-11-02

Stanley Crouch

If Barack Obama makes it all the way to becoming the Democratic nominee for President in 2008, a feat he says he may attempt, a much more complex understanding of the difference between color and ethnic identity will be upon us for the very first time.

Back in 2004, Alan Keyes made this point quite often. Keyes was the black Republican carpetbagger chosen by the elephants to run against Obama for the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois. The choice of Keyes was either a Republican version of affirmative action or an example of just how dumb the party believes black voters to be, since it was obvious that Keyes came from the Southeast, not the Midwest.

That race was never much of a contest, but one fascinating subplot was how Keyes was unable to draw a meaningful distinction between himself as a black American and Obama as an African-American. After all, Obama’s mother is of white U.S. stock. His father is a black Kenyan. Other than color, Obama did not—does not—share a heritage with the majority of black Americans, who are descendants of plantation slaves…

Read the enter opinion here.