Mixed Race Studies

How To Fix Our Sub-Conscious Racism: A Mixed-Race Perspective | Elizabeth Dobson | TEDxLehighRiver

TEDx Talks
2016-11-15

Elizabeth Dobson

Liz’s TEDxLehighRiver Talk is based on one of the unique perspectives of many multiethnic people, and how that perspective is critical to help all of us learn how to engage and connect with each other across stereotypical race “color lines”. She offers strategies for overcoming sub-conscious racism.

Elizabeth Dobson is a multiracial woman and the youngest of three children adopted into her all white family. She grew up in rural Pennsylvania where she thrived socially and academically despite being one of few minorities in her hometown. Liz recently created a blog to educate and empower a growing demographic of interracial and adoptive families. She understands they have important and unique challenges and perspectives within their families and communities.

Prevalence of High-Risk Sexual Behaviors Among Monoracial and Multiracial Groups from a National Sample: Are Multiracial Young Adults at Greater Risk?

Archives of Sexual Behavior
Volume 45, Issue 2, February 2016
pages 467–475
DOI: 10.1007/s10508-015-0647-5

Antoinette M. Landor, Assistant Professor
Department of Human Development and Family Science
University of Missouri, Columbia

Carolyn Tucker Halpern, Professor
Department of Maternal and Child Health
Gillings School of Global Public Health
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

The present study compared the prevalence and variation in high-risk sexual behaviors among four monoracial (i.e., White, African American, Asian, Native American) and four multiracial (i.e., White/African American, White/Asian, White/Native American, African American/Native American) young adults using Wave IV data (2008–2009) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 9724). Findings indicated differences in the sexual behavior of monoracial and multiracial young adults, but directions of differences varied depending on the monoracial group used as the referent and gender. Among males, White/African Americans had higher risk than Whites; White/Native Americans had higher risk than Native Americans. Otherwise, multiracial groups had lower risk or did not differ from the single-race groups. Among females, White/Native Americans had higher risk than Whites; White/African Americans had higher risk than African Americans. Other comparisons showed no differences or had lower risk among multiracial groups. Variations in high-risk sexual behaviors underscore the need for health research to disaggregate multiracial groups to better understand health behaviors and outcomes in the context of experiences associated with a multiracial background, and to improve prevention strategies.

Read or purchase the article here.

Being Blackanese: The Evolving Embrace of Self and Community

College of San Mateo
CSM College Center Building 10, Room 193
1700 West Hillsdale Boulevard
San Mateo, California 94402 USA
Friday 2016-11-18, 18:30 PST (Local Time)

Being Blackanese: The Evolving Embrace of Self and Community brings together an award winning literary artist, a scholar activist, and an independently published author in an examination and affirmation of Black Japanese American life. The “Blackanese” experience – of a world where divisiveness remains common and cultural ambiguity can equate to invisibility within one’s own communities – will be exposed through readings, presentations and Q&A.

Featuring readings and presentations by:

• Alyss Dixson will read from “The Club”, her short fiction piece about Ai, a determined Black Japanese girl who decides to sneak a ride on her father’s old Harley until an encounter with a thief puts her between fear of the stranger and fear of her dad’s punishment.
• Fredrick Cloyd will read selections from his memoir, Dream of the Water Children: Memory and Mourning in the Black Pacific, covering his struggles as a half-Black Japanese boy born of an African American military father and that of his mother who was looked down upon for having a child by an American, as well as his life as an Amerasian after migrating to the United States.
• Ramon Calhoun will read excerpts from his independently-published novel, Blackanese Boy, the coming of age story of Rafael Halifax. Raised by a single mother, Rafael tries to cope with and understand the complexity of his mixed-identity, born of his Japanese American mother and Black father, an infrequent yet powerful presence in his life.

The readings will be followed by a Question & Answer session facilitated by Dr. Frederick Gaines, Chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies, College of San Mateo.

For more information, click here.