Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

“I’ve got a piece coming out for Buzzfeed about the word mulatto. I think that’s a good word to start using more often. People don’t like the word, but they can’t point to why, or they think it’s a reference to a mule. But the word is actually an Arabic word referencing people of mixed heritage. It predates the word for mule. Historically, it’s the word we used for people of mixed race in this country. And the thing about words like mixed and biracial is that they’re completely vague. They don’t make much sense. Most black and white people who consider themselves biracial, their race is listed legally and socially as black. Plus bi- doesn’t work because there are other races mixed in there, too. Part of the thing that worries me about the biracial movement is that it can be ahistoric. And as I said the vast majority of African-Americans are of mixed racial descent. So by the definitions they’re using, every African-American is pretty much biracial. It would be a miracle if they did a test and there weren’t some European poking in. In my view, mulatto acknowledges that there’s a larger history. And for me, the black and white mixed experience is part of my African-American experience. I still consider myself African-American, just mixed African-American. It’s like, if you have a Dad whose Irish, you’d be Irish, and nobody would debate that just because your Mom was Italian. But for African-Americans, we have these rigid ways of looking at the issue. We’ve inherited these preconceived notions.” —Mat Johnson

Dwyer Murphy, “Pitching Chaos, an interview with Mat Johnson, author of Loving Day,” Electric Lit, May 26, 2015. http://electricliterature.com/pitching-chaos-an-interview-with-mat-johnson-author-of-loving-day/.

An Examination of Biracial College Youths’ Family Ethnic Socialization, Ethnic Identity, and Adjustment: Do Self-Identification Labels and University Context Matter?

Posted in Articles, Asian Diaspora, Campus Life, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, United States on 2013-01-19 03:18Z by Steven

An Examination of Biracial College Youths’ Family Ethnic Socialization, Ethnic Identity, and Adjustment: Do Self-Identification Labels and University Context Matter?

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology
2012-08-20
DOI: 10.1037/a0029438

Aerika S. Brittian, Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology
University of Illinois, Chicago

Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor, Professor
School of Social and Family Dynamics
Arizona State University

Chelsea L. Derlan
Arizona State University

This study examined family ethnic socialization, ethnic identity, and adjustment among Latino/White and Asian/White biracial college students (n = 507), with special attention to how ethnic self-identification and university ethnic composition informed the ethnic identity process. Findings indicated that family ethnic socialization was positively related to participants’ ethnic identity exploration and resolution, but not ethnic identity affirmation. Furthermore, ethnic identity resolution and affirmation were associated with higher self-acceptance and self-esteem, and lower depressive symptoms. Importantly, university ethnic composition moderated the association between ethnic identity resolution and anxiety, such that resolution promoted adjustment in contexts that were relatively more ethnically diverse. University ethnic composition also moderated the association between ethnic identity affirmation and both self-esteem and self-acceptance, such that affirmation was associated with better adjustment but only in schools that were less ethnically diverse.

Read or purchase the article here.

Tags: Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor, Adriana Umaña-Taylor, Aerika Brittian, Aerika S. Brittian, Chelsea Derlan, Chelsea L. Derlan, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology

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Mixed Race Studies

An Examination of Biracial College Youths’ Family Ethnic Socialization, Ethnic Identity, and Adjustment: Do Self-Identification Labels and University Context Matter?

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