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/.

Exclusive: Watch Salena Godden’s ‘Under the Pier’

Posted in Articles, Arts, Media Archive, United Kingdom, Videos on 2017-01-16 01:50Z by Steven

Exclusive: Watch Salena Godden’s ‘Under the Pier’

The State Of The Arts
2017-01-10

Christy Cooney
Leeds, United Kingdom

Spoken word artist Salena Godden has kicked of 2017 with the release of a video for ‘Under the Pier’, a piece from her 2016 album LIVEwire.

Shot on location in Hastings, East Sussex in November 2016, the video was filmed, directed, and edited by Jordon Scott Kennedy of Idle Work Factory, and accompanies a live performance at the BBC Radio Theatre.

Kennedy said of the project:

“I jumped at the chance to work with Salena. Her words in particular have the habit of conjuring up imagery that takes us to a specific place and time, and even then, we are left looking forwards, and hopeful, rather than nostalgic or regretful. Behind the scenes she has a way of carrying this spirit at all times, and she made my job fairly easy. “Can you just stand there and think about Salena stuff? Yep. That’s perfect. Cut. Fucking doddle. Pub?”

“She spent the day showing me around her hometown, which became a blank canvas for me. Her enthusiasm for her roots had all kinds of ideas rushing through my head. I think it could be quite easy to be overwhelmed by her explosive lust for life. There’s definitely something special about the lass, and you feel that listening to LIVEwire…”

Read the entire article here.

Tags: Christy Cooney, Jordon Scott Kennedy, Salena Godden, The State Of The Arts

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Mixed Race Studies

Exclusive: Watch Salena Godden’s ‘Under the Pier’

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