Audiology freshman talks finding cultural identity on campus
The Daily Texan: Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
2016-08-31
Henry Youtt
Audiology freshman Karis Paul is the daughter of an Indian father and a half-Irish, half-Austrian mother. Mixed-race students make up only 3 percent of the students on campus.
Photo Credit: Juan Figueroa | Daily Texan Staff |
“What race are you?” the questionnaire reads above a set of yet unmarked boxes.
White. Black. Hispanic.
For many people, this requires just another stroke of the pen, but for audiology freshman Karis Paul, there’s a little more to it than that.
Growing up in El Paso — where the population is approximately 80 percent Hispanic — Karis, the daughter of an Indian father and a half-Irish, half-Austrian mother, found acceptance in a town that exudes racial diversity. However, Karis was seen as white, leaving her uncertain of her identity in a nation that didn’t allow people to check multiple boxes in the census’ race category until 2000.
“My situation was nothing that I was very aware of until I got a little older,” Karis said. “I would tell people I’m Indian, and they’d be like, ‘What? Are you serious? Show me a picture of your dad.’ They would say, ‘You’re so not Indian.’”
Only about 3 percent of students on campus identify as mixed race. Karis said this underrepresentation often leads to misunderstandings in conversations about racial identity or, in her case, a sheer lack of such conversations…
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