Mixed Race Studies

Exploration of white British and South East Asian mixed identity

University of Leeds
2019-04-02

Jesse Robson
School of Sociology and Social Policy

I am currently a third year student at the University of Leeds and I am finishing my dissertation on the White British, South East Asian mixed race experience.

My research is focused on identity, racism and representation of white British, South East mixed race individuals. It is a small scale research project aimed at highlighting and exploring the lived experience of mixed race Britons.

Participants must be white British and identify with one of these countries: Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.

To participate in the survey, please click here.

Interview with Shirley Tate

Times Higher Education
2017-04-27

John Elmes, Reporter

Source: Kiran Mehta

We discuss realising what it means to be black in the UK, dealing with insomnia, and institutional racism in the academy, with the renowned race and black identity scholar

Shirley Tate is a cultural sociologist and researcher in the areas of institutional racism and black identity. Previously an associate professor in race and culture at the University of Leeds, she took up a new role as professor of race and education – the first of its kind in the UK – at Leeds Beckett University in April.

Where and when were you born?
In Spanish Town, Saint Catherine, Jamaica, in March 1956.

How has this shaped you?
I was brought up in Sligoville, which was the first free village in Jamaica set up after the enslaved population were granted full freedom in 1838. Being a black African-descent Jamaican is still pivotal to me in terms of how I identify as a person. I was very fortunate to be brought up there at a time of independence, Black Power, a resurgence of Rastafarianism and, with it, Garveyism. It was during this time that my cousin gave me a copy of Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks. I always look back at this as a really important moment in my coming to awareness as black and Caribbean because it helped me to understand how colonialism continued to work in the Western hemisphere for black people, people of colour and white people. Jamaica became independent from the British Empire in 1962, so I was British for five and a half years, then became Jamaican and then became a naturalised British citizen in the 1980s. I left Jamaica in 1975 for the UK, which was a very difficult transition. For the first time, I really realised what it meant to be a black person in a white country. I was really taken aback the first time that I was asked, by a seven-year-old mixed-race girl, whether I was “half or full”, meaning was I mixed race or not. For her, that was an important way to judge whether she had a connection with me. I was also asked by my boss, in the first job I had in the UK, where I had learned to speak and write such good English and was “complimented” by being told that I didn’t sound at all Jamaican. I cling to my Jamaican accent with a vengeance, so I didn’t feel the compliment…

Read the entire interview here.

Biracial males wanted to take part in research project

Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies
University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
2014-12-21

Remi Joseph-Salisbury, Doctoral Researcher
R.Salisbury@leeds.ac.uk

• Are you a biracial male of black and white parentage?
• Are you aged between 16 and 21 and went to school in the U.S.?
• Would you like to take part in a discussion group or one-to-one interview considering the educational experiences of black/white biracial males?

Interviews can be conducted in person (I will be situated in Pennsylvania), using Skype, E-mail or an Instant Messaging program.

Participants will be offered a $15 gift voucher as a thank you for their participation.

To take part or for an informal chat about the project, please contact me, Remi Joseph-Salisbury, by e-mail. I look forward in hearing from you.

Call for Papers – ‘Skin Tone, “Colourism” and “Passing”’

University of Leeds
School of Sociology and Social Policy
Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies
Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
2013-09-11

Peter Edwards

The Race in the Americas (RITA) group, in partnership with the Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies (CERS), seeks abstract submissions on the theme of skin tone, ‘colourism’ and ‘passing’.

The seminar will be held on Saturday 8 March 2014, at the University of Leeds.

Submissions might include, but are not restricted to, research on the following topics:

• ‘Colourism’ as a prejudice within racial groups with regard to skin tone;
• The social implications of individuals passing as one race instead of another;
• The impact of ‘passing’ on the politics of representation and governance;
• The creation of space for a multi-ethnic identity: what is that space and does it exist? Are individuals forced to identify with one ethnicity over another?;
• Racial identity as a performance through clothing, speech and patterns of consumption;
• The proliferation of chemical products to lighten or darken skin tone and what this means for understandings of ‘race’;
• Cultural systems of caste classification and translations of skin tone into political structures;
• The role of skin tone in influencing confidence, and in determining social status within a power structure that privileges whiteness;

For more information, click here.

CERS hosts Critical Mixed Race Studies postgraduate symposium

School of Sociology and Social Policy
Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies
University of Leeds
2013-08-08

Peter Edwards, Faculty Web Development Officer

Mixing Matters: Critical Intersectionalities

The Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies (CERS) held its first interdisciplinary, international postgraduate symposium on the 18th May 2013 entitled ‘Mixing Matters: Critical Intersectionalities.’ This symposium aimed at engaging with ideas from the field of Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS) was the first of its kind in the UK and enabled national, international and Leeds based postgraduate students to present their research in this dynamic field. The debates within CMRS have been circulating for some time within various disciplines but which simultaneously have remained marginal within broader studies on ethnicity and ‘race’. Furthermore, the debates have largely been centred on the United States context and not taking into account the globality of mixed-race identity which varies across time and space, an idea which the keynote speaker (Rebecca King O’Riain) discusses in her book Global Mixed Race. This symposium was developed in response to this marginalisation focusing on describing and analysing mixed-race identities in both the UK and international contexts.

It was well attended and received by staff and students from within the faculty and beyond. There were a significant number of non-academic participants who travelled from far afield to engage with the day’s presentations and debates. Dr Rebecca King O’Riain (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) gave a keynote addressing the importance of expanding mixed-race studies beyond US borders and explored the dynamics of mixing in Zambia, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Brazil, Germany and Japan, among other locations. Dr. Shirley Tate (University of Leeds) who conceived of the idea of the symposium gave a second keynote on the mixed race question in regards to Black beauty.

The symposium was also comprised of two panels with papers on a variety of topics which reflect the diversity of research interests in the field:

• Theory, experience and activism in CMRS
• Mixed race male experiences in UK education
• Chicano epistemology
• Mixed-heritage in fostering and adoption policy
• Bio-power and the politicisation of mixed-race in East Africa
• Dougla identities in Trinidad
• The influence of hip hop on mixed-race identity…

…Speakers: Emma Dabiri, Remi Salisbury, Veronica Cano, Julia Koniuch-Enneoka, Angelica Pesarini, Kav Raghunandan, and Jenn Sims

Read the entire report here.

Still policing the crisis? Black and black and white mixed ‘race’ Seeking Interviewees]

University of Leeds
Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
2013-08-12

Lisa J. Long, Doctoral Researcher
School of Sociology and Social Policy

I am a Ph.D. Researcher at the University of Leeds. I am interested in understanding the experiences that black or black and white mixed ‘race’ people have had when they have found themselves in contact with the police, either as a victim of crime, when reporting a crime, as a crime suspect or in the course of routine policing enquiries e.g. stop and search. As part of my research I would like to interview black and black and white mixed ‘race’ people across all age groups (16+), both men and women with an opinion or view about policing based on personal experience.

In order to be able to take part you will need to live in the West Yorkshire area and have had experience of policing within this area.

If you would like more information about participating in the research please contact Lisa Long at ssljl@leeds.ac.uk.

Mixing Matters: Critical Intersectionalities: An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Symposium on Critical Mixed Race Studies

Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies (CERS)
University of Leeds
2013-05-18, 08:45-17:15 BST (Local Time)

Key note speakers:

Dr. Suki Ali is a Senior Lecturer at the London School of Economics. Her research interests include feminist cultural studies, theories of identity and embodiment and particularly the interplay between gender, ‘race’ and class. Dr. Ali is the author of several books, articles and chapters including ‘Mixed-Race: Post-Race: Gender, New ethnicities and cultural practices’ and ‘Reading Racialised Bodies: Learning to see Difference’.

Dr. Rebecca Chiyoko King-O’Riain is a Senior Lecturer at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Her research interests are in people of mixed descent; emotions, technology and globalization; race/ethnicity; critical race theory; beauty; and Japanese Americans. She has published in Ethnicities, Sociology Compass, Journal of Asian American Studies, and Amerasia Journal. Her book Pure Beauty: Judging Race in Japanese American Beauty Pageants (University of Minnesota Press) examines the use of blood quantum rules in Japanese American Beauty Pageants. She is currently researching and writing about ‘Global Mixed Race’ and ‘The Globalization of Love’.

Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS) is a rapidly growing body of scholarship and through the continued challenging of essentialized conceptions of ‘race’ and ethnicity, CMRS becomes an emerging paradigm for examining the politics of ‘race’, racism and representation. CMRS can be defined as “the transracial, transdisciplinary, and transnational critical analysis of the institutionalization of social, cultural, and political orders based on dominant conceptions of race. CMRS emphasizes the mutability of race and the porosity of racial boundaries in order to critique processes of racialization and social stratification based on race. CMRS addresses local and global systemic injustices rooted in systems of racialization” (Critical Mixed Race Studies Association). In this transnational, interdisciplinary symposium, we seek to explore these components through the lens of intersectionalities in individual experience, theorising and activism.

For more information, click here. View the program here.

Researching ‘Mixed-Race’ Male Experiences in Education in the United Kingdom

Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies
School of Sociology and Social Policy
University of Leeds
2012-12-20

Hi all,

I’m a researcher from The University of Leeds (UK) based in the Centre for Ethnicity and Racism studies.

I’m currently carrying out research into ‘mixed-race’ male experiences in education in the UK. I’m in contact with a couple of researchers in the US and hopefully may develop some comparative work to improve experiences in both the US and the UK.

Whilst ‘black’ male education experiences are heavily theorised there is an absence of research into mixed-race male education…

I’m looking for male participants aged between 18-32 who identify as being of Black African Caribbean and White British parentage.

The research will be an interview (no more than 30 minutes), the interview arrangements will be down to interviewee preferences, I’m open to use digital methods such as Skype, Instant messaging etc… I’m also more than happy to conduct face-to-face interviews.. I’m based in Manchester and Leeds areas.

The interview will unstructured and would allow you to share your experiences and take the conversation where you want to.

Anyone interested (or want more information) please memail me; R.Salisbury@leeds.ac.uk.

Thank you,

Remi Salisbury

Racialisation in Brazil [Karina Round]

Mapping Global Racisms Project (2012- )
University of Leeds
Working Papers
10 pages

Karina Round

This paper is going to explore the processes of racialisation in Brazil, a country were race is supposed to be irrelevant. Racialisation is the dynamic and complex process through which racial categories, concepts and divisions become embedded into social practices. In 2001 the United Nations World Conference against Racism acknowledged that no country could claim to be free of racism and that racism is a worldwide concern and requires a global response. Brazil is a highly fascinating case study to investigate because of the racial divisions, categories and hierarchies that have become deeply rooted in society. Brazilians envisage themselves living in a truly anti-racist nation, a “racial democracy” and this has been embedded in their minds for decades, as a result many academics have strived to give visibility to racism in Brazil. Looking back to when I was a tourist Brazil in 2010, I witnessed the renowned Rio Carnival and what I saw was a country in celebration of its mixed cultural heritage, but little did I know the extent to which racism was fixed into Brazilian’ society. This essay is going to first give a general overview of the situation in Brazil, focusing on Brazil’s principal inequalities. It will then be spilt into four different themes. The first topic will look at the myth of racial democracy and how this has become embedded in Brazilian lives. The second topic will centre on the racial categorisations that exist in the Brazilian system. The third topic focuses on how racism and racial discrimination plays a huge part in educational inequalities and the black population’s exclusion from the labour market. Lastly, this essay will look at the indigenous population’s marginalised position within Brazil.

Read the entire paper here.

Mixing Matters: Critical Intersectionalities: Call For Papers

Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies (CERS)
University of Leeds
2013-05-18

An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Symposium on Critical Mixed Race Studies

The Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies (CERS) at the University of Leeds invites postgraduate research students to participate in a one-day symposium which will be held on 18 May 2013. The aim of this symposium is to explore and consider what constitutes Critical Mixed Race Studies as an emerging field of intellectual enquiry.

Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS) is a rapidly growing body of scholarship and through the continued challenging of essentialized conceptions of ‘race’ and ethnicity, CMRS becomes an emerging paradigm for examining the politics of ‘race’, racism and representation. CMRS can be defined as “the transracial, transdisciplinary, and transnational critical analysis of the institutionalization of social, cultural, and political orders based on dominant conceptions of race. CMRS emphasizes the mutability of race and the porosity of racial boundaries in order to critique processes of racialization and social stratification based on race. CMRS addresses local and global systemic injustices rooted in systems of racialization” (Critical Mixed Race Studies Association). In this transnational, interdisciplinary symposium, we seek to explore these components through the lens of intersectionalities in individual experience, theorising and activism.

This symposium is open to postgraduate researchers across a range of disciplines whose work is pertinent to and reflected within the broad field of Critical Mixed Race Studies. We invite papers that address this theme and hope to welcome national and international postgraduate research students from a wide range of disciplines.

Deadline for proposals: 8th March 2013

To submit a proposal, send a title and abstract (200-250 words) to the organizing committee, cmrs.symposium@leeds.ac.uk

Attendance at this conference is free; all other queries should be directed to the above address.

For more information, click here.