Rethinking 'Mixed Race'

One of the fastest growing ethnic populations in many Western societies is that of people of mixed descent. However, when talking about multicultural societies or ‘mixed race’, the discussion usually focuses on people of black and white heritage. The contributors to this collection rectify this with a broad and pluralistic approach to the experiences of 'mixed race' people in Britain and the USA. The contributors argue that people of mixed descent reveal the arbitrary and contested logic of categorisation underpinning racial divisions. Falling outside the prevailing definitions of racialised identities, their histories and experiences illuminate the complexities of identity formation in the contemporary multicultural context. The authors examine a range of issues. These include gender; transracial and intercountry adoptions in Britain and the US; interracial partnering and marriage; ‘mixed race’ and family in the English-African diaspora; theorising of ‘mixed race’ that transcends the black/white binary and includes explorations of 'mixtures' among non-white minority groups; and the social and political evolution of multiracial panethnicity. One of the fastest growing ethnic populations in many Western societies is that of people of mixed descent. The last decade has seen the growth of both academic research and political movements in the United States specifically for multiracial individuals and families. However, this has yet to be reflected in British social science literature which, where it covers 'mixed race' at all, tends to focus solely on people of black-white background. With this collection David Parker and Miri Song rectify this and provoke debate about the meaning of 'race' today. They argue that people of mixed descent reveal the arbitrary, contested and contradictory logic of categorisation underpinning racial divisions. Falling outside the prevailing definitions of racialised identities, their histories and experiences illuminate the complexities of identity formation in the contemporary multicultural context. The authors, themselves from a wide variety of mixed ethnic heritages such as Iranian-Indian and Chinese-Mexican, examine a range of examples, including gender, mixed race and family in the English-African diaspora; mixed race and class formation in the Caribbean; rediscovering Eurasian identity; transracial and intercountry adoptions in the US and Britain; the social evolution of a multiracial panethnicity; and inter-racial marriage in the United States One of the fastest growing ethnic populations in many Western societies is that of people of mixed descent. However, when talking about multicultural societies or "mixed race", the discussion usually focuses on people of black-white background. The contributors to this collection rectify this with a broad approach to mixed race. The contributors argue that people of mixed descent reveal the arbitrary, contested and contradictory logic of categorization underpinning racial divisions. Falling outside the prevailing definitions of radicalized identities, their histories and experiences illuminate the complexities of identity formation in the contemporary multicultural context.The authors, themselves from a wide variety of mixed ethnic heritages -- such as Iranian-Indian and Chinese-Mexican -- examine a range of examples, such as gender, "mixed race" and family in the English-African Diaspora; "mixed race" and class formation in the Caribbean; rediscovering Eurasian identity; transracial and inter-country adoptions in the US and Britain; the social evolution of a multiracial pan-ethnicity; and inter-racial marriage in the United States. Contributors include Barbara Ballis Lal, Paul Spickard, Laurie Mengel, and Stephen Small.