Second Glances: Two African-American Women Take a Closer Look at their Jewish Identities

Posted in Articles, Autobiography, Interviews, Judaism, Media Archive, Religion, United States, Women on 2009-08-27 00:52Z by Steven

Second Glances: Two African-American Women Take a Closer Look at their Jewish Identities

Bridges: A Jewish Feminist Journal
Volume 13, Number 2 (Autumn 2008)
pages 52-63

Amy André

Nzinga Koné-Miller

This conversation is co-written by two African American women, one who converted to Judaism and one who was born Jewish. They dialogue about the differences and similarities of their experiences in regard to religious practice, family, community, and hopes for a future that includes practical and widespread recognition of Jews of all races.

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From: KNPR in Nevada: A Conversation About Race and Ethnicity in America

Posted in Audio, Live Events, Media Archive, Politics/Public Policy, United States on 2009-08-27 00:05Z by Steven

From: KNPR in Nevada: A Conversation About Race and Ethnicity in America  (2008-08-22)

We continue our conversation about race and ethnicity in America when we host a joint broadcast [on 2008-08-22] with KCEP-FM.  KCEP’s Patricia Cunningham joins us with UNLV [University of Nevada at Las Vegas] Professor Rainier Spencer and Pastor Robert Fowler of The Victory Missionary Baptist Church.

Rainer Spencer appears at 09:35 in the program and discusses ‘Generation Mix’ and other issues.


Pictured right are: KCEP Radio Host Patricia Cunningham, KNPR’s State of Nevada Show Host Dave Berns, KCEP IT Mgr and Asst Program Coordinator Ashton Ridley, Prof Rainier Spencer, KCEP Program Mgr Craig Knight and Pastor Robert Fowler (left to right).

Listen the recorded audio (00:47:28) stream here.
Download the recorded audio (00:47:28) file here.

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Racialism

Posted in Excerpts/Quotes on 2009-08-26 01:59Z by Steven

“If, however, one is critical of race, it then becomes apparent that there is an inherent contradiction in the idea of multiraciality; for if race is a myth, then multirace must of necessity be a myth as well.  Yet how is one to self-identify, to assert an identity, when the only language seeming available is infused with the terminology of racialism?  The answer lies in challenging rather than acceding to the hemogeny of race and rejecting the premise that personal identity need be race based to begin with.

Rainier Spencer, Spurious Isses: Race and Multiracial Identity Politics in the United States, p. 89

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“Who Am I? Mental Health & Dual Heritage” Conference Report

Posted in Identity Development/Psychology, Live Events, Media Archive, United Kingdom on 2009-08-24 21:12Z by Steven

“Who Am I? Mental Health & Dual Heritage” Conference Report

At GMCVO, ST. THOMAS CENTRE
Ardwick Green North, Manchester, M12 6FZ
This event was held on 2009-06-10, from 08:00Z to 13:00Z

Programme:

08:00Z Registration
08:30Z Mixed Heritage Identities; the issues and challenges
Bradley Lincoln
Multiple Heritage Project Manchester
09:00Z Women; mixed heritage and mental health
Lindsey Cook
Women’s Services Manager, Imagine Ltd
09:30Z Coffee / Tea
10:00Z Voices from Experience; young people and identity
Laura Jenkin
Youth Worker – Newcastle
10:30Z Across the Boundaries; challenges of faith and culture
Atif Kamal
Community Development Worker, SEVA Team, Manchester
11:00Z Group Discussions
12:00Z Lunch
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Marginal Man

Posted in Definitions, Social Science on 2009-08-23 04:13Z by Steven

A ‘Marginal Man’ is a fictional archetype created in 1927 by sociologist Robert Ezra Park (1864-1944) (and further developed by Everett Stonequist (1901-1979)) as a way  to describe a person descended from two “opposing” ethnic or racial groups.  He stated, “The marginal man…is one whom fate has condemned to live in two societies and in two, not merely different but antagonistic cultures….his mind is the crucible in which two different and refractory cultures may be said to melt and, either wholly or in part, fuse.”   The arc for ‘Marginal Man’ was similar to that of  the ‘Tragic Mulatto‘ because he too, attempted to “pass” as white, however he could change course and take a hypodescendent path and if he were fortunate become a leader of his “lesser” lot.

See, Everett V. Stonequist’s July 1935 article “The Problem of the Marginal Man.”

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Tragic Mulatto/Mulatta

Posted in Definitions, History on 2009-08-23 03:52Z by Steven

From Wikipedia: The Tragic mulatto is a stereotypical fictional character that appeared in American literature during the 19th and 20th centuries. The “tragic mulatto” is an archetypical mixed race person (a “mulatto”), who is assumed to be sad or even suicidal because he/she fails to completely fit in the “white world” or the “black world”. As such, the “tragic mulatto” is depicted as the victim of the society he/she lives in, a society divided by race. Because of society’s reluctance to acknowledge ambiguity in racial classifications, this character is particularly vulnerable…

Generally, the tragic mulatta archetype falls into one of three categories:

  • A woman who can “pass” for white attempts to do so, is accepted as white by society and falls in love with a white man. Eventually, her status as a bi-racial person is revealed and the story ends in tragedy.
  • A woman appears to be white. It is believed that she is of Greek or Spanish descent. She has suffered little hardship in her life, but upon the revelation that she is mixed race, she loses her social standing.
  • A woman who has all the social graces that come along with being a middle-class or upper-class white woman is nonetheless subjected to slavery.

A common objection to this character is that she allows readers to pity the plight of oppressed or enslaved races, but only through a veil of whiteness — that is, instead of sympathizing with a true racial “other,” one is sympathizing with a character who is made as much like one’s own race as possible. The “tragic mulatta” often appeared in novels intended for women, also, and some of the character’s appeal lay in the lurid fantasy of a person just like them suddenly cast into a lower social class after the discovery of a small amount of “black blood” that renders her unfit for proper marriage…

Wikipedia

Please visit the Tragic Mulatto Myth site at the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University.

Comentary by Steven F. Riley

The social stigma of ‘race mixing’ and the social upheaval which it was believed to have caused, was firmly imprinted into the American mindset with the publication of the 1842 anti-slavery short story, The Quadroons by Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880).  Child, a Unitarian abolitionist and women’s rights activist, introduced the world to the archetype that would be known as the ‘Tragic Mulatto’ that would last well into the middle of the 20th century.  There are various trajectories for the ‘Tragic Mulatto’, but generally he (or usually she) is a person of mixed race, who passes for white and in doing so, becomes extremely successful in some endeavor (usually love).  Inevitably, the ‘Tragic Mulatto’ is exposed and rejected by both racial groups, and the story ends — as one might guess — tragically.  Though it was not Child’s intent, the ‘Tragic Mulatto’ archetype was yet another tool (this time literary) used to preserve white hegemony.  It did this by: Firstly reinforcing the notion of  “white purity” that anyone not 100% ‘white’ was not white at all; secondly, further denigrating non-whites by implying that they all somehow secretly wished to be white and escape their lot in life; thirdly, effectively isolating mixed race individuals from both the whites they allegedly “wished to be” and the non-whites they wish to allegedly “wish to flee”; and fourthly, It leveled scorn upon those interracial unions that would bring such “hybrids” into the world.

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mulatto

Posted in Definitions, History on 2009-08-23 03:39Z by Steven

Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent or a person who has both black ancestry and white ancestry.  The term may be perceived as pejorative in some cultures and situations.  Its current usage varies greatly.

The etymology of the term is uncertain. It may be derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word mulato, which itself is derived from mula, mule; from Old Spanish; from Latin mūlus), by analogy with the mule, which is the hybrid offspring of a horse and a donkey…

Wikipedia

miscegenation

Posted in Definitions, History on 2009-08-23 03:35Z by Steven

Miscegenation (Latin miscere “to mix” + genus “kind”) is the mixing of different racial groups, that is, marrying, cohabiting, having sexual relations and having children with a partner from outside one’s racially or ethnically defined group.

The term “miscegenation” has been used since the nineteenth century to refer to interracial marriage and interracial sex, and more generally to the process of racial admixture, which has taken place since ancient history but has become more global through European colonialism since the Age of Discovery.  Historically the term has been used in the context of laws banning interracial marriage and sex, so-called anti-miscegenation laws. It is therefore a loaded word and is considered offensive by many.

Today, the word miscegenation is avoided by many scholars, because the term suggests a distinct biological phenomenon, rather than a categorization imposed on certain relationships. The word is considered offensive by many and other terms such as “interracial,” “interethnic” or “cross-cultural” are more common in contemporary usage. However, the term is still used by scholars when referring to past practices concerning multiraciality, such as anti-miscegenation laws that banned interracial marriages…

Wikipedia

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DOI (digital object identifier)

Posted in Definitions on 2009-08-23 03:27Z by Steven

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) System is a managed system for persistent identification of content-related entities on digital networks.  These entities may be content items (digital files, physical objects, abstract works), or any related entities in a content transaction (e.g. licenses, parties, etc.).  “DOI” is sometimes used to mean the identifiers within this system; hence the use of the term alone is deprecated unless the meaning is sufficiently clear from an earlier mention or the specific context: instead it should always be used in conjunction with a specific noun. The DOI name is the identifier string that specifies a unique object (the referent) within the DOI System; the DOI syntax is the form and sequence of characters comprising any DOI name, specifically the prefix element, separator, and suffix element; and the DOI System is the functional deployment of DOI names as identifiers in computer sensible form through assignment, resolution, referent description, administration, etc…

Wikipedia

half-caste

Posted in Definitions, History, United Kingdom on 2009-08-22 03:36Z by Steven

Half-caste  is a term used to describe people of mixed race or ethnicity. Caste comes from the Latin castus, meaning pure, and the derivative Portuguese and Spanish casta, meaning race. The term originates from the Indian caste system, where a person of ‘lesser’ or half-caste would be deemed to be of a ‘lower class’. While the origins of the term are derogatory, its usage has evolved to give it the more objective meaning described above.

Half caste is a term used in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking parts of the world. An example is a child of black African and white European parentage. The term mulatto (from Spanish “Mulato”) has also been used for this particular mixture. Both terms are considered impolite and potentially offensive in the U.S., as the words have been used pejoratively in the past to ostracize and isolate the offspring of such unions. For example, “children of the plantation” (the children of African-American slaves and their European-American masters in the U.S. Southern states) were not accepted as heirs, and in most cases, the relationship was never acknowledged, and “half-caste” conveyed the deliberate exclusion. The term ‘half caste’ was once commonly used in the U.K. and remains in occasional use today.

Wikipedia

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