Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

From Wikipedia: A métis is a person born to parents who belong to different groups defined by visible physical differences, regarded as racial, or the descendant of such persons. The term is of French origin, and also is a cognate of mestizo in Spanish, mestiço in Portuguese, and mestee in English. In the Western Hemisphere, this term usually is used to describe someone born or descended from the union of a European and an Amerindian. However, the term was used by other groups around the world, mostly in countries which were under French influence, such as Vietnam. It is still commonly used by Francophones today for any multiracial person…

Comments by Steven F. Riley:

Scholar Jayne O. Ifekwunigwe, had used the term métis and/or métisse instead of ‘mixed-race’ in her early works as a way of focusing away from ‘race’ as a form of identity. Her desire was to create a common non-racist, non-sexist term that ‘mixed-race’ individuals could claim as one of their own. But later she states in Mixed Race Studes: A Reader…

“…Using a French-African term in an English context, even if simply for discursive analyses, could be percieved as potentially exoticizing and further marginalizing ‘mixed-race’ subjectivities…”

She goes on to state…

“…Furthermore, one could argue that partially deflecting the attention away from what I call the popular folk concept of ‘race’ to other forms of identification and stratification diminishes the significant and potent function institutionalized racism plays in the maintenance of privilege and power for some and disadvantage and discrimination for others. Finally, in attempting to construct a new lexicon, I am perpetuating a fictional history which ignores the ways in which the social processes of ‘racial’ mixing are themselves old.”

Race and Censuses From Around the World

Posted in Articles, Census/Demographics, Media Archive, Politics/Public Policy, Social Science on 2010-04-09 02:50Z by Steven

Race and Censuses From Around the World

Sociological Images: Inspiring Sociological Imaginations Everywhere
2009-03-29

Lisa Wade, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Occidental College

Different countries formalize different racial categories. Below are examples of the ”race” questions on the Censuses of 9 different countries. They illustrate just how diverse ideas about race are and challenge the notion that there is one “correct” question or set of questions…

Read the entire article here.

Tags: Lisa Wade, Sociological Images: Inspiring Sociological Imaginations Everywhere

What Does “Black” And “White” Look Like Anyway?

Posted in Articles, Barack Obama, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2010-04-09 00:51Z by Steven

What Does “Black” And “White” Look Like Anyway?

Sociological Images: Inspiring Sociological Imaginations Everywhere
2008-10-24

Lisa Wade, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Occidental College

Gwen Sharp, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Nevada State College

These two photos—one of Barack Obama as an adult and one of a young Obama and his Grandfather, Stanley Dunham—are a great opportunity to think a little bit about the social construction of race. Comments from both me and Gwen after the pics.

Lisa: Obama, to my eye, is the spitting image of his grandfather. Yet, we see Obama and Dunham as separate races, members of two categories we see as diametrically opposed, even biologically distinct.

Gwen: I tried a little experiment in class. I put up a photo of adult Obama and I had my students make a list of what characteristics made him identifiably Black, in their view. Every one of them put on their list his nose, lips, and hair, and several made comments about his ears or just that “the combination of all his facial features” was “clearly” Black…

Photo from Mangas Verdes

Read the entire article here.

Tags: Gwen Sharp, Lisa Wade, Sociological Images: Inspiring Sociological Imaginations Everywhere

The Census and the Social Construction of Race

Posted in Articles, Census/Demographics, New Media, Politics/Public Policy, Social Science, United States on 2010-04-09 00:37Z by Steven

The Census and the Social Construction of Race

Sociological Images: Inspiring Sociological Imaginations Everywhere
2010-03-29

Lisa Wade, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Occidental College

Social and biological scientists agree that race and ethicity are social constructions, not biological categories. The U.S. government, nonetheless, has an official position on what categories are “real.” You can find them on the U.S. Census…

…Alvaro V. asked us to talk a little bit about the Census. So, here are some highlights from the hour-long lecture I give in my Race and Ethnicity course…

Read the entire article here.

Tags: Lisa Wade, Sociological Images: Inspiring Sociological Imaginations Everywhere

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Mixed Race Studies

Race and Censuses From Around the World

What Does “Black” And “White” Look Like Anyway?

The Census and the Social Construction of Race

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