Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

One of the more tragic aspects of the racial worldview has been the seeming dilemma of people whose parents are identifiably of different “races.” Historically, “race” was grounded in the myth of biologically separate, exclusive, and distinct populations. No social ingredient in our race ideology allowed for an identity of “mixed-races.” Indeed over the past century and a half, the American public was conditioned to the belief that “mixed-race” people (especially of black and white ancestry) were abnormal products of the unnatural mating of two species, besides being socially unacceptable in the normal scheme of things. The tragedy for “mixed” people is that powerful social lie, the assumption at the heart of “race,” that a presumed biological essence is the basis of one’s true identity. Identity is biology, racial ideology tells us, and it is permanent and immutable. The emphasis on and significance given to “race” precludes any possibility for establishing our premier identities on the basis of other characteristics. In this sense it may be argued that the myth of ”race” has been a barrier to true human identities.

Audrey Smedley, “‘Race’ and the Construction of Human Identity,” American Anthropologist, Volume 100, Issue 3 (September 1998): 690-702. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/aa.1998.100.3.690.

being mulatto is longing for oneself, just like the despised hermaphrodite outcries the conflict between the sexes.

…being mulatto is longing for oneself [o mulato é saudade de si mesmo] just like the despised hermaphrodite outcries the conflict between the sexes… the mestiço is thus an unexpected being in the plan of the world, an unfortunate experiment of the Portuguese.

Mendes Correia, 1940: 122

Tags: Mendes Correia

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 at 02:42Z and is filed under Excerpts/Quotes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Pages
Categories
- Africa (404)
- Anthologies (293)
- Anthropology (1,163)
- Articles (8,690)
- Arts (1,264)
- Asian Diaspora (1,414)
- Audio (466)
- Autobiography (1,057)
- Barack Obama (717)
- Biography (1,040)
- Book/Video Reviews (734)
- Books (2,100)
- Brazil (514)
- Campus Life (462)
- Canada (468)
- Caribbean/Latin America (1,403)
- Census/Demographics (1,072)
- Chapter (45)
- Communications/Media Studies (487)
- Course Offerings (158)
- Definitions (43)
- Dissertations (446)
- Economics (112)
- Europe (548)
- Excerpts/Quotes (946)
- Family/Parenting (619)
- Forthcoming Media (56)
- Gay & Lesbian (167)
- Health/Medicine/Genetics (763)
- History (3,428)
- Identity Development/Psychology (2,106)
- Interviews (694)
- Judaism (191)
- Latino Studies (496)
- Law (946)
- Letters (11)
- Literary/Artistic Criticism (1,466)
- Live Events (662)
- Louisiana (247)
- Media Archive (12,295)
- Mexico (235)
- Mississippi (80)
- Monographs (1,442)
- My Articles/Point of View/Activities (52)
- Native Americans/First Nation (671)
- New Media (451)
- Novels (248)
- Oceania (212)
- Papers/Presentations (233)
- Passing (1,238)
- Philosophy (201)
- Poetry (95)
- Politics/Public Policy (1,797)
- Religion (489)
- Reports (64)
- Slavery (793)
- Social Justice (341)
- Social Science (2,989)
- Social Work (194)
- South Africa (138)
- Statements (9)
- Teaching Resources (136)
- Texas (65)
- Tri-Racial Isolates (100)
- United Kingdom (1,066)
- United States (8,760)
- Videos (564)
- Virginia (219)
- Wanted/Research Requests/Call for Papers (145)
- Women (1,386)
Calendar of Posts

April 2024

M T W T F S S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30

« Mar
Links
Meta

Mixed Race Studies

being mulatto is longing for oneself, just like the despised hermaphrodite outcries the conflict between the sexes.

Pages

Categories

Calendar of Posts

Links

Meta