Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

Today’s census questions misunderstand both Hispanic and white identity

Right now, census data are distorting one of the most transformative population developments of the early 21st century. A sizable and growing number of young people come from families with one white and one minority parent, as more adults form families across racial and ethnic lines. By far the largest group among them have Hispanic and white European ancestry.

But you wouldn’t know that from the 2000 or 2010 Census results. While 2000 was the first to allow Americans to report a multiracial heritage, neither it nor the 2010 Census allowed people to check off both part Hispanic and part something else.

Why? The culprit is that the census examines race and ethnicity with two questions: first, race; and then Hispanic origins. This format was created in accordance with a 1997 Office of Management and Budget memorandum that defined the standards for collecting and classifying ethnic and racial data to which all federal agencies must adhere.

Richard Alba, “There’s a big problem with how the census measures race,” The Washington Post, February 6, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/02/06/theres-a-big-problem-with-how-the-census-measures-race.

Race-Based Fantasy Realm: Essentialism in the World of Warcraft

Posted in Articles, Literary/Artistic Criticism, Media Archive on 2012-08-22 16:01Z by Steven

Race-Based Fantasy Realm: Essentialism in the World of Warcraft

Games and Culture
Volume 7, Number 1 (January 2012)
pages 48-71
DOI: 10.1177/1555412012440308

Melissa J. Monson
Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver, Colorado

This article explores issues of racial essentialism and ethnicity in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft (WoW). The fantasy world of Azeroth mirrors elements of real-world race-based societies where culture is thought to be immutably linked to race. The notion of biological essentialism is reinforced throughout the gamescape. Race plays a primary role in the social and political organization of Azeroth. Among other things, race determines alliances, language, intellect, temperament, occupation, strength, and technological aptitude. The cultural representation of the respective racial groups in WoW draws upon stereotypical imagery from real-world ethnic groups (e.g., American Indian, Irish/Scottish, Asian, African, etc.).

Read or purchase the article here.

Tags: Games and Culture, Melissa J. Monson, Melissa Monson

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Digital Elves as a Racial Other in Video Games: Acknowledgment and Avoidance

Posted in Articles, Literary/Artistic Criticism, Media Archive on 2012-08-22 03:57Z by Steven

Digital Elves as a Racial Other in Video Games: Acknowledgment and Avoidance

Games and Culture
Volume 7, Number 5 (September 2012)
pages 375-396
DOI: 10.1177/1555412012454224

Nathaniel Poor
Brooklyn, New York, USA

Elves are a long-standing cultural trope in the West, where they have often represented the other and fears associated with otherness. Elves continue to do the same cultural work today and are a fixture of fantasy settings. Fantasy-based video games portray elves in a variety of ways across a few types of elves (high elves, half-elves, and dark elves), but there are consistencies to their portrayal across such spaces. Given the dearth of work on elves in modern narratives, the cultural work of elves as the other in video games is analyzed here. World of Warcraft (WoW), EverQuest II, The Elder Scrolls series, and the Dragon Age series were studied, with Tolkien and Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) as background. Although WoW is somewhat exceptional in its portrayal of elves, digital elves are mostly portrayed similarly to a historically idealized real-world Western minority.

Read or purchase the article here.

Tags: Games and Culture, Nathaniel Poor

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Mixed Race Studies

Race-Based Fantasy Realm: Essentialism in the World of Warcraft

Digital Elves as a Racial Other in Video Games: Acknowledgment and Avoidance

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