Multiracial: The Kaleidoscope of Mixedness

by hephzibah v. strmic-pawl

Overview

The year 2000 was the first time the US Census permitted respondents to choose more than one race. Although the US has long recognized that a “mixed-race” population exists, the contemporary “multiracial population” presents different questions and implications for today’s diverse society.

This book is the first overview to bring a systematic critical race lens to the scholarship on mixedness. Avoiding the common pitfall of conflating “mixed” with “multiracial,” the book reveals how identity forms and fluctuates such that people with mixed heritage may identify as mixed, monoracial, and/or multiracial throughout their lives. It analyzes the dynamic and various manifestations of mixedness, including at the global level, to reveal its complex impact on both the structural and individual levels. Multiracialcritically examinestopics such as family dynamics and racial socialization, multiraciality in media and popular culture, and intersections of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. 

Integrating diverse theories, qualitative research, and national-level data, this accessible and engaging book is essential for students of race and those looking to understand the new field of multiraciality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509534661
Publisher:	Polity Press
Publication date:	12/27/2022
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

hephzibah v. strmic-pawl is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Manhattanville College.

Table of Contents

Detailed Contents

List of Figures and Tables


CHAPTER 1: MULTIRACIAL AMERICA

CHAPTER 2:  DEFINING MIXED-RACE & MULTIRACIAL

CHAPTER 3: RACE AND FAMILY
  
CHAPTER 4: INTERSECTIONAL IDENTITIES & GLOBAL MIXEDNESS

CHAPTER 5: MULTIRACIALISM IN THE MEDIA
 
CHAPTER 6: NEW, SHIFTING, OR REBOUNDING BOUNDARIES
 

References

Notes

Index

Editorial Reviews

Multiracial tackles the momentous field of mixedness studies in a highly engaging and accessible manner. strmic-pawl provides critical reflection on what studies have shaped our understandings of how mixed-race is defined, whose experiences are highlighted, and the role of social institutions such as family and media. It is an important read for race scholars, as well as anyone interested in issues of mixedness and multiracialism.”
Erica Chito Childs, Hunter College, CUNY Graduate Center

“strmic-pawl not only offers a comprehensive overview of the growing literature on multiracial people, she delivers an indisputable critique of the purported celebration of multiracialism by elucidating how anti-Blackness and White dominance prevail in insidious ways. She engages with important questions about what factors impact racial identity, how institutions shape understandings of multiracial people, and what these patterns indicate about the future of multiracial people. An outstanding contribution to the literature.”
Chandra D. L. Waring, University of Massachusetts–Lowell

“[A] thorough and up-to-date overview of multiraciality and mixed-race studies […T]hrough careful examination of several decades’ worth of scholarship, strmic-pawl emphasizes the significance of multiraciality in the understanding of race as a social construction and how mixedness provides insight into the fluidity of racial identity, race, and racism.”
Ethnic and Racial Studies

 

 

From the Publisher