Racially Mixed People in America

Maria P. P. Root, Ph.D., born in Manila, Philippines, grew up in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from the University of California at Riverside in 1977 with degrees in Psychology and Sociology. She subsequently attended Claremont University in Claremont, California receiving her Master's degree in Cognitive Psychology in 1979. She completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1983 with an emphasis in minority mental health. Dr. Root resides in Seattle, Washington where she is an independent scholar and clinical psychologist. She has been in practice for over 20 years. Her general practice focuses on adult and adolescent treatment therapy, which includes working with families and couples. Dr. Root's working areas of knowledge are broad with emphasis on culturally competent practice, life transition issues, trauma, ethnic and racial identity, workplace stress and harassment, and disordered eating. In the early 1980s, she established a group treatment program for bulimia that grew out of her dissertation work. Subsequently, she trained other professionals to recognize and treat people with a range of disordered eating symptoms. She continues to treat people with eating disorders. Dr. Root's practice also includes formal psychological evaluation. She works as a consultant to several law enforcement departments. She also works as an expert witness in forensic settings performing evaluations and offering expert testimony in matters that require cultural competence and/or knowledge of racism or ethnocentrism. Dr. Root is a trainer, educator, and public speaker on the topics of multiracial families, multiracial identity, cultural competence, trauma, work place harassment, and disordered eating. She has provided lectures and training in New Zealand, England, the Netherlands, Canada, and the United States for major universities, professional organizations, grassroots community groups, and student organizations. Dr. Root's publications cover the areas of trauma, cultural assessment, multiracial identity, feminist therapy, and eating disorders. One of the leading authorities in the field of racial and ethnic identity, Dr. Root published the first contemporary volume on mixed race people, Racially Mixed People in America (1992). Including this book, she has edited two award-winning books on multiracial people and produced the foundational Bill of Rights for Racially Mixed People. The U.S. Census referred to these texts in their deliberations that resulted in an historic 'check more than one' format to the race question for the 2000 census. Dr. Root is past-President of the Washington State Psychological Association and the recipient of national and international awards from professional and community organizations.

Although America has been experiencing a `biracial baby boom' for the last 25 years, there has been a dearth of information about how racially mixed people identify and view themselves as well as relate to one another. Racially Mixed People in America bridges this gap and offers a comprehensive look at all the issues involved in doing research with mixed race people, all in the context of America's multiracial past and present.

PART ONE: RACIAL ECOLOGYWithin, Between, and Beyond Race - Maria P P RootThe Illogic of American Racial Categories - Paul R SpickardThe Human Ecology of Multiracial Identity - Robin L MillerDevelopmental Pathways - Deborah J Johnson Toward an Ecological Theoretical Formulation of Race Identity in Black/White Biracial ChildrenMixed Heritage Individuals - Cookie White Stephan Ethnic Identity and Trait CharacteristicsThe Quiet Immigration - Michael C Thornton Foreign Spouses of US Citizens, 1945-1985Beauty and the Beast - Carla K Bradshaw On Racial AmbiguityPART TWO: RECOVERING THE MULTIRACIAL PASTPassers and Pluralists - G Reginald Daniel Subverting the Racial DivideBlood Quantum - Terry P Wilson Native American Mixed BloodsLa Raza and the Melting Pot - Carlos A Fernandez A Comparative Look at MultiethnicityFrom Dust to Gold - Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde The Vietnamese Amerasian ExperienceAn Invisible Monster - Cynthia L Nakashima The Creation and Denial of Mixed Race People in AmericaPART THREE: WHAT OF THE CHILDRENBack to the Drawing Board - Maria P P Root Methodological Issues in Research on Multiracial PeopleIdentity Development in Biracial Children - James H JacobsBetween a Rock and a Hard Place - Ana Mari Cauce et al Social Adjustment of Biracial YouthNegotiating Ethnic Identity - Jewelle Taylor Gibbs and Alice M Hines Issues for Black/White Biracial AdolescentsOffspring of Cross-Race and Cross-Ethnic Marriages in Hawaii - Ronald C JohnsonPlease Choose One - Christine C Iijima Hall Ethnic Identity Choices for Biracial IndividualsInterracial Japanese Americans - Amy Iwasaki Mass The Best of Both Worlds or the End of the Japanese American Community?Prism Lives - Teresa Kay Williams Identity of Binational AmerasiansThe Developmental Process of Asserting a Biracial, Bicultural Identity - George Kitahara KichPART FOUR: CHALLENGING THE CENSUSIs Multiracial Status Unique? The Personal and Social Experience - Michael C ThorntonColoring Outside the Lines - Christine C Iijima HallMulticultural Identity and the Death of Stereotypes - Philip Tajitsu NashBeyond Black and White - G Reginald Daniel The New Multiracial ConsciousnessFrom Shortcuts to Solutions - Maria P P Root