The Multiracial Experience

How might a multiracial concept dismantle our negative construction of race? How do we redefine `ethnicity′ when `race′ is less central to the definition?The Multiracial Experience challenges current theoretical and political conceptualizations of race using the multiracial experience of individuals as a tool for examining these and other questions. Each contribution opens with a personal sketch of the multiracial experience. Topics explored in the book include: the differences between race and ethnicity; colour, gender and sexuality in a multiracial context; and ethnicity and its role in identity formation.

In her bold new edited volume, The Multiracial Experience, Maria P. P. Root challenges current theoretical and political conceptualizations of race by examining the experience of mixed-race individuals. Articulating questions that will form the basis for future discussions of race and identity, the contributors tackle concepts such as redefining ethnicity when race is less central to the definition and how a multiracial model might dismantle our negative construction of race. Researchers and practitioners in ethnic studies, anthropology, education, law, psychology, nursing, social work, and sociology add personal insights in chapter-opening vignettes while providing integral critical viewpoints. Sure to stimulate thinking and discussion, the contributors focus on the most contemporary racial issues, including the racial classification system from the U.S. Census to the schools; the differences between race, ethnicity, and colorism; gender and sexuality in a multicultural context; ethnic identity and identity formation; transracial adoption; and the future of race relations in the United States. The Multiracial Experience opens up the dialogue to rethink and redefine race and social relations in this country. This volume provides discussions key to all professionals, practitioners, researchers, and students in multicultural issues, ethnic relations, sociology, education, psychology, management, and public health. "Dr. Maria P. P. Root′s . . . discussions are thoughtful, analytical, and informative. Root argues that the emergence of a racially mixed population is transforming the racial character of the United States and that the increasing presence of multiracial people necessitates Americans to ask questions about their identity." --Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism "Finally, in one volume, ammunition for the informed debate about what multiculturalism means in the United States." --Lise Funderburg, author of Black, White, Other: Biracial

The Multiracial Experience - Maria P P Root
Racial Borders as a Significant Frontier in Race Relations
PART ONE: HUMAN RIGHTS
A Bill of Rights for Racially Mixed People - Maria P P Root
Government Classification of Multiracial/Multiethnic People - Carlos A Fernández
The Real World - Susan R Graham
Multiracial Identity in a Color-Conscious World - Deborah A Ramirez
Transracial Adoptions - Ruth G McRoy and Christine C Iijima Hall
In Whose Best Interest?
Voices from the Movement - Cynthia L Nakashima
Approaches to Multiraciality
PART TWO: IDENTITY
Hidden Agendas, Identity Theories, and Multiracial People - Michael C Thornton
Black and White Identity in the New Millenium - G Reginald Daniel
Unsevering the Ties That Bind
On Being and Not-Being Black and Jewish - Naomi Zack
An `Other′ Way of Life - Jan R Weisman
The Empowerment of Alterity in the Interracial Individual
PART THREE: BLENDING AND FLEXIBILITY
LatiNegra - Lillian Comas-Díaz
Mental Health Issues of African Latinas
Race as Process - Teresa Kay Williams
Reassessing the `What Are You?′ Encounters of Biracial Individuals
Piecing Together the Puzzle - Lynda D Field
Self-Concept and Group Identity in Biracial Black/White Youth
Changing Face, Changing Race - Rebecca Chiyoko King and Kimberly McClain DaCosta
The Remaking of Race in the Japanese American and African American Communities
Without a Template - Brian Chol Soo Standen
The Biracial Korean/White Experience
PART FOUR: GENDER AND SEXUAL IDENTITY
In the Margins of Sex and Race - George Kitahara Kich
Difference, Marginality, and Flexibility
(Un)Natural Boundaries - Karen Maeda Allman
Mixed Race, Gender, and Sexuality
Heterosexual Alliances - Francine Winddance Twine
The Romantic Management of Racial Identity
Ambiguous Bodies - Caroline A Streeter
Locating Black/White Women in Cultural Representations
PART FIVE: MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION
Making the Invisible Visible - Nancy G Brown and Ramona E Douglass
The Growth of Community Network Organizations
Challenging Race and Racism - Ronald David Glass and Kendra R Wallace
A Framework for Educators
Being Different Together in the University Classroom - Teresa Kay Williams et al
Multiracial Identity as Transgressive Education
Multicultural Education - Francis Wardle
PART SIX: THE NEW MILLENIUM
2001 - Christine C Iijima Hall
A Race Odyssey