Extremely thought-provoking, has me questioning some of my attitudes (as a mixed-race person) towards my hair, family relationships & behaviour. I’m now having difficult, but very necessary, inquiries into my own unconscious biases regarding race and confronting my internalised racism. I’m now even questioning whether I want to identify as being ‘mixed-race’ due to the problematic association with the idea of ‘different races’ (race is a social concept and I’m still deciding whether I want to contribute to such a potentially dangerous construct). We are complicated and smart and able to navigate multiple cultures, we are an asset, we are here to stay, and we have a voice. The new documentary aims to change perceptions about mixed-race people (Picture: Ryan Cooper-Brown) THOUGHT-PROVOKING’ Bernardine Evaristo | ‘IMPORTANT’ Melissa Hemsley | ‘RAZOR-SHARP’ Nels Abbey | ‘ESSENTIAL’ Jaspreet Kaur | ‘INSPIRATIONAL’ Sophie Williams | ‘REVEALING’ Tineka Smith | ‘NECESSARY’ Natalie Alexis Lee At the same time, I didn’t want to feel like that was denying my mom. Even though I don’t identify as a white person, I was raised by a white mom who has a beautiful history and life too. So I don’t like to discount that.

New documentary ‘Being Both’ explores mixed-race identity New documentary ‘Being Both’ explores mixed-race identity

As the. aunt of two mixed-race nephews, I read this with real interest. Interesting reading that made me think, even more. In terms of policy and practice, multiculturalism was a way of invisibilising race. There remain limits to Australian multiculturalism, as Ghassan Hage ( 1998) noted in White Nation, with the power to ‘tolerate’ difference and govern inclusion into the national community still resting in the hands of the (unnamed) White majority. Rhetorically, though, Australia as ‘the most successful multicultural country’ is a strong theme in representations of the nation (Busbridge, 2020), and, I have argued, frames how mixedness is seen. While Hage’s critique is valid, there are very high levels of support for multiculturalism in Australia (consistently at about 84% according to the Scanlon surveys overseen by Andrew Markus, see Scanlon Institute, 2020). Australians like to see themselves as multicultural and perceive that this is what is distinctive about them as Australians, as opposed to those from other countries (Brett & Moran, 2011). This fourth legacy creates a particular social and political environment that allows pride to be taken in mixedness, at least of a certain type. Fozdar, F., & Perkins, M. (2014). Antipodean mixed race. In Global mixed race (pp. 119–143). University Press. This was incredibly insightful into experiences of micro-aggressions, dealing with everyday racism, navigating family and other relationships concerning racism and the duality of navigating a plethora of racial and ethnic identities. Caballero, C. (2012). Draughtboard Alley’ to `Brown Britain’: the ordinariness of mixedness in British life. In R. Edwards, S. Ali, C. Caballero, & M. Song (Eds.), International perspectives on racial and ethnic mixedness and mixing. Routledge.Kowal, E. (2016). Descent, classification and indigeneity in Australia. In Mixed race identities in Australia, New Zealand and the pacific islands (pp. 31–47). Routledge. Non-fiction is not my bag at all but this reads so easily. It felt like listening to a podcast. Definitely a good book for readers who don’t regularly read non-fiction, very easy to digest. A good introduction to the experiences of mixed race people and racism. Mostly focused on the experiences of being mixed heritage in Britain but the book definitely has a wider relevance.

The Mixed-Race Experience: Reflections and - WHSmith The Mixed-Race Experience: Reflections and - WHSmith

Luke, C., & Luke, A. (1998). Interracial families: difference within difference. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21(4), 728–754. The Mixed-Race Experience will help you to recognize and confront the racism within your own family and communities, helping us all to deepen our intersectional awareness and commitment to allyship. I was raised by my white mother of Irish heritage, in a predominately white town and I attended very good catholic schools. I once considered myself to be a shy person, afraid to speak in public. However, my close friends knew me differently, and at my core I knew myself differently too. While I remained quiet in high school, college, and beyond, in intimate spaces I could be bold and funny. When I was younger, I used to think that my insecurities came from my youth or my gender. But the older I’ve gotten the more I’ve also come to question how much of my conditioning— to feel quiet, silent, and invisible—has come from my mixed-race heritage? I only recently became confident that I could just, in some circumstances, say “I’m Filipino.” I don’t always have to qualify the basis of my identity to everybody. That is very new for me because people always felt the need to say, “You’re only half,” or remind me that I’m also white . But as I’ve gotten older, and just with more recent conversations about race, I’ve come to realize that I don’t care anymore. I am Filipino, I am white. I don’t always have to say all of my mixed percentages to everybody.This is absolutely incredible. I can’t imagine how useful and relatable and freeing this book must be to those that identify as mixed-race; as a white person I always want to be better and learn and understand the struggles that I will never face. To learn that I should speak with purpose and thought, that we all intentionally or unintentionally invite ignorance into the conversation and how we can unlearn these things and help make progress for those that need it. To give space to everyone, to be a safe space for everyone. Editor Mireille Harper acquired UK, Commonwealth and Europe (non-exclusive rest of the world) rights, excluding Canada and US, including audio, from Silé Edwards at Mushens Entertainment. Park, R. E. (1928). Human migration and the marginal man. American Journal of Sociology, 33(6), 881–893. I sort of remember realizing my race when I was late elementary school age and I had gotten in trouble at my grandmother’s house. And I remember putting, like, baby powder on my skin and like trying to convince myself for whatever reason that I would not be as in trouble if I looked more like my mom.

OUR BOOK — EVERYDAY RACISM

They said: “We are so thrilled that our first book is to be published by the team atSquarePegand it’s an honour to have an editor as knowledgeable and insightful as Mireille Harper. The Mixed Race Experience is the book we wish we could give to our younger selves to show how we can live in the fullness of ourselves. Exploring how we understand race, mixed race relationships, raising multi-racial children and racism within families to understand more about what shapes us as individuals has been humbling and we are hugely excited to share ourwork." Spencer, R. (2012). Mixed-race chic. In E. Higginbotham & M. L. Anderson (Eds.), Race and ethnicity in society: The changing landscape (pp. 67–70). Wadsworth. Bonilla-Silva, E. (2004). From bi-racial to tri-racial: Towards a new system of racial classification in the USA. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 27(6), 931–950.An easy read with many stories and snippets of information, making it accessible to many. It's not academic by any measure, but has a list of references and further information in the end for further reading. Includes many practical tips, including phrases to use, although a few tips seemed overly simplistic. My book has many post it notes marking interesting or new information that I'll definitely revisit from time to time. Guy ( 2018) argues this omission is evidence of the self-congratulatory ‘colour-blind’ approach Australia takes to diversity. In not ‘seeing’ race, Australia pretends that it prioritises universal humanity over racial distinction, and that racism is a thing of the past. This omission is not simply an oversight therefore, suggests Katz ( 2012), but a fundamental part of Australia’s race relations milieu, a wilful unseeing.

The Mixed-Race Experience - Google Books

Busbridge, R. (2020). A multicultural success story? Australian integration in comparative focus. Journal of Sociology, 56(2), 263–270. Rather than colour-blind, Australia is race averse. As a colonial settler nation it carries some guilt at its dispossession and continuing oppression of the Indigenous peoples. The infamous ‘White Australia Policy’, introduced in 1901 as the first piece of legislation of the federated colonies, was a suite of legislative instruments designed to stop immigration by non-whites, and to remove those non-whites already in the country. This explicitly race-based policy, enacted through a dictation test, continued until the late 1960s. Simultaneously, mixed Indigenous children were being removed from their families, to be raised in institutions. The Stolen Generations is the name given to those Aborigines and their descendants who, over generations, were removed, based on the logic that the coloniser should keep the nation ‘pure’ for British settlers and ‘breed out’ Aboriginality (see Guy, 2018; McGregor, 2002). Racial mixing was seen as an opportunity to gradually extinguish colour and culture, in these children. As well as leaving Australians averse to naming race, Guy ( 2018) argues this history has left a legacy of a ‘preference for whiteness’, even if that whiteness is minimal (as in the case of some mixed race people). These related histories are fundamental to how mixedness is experienced and engaged with currently. Being thought of as Asian was definitely foisted onto me. Because I did relatively well in school, there was a lot of like, “Oh, the Asian got a good math score.” There was something that felt off about that. Later I realized that, well, my race has absolutely nothing to do with how I perform in school. They were creating this entire persona and this cruel game out of where my grandmother came from. Toward the end of high school, there was just this resentment of that part of myself. Not necessarily that I wanted to stop being mixed race, but that I just kind of wanted being treated differently to go away. I’m here to tell you, after 25 years of writing and interrogating my own roots and identity, that it doesn’t have to be this way. But where do we begin, especially if we barely know any other mixed-race people?This is a terrific look into a UK-based mixed race experience for younger mixed race people or those who want to educate themselves on the issues specifically surrounding the mixed experience. First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.