Often, 'mixed race' people are stigmatised as issues in society, as they question the very foundations that 'race' rests on to uphold white supremacy culture. 'Mixed race' can also complicate the boundaries of belonging, which creates uncomfortable emotions for those protective over access to space based on physical appearance. In the context of Black History Month for example, Tré Ventour-Griffiths (2020) argues that the issue is often placed on Multiracial Black-racialised figures in Black History Month campaigns, when the issue is
"there is no gesture or want to discuss Blackness as fluid, which would also mean that Black History has multiple facets and many identities".
What we should be doing is moving away from vilifying 'mixed race' individuals as space invaders, and moving towards questioning our understanding of the social construction of 'race', and working to understand the liminal space many 'mixed race' people reside in.
The term 'mixed race' can also cause tensions, as 'race' can imply biological elements within racial identities. The language utilized in this blog takes 'mixed race' in quotations to address the social construction of 'race', and can be seen as a fluid 'linguistic home' for those who occupy it. Other terms can also be used and all are equally valid depending on the individual, such as biracial, multiracial, mixed heritage, mixed parentage, mixed origins, duel heritage etc. The one thing that always remains consistent, is that you should use the language used by the person describing themselves, and that goes for all identities. Who is going to know it better than themselves? You? Absolutely not.
One thing that concerns me as an academic, is the lack of engagement with 'mixed race' identities in higher education, specifically in the UK. The majority of literature of 'mixed race' students and staff comes from the US, where the language implies difference in experience because of their mixedness. But the issue is social contexts and understanding of race differs geographically, therefore, we cannot just copy and paste US experiences in the context of UK. 'Mixed race' experiences are more than just belonging or not belonging to a racial category created by racist white colonial men. They are complex and nuanced individual lives influenced by both the collective and the self, exploring the liminal spaces in-between, and can provide a imagining into approaches to anti-racism education.
Here, I outline a few common misconceptions into the mixed experience, engage with what 'mixed race' can teach higher education, and what we can do next.
I do not know what 'mixed' is, but I know what it is not.
Common misconceptions:
'Mixed race' always means 'White and [insert race here]'
Assuming and centring whiteness is dangerous. By assuming 'mixed race' identities are always in proximity to whiteness, we perpetuate the idea that 'white' is the default form. Puwar (2004) writes about how whiteness is viewed as 'natural', objective, and apolitical, and if we constantly assume 'mixed race' means 'white', it continues the narrative that whiteness is always there. We can see this perpetuation through census data in the UK, which often describes 'mixed' identities as ‘White or White British and Asian or Asian British” (AdvanceHE, 2020); ever notice the order of the census? Much like how gender is always placed in the order 'male, female, other', whiteness always comes first.
Higher education institutions have been perpetrators to this narrative as well. I once saw a table that was used to teach people about privilege and marginalisation, that looked a little something like this:
|
|
Privilege |
|
Marginalisation
|
|
Race |
White |
Mixed race |
Black |
See the problem?
The first problem I have with it is it assumes whiteness is always associated with power and privilege. Yes, whiteness gives you privilege in higher education spaces that are built from hostile, colonial, white supremacist histories that serve the needs of white bodies over others. However, we can still continue this narrative from a more empowered space. For example, literature on 'mixed race' peoples relation to whiteness when in proximity to it, would stigmatise it, describing it as bland, oppressive, boring, or reject it all together (Storrs, 2011).
Another issue is it narrates 'Black' as 'marginalised'. While we can never ignore facts such as:
- Out of 23,000 professors in the UK, there are only 61 Black female professors
- In 2017/2018 only 3% of PhD students were Black, and only 1.2% were funded by UKRI
- Black students are more likely to attend post-1992 institutions
institutions still need to be careful about how they are narrating the Black experience, as it is often only from a deficit model of thinking rather than an empowering one. Institutions cannot keep narrating to Black students that this is their future, but must shift that narrative into one that emplors how important it is that Black students occupy educational spaces, can thrive and resist within them, and how higher education needs them to make itself better.
So, when we put 'mixed race' in the middle of 'white' and 'Black' (a) it assumes that 'mixed race' means Black and white, and (b) it assumes 'mixed race' people are the middle ground between privileged and marginalised. Which is just not true.
We all have the same experiences
This is just, no, no no.
My experience as a Chinese and white British 'mixed race' woman is not the same as a Black and Japanese 'mixed race' man. That's pretty obvious, right? So why is it that higher educational spaces homogenise the 'mixed' experience.
Understanding 'mixed race' identities can help us begin conversations around racist stereotypes and assumptions as they do not fit under one 'race'. Terms such as Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME), racialised minority, global majority, ethnic minorities etc. they all contain one issue: they homogenise a group of individuals that cannot be homogenised. This is not to say we should not use these words, for example, BAME is often used in policy documentation and thus, legally must be used by certain groups. or are utilized as an attempt to create non-white spaces.
But, we must critically engage with these terms, because what happens when you are Black and Asian? I would be classed 'minority ethnic' but I would define myself as Asian, what do I do then?
I sometimes feel like if I was ever made to stand in a line waiting to 'choose a group', and be forced to pick one or the other, and I would be wrong either way.
Another thing to consider is the concept of colourism.
"Colourism is a system of privilege and discrimination based on skin tone. That is, the degree of lightness in the pigmentation of one’s skin can warrant certain privileges" - Deborah Gabriel
It is important to understand that colourism does not only refer to 'mixed race' people, and again, not just referring to bodies with whiteness. But, it can be common in 'mixed race' communities to experience issues around colourism, whether that be being rejected from monoracial communities (Campion, 2019), or 'mixed race' people visually being racialised as one 'race', therefore experience one 'race'. Colourism highlights how the closer proximity to whiteness, the more privilege you hold, but it also encourages us to view racism as a smart tool that shapes itself to fit its place. It can attempt to pit racial groups against one another, when the issue is and always will be, white supremacy.
'Mixed race' also differs geographically, as 'race' differs geographically. In the book Born a Crime: stories from a South African childhood, Trevor Noah discusses his experience being 'mixed race' in South Africa during the Apartheid. He talks about how racial segregation affected how people viewed his racial identity, being deemed 'coloured', called 'white' by his own family, not being able to see his white father, and the risks attached to being seen with his Black mother in Black neighborhoods. 'Mixed race' identities were a threat as they exposed that races can, and sometimes want to, mix. By discussing the geographical and spatial elements of race through a 'mixed race' lens, it further refuses the power of white supremacy.
The storytelling platform & diversity hub for the mixed-race community Mixed Race Faces does an excellent job not only showing the faces of what 'mixed race' looks like, but inherently challenges the idea that mixed race is a homogeneous group (I hope to be on there one day).
Everyone 'mixed race' identifies as 'mixed race'
One thing I learnt through my research was that although some people recongise themselves as 'mixed race' they do not always identify as such, and that is also okay.
Song and Hashem's (2010) paper 'What Does "White" Mean? Interpreting the Choice of "Race" by Mixed Race Young People in Britain', they discuss people's association with 'best single race'. When 'mixed race' people identified themselves as 'racially white' or 'racially Black' when made to tick a box for a census or categorisation, when speaking to them, found it was much more complex than just linguistically describing themselves as one 'race'.
This is because, again, 'race' is socially constructed, therefore, its less about fitting 'race' with people, but fitting people into 'race'. If you identify as 'mixed race' but experience the life of someone 'racially Black', you may identify yourself as Black, as that is your lived experience. If you have proximity to whiteness and experience life as a white person, you might identify as racially white.
Then, there are others such as myself, who identify as 'mixed race', but also 'Asian' and 'Chinese' depending on who I am with and the context of the space.
There are historical myths of 'mixed race' people being described as deceptive or cunning, as we can be seen to shape shift and trick those with a lack of understanding. 'Racial ambiguity' is not the issue, the issue is those who cannot understand that 'race' does not always look the way you think it will. This was highlighted really well by the podcast Militantly Mixed who said:
"we are not confusing, you are just confused" - Militantly Mixed
(say it again for the people in the back)
What 'mixed race' can teach higher education
'Mixed race women may be envisioned as embodied actors who engage with their life worlds in imaginative and innovative ways' - Minelle Mahtani
Want to use BAME? Well then I will push my body into the space and ask them, where are you going to put me? It inherently challenges the system they use to promote 'diversity' and 'inclusion'.
Just for fun, sometimes if people ask me which half of me is Chinese, I tell them the left half (ha ha).
It reveals how teaching about 'privilege' and 'marginalisation' cannot just be done 'simply' and 'quickly', because denying the 'mixed race' experience means denying the racialised experience, or claiming that the monoracial experience is more important to learn about over any other topic. Higher education needs more spaces to learn, dedicate more time and resources to it, and need to value those who teach it. You cannot just say white is a privilege and Black is marginal, that's not enough, and mixed certainly is not in the middle.
The moment intuitions allowed 'mixed race' people to truly self-identify and not be questioned for it, is the moment it allows everyone to do the same, which higher education does not want. You can't quantify that. But guess what, that's not always the goal.
I do not know what 'mixed race' people want, as I cannot speak for everyone who identifies with the term. However, I can explain some of the things that 'mixed race' people NOT want, coming from my own positionality and experiences.
- We don't want to explain our family histories to you if you are going to invalidate them
- Accent and language do not dictate descent
- Trust my words, do not assume my skin
- Do not tell us where we are from, and do not ask where we are REALLY from
- Our experiences are nuanced and vast, listen. You might learn something.
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