When I say words like "mixedness", "liminal", "betwixt" or "between", what comes to mind?
From the 13th-15th June 2024, I had the privilege of attending/ presenting at the Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS) conference at Ohio State University in the United States, where these words were at the epicenter of discussions within a community, movement, and academic capacity.
As a 'mixed race' woman, it was a joy to be surrounded by a multitude of global and liminal identities throughout the day, embodying a sense of value for mixedness and how important this research truly is.
Typically in the UK, mixedness is described in deficit terms, such as isolated and un-belonging, but this conference reconstructed this to something more complicated - not as something that has 'solved' racism, but also not something to be ashamed of.
In my talk, I discussed my paper "I'm not white": Counter-stories from 'mixed race' women navigating PhDs", showcasing what 'mixed race' meant in UK contexts, and how it impacted career trajectories of 'mixed race' women in their PhDs. This lead to numerous discussions about the UK would benefit from an increased CMRS approach, and a further need to appreciate those already doing the work.
I wanted to share a few key messages I took away from the conference for those who did not get the chance to attend in person, and where I see the field's trajectory going from here in UK contexts.
Critical Mixed Race Studies
Stemming from the application of Critical Race Studies, aiming to centre race and racialised experiences, CMRS centres 'mixed race' identities and approaches within research. More about the histories can be read here, but essentially it pushes for mixedness to be considered as more just an object of analysis which it has been previously.
In the UK, there was a surge of research from the 1980's onward in histories of mixedness in Britain, but has been relatively erased prior, making it an important topic to be discussing in contemporary research.
Within the field of CMRS, it is more than 'race' but the conception of mixedness and liminality as a whole. There was scholarship discussing transracial adoption and adoptees, as well as sexuality and gender in the context of mixedness. This represents the breadth of this approach to research as well as the self.
At the conference, I had the privilege of meeting two of the founders of CMRS, Wei Ming Dariotis and Laura Kina,(authors of the book War Baby Love Child), who described CMRS as more than a discipline. Wei Ming described it as a movement, as a dance, that could make its way into several disciplines and research areas and should not just be confined to one. It is inherently interdisciplinary, decolonial, and global in its foundations, making it an excellent field of study to assess themes of whiteness and power in specific spatial contexts.
A special consideration for Professor G. Reginald Daniels, a pioneer in CMRS who influenced an entire generation of scholars and activists. He recently passed away, reflecting a loss in the academic field, and I wish I had the opportunity to meet this inspirational man. He was generous to gift his library to the conference, allowing us to take parts of him and his mind with us. It was very special to see the collection of 'mixed race' literature he curated, and he allowed me to see what my future library could look like one day.
Key messages
I came across four key messages from the conference I wanted to discuss:
- Firstly, how the conference outlined the complexities and nuances within the topic of liminality and existing within these spaces.
- Secondly, how CMRS has been and continues to be utilised to interrogate systems of power.
- Thirdly, how increasing racial literacy has been impacted by CMRS with examples for how it has been adapted.
- Fourthly, I wanted to highlight the space that the conference created for myself as a Chinese 'mixed race' women, surrounded by other 'mixed race' identities and scholars.
Complexities of liminality
In a keynote by Associate Professor Myra Washington, the founder of the term 'Blasian' (Black Asian), Myra described how CMRS represents the "and" not the "or". That we are not white OR Black, Black OR Asian, but both in tandem in ways we create for ourselves. This provided a basis to appreciate 'mixed race' identities without romanticising them.
Myra reflected on her journey with CMRS and her contention with the possibility of a form of 'mixed race' sensibility, a possible 'mixed race' consciousness. She concluded while we may not have one, there is something there, a form of solidarity, kinship, shared trauma, something that brings us together even when we do not share a racial background, or even mixed identities.
This led to numerous discussions around what liminality means in different contexts. In particular, in different artistic expressions
On a global scale, Alma Villanueva theorised mixedness through structural, geopolitical and contextual analytics of power. Through the use of photography, Alma discouraged the act of homogenising all 'mixed race' experiences, as on the global scale, we cannot preemptively bond with one another. She argued that thinking about global ‘mixed race’ identities revealed a lot about nation states and racial oppression based in geographical location.
Another example of artistic expression can be seen by the articulation of mixedness through literature.
Jody Metcalfe discussed representations of first-generation mixed-race identities in post-apartheid South African literature, examining two novels that showcased mixed-race characters as ‘in-between’ and ‘hybrids’ as legacies of apartheid processes of racialisation. She showed how all the characters represented different images of the ‘muletto/a’, showing the various ways it can be conceptualised and experienced.
Roberta Wolfston opened my eyes to a new subject area, showing how racial imposter syndrome can be explored through the context of the death of a loved one. She showcases how a ‘mixed race’ book character experiences the loss of her Black mother, taking with her the Black identity that acted as a signifier of her racialisation. With the death of her mother came the death of her Black identity. She showed me how art and literature can be utilised to create emotional and meaningful stories around mixedness in new ways.
Through the complexities of liminality being revealed, I became fascinated with this question: what does it mean to have a 'mixed race' community? And what does this mean for UK higher education?
Interrogations of power
The discussions around what liminality meant also transitioned into reflections on interrogations of power.
In a workshop session, facilitators Aeriel A. Ashlee, Lisa Combs, and Orkideh Mohajeri presented a unique session encouraging us to reflect on racial liminality as a post-oppositional approach to interrogating power. Through this, we reflected on themes of what it meant to occupy a space ‘betwixt and between’. This certainly left us all with more questions than answers, which is what makes it so interesting.
Did it mean we were confined to a particular small space? Did it mean we had a lot of room to manoeuvre, did it mean we could be powerful, or did it act as a signifier of colonial power and a legacy of imperialism? Were we trapped or free?
All these questions were excellent ways of interrogating
power. We could see power as a liberatory practice, but it was also a form of
oppression many people could not see as a positive personal association. As we
have inherited systems of harm through our bodies, could we imagine a form of
power that is more than oppression? This was extremely interesting to think
about and discuss with the group, and a discussion I hope we continue.
Even the 'critical' in CMRS was interrogated.
Anna Storti felt mixedness was like being 'torn'. She beautifully described being torn, not as a product of historical imperial violence, but a recognition of that historical violence without becoming less of a person along with it. A person is a collection of these torn pieces, and the legacies of colonial rule are only part of those histories.
Anna wonderfully critiques whiteness through the contexts of conflict, as imperialism left seeds of decay that can ruin the ‘fruit’ that comes after. In other words, we take on the language and actions of the coloniser and with that, the trauma of the past with us in our mixed identities. She argues a tear, much like mixedness, is neither good nor bad, but a recognition of the past and what it has created.
In my paper "I'm not white" I discuss how 'mixed race' women in the UK revealed this interesting space to interrogate whiteness without taking away from the agency and power behind 'mixed race' women's identities and experiences of life. Another way I argue higher education should and must take a more multiracial approach to race equity.
Increasing racial literacy
What this revealed to me was not only what higher education in the UK could learn from CMRS and its approaches, but the ways CMRS opens a creative learning space in ways other disciplines and approaches do not.
The creation of space and belonging
There are two words that best describes this conference for me: healing and solidarity. These two words work in tandem as they support and uphold the other.
Through providing a healing space through the distinct presence of mixedness felt in the room, and a recognition of our traumatic yet beautiful shared and un-shared pasts provided an inherent felt solidarity.
The act of a form of community support in solidarity to valuing each others research and articulating the importance of our 'mixed race' identities was a personal and collective healing process from the monoracial spaces we usually occupy.
What this created was a vision, a vision for my academic futures.
As a researcher in PhD and early career researchers' career trajectories, this acted as a critical moment in my career trajectory: the moment I saw where what I could be. Looking up to all these academics who pushed for the importance of CMRS, who took the time and effort to carve out an international space for us to feel seen and valued, a space where our work is understood and essential, was truly a life changing experience.
It shows how one mentor, one conference, one day, can change an entire life.
Conclusion
Don't get me wrong, there is brilliant work taking place in the UK on 'mixed race' identities that started well before I came along. For example, the work from the company Mixedracefaces is a storytelling platform that showcases the lived experiences of 'mixed race' Britain and Amsterdam through photographs and narratives. You can see the Loughborough collaboration here. Charities are also involved in the work, such as the work of People in Harmony, designed to educate, celebrate, stimulate, and support 'mixed race' people, families, and couples.
Academic research has also inspired much of this work. Miri Song has written on these topics for a long time, also posing the questions around a multiracial community or identity in the UK. Additionally, the work of Karis Campion has addressed these questions, interrogating what it means to encompass these 'in between' identities in UK culture.
For me, I think about my 'mixed race' identity. How it has the ability to occupy a complex and nuanced space I created for myself, outside the bounds of the colonisers racial categories, and where lived experience is an ESSENTIAL part of the narrative, as expressed in my previous blog.
I have not named all the academics I have been inspired by, nor did I name all the speakers that influenced me at the conference, but I am grateful for you all, and hope to see you all in my work soon.
(Hint hint to anyone looking to take on a post doctoral researcher, hint hint)
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