A new generation of academics is pushing the boundaries of ethnic studies, compelling people to look beyond the traditional minority groups, to the experiences of mixed race individuals in America.By Erica Schlaikjer.
April 2003
Just five years ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find a college course that addressed mixed race issues. But ever since 7 million people self-identified as multiracial in the 2000 census by choosing two or more races, the interest in mixed race studies has exploded. At least sixteen universities across the country—from New Haven, CT to Santa Barbara, CA—offer classes that explore the social implications of being mixed in America. A mixed race movement is clearly taking form: politically, socially, and now, educationally.
“We start at the personal level, and then move to the social and historical issues of race,” says Professor Robert Allen, who teaches a class called People of Mixed Racial Descent at the University of California, Berkeley. The students’ first assignment is to write a 2-3 page autobiographical essay describing how they became aware of their racial and ethnic identity, what they learned, and how it has defined them.
The class, one of the first of its kind, was established in 1981 by Native American professor Terry Wilson. It began as a response to the growth of the mixed race population, especially in California’s Bay Area, as well as student interest on campus. Historically, the West has always been very multiracial because of high immigration levels and an early end to laws against interracial marriage. Forty percent of the 6.8 million U.S. residents who checked off more than one box for race live in the West, so it’s no wonder many mixed race studies courses originate in states like California.
Allen’s class has over a hundred students. About half are multiracial (of “all imaginable, possible combinations,”) others are involved in interracial relationships, and some are neither.
Allen uses a variety of literature, texts, readings, films, and speakers to teach the subject matter. An anthology edited by Teresa Williams-Leon and Berkeley Graduate student Cynthia Nakashima “The Sum of Our Parts” and Dr. Maria Root’s “The Multiracial Experience: Racial Borders As the New Frontier” serve almost as “textbooks” in the class, although, many fictitious novels telling stories of mixed people around the world are also included in the course’s critical analysis of race.
Another approach to mixed race studies is finding where one fits in the bigger picture. Prof. Steven Ropp teaches Biracial and Multiracial Identity in the U.S. at California State University, Northridge. He stresses the importance of “being a part of all the communities we belong to, by having a presence, communicating, staying active.”
The class he currently teaches began about six years ago under the tutelage of Teresa Williams-Leon, professor and co-editor of “The Sum of Our Parts: Mixed Heritage Asian Americans.” This year is the first year Ropp has taught the class. His vision is to create a general multiracial studies class, in hopes that it will draw more students than a class catered to a specific ethnic group.
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