GenerAsian @ NYU

Biracial individuals are those who have parents that are of two different races or those who can trace their heritage to two different races. Multiracial individuals are those who can trace their heritage to more than two races. Even when we accept that race is a social construction, this does not mean that we can escape its effects on our social reality. Race manifests itself in our everyday lives in both subtle and obvious ways, no matter if you’re White, Black, Asian, or Latino/a.

A greater percentage of biracial individuals are claiming a mixed status as a result of more diverse and supportive communities. For the first time in U.S. history, individuals were able to indicate more than one racial category in the 2000 Census. Over 7 million Americans, almost 3% of the US population, identify themselves as bi- or multi-racial. Percentages vary greatly by region; for example, in California 21% of the population claimed a multiracial status and estimates show this percentage is expected to increase.

Why have so many people come to embrace their biracial identity? Why does Tiger Woods refer to himself as “Cablinasian, reflecting his Caucasian, Black, and Asian background?” How do biracial people come to define themselves with such complex and all encompassing terms? Why not just say Chinese? Black? White?

Historically, the one drop rule made a person Black and no longer White, even when only this small percentage of one’s background was Black. White was viewed as the template and race against which all others were compared. To mix anything with the purity of Whiteness tainted it so that it was no longer pure.

The development of a coherent and positive mixed identity is a salient issue not only for mixed race individuals, but for much of the world. Migration and increased globalization has softened the boundaries between particular groups, cultures, races, and nations. We are beginning to break away from binary distinctions and are moving toward a postmodern understanding of identity. This new conceptualization necessitates a richer understanding of the complexity of individuals within a plurality of contexts.

How do biracial people come to define
themselves with such complex and all encompassing terms?
Why not just say Chinese? Black? White?

The field of Psychology has only recently begun to seriously examine humans in their multiple contexts, including families, schools, neighborhoods, countries, and religions. Previously, multiple-heritage identities were seen as problematic and writings on mixed-race individuals contained underlying tones of racism and prejudice. Much of the psychological literature assumed that mixed-race individuals would not develop a coherent and secure identity. Erik Erikson, a Freudian Ego-Psychologist whose conceptualizations of identity have significantly shaped modern American views of identity and adolescence, wrote that an unresolved identity “crisis” leaves an individual feeling lost and unconnected to a greater community. Individuals who had to reconcile different parts of their identity were thought to be at a greater risk of not resolving their identity crisis. (Erikson himself struggled with his identity as the blue-eyed, blonde-haired son of a Danish father and Jewish mother.)

While the need to reconcile different or conflicting parts of one’s heritage or personality remains, thankfully times have changed and most psychological researchers and theorists no longer view multiracial and multiethnic individuals as being problematic. Instead a more positive approach is taken and researchers have begun to search for and articulate a unique developmental process in the development of a mixed racial identity. The study of biracial identity development is still a very new area in Psychology. Most of the literature available is found only in dissertation form as unpublished pieces by doctoral students.

Still, several studies have found that biracial individuals go through a unique process in the development of a biracial identity that includes various changes in their attitudes, thoughts, and feelings about being biracial throughout their life. They note that a biracial identity is asserted gradually as individuals experiment and shift between various cultures. Rather than remaining as an outsider in two cultures, individuals who assert their biracial identity come to integrate both cultures. W.S.C. Poston proposed a five-stage identity process:

     · Stage One: consists of primarily younger children who have not yet formed any        kind of group identity and self-esteem.
     · Stage Two: individuals choose a group to identity with; this choice is influenced        by a variety of social factors including a person’s home, neighborhood, friends,        and school.
     · Stage Three: enmeshment or denial when confusion and guilt result from the         individual’s rejection by majority group members. Tension between conflicting        parts of oneself may lead to internalized oppression, anxiety, depression, and        low self-esteem.
·      Stage Four: individual learns to appreciate their multiple identities and make a        concerted effort to learn more about themselves and their histories by        exploring their roots.
     · Stage Five: individuals cherish all parts of themselves and connect the parts        into a valued whole.