Sociology seminar: Who Is Multiracial? Investigating the Generational Locus of Mixing among 'Multi-Generation' Multiracials (Miri Song)
| Dates: | 9 October 2019 |
|---|
| Times: | 14:00 - 16:00 |
|---|
| What is it: | Seminar |
|---|
| Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
|---|
| Who is it for: | University staff, Current University students |
|---|
| Speaker: | Miri Song |
|---|
|
While there has been significant growth in studies about ‘multiracial’ (or ‘mixed race’) individuals – that is, the children of so-called interracial unions’ – very few studies have investigated the experiences of people who are the descendants of multiracial individuals (such as the children of multiracial people). In Britain, the majority of mixed people are known to partner with White Britons, therefore, their children, whose minority ancestries are at a generational remove, can be called ‘multigeneration’ (2nd or 3rd generation) multiracials.
As ‘mixing’ continues in many societies, and down the generations, what are the social and theoretical implications of this? Generational (and genealogical) distance from a minority ancestry means that some people may possess little awareness of or interest in a minority or multiracial heritage. I argue that increasingly, we must consider the generational locus of ‘mixing’ in studies of multiracial people, so that we clearly differentiate between 1st and 2nd (and even conceivably 3rd) generation mixed people, and explore the differential ways in which multigeneration multiracials do or do not value the generational transmission of minority ancestries.
The growing generational diversification of the mixed population, alongside other forms of super-diversity, means that we need to rethink our understandings of minority status in multiethnic societies such as Britain.
All welcome!
Speaker
Miri Song
Organisation: University of Kent
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
Boardroom (2nd Floor)
Arthur Lewis Building
Manchester
