Mixed, Blended Nation, and the Politics of Multiraciality

• In Event: Roundtable Session 87
  In Roundtable Session: Praxis, Pedagogy, and the Popular: Engaging Youth, Exploring Texts

Abstract

Whether it is in the media, in politics, in literature, or in education, multiraciality today is called on to represent tropes of racial unity, colorblindness, and bridge-building across races. Within this context, how do visual narratives of multiraciality shape, reflect, reinforce, and challenge discourses of race? In this essay, I consider the function of photographic narratives that seek to bring visibility and legitimacy to multiraciality. Reading Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids by Kip Fulbeck and Blended Nation: Portraits and Interviews of Mixed Race America by Mike Tauber against three significant historical examples of photographic narratives that center multiraciality, I critically examine historical and contemporary themes and tensions in image-based endeavors to trouble notions of racial difference.

Author

• Nana Osei-Kofi, Iowa State University