Multiracial Identity: Personal Choice or Public Domain?

• In Event: 324 - Section on Race, Gender, and Class Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 08. RGC and Identity

Abstract

Many posit that multiracial individuals have a choice in how to define themselves racially and can live comfortably in various contexts. This assumption leads to the beliefs that multiracial individuals do not experience racism and are, evidence of a post-race society. However, current research indicates these beliefs may be erroneous. For example, Sanchez and Bonam (2009) found that college applicants who indicated their biracial backgrounds on applications, may have been unfairly evaluated by those making admissions decisions when compared to candidates who selected White or no racial affiliation (p. 139), leaving the impression that biracial individuals are penalized in the eyes of evaluators. This is opposite to the notion of a discrimination free existence for multiracial individuals.
Building on these findings and the research of others, this presentation focuses on findings of a mixed-methods examination of racial identity development, influences of the perception of race on social interactions, and racial identification from the perspective of multi-racial individuals. Two-hundred and eleven respondents provided data relative to their expressions of race, from development through present day interactions. Findings indicated the concept of race is experienced along a continuum where one does not fit cleanly into a singular racial category, and expressions of racial difference are most often experienced in response to the act of imposed identity. The processes of shifting and the use of cultural cues will be discussed, as will be the issues of real and perceived power in terms of influencing if, when and how one expresses racial alignment.

Author

• Nichole Crystell Boutte-Heiniluoma, Ashford University