What Are You?: Exploring the Racial Identity Experience of Part-Latinos

• In Event: 322 - Regular Session. Multiracial Identity, Beauty, and Dating

Abstract

Since 1970, the number of the offspring of Latino intermarriage has been on the rise in the U.S. In places like California, part-Latinos already make up more than two thirds of all mixed births. Yet, there has been relatively little work in mixed race studies on part-Latinos, when compared to multiracial blacks and Asians. This lack of research may stem in part from the current Census classification of Latinos as an “ethnic” group that can “be of any race.” As a result, the Census does not include Hispanic origins as categories in the race question and instead contains separate questions on race and Hispanic origin. Therefore, part-Latinos may occupy a precarious position within mixed race discourse. In this paper, I explore the racial identity experiences of three part-Latino groups: Latino/whites, Latino/blacks, Latino/Asians. Through interviews with 50 people of partial Latino ancestry from the greater New York metropolitan area, results indicate that most part-Latinos racially identify as “mixed” or as “both” Latino and white, black, or Asian. Findings also show that their racial identification can shift over time and across contexts. In addition, part-Latino share racial identity experiences similar to those found in previous research on non-Latino multiracial people. While findings reveal similarities in racial identity experience across the three part-Latino groups, they are notable group differences. Implications of findings are discussed.

Author

• Michael Hajime Miyawaki, Hendrix College