A Global Look at Intermarriage

• In Event: 391 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Paper Session. Rethinking Race and Nation: Transnational and Comparative Approaches

Abstract

The importance of studying mixed race in a global perspective is gaining momentum. The global economy, growing rates of immigration, and rapidly advancing information and communication technologies have brought diverse groups in closer contact in more areas of the globe. Amidst widespread claims of a post-racial or colorblind world, the othering of certain groups and racialized discourse remains, and is often most clear in debates over the possibility or perceived threat of intimacy and sex with racialized Others. Mixing across established boundaries of race, ethnicity, religion or tribe is still dangerous, and these realities need to be studied globally. While there are countless academic studies and media reports on this issue, rarely do these studies attempt to look across nations and states, so many questions remain. What are attitudes toward “mixing?” How are these differences articulated and what are the underlying reasons that these perceived differences matter, particularly when it comes to intimate and familial relations? And in an ever-changing globalised world, is there a way to understand the experiences of mixed people and families in a global context, or is there too much difference—different histories, different populations and different contexts to find common ground? Therefore this article highlights findings from my current study of attitudes toward intermarriage that spans ten countries on six continents, emphasizing the need for a global framework for understanding mixed marriage and mixed identities.

Author

• Erica Chito Childs, City University of New York-Hunter College and Graduate Center