Relative/Outsider: The Art and Politics of Identity Among Mixed Heritage Students

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Insights into the developmental experiences of mixed heritage high school and university students, whose numbers have doubled in the U.S. every decade since the 1970s. The author explores the ethnic and racial identity formation among high school and college students of racially mixed heritage. The portraits in this book provide a thorough examination of the dynamic ethnic and racial lives of a multifaceted and growing segment of students. Unlike most recent projects on mixed heritage people which are narrow in scope and focus on one set of backgrounds (e.g., black and white or black and Japanese), the subjects in this study represent a vast array of heritages, including those of dual minority ancestry. The students' stories speak volumes about the uneven nature of racial and ethnic experience within and across traditional communities in contemporary U.S. society. Unlike studies analyzing broad intergroup processes, this work begins by examining the cultural dynamics of the home, contributing valuable insights into the otherwise invisible lives of mixed heritage families. Processes of enculturation and discourse acquisition are considered in the development of ethnic identity. The book also helps to frame how changes within the U.S. racial ecology lead many recently mixed heritage individuals to see themselves as occupying (un)common ground.

Reviews

Adding to the fast-growing field of mixed-heritage (race) studies, this book is based on well-mined in-depth interviews with 15 mixed-heritage students in the San Francisco Bay Area. An empirically rich but largely descriptive study of the lives and indentity development of mixed-heritage young people (16-28 years of age), this book would be ideal for teachers or counselors of mixed-heritage students.-American Journal of Sociology
Recommended for lower-division undergraduates through faculty.-Choice
"Recommended for lower-division undergraduates through faculty."-Choice
"Adding to the fast-growing field of mixed-heritage (race) studies, this book is based on well-mined in-depth interviews with 15 mixed-heritage students in the San Francisco Bay Area. An empirically rich but largely descriptive study of the lives and indentity development of mixed-heritage young people (16-28 years of age), this book would be ideal for teachers or counselors of mixed-heritage students."-American Journal of Sociology

Author Bio

Kendra R. Wallace is Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.