Multiracialism and Its Discontents: A Comparative Analysis of Asian-White and Black-White Multiracials

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This book addresses the contemporary complexities of race, racial identity, and the persistence of racism.Multiracialism is often heralded as a breakthrough in racial reconciliation; some even go so far as to posit that the U.S. will become so racially mixed that racism will diminish.However, this comparative analysis of multiracials who identify as part-Asian and part-White and those who identify as part-Black and part-White indicates vastly different experiences of what it means to be multiracial.The book also attends to a nuanced understanding of how racism and inequality operate when an intersectional approach of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation is taken into account. It takes a focused look at how multiracialism is shaped by racism, but ultimately reveals a broader statement about race in the U.S. today: that there is no post-racial state and any identity or movement that attempts to address racial inequality must contend with that reality.

Reviews

Strmic-Pawls book makes a novel and substantive contribution to the literature on multiracialism.... Strmic-Pawls scholarly and wide-ranging study provides a particularly robust and incisive analysis of these matters. In a carefully considered and evidence- based set of conclusions, she exposes the falsity of a post-racial America and the idea that multiracialism dismantles the racial hierarchy. * Ethnic and Racial Studies *
InMultiracialism and Its Discontents: A Comparative Analysis of Asian-White and Black-White Multiracials, Hephzibah V. Strmic-Pawl breaks new ground in critical race and multiracial scholarship. She provides empirical evidence ofboththe reality of multiracialism and the diversity of multiracial experiences in the U.S. In doing so, she shows how multiracialism challenges and reconfigures but does not dismantle the racial hierarchy. This bookis an immensely valuable read for anyone interested in better understanding multiracialisms, racialization, and the persistence of racism in the United States today. -- Kathleen Odell Korgen, William Paterson University
The mixed-racepopulation in the United States stands around seven percent. This multiracial category is growing three times faster than the general population. One in seven newlyweds are interracial. Yet, the multiracial category is understudied. Addressing this blind spot is Hephzibah V. Strmic-Pawl's needed and outstanding comparative study that focuses on how this increasingly acknowledged category can affect race relations and the situational and positional identity options used by those who self-identify as being from more than one race. -- Charles A. Gallagher, La Salle University

Author Bio

Hephzibah V. Strmic-Pawl is assistant professor at Manhattanville College.