Article Title
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Multiracial people traditionally have been categorized as monoracial, thus creating limitations to their identity development (Gibbs 1987; Davis 1991). However, recent societal shifts concerning race have left mixed race individuals with an array of racial identity choices (Huffman 1994; Townsend et al. 2012). To explore such a phenomenon, this study consisted of in-depth interviews with 15 adult Biracial respondents on questions surrounding their experiences as a mixed-race person. The results indicate that Biracial persons come to develop a variety of distinctive racial identities ranging from monoracial to Multiracial. Additionally, the respondents identified three distinct stages in their development of a racial identity including: racial ignorance, racial ambivalence, and racial transcendence. The results of this inquiry affirm perspectives in the literature that Multiracial people continually engage in an iterative process of defining themselves in racial terms via the negotiation of social interaction.
Recommended Citation
Ferguson, Ronald
(2016)
"Mixed Feelings: Identity Development of Biracial People,"
Great Plains Sociologist: Vol. 26:
Iss.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/greatplainssociologist/vol26/iss1/3