Multiethnic is a term to acknowledge the mixed culture and history they have grown up with. Anyone who has to identify as (African, Asian, Mexican, Brazilian, Indian, etc)-American will have a multiethnic background because they are negotiating a mixed of cultures between their home/native/ancestral culture and the U.S. culture. "Multiethnic" can also be used by people who grow up as one race but identifies with another race's culture (such as a White person who identifies with Hip Hop or Mexican culture).
History
First and foremost, race and ethnicity are social constructs. There is no race gene that determines one's race. Race and ethnicity will vary in different locations and social arenas. The definitions provided above...
Many white people may actually be mixed race if their heritage comes from different European nations, but because white has been constructed to include most of Western Europe, people will just claim White instead of each heritage. The same may be applied to Black people whose mixed race heritage may be lost due to the social construct of Black.
There is a long history of Mixed Race that needs to be researched and written about.
When Africans were forced to come to the U.S. as slaves, there was racial mixing between Whites and Blacks that lead to offspring. Because of the One Drop Rule, any person who had even one drop of Black blood would be racialized as Black. When the Chinese, Japanese, Pilipinos and Koreans settled in the U.S., they were largely bachelor societies with very few women because of exclusionary laws passed by the U.S. government. Asian then began to marry White, Black, Mexican and Native Americans to start a family.
Japanese-Americans have the highest rate of outmarriages amongst the Asian American community. Outmarriage means to marry someone different from one's own race.
The 2000 Census was the first time that people were allowed to mark off more than one box for racial identification. Prior to this, people were forced to select only one box.
Lamar Heystek, UCD alumni who is mixed race with Dutch and Indonesian ancestry, currently sits on the Davis City Council.
University
Currently at UCD, students are allowed to check all of the races they identify with. BUT when the university inputs this info into their system, the student's race with least representation at the school is marked as their only race. So unfortunately, a statistic of students identifying as mixed race is not available.
Example: JoAnnaRich is mixed and marked off the Pilipino, White/Caucasian, Native American boxes but on University records will be marked as Native American. Other Examples:
- Black and White -> Black
- Mexican and Black -> Black
- Asian and Mexican -> Mexican
The Cross Cultural Center has a multiethnic intern.
CAPS has a Multicultural Immersion Program (MIP) featuring workshops such as "Check One Box: Mixed Race Identity" and "Mixing It Up: Interracial Dating and Relationships."
Classes
ASA 120 - Multiracial Asian Pacific American Issues NAS 134 - Race and Sex: Race Mixture and Mixed Peoples AMS 154 - Race, Culture and Society in the United States AAS 100 - Survey of Ethnicity in the U.S. AAS 156 - Language and Identity in Africa and the African Diaspora AAS 180 - Race and Ethnicity in Latin America HIS 7A - History of Latin America to 1700 HIS 7B - History of Latin America, 1700-1900 HIS 7C - History of Latin America, 1900-present
Student Organizations and Events
Mixed Student Union (MSU) is the only student organization on campus devoted to the mixed race, multiethnic, and transracial adoptee community. One Drop is an AS Papers publication that focuses on mixed heritage. Mixed Heritage Week Motley Movie Medley - Annual showcase of films for, by and about mixed heritage people.
Library
Shields Library offers a few books about mixed heritage in the E184 section. Currently all off the MAVIN magazines, which focus on mixed heritage issues, is being bound and will be available again in Spring quarter.
Professors
Several UCD professors are mixed heritage, research, teach classes, and/or have written books about being mixed: Kevin Johnson -King Law School - How Did You Get To Be A Mexican?; A Reader on Race, Civil Rights, and the Law: A Multiracial Approach; Mixed Race America and the Law: A Reader Jack Forbes - Native American Studies Caroline Valverde - Asian American Studies Clarence Walker - History David G. Smith - Anthropology Yvette Flores-Ortiz - Chicana/o Studies
Graduate Students
Tamu Nolfo is biracial PhD candidate and is currently doing research on mixed race youth. Isis L. Golden is a PhD candidate in Dramatic Art/Performance Studies. "The majority of her research in contemporary Native American Theater, explores issues of bi-racial/multi-racial ethnicity and sovereignty and autonomy."
