Multiracial categorization, identity, and policy in (mixed) racial formations

Kimberly A. DaCosta

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

This article examines recent developments in the literature on multiracial categorization, policy, and identity-one that has grown as data on multiracial populations have become widely available, particularly in the United States since the enumeration of multiple race responses was instituted in Census 2000. Significant new research takes advantage of the data generated by the Census providing new insights to questions and claims about the meanings of mixedness and racial boundaries in the United States that were largely speculative even a decade ago. Though this review focuses primarily on issues related to how state enumeration of mixed race populations reflects and engenders particular identity and group configurations, I also discuss emerging research on interracial intimacy-intermarriage and interracial births-the phenomena from which contemporary attention to multiracial categorization and identity arise. An increasingly internationalist discussion is challenging long-held interpretations of the meaning of intermarriage and multiracial identification for understanding emergent racial formations.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationAnnual Review of Sociology
PublisherAnnual Reviews Inc.
Pages335-353
Number of pages19
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 30 2020

Publication series

NameAnnual Review of Sociology
Volume46
ISSN (Print)0360-0572

Keywords

  • intermarriage
  • interracial intimacy
  • mixed race
  • multiracial classification
  • racial boundaries
  • racial identity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Sociology and Political Science

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