Transracial (identity)

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Transracial is a label used by people who identify as a different race than the one they were born into. They may adjust their appearance to make themselves look more like that race, and may participate in activities associated with that race. Use of the word transracial to describe this is new and has been criticized, because the word was historically used to describe a person raised by adoptive parents of a different ethnic or racial background, such as a Black child adopted and raised by a White couple.

Contents

History and usage

Historically, the term transracial was used solely to describe parents who adopt a child of a different race. [1] [2] [3]

The use of the term to describe changing racial identity has been criticized by members of the transracial adoption community. Kevin H. Vollmers, executive director of an adoption non-profit, said the term is being "appropriated and co-opted", and that this is a "slap in the face" to transracial adoptees. [3] In June 2015, about two dozen transracial adoptees, transracial parents and academics published an open letter in which they condemned the new usage as "erroneous, ahistorical, and dangerous." [3] [4] [5]

In April 2017, the feminist philosophy journal Hypatia published an academic paper in support of recognizing transracialism and drawing parallels between transracial and transgender identity. [6] Publication of this paper resulted in considerable controversy. The subject was also explored in Trans: Gender and Race in an Age of Unsettled Identities , a 2016 book by UCLA sociology professor Rogers Brubaker, who argues that the phenomenon, though offensive to many, is psychologically real to many people, and has many examples throughout history. [7] [8]

Examples

See also

Related Research Articles

Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of".

Transracial may refer to:

The Minnesota Transracial Adoption Study examined the IQ test scores of 130 black or interracial children adopted by advantaged white families. The aim of the study was to determine the contribution of environmental and genetic factors to the poor performance of black children on IQ tests as compared to white children. The initial study was published in 1976 by Sandra Scarr and Richard A. Weinberg. A follow-up study was published in 1992 by Richard Weinberg, Sandra Scarr and Irwin D. Waldman. Another related study investigating social adjustment in a subsample of the adopted black children was published in 1996. The 1992 follow-up study found that "social environment maintains a dominant role in determining the average IQ level of black and interracial children and that both social and genetic variables contribute to individual variations among them." Both Levin and Lynn argued that these findings support a hereditarian alternative, while other researchers believed the findings were consistent with both genetic and environmental explanations.

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<i>Hypatia</i> transracialism controversy 2017 academic dispute

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References

  1. ↑ Valby, Karen. "The Realities of Raising a Kid of a Different Race". Time . Archived from the original on December 18, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Growing Up 'White,' Transracial Adoptee Learned To Be Black". NPR. January 26, 2014. Archived from the original on December 25, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 Kai-Hwa Wang, Frances (June 17, 2015). "Adoptees to Rachel Dolezal: You're Not Transracial". NBC News. Archived from the original on January 1, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  4. ↑ Moyer, Justin Wm. (June 17, 2015). "Rachel Dolezal draws ire of transracial adoptees". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on September 24, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  5. ↑ Kimberly McKee, PhD; et al. (June 16, 2015). "An Open Letter: Why Co-opting "Transracial" in the Case of Rachel Dolezal is Problematic". Archived from the original on March 13, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  6. 1 2 Tuvel, Rebecca (2017). "In Defense of Transracialism". Hypatia . 32 (2): 263–278. doi:10.1111/hypa.12327. ISSN   0887-5367. S2CID   151630261.
  7. ↑ Trans: Gender and Race in an Age of Unsettled Identities. Princeton University Press. October 4, 2016. ISBN   9780691172354. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  8. ↑ Brubaker, Rogers (2016). "Introduction" (PDF). Trans: Gender and Race in an Age of Unsettled Identities. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. pp. 1–11. ISBN   9780691172354. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 27, 2019. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  9. ↑ Brubaker, Rogers (2015). "The Dolezal affair: race, gender, and the micropolitics of identity". Ethnic and Racial Studies . 39 (3): 414–448. doi:10.1080/01419870.2015.1084430. ISSN   0141-9870. S2CID   146583317.
  10. ↑ Horne, Marc (October 12, 2021). "Members can identify as black, disabled or female, university union insists" . The Times . Archived from the original on October 13, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
  11. 1 2 Lubin, Rhian (September 22, 2017). "White glamour model with size 32S breasts who spent £50k on cosmetic surgery now 'identifies as a black woman'". Daily Mirror . Archived from the original on October 1, 2017. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  12. 1 2 Valens, Ana (September 22, 2017). "White woman who 'transitioned' races to Black is back". The Daily Dot . Archived from the original on September 29, 2017. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  13. 1 2 Bido, Tatiana (March 20, 2018). "Woman Totally Changes Skin Tone Using Illegal and Harmful 'Barbie Drug'". Yahoo Life. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
  14. ↑ "The Layered Deceptions of Jessica Krug, the Black-Studies Professor Who Hid That She Is White". The New Yorker. September 12, 2020. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  15. ↑ Lumpkin, Lauren; Svrluga, Susan (September 3, 2020). "White GWU professor admits she falsely claimed Black identity". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on September 5, 2020. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  16. ↑ Neumann, Laiken (June 21, 2021). "'This is my new official flag': White influencer says they identify as Korean". The Daily Dot . Archived from the original on June 25, 2021. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  17. ↑ Spickard, Paul (June 2022). "Shape Shifting: Toward a Theory of Racial Change". Genealogy. 6 (2): 48. doi: 10.3390/genealogy6020048 . ISSN   2313-5778.

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