Transracial (identity) – Wikipedia

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Cultural identity

Transracial is a term that has predominantly been used to describe someone raised by adoptive parents of a different ethnic (“racial”) background.

Controversy over the term[edit]

Historically, transracial has been used 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]

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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[edit]

  • Rachel Dolezal is known for identifying as a black woman despite having been born to white parents.[6][9][10] She successfully passed as black, to the extent that she took over leadership of the Spokane branch of the NAACP in 2014, a year before her “outing” in 2015.
  • Martina Big, who was featured on Maury in September 2017, is a woman of white ancestry who identifies as black.[11][12] Big has had tanning injections administered by a physician to darken her skin and hair.[11][12]
  • Oli London, a British influencer and singer who identifies as Korean, and has had numerous plastic surgeries to confirm his current racial identity. London modelled his appearance on his idol, BTS singer Jimin.[13]
  • Korla Pandit, an African-American musician who posed as an Indian from New Delhi in both his public and private life. Pandit was born John Roland Redd.[14]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  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. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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. ^ 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.
  14. ^ Spickard, Paul (June 2022). “Shape Shifting: Toward a Theory of Racial Change”. Genealogy. 6 (2): 48. doi:10.3390/genealogy6020048. ISSN 2313-5778.

Further reading[edit]


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