Transracial (identity)

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This article is about transracial people or transracial identity. For other uses, see Transracial (disambiguation).
Rachel Dolezal has been described as a white person who identifies as black.

Transracial people identify as a different race than the one associated with their ancestry.[1][2]

Theoretical approaches[]

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.[1] 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.[3][4]

Controversy over the term[]

Historically, transracial has been used to describe parents who adopt a child of a different race.[5][6][7]

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.[7] 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."[7][8][9]

Braden Hill, an Aboriginal Australian at Edith Cowan University criticised "transracialism", writing: "There is a difference between affirming your gender as a trans person and choosing to live and appropriate another culture."[10]

Examples[]

  • Rachel Dolezal is known for identifying as a black woman despite having been born to white parents.[1][2][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.
  • Grey Owl, a British-born conservationist who publicly identified as Indigenous. His first wife revealed his ancestry posthumously.[11]
  • Moorish Science Temple of America members must recognize their alleged Moorish origins by declaring their symbolic nationality as Moroccan without proof or documentation of said nationality or ethnicity.[12]
  • Korla Pandit, an African-American musician who posed as an Indian from New Delhi in both his public and private life.[13] Pandit was born John Roland Redd.
  • Martina Big, who was featured on Maury in September 2017, is a woman of white ancestry who identifies as black.[14][15] Big has had tanning injections administered by a physician to darken her skin and hair.[14][15]
  • Ja Du, a trans woman who was born to white parents but considers herself Filipina, created a Facebook page and community for others who self-identify as transracial.[16][17][18]
  • Jessica A. Krug, a woman born to white parents who had been passing as a black woman for her entire professional life.[19][20] Krug is an associate professor of history and Africana Studies at George Washington University. After her ancestry was revealed she resigned and stopped identifying as African.[21]
  • Treasure, a black teenage girl, gained national attention when she appeared on Dr. Phil. She claimed that she was white because body parts such as her hair, nose, and lips resembled a white instead of a black person's,[22] though her sister cast doubts on the veracity of the claim.[23]
  • Oli London, a white British influencer, identifies as "nonbinary Korean". London is known for getting plastic surgery to look like BTS singer Jimin. The Daily Dot defines this as "a transracial identity". London's comments and behaviors have been heavily criticized on social media.[24]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Tuvel, Rebecca (2017). "In Defense of Transracialism". Hypatia. 32 (2): 263–278. doi:10.1111/hypa.12327. ISSN 0887-5367. S2CID 151630261.
  2. ^ a b 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.
  3. ^ "Trans: Gender and Race in an Age of Unsettled Identities". Princeton University Press. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  4. ^ 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. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  5. ^ Valby, Karen. "The Realities of Raising a Kid of a Different Race". Time. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  6. ^ NPR Staff (January 26, 2014). "Growing Up 'White,' Transracial Adoptee Learned To Be Black". NPR. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  7. ^ a b c Kai-Hwa Wang, Frances (June 17, 2015). "Adoptees to Rachel Dolezal: You're Not Transracial". NBC News. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  8. ^ Moyer, Justin Wm. (June 17, 2015). "Rachel Dolezal draws ire of transracial adoptees". Washington Post. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  9. ^ Kimberly McKee, PhD; et al. (June 16, 2015). "An Open Letter: Why Co-opting "Transracial" in the Case of Rachel Dolezal is Problematic". Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  10. ^ a b Horne, Marc (2021-10-12). "Members can identify as black, disabled or female, university union insists". The Times UK. Archived from the original on 2021-10-13.
  11. ^ "Grey Owl: Canada's great conservationist and imposter". BBC News. 2013-09-19. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  12. ^ Koura, Chloe. "The American Religion That Makes Its Members 'Moroccans'". www.moroccoworldnews.com/. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
  13. ^ Wilder, Amy (November 22, 2015). "Man of mystery: Documentary sheds light on enigmatic Columbia entertainer". Columbia Daily Tribune. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  14. ^ 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. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  15. ^ a b Valens, Ana (September 22, 2017). "White woman who 'transitioned' races to Black is back". The Daily Dot. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  16. ^ Yam, Kimberly (2017-11-15). "Filipinos Aren't Happy With This White Woman Claiming To Be Filipina". HuffPost. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
  17. ^ "Man born white explains why he now identifies as Filipino". The Independent. 2017-11-14. Retrieved 2018-12-30.
  18. ^ Salo, Jackie (2017-11-13). "'Transracial' man was born white, identifies as Filipino". New York Post. Retrieved 2018-12-30.
  19. ^ "White GWU professor admits she falsely claimed Black identity". The Washington Post. September 3, 2020.
  20. ^ Noor, Poppy (September 3, 2020). "White US professor admits she has pretended to be Black for years". the Guardian. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  21. ^ Leah Asmelash. "Professor who lied about being Black resigns from George Washington University". CNN. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  22. ^ Bennett, Jessica (2018-10-25). "Black Teen Claims She's 'Transracial' White Woman, Hates Black People". EBONY. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  23. ^ Shamsian, Jacob. "'She wanted to be a meme': The racist black teen featured on 'Dr. Phil' is a fraud, according to her sister". Insider. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
  24. ^ Neumann, Laiken (2021-06-21). "'This is my new official flag': White influencer says they identify as Korean". The Daily Dot.

Further reading[]

  • Brubaker, Rogers (2016). Trans: Gender and Race in an Age of Unsettled Identities. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-17235-4.
  • Dolezal, Rachel (2017). In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World. with Storms Reback. Dallas: BenBella Books. ISBN 978-1-944648-17-6.
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