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“IT’S LIKE WE HAVE AN ‘IN’ ALREADY”

The Racial Capital of Black/White Biracial Americans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2016

Chandra D. L. Waring
Chandra D. L. Waring*
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Whitewater
*
*Corresponding author: Assistant Professor Chandra D. L. Waring, Department of Sociology, Criminology and Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 2122 Laurentide Hall, 800 W. Main Street, Whitewater, WI 53190. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The increasing bi/multiracial1 community in the United States has generated much literature about racial identity and social psychological well-being. Drawing on sixty in-depth interviews with Black/White biracial Americans, this paper shifts the theoretical focus from identity and well-being to the conceptual development of how race shapes bi/multiracial Americans’ social interactions with both Whites and Blacks. The majority of participants reported interacting differently when in predominately White settings versus predominately Black settings. I offer the concept of “racial capital” to highlight the repertoire of racial resources (knowledge, experiences, meaning, and language) that biracial Americans use to negotiate racial boundaries in a highly racialized society. These findings reveal the continuing significance of racial boundaries in a population that is often celebrated as evidence of racial harmony in the United States.

Keywords

Bi/Multiracial AmericansSocial CapitalCultural CapitalRacial Worldview
Type
State of the Art
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , Spring 2017 , pp. 145 - 163
Copyright
Copyright © Hutchins Center for African and African American Research 2016 

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