Open AccessWho Are You? On Being Half Indian and Half White
Author(s) -
Andrea Fiss
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
learning landscapes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1913-5688
DOI - 10.36510/learnland.v7i2.655
Subject(s) - ethnic group , feeling , white (mutation) , dominance (genetics) , identity (music) , social psychology , narrative , sociology , social identity theory , gender studies , personal identity , race (biology) , psychology , social group , aesthetics , self concept , anthropology , linguistics , art , biochemistry , chemistry , gene , philosophy
Coming from a mixed ethnic identity is difficult, particularly if the two identities of which you are mixed look physically very different. Through personal narratives, the author makes visible how one’s appearance can determine how other people interpret one’s identity. She examines challenges that arise when the messages one receives about one’s identity are contradictory and relates these contradictory messages to the concept of social dominance. The author makes it apparent that place and community establish one’s feelings about oneself. She concludes that an individual of mixed race cannot extract one ethnicity from the other; the individual will always be both.