Challenging Multiracial Identity

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1588264246 ISBN 13: 9781588264244

Publisher: Lynne Rienner Pub, 2006

What is multiracialism--and what are the theoretical consequences and practical costs of asserting a multiracial identity? Arguing that the multiracial movement bolsters, rather than subverts, traditional categories of race, Rainier Spencer critically assesses current scholarship in support of multiracial identity.

About the Author:

Rainier Spencer is director of the Afro-American Studies Program and professor in the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is also the author of Spurious Issues: Race and Multiracial Identity Politics in the United States (Westview, 1999) and Reproducing Race: The Paradox of Generation Mix (Lynne Rienner, 2011).

Review:

"Spencer offers historically informed theoretical challenges to the field ... [Challenging Multiracial Identity] should be required reading in courses on race, especially critical race theory."--Lewis R. Gordon, Journal of Black Studies

"A hard-hitting critique of multiracial identity scholarship.... Challenging the most basic of assumptions, Spencer's book has the potential to raise the standards of an entire field of study."--Kerry Ann Rockquemore, University of Illinois at Chicago

"A brilliant book, well written, a breath of fresh air.... Spencer's careful analysis of research on multiracial identity is a prelude to hard-hitting ideas that will make the reader think." --Robert M Moore III, Frostburg State University