Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

In this paper I focus on the process of formulating an ethnic identity in the United States for individuals of mixed-ethnicity. My main question explores the complexities an individual with parents of separate and distinct ethnic heritages faces when constructing an ethnic identity in our society. American society is reaching a new reality where influences of not only mixed "race", but of an individual's multiple ethnic heritages can be recognized and discussed. Still, American culture has little patience with changing identities between contexts or with an ambiguous identity. Through the combination of research, interviews, and my own life experiences, I explore the many complex influences and conditions which shape an individual's mixed ethnic identity over time. My main informants are individuals whose parents acknowledged an evident and specific ethnic heritage distinct from one another. My informants are a combination of their cultural and biological heritage, leaving them with more flexibility how to construct their own ethnic identity, which may then change through time, based on their unique life experiences. As I traced the formulation of ethnic identity, for individuals of mixed-ethnicity, I found that it is not only shaped by how they see themselves, but also by how others perceive them. Ethnic identity begins with the individual's family heritage, cultural background, language, and personality and is then transformed by political, economic, educational, and other diverse influences of society, which unfortunately also includes prejudice, discrimination, and embellished stereotypes. / Graduation date: 2000

My dissertation, "America's New Racial Heroes," is the first full-length intellectual history examining the fascination with mixed race people that has been concurrent with the stereotypes that pathologize them. Through five moments in United States history, this project asks what the idea of racially mixed people does for America, uncovering a set of vanguards who suggested that, rather than fear racial mixing, we should embrace it as a means to live up to ideals of equality and inclusion, thus benefiting the nation as a whole. Whether the subject is abolitionist Wendell Phillips's defense of racial amalgamation, the popularity of the Melting Pot trope, Time Magazine's 1993 New Face of America issue, or the promises of a "Multiracial" category on the 2000 census, similar notions regarding novelty, progress, and utopia repeat themselves. Rounding out "America's New Racial Heroes" is an examination of contemporary praise of ambiguity at the same time Americans wish for quantifiable racial makeup. Overall, this project warns against the giddy hope that racially mixed people alone can solve America's racial problems. I have several models in bringing together these five cases, including George M. Fredrickson's The Black Image in the White Mind, Philip J. Deloria's Playing Indian, and Robert Lee's Orientals. Each of these shows how discourses of science, nationality, and popular culture shape the identities of dominant and minority groups concurrently. Like these works, my project brings together archival research, cultural studies readings, and theories of racial formation to examine how pro-mixing advocates situate themselves within their own contexts and resonate through time. This work on mixed race identity has many intersections with both fields, accentuating the richness that can result from comparative, ethnic studies work across disciplinary boundaries. / text

The purpose of this project was to examine biracial identity, and the specific identitiy choices made by biracial individuals at the college level. In addition, this study explored the many factors that may be associated with the choice of a racial/biracial identity.