November 07, 2007
Passing Thoughts on Race and Passing
Is this man Black or White?
Is this question relevant today? There is a new biography out that addresses the issue of racial passing. It's an interesting story (as told in the NYTimes) because it is written by a woman who discovered in her 20s that her father had African American ancestry (Creole), but had elected to pass as White when in college. This man, Anatole Broyard, was a very well known NYTimes book review critic and essayist. I recall reading about the familial revelation when it first surfaced in the early 1990s. I had just begun graduate school and my race consciousness was at an elevated state of awareness.
Fast forward to the 21st century. I now focus much of my work on transnational adopted individuals and their families. About once a month or so, I meet an individual who reveals to me that he or she only recently at the age of 18 or 29 or 38 came to see him/herself as Korean or Asian. Although skin color made it apparent that the person was not White, they say for so long that they (in essence) were trying to pass psychologically as White. This type of psychological passing went on through most of their childhood and adolescence.
What is the psychological cost (and benefit) of trying to pass when it is apparent that you are not White? This type of assimilation surely must levy a heavy tax on an person's psyche. It's a question that I seek to study and find answers.
Posted by richlee at November 7, 2007 03:45 PMi've become more interested in transnational adoption myself. right now i'm doing a project for my class on naming practices of transnational adoptees.
i guess i come at this as an Asian American from Hawai'i, where there were Korean adoptees but they weren't really visible. (Their parents were Japanese, for example, so you wouldn't even know they were adopted unless they told you.) Now in the Midwest I feel like I see Chinese and Korean adoptees everywhere! In three semesters of teaching, I had two Korean (I think) adoptees. It's gotta make a big difference whether you grow up as an adoptee in the Midwest vs. Hawai'i or California, don't you think?
Posted by: RobynT at November 17, 2007 11:39 AM