Transracial (identity)

{{about|transracial people or transracial identity|other uses|Transracial (disambiguation)}}

Transracial is a label used by people who identify as a different race than the one they were born into. They may adjust their appearance to make themselves look more like that race, and may participate in activities associated with that race. Use of the word transracial to describe this is new and has been criticized, because the word was historically used to describe a person raised by adoptive parents of a different ethnic or racial background, such as a Black child adopted and raised by a white couple.

History and usage

Historically, the term transracial was used solely to describe parents who adopt a child of a different race.{{cite magazine|last=Valby|first=Karen|title=The Realities of Raising a Kid of a Different Race|magazine=Time|url=https://time.com/the-realities-of-raising-a-kid-of-a-different-race/|access-date=December 17, 2017|archive-date=December 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171218064725/http://time.com/the-realities-of-raising-a-kid-of-a-different-race/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|author=|date=January 26, 2014|title=Growing Up 'White,' Transracial Adoptee Learned To Be Black|publisher=NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/2014/01/26/266434175/growing-up-white-transracial-adoptee-learned-to-be-black|access-date=December 17, 2017|archive-date=December 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171225023736/https://www.npr.org/2014/01/26/266434175/growing-up-white-transracial-adoptee-learned-to-be-black|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last=Kai-Hwa Wang|first=Frances|author-link=Frances Kai-Hwa Wang|date=June 17, 2015|title=Adoptees to Rachel Dolezal: You're Not Transracial|publisher=NBC News|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/adoptees-rachel-dolezal-youre-not-transracial-n377121|access-date=December 17, 2017|archive-date=January 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101213224/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/adoptees-rachel-dolezal-youre-not-transracial-n377121|url-status=live}}

The use of the term to describe changing racial identity has been criticized by members of the transracial adoption community. Kevin H. Vollmers, executive director of an adoption non-profit, said the term is being "appropriated and co-opted", and that this is a "slap in the face" to transracial adoptees. In June 2015, about two dozen transracial adoptees, transracial parents and academics published an open letter in which they condemned the new usage as "erroneous, ahistorical, and dangerous".{{cite news|last=Moyer|first=Justin Wm.|author-link=Justin Moyer|date=June 17, 2015|title=Rachel Dolezal draws ire of transracial adoptees|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/17/rachel-dolezal-draws-ire-of-transracial-adoptees/|access-date=December 17, 2017|archive-date=September 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924183332/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/17/rachel-dolezal-draws-ire-of-transracial-adoptees/|url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://medium.com/@Andy_Marra/an-open-letter-why-co-opting-transracial-in-the-case-of-rachel-dolezal-is-problematic-249f79f6d83c |title=An Open Letter: Why Co-opting "Transracial" in the Case of Rachel Dolezal is Problematic |author=Kimberly McKee, PhD |display-authors=etal |date=June 16, 2015 |access-date=December 17, 2017 |archive-date=March 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313155125/https://medium.com/@Andy_Marra/an-open-letter-why-co-opting-transracial-in-the-case-of-rachel-dolezal-is-problematic-249f79f6d83c |url-status=live }}

In April 2017, the feminist philosophy journal Hypatia published an academic paper in support of recognizing transracialism and drawing parallels between transracial and transgender identity.{{cite journal|last1=Tuvel|first1=Rebecca|author-link=Hypatia transracialism controversy#Author|year=2017|title=In Defense of Transracialism|journal=Hypatia|volume=32|issue=2|pages=263–278|doi=10.1111/hypa.12327|issn=0887-5367|s2cid=151630261}} Publication of this paper resulted in considerable controversy. The subject was also explored in Trans: Gender and Race in an Age of Unsettled Identities, a 2016 book by UCLA sociology professor Rogers Brubaker, who argues that the phenomenon, though offensive to many, is psychologically real to many people, and has many examples throughout history.{{cite book|title=Trans: Gender and Race in an Age of Unsettled Identities|date=October 4, 2016 |url=https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10800.html|access-date=March 13, 2018|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691172354 |archive-date=November 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181129084551/https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10800.html|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last=Brubaker|first=Rogers|title=Trans: Gender and Race in an Age of Unsettled Identities|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2016|isbn=9780691172354|location=Princeton, N.J.|pages=1–11|chapter=Introduction|author-link=Rogers Brubaker|access-date=March 13, 2018|chapter-url=http://assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/i10800.pdf|archive-date=May 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527170034/http://assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/i10800.pdf|url-status=live}}

Examples

Rachel Dolezal, known for identifying as a Black woman despite having been born to White parents,{{cite journal|last1=Brubaker|first1=Rogers|author-link=Rogers Brubaker|year=2015|title=The Dolezal affair: race, gender, and the micropolitics of identity|journal=Ethnic and Racial Studies|volume=39|issue=3|pages=414–448|doi=10.1080/01419870.2015.1084430|issn=0141-9870|s2cid=146583317}}{{Cite news|last=Horne|first=Marc|date=2021-10-12|title=Members can identify as black, disabled or female, university union insists|language=en|work=The Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/members-can-identify-as-black-disabled-or-female-university-union-insists-qx098wq5k|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|access-date=2021-10-20|archive-url=https://archive.today/20211013082054/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/members-can-identify-as-black-disabled-or-female-university-union-insists-qx098wq5k|archive-date=2021-10-13}} successfully passed as Black, to the extent that she took over leadership of the Spokane branch of the NAACP in 2014, a year before she was "outed" in 2015
Martina Big, who was featured on Maury in September 2017, a woman of White ancestry who identifies as Black,{{cite web|last=Lubin|first=Rhian|date=September 22, 2017|title=White glamour model with size 32S breasts who spent £50k on cosmetic surgery now 'identifies as a black woman'|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/white-glamour-model-size-32s-11217500|url-status=live|access-date=October 1, 2017|website=Daily Mirror|archive-date=October 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001213708/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/white-glamour-model-size-32s-11217500}}{{cite web|last=Valens|first=Ana|date=September 22, 2017|title=White woman who 'transitioned' races to Black is back|url=https://www.dailydot.com/irl/white-woman-transitioned-race/|url-status=live|access-date=October 1, 2017|website=The Daily Dot|archive-date=September 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929044222/https://www.dailydot.com/irl/white-woman-transitioned-race/}}{{cite web |last=Bido |first=Tatiana |title=Woman Totally Changes Skin Tone Using Illegal and Harmful 'Barbie Drug' |website=Yahoo Life |date=20 March 2018 |url=https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/woman-totally-changes-skin-tone-205231721.html |access-date=6 January 2024}} has had melanotan injections administered by a physician to darken her skin and hair
Jessica Krug, a Jewish-American woman who identified as various Black and Afro-Latina ethnicities over time, including "North African Blackness", "US-rooted Blackness", and "Caribbean-rooted Bronx Blackness"{{cite magazine |title=The Layered Deceptions of Jessica Krug, the Black-Studies Professor Who Hid That She Is White |magazine=The New Yorker |date=12 September 2020 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-layered-deceptions-of-jessica-krug-the-black-studies-professor-who-hid-that-she-is-white |access-date=7 January 2024}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/09/03/white-gwu-professor-admits-she-falsely-claimed-black-identity/|title=White GWU professor admits she falsely claimed Black identity|first1=Lauren|last1=Lumpkin|first2=Susan|last2=Svrluga|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 3, 2020|access-date=September 5, 2020 |archive-date=September 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200905002311/https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/09/03/white-gwu-professor-admits-she-falsely-claimed-black-identity/|url-status=live}}
Oli London, British influencer and singer who previously identified as Korean, and had numerous plastic surgeries to alter his racial identity, modelled his appearance on his idol, BTS singer Jimin{{cite news|last1=Neumann|first1=Laiken|date=2021-06-21|title='This is my new official flag': White influencer says they identify as Korean|work=The Daily Dot|url=https://www.dailydot.com/irl/white-influencer-nonbinary-korean/|access-date=June 25, 2021|archive-date=June 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625014216/https://www.dailydot.com/irl/white-influencer-nonbinary-korean/|url-status=live}}
Korla Pandit, African-American musician who posed as an Indian from New Delhi in both his public and private life, was born John Roland Redd{{cite journal |last1=Spickard |first1=Paul |title=Shape Shifting: Toward a Theory of Racial Change |journal=Genealogy |date=June 2022 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=48 |doi=10.3390/genealogy6020048 |language=en |issn=2313-5778 |doi-access=free }}

Transracial (identity)

History and usage

Examples

See also

References

Further reading