Together and apart: relational experiences of place, identity and belonging in the lives of mixed-ethnicity families

ABSTRACT

Intersectionality, as an ‘analytical sensibility’, demands attentiveness to the multiple aspects of identity that interlock to shape privilege and marginality in specific spatial contexts and moments. Notwithstanding their fluidity, intersectional analyses have retained a core focus on the individualized self. This paper articulates an intercorporeal approach to intersectionality, based on interviews with adult members of mixed-ethnicity (mixed-race) families. In public space, family members are exposed to stares, questions, judgements and racisms that metamorphose depending on who they are with. Alone, with a visibly different partner, with mixed-ethnicity children, or as a family unit, the strands of each family member’s multiple identities intersect with those of their loved ones. Each is interpellated – or feels interpellated – differently, in physical proximity to the other. Our empirical analysis sheds new light on the everyday lives of mixed-ethnicity families. Our theoretical pairing of intercorporeality and intersectionality presents an innovative extension to dominant interpretations of the latter. It highlights the analytical utility of adding an extra-individual lens to the intersectionality toolkit. While visibly different mixed-ethnicity families afford a potent example, our approach has broader resonance. An intercorporeal approach to intersectionality offers nuanced perspectives on place, identity and belonging. It is necessary because privilege and marginality are always lived, relationally.

L’intersectionnalité, comme « sensibilité analytique », exige d’être attentif à de nombreux aspects de l’identité qui s’entrecroisent pour former le privilège et la marginalité dans certains contextes spatiaux et à certains moments. Malgré leur fluidité, les analyses inter sectionnelles ont continué à se concentrer sur l’individualité du moi. Cet article fait ressortir une approche intercorporelle de l’intersectionnalité, s’appuyant sur des interviews avec des membres adultes de familles d’ethnicité mixte (métisses). Dans les lieux publics, les membres de ces familles sont exposés aux regards, questions, jugements et racismes qui se métamorphosent selon la personne avec qui ils sont. Seuls, avec un compagnon/une compagne visiblement différent/e, avec des enfants métisses ou en groupe familial, les éléments des identités multiples de chaque membre de famille se croisent avec ceux de leurs proches. Chacun est interpelé ou se sent interpelé de façon différente, en proximité physique à l’autre. Notre analyse empirique nous éclaire sur les vies quotidiennes des familles d’ethnicités mixtes. Notre association théorique d’intercorporalité et d’intersectionnalité présente une extension innovatrice aux interprétations dominantes de cette dernière. Elle souligne l’utilité analytique d’ajouter une couleur extra-individuelle à la palette de l’intersectionnalité. Les familles visiblement différentes d’ethnicité mixte offrent un exemple fort, mais notre approche présente une résonnance encore plus large. Une approche intercorporelle par rapport à l’intersectionnalité permet des perspectives nuancées sur le lieu, l’identité et l’appartenance. Elle est nécessaire car le privilège et la marginalité sont toujours vécus relationnellement.

La interseccionalidad, como una ‘sensibilidad analítica’, exige atención a los múltiples aspectos de la identidad que se entrelazan para configurar el privilegio y la marginalidad en contextos y momentos espaciales específicos. A pesar de su fluidez, los análisis interseccionales han mantenido un enfoque central en el yo individualizado. Este documento articula un enfoque intercorporal a la interseccionalidad, basado en entrevistas con miembros adultos de familias de etnicidad mixta (raza mixta). En el espacio público, los miembros de la familia están expuestos a miradas, preguntas, prejuicios y racismos que se transforman dependiendo de con quién se encuentren. Solos, con una pareja visiblemente diferente, con hijos de etnia mixta, o como una unidad familiar, las hebras de las múltiples identidades de cada miembro de la familia se cruzan con las de sus seres queridos. Cada uno está interpelado — o se siente interpelado — de manera diferente, en la proximidad física con el otro. Este análisis empírico arroja nueva luz sobre la vida cotidiana de las familias de origen étnico mixto. El par teórico de intercorporalidad e interseccionalidad presenta una extensión innovadora a las interpretaciones dominantes de esta última. Destaca la utilidad analítica de agregar una lente extra individual al conjunto de herramientas de interseccionalidad. Si bien las familias de etnicidades mixtas visiblemente diferentes brindan un ejemplo potente, aquí el enfoque tiene una resonancia más amplia. Un enfoque intercorporal a la interseccionalidad ofrece perspectivas matizadas sobre el lugar, la identidad y la pertenencia. Es necesario porque el privilegio y la marginalidad siempre se viven relacionalmente.

KEYWORDS:

• Mixed-race
• interracial
• inter-ethnic
• biracial
• intercorporeality
• intersectionality

MOTS CLÉS:

• métissage
• interracial
• inter ethnique
• biracial
• intercorporalité
• intersectionnalité

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• raza mestiza
• interracial
• interétnico
• biracial
• intercorporalidad
• interseccionalidad

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the 86 individuals who shared so generously of their life and love stories. Our thanks are also extended to the Multicultural Council of the Northern Territory, for assistance with participant recruitment; and to our numerous, careful transcribers including Liz Bostock, Jennie Studdert, Nikki Rumpca and Sophie-May Kerr.

Natascha would also like to acknowledge the childcare provided by Gabriele Klocker, without which the Darwin-based fieldwork would not have been possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Comments made by Natascha during a research interview with Jane and Shannon.

2. We use the term relational broadly to consider how things that are (or appear to be) separate, different or distant, are in fact connected, entangled and co-constituted. Relational thinking encompasses not only people and place, but diverse more-than-humans: plants, non-human animals, markets, institutions, technologies to name a few. The term intercorporeality signals our concern, in this paper, with a particular type of relational thinking – that is, with the connections and entanglements of bodies, in our case human bodies.

3. The US national census, where racial categories are firmly entrenched, would fail to account for several of the couples included in our study. For instance, those incorporating an Anglo-Australian and Middle Eastern partner would not count as mixed-race because both of those groups are categorised ‘White’. Couples incorporating an Anglo-Australian and South/Central American partner also would not count as mixed-race, because ‘Hispanic’ is classified as an ethnic group, not a race (U.S. Department of Commerce; Economics and Statistics Administration, 2017).

4. Weber (1978, p.389) defined ethnicity as being based on groups’ ‘subjective belief in their common descent because of similarities of physical type or of customs or of both, or because of memories of colonization and migration’.

5. ‘Borderism’ describes the ‘unique form of discrimination experienced by those who cross the color line, [who] do not stick with their own’ (Dalmage, 2000, p.40).

6. From the early 1900s until the 1960s, children of mixed Indigenous/European parentage were forcibly removed from their Indigenous families with the intent of biologically absorbing them into white Australian society (Ellinghaus, 2003).

7. A common trope in book titles, e.g. Crossing the color line (Reddy, 1994) and Tripping on the color line (Dalmage, 2000).

8. Includes four interviews with couples living in the Illawarra region, which borders the Sydney metropolitan area to the south. To give the reader a sense of proximity, both authors of this paper (Natascha and Alex) lived in Sydney at the time of the research, but commuted to Wollongong (in the Illawarra region) on a daily basis for work.

9. Gumtree is an online classifieds and community website incorporating free and paid advertisements.

10. The diverse and progressive Sydney suburb where Matt and Shiqi live.

11. Two men named Ben were interviewed, one in Darwin and one in Sydney. As both wished to be referred to by their real names, they are referred to as Ben D. and Ben S. respectively.

12. Centrelink delivers a range of government payments and services (unemployment benefits, family and carers’ allowances, disability allowances, student payments etc.) under the Federal Department of Human Services.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Government [Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship]; University of Wollongong [Return to Work Grant,URC Small Grant].