Understanding the Self Through History and Metaphor: Multiethnic-Racial Identity Representations

Abstract

Ethnic-racial groups in the U.S. and Canada have cultivated cultural meanings and defined ingroup borders over centuries, leading to available schemas and scripts surrounding what it means to be a member of their particular ethnic-racial ingroups. However, exponential growth in multiethnic-racial populations necessitates further exploration of how individuals that exist between multiple ethnic-racial ingroups make sense of their ethnic-racial identities. The present study asked 217 multiethnic-racial adults how they understand and qualitatively represent their ethnic-racial identities. Findings revealed that participants express their ethnic-racial identities through the use of metaphors, and interpret their ethnic-racial identities as historically embedded. Implications and opportunities for future research are discussed.

Keywords:

• Multiethnic-racial identity
• social identity
• metaphors

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. This paper examines individuals in the U.S. and Canada with parents from two or more different ethnic-racial backgrounds, at least one of which is considered an ethnic or racial minority. Thus, throughout the paper, I use the acronym ME-R to refer to individuals with at least one parent from a non-European or non-White ethnic or racial group. Although these countries have different racial histories, both countries historically and contemporarily regard race as a significant identity category and define race from a monoracial perspective, engendering shared experiences for ME-R residents.

2. Although we cannot be certain of the exact prevalence of ME-R populations pre- Loving v. Virginia due to the social and legal penalties associated with interracial coupling, as well as a lack of multiple race reporting in U.S. census standards, we are aware of the recorded increase of ME-R populations in more recent history.

3. Numbers following parent demographic groups indicate how many participants reported having parents from that ethnic-racial group. Because some participants reported having parents from multiple ethnic-racial groups, these numbers add up to an amount that exceeds the total number of participants reported.

4. 193 participants reported living in the U.S. at the time of the study, 10 reported living in Canada, and 14 declined to report their country of residence.

5. Parentheses following participant quotes indicate their self-reported gender, age, and ethnic-racial ingroups.