Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Questions of Identity Chapter 2: Black and White in America: Then and Now Chapter 3: Through the "Looking Glass": Reflected Appraisals and the One Drop Rule Chapter 4: The Push and Pull of Day-to-Day Interactions Chapter 5: Social Comparisons and Social Networks Chapter 6: Identity Work: Strategies and Motivations Chapter 7: Concluding Thoughts

About the Author

Nikki Khanna is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Vermont.

Reviews

This is the book for which multiracial and racial identity scholars have been waiting. Nikki Khanna’s Biracial in America: Forming and Performing Racial Identity moves us a giant leap forward in our understanding of racial identity among black-white biracial Americans. Through captivating interview excerpts, Khanna brilliantly and clearly describes the underlying social psychological processes through which biracial Americans shape and negotiate multidimensional racial identities. In the process, she reveals both the lingering impact of the one drop rule and the power of individual biracial Americans to actively 'perform race' in an era of increasing racial flexibility.
*Kathleen Odell Korgen, William Paterson University*

Biracial in America expands on Rockquemore & Brunsma's pioneering foundation, taking the best that has been done previously and pushing the theoretical envelope several steps further ahead. Rejecting the erroneous notion that identity is "something easily ascertained through categories checked on a form," Khanna usefully gets at biracial identity formation through skillful analysis of the processes and negotiations-oftentimes seemingly contradictory-that some biracial individuals go through in shaping their identities.
*Rainier Spencer, University of Nevada, Las Vegas*

Khanna brings conceptual subtlety, careful analysis, and empirical depth to the study of multiracial identity. Drawing on interviews that are striking for their frankness and poignancy, this book will engage not only scholars of race but also anyone who is curious about how biracial Americans make sense of who they are.
*Ann Morning, author of The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach about Human Difference*