ERIC Number: EJ1023550
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1521-0960
EISSN: N/A
"You Don't Look Mexican!" My Life in Ethnic Ambiguity and What It Says about the Construction of Race in America
García, Justin D.
Multicultural Perspectives, v15 n4 p234-238 2013
The purpose of this article is to examine the ambiguous positioning of persons and groups, particularly Latinos, who are neither "White" nor "Black" (as these terms are popularly understood) in an American society that has traditionally constructed race in a dichotomous and rigid fashion. The author also draws on his own lived personal experiences as a prism through which to view the complex array of experiences of phenotypic ambiguous individuals whose racial-ethnic identities are not readily apparent to the larger society but who will nevertheless have assumptions about their racial-ethnic status made by others, for better or for worse. The article concludes with some observations on the limitations of traditional approaches toward multicultural/diversity programming, with a call for a different approach toward pluralism that acknowledges diversity "within," rather than simply "between," ethnic and nationality groups.
Descriptors: Ethnicity, Hispanic Americans, Race, Genetics, Cultural Pluralism, Physical Characteristics, Racial Attitudes
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative; Journal Articles
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A