Multiracial identity and racial politics in the United States /

This examination of multiracial identity helps fill a significant void in the study of ethnoracial politics. Using both interview and survey data, Masuoka (Tufts) probes the choice to identify with multiple racial groups, and how that identification shapes political attitudes. One major contribution is her stratification by ethnoracial group, enabling her to see that multiracial Asian Americans differ from other multiracial identifiers, while African Americans and Latino multiracials seem to have significant similarities in their political orientations. Another important contribution is her emphasis on those who choose to identify multiracially, rather than the more common approach of examining all who could be classified as multiracial based on ancestry alone. Masuoka observes that we have long had a large population that could be classified as multiracial but, to this day, only a few choose to identify that way. Multiracial identification, she argues, is a type of racial formation. Masuoka analyzes perceptions of Barack Obama's racial classification, and the complex ways those perceptions interact with evaluations of Obama. One fascinating finding is that those who define Obama as mixed-race assess him differently than those who define him as black. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Andrew L. Aoki, Augsburg College