How multiracial people navigate the complexities of race and love
In the United States, more than seven million people claim to be multiracial, or have racially mixed heritage, parentage, or ancestry. In The Colors of Love, Melinda A. Mills explores how multiracial people navigate their complex—and often misunderstood—identities in romantic relationships.
Drawing on sixty interviews with multiracial people in interracial relationships, Mills explores how people define and assert their racial identities both on their own and with their partners. She shows us how similarities and differences in identity, skin color, and racial composition shape how multiracial people choose, experience, and navigate love.
Mills highlights the unexpected ways in which multiracial individuals choose to both support and subvert the borders of race as individuals and as romantic partners. The Colors of Love broadens our understanding about race and love in the twenty-first century.
Price: $24.00
Publisher: NYU Press
Imprint: NYU Press
Publication Date:
07 December 2021
ISBN: 9781479802425
Format: eBook
BISACs:
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Marriage & Family, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Race & Ethnic Relations
In The Colors of Love, Melinda A. Mills asks whether strict racial categorizations can be disrupted by multiracials in interracial relationships. She explores how multiracials and their partners continuously navigate racial boundaries in the presence of strangers, friends, families, and even themselves. Ultimately, she shows us that multiracial individuals were most likely to choose racial identities and romantic partners that render invisible the multiple racial identities straddled by them and their partners. This well-researched and nuanced monograph is an important read for anyone interested in the future of racial categories.
Melinda A. Mills is Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, Sociology, and Anthropology, and Coordinator of Women’s and Gender Studies at Castleton University. She is the author of the award-winning book, The Borders of Race: Patrolling “Multiracial” Identities, and Racial Mixture and Musical Mash-Ups in the Life and Art of Bruno Mars.
