I'm half Mexican and half German. My cultural experience isn't Mexican. I look vaguely European, and I would consider my cultural upbringing to be vaguely white ethnocentric. I am called wetto by so called pure Mexicans. Which is in of itself a misnomer. Becuase Mexicans are mixed European and Meso American. I watched MTV. I skated. I attended a American college. It feels weird to be 1 part of something and have no real defining characteristics. And to literally be an "other" to the same people you come from. Wirey brown, blonde, and red hair. White skin, but a mixed phenotype.
“To me—and this is an old DF take—there really isn’t a meaningful difference between the person who has, let’s say, one Mexican grandparent who didn’t grow up speaking Spanish or with any Mexican culture in their immediate environment, including and maybe especially their home, and somebody like Lisa Yo.”
I’m sorry this is a truly asinine take. Someone who is a 1/4 something or other who has some interest in that part of their ancestry is not at all like Lisa Yo, who has adopted an identity she has nothing to do with through plastic surgery and mental illness. I would certainly want my grandchildren to remember my contribution to their legacy even if the other 3/4 was something totally different.
There are many examples I could give however one that immediately comes to mind is how the state of Israel gives right of return to quarter Jews, who were known as Mischlings in the 2nd degree under the Nuremberg Rassengesetz during the third Reich. Hitler, Torquemada, and Lenin were all quarter Jews and this certainly had an impact on the careers of all three.
There are examples from other races as well however the quarter Jewish examples are the most famous.
maybe 1/4th is a stretch or too hyperbolic, but in the US, you see people with extremely distant ancestry, who didn't grow up with it, claim it in a way that is frankly clownish. it is a type of performance, even minstrelsy.
I agree with you to some extent but to equate that with moving to the other side of the world and getting plastic surgery to dramatically alter your appearance is stretching matters to the breaking point.
Well what else are they supposed to claim? Americans are mixed to a great extent and it’s natural for them to ask themselves who they are and who they come from. Of course many Americans don’t even know who their fathers are so I guess 1/4 is a lot for people like that…
I wouldn’t really call 5-7 generations “extremely distant,” either. Only in the New World is this considered a long time. It’s not at all uncommon for many families in Europe and East Asia to be able to trace their lineages back double digit generations. America is the exception in the northern hemisphere and not the rule in this regard.
I can see it. She mean-girled some grad student out of a teaching assistant position because of his old tweets.
There's a study to be done in the fetishization of marginalized identities in affluent cities like Madison where even though almost everyone is as progressive as possible, it's still very white and still a significant economic racial divide. It manifests often as minorities being treated like "magical Negroes", which can get weird and makes for a strange social currency in perceived oppression. While the easiest way to leave the oppressor class is to assume a sexual/gender identity, sometimes people go all out with the trace ancestry instead (like if I tried to take a Birthright trip with my 2% Ashkenazi 23andme report.)
When reading the final encounter between Deckard and the replicants in Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, in the abandoned apartment building, I recommend listening to the song Mongoloid by Devo
I think there's another group, (sometimes) overlapping with the status-seekers, and that's those who, unlike group 1, have *extensive* contact with the identity they are claiming. Scholars who have spent years researching a particular culture, and then claim to be of that culture, seems to be part of most of the academic cases.
I wrote a bit about this thing in my essay "Losing Face in the Global Village" in 2021 ... but since the issue was so sensitive (even more so in 2021), I took a cautious approach. I also admit I didn't understand the motivation for "transracial" surgery.
I do think a lot of people don’t examine enough the differences between white transracialism, and other races. Would I be remiss to say it feels distinct?
Obviously a lot of nuance and grey area, but where do we slot the black/white biracial person who chooses to lean their identity towards one side based on how they look, how they talk, their interests, friends, family etc.
Or the countries like India with massive skin lightening industries.
There are whole entire groups online that truly believe things like “you’re not black if you were not raised by a black parent”.
TOTALLY agree. I think "transracialism because of adoption" is another category. White transracialism seems to be either affinity-based or rooted in Body Dysmorphia, whereas black transracialism really does feel like it comes from a place of self-hatred (at least per people who themselves identify this way).
I would argue that skin lightening in Brazil or India doesn't seem like conscious "transracialism" though it's obviously somewhere in the ecosystem. Like I don't know that Mindy Kaling is "less" Indian because she chose to adhere to a more Western beauty standard.
Well that’s the question isn’t it? IS she less “Indian”?
I certainly feel less African than anyone born in Africa. Ofc most (certainly not all) would agree that Black Americans are a unique case of basically a new “race” being created from scratch. Unique historical circumstances there that gets into even government policy during slavery such as “any child born to a slave mother is inherently a slave.”
And many in Africa would say they are “African not Black” but as globalism and the Internet proliferates, this ofc all gets jumbled.
This applies to white Americans too, right? Much has been said for generations about the wide gulfs between Italian Americans and people from their “homeland”.
Yes! I love these, always miss live (I’m working when you’re on even if you announce on twitter), but I love the videos. You said laying down is bad form, but there’s something about it that’s better than sitting down. As always, look amazing in most lighting 🫐🫐, and content is SO irresistibly intriguing 👏👏👏
Love the hat- maybe you could add different hats for different topics
Thank you!
My experience with trans-racialism comes whenever I grow facial hair.
LOL wdym?
2000s: white men desperately trying to be black (Eminem)
2020s: white women desperately trying to be Asian
I'd say it's older than that!
al jolson? boston tea party? holy roman empire? how deep does the rabbit hole go??
“white women have a tendency to romanticize Asian identity in an unusual way”
Because Asian women stole their men.
This has the greatest impact on White women, since there are a lot more Asians than whites.
I don't think they are a particular locus of racial animus for white women tbh
I'm half Mexican and half German. My cultural experience isn't Mexican. I look vaguely European, and I would consider my cultural upbringing to be vaguely white ethnocentric. I am called wetto by so called pure Mexicans. Which is in of itself a misnomer. Becuase Mexicans are mixed European and Meso American. I watched MTV. I skated. I attended a American college. It feels weird to be 1 part of something and have no real defining characteristics. And to literally be an "other" to the same people you come from. Wirey brown, blonde, and red hair. White skin, but a mixed phenotype.
I thought the term was “Castizo” for someone who is half white and half hispanic
“To me—and this is an old DF take—there really isn’t a meaningful difference between the person who has, let’s say, one Mexican grandparent who didn’t grow up speaking Spanish or with any Mexican culture in their immediate environment, including and maybe especially their home, and somebody like Lisa Yo.”
I’m sorry this is a truly asinine take. Someone who is a 1/4 something or other who has some interest in that part of their ancestry is not at all like Lisa Yo, who has adopted an identity she has nothing to do with through plastic surgery and mental illness. I would certainly want my grandchildren to remember my contribution to their legacy even if the other 3/4 was something totally different.
There are many examples I could give however one that immediately comes to mind is how the state of Israel gives right of return to quarter Jews, who were known as Mischlings in the 2nd degree under the Nuremberg Rassengesetz during the third Reich. Hitler, Torquemada, and Lenin were all quarter Jews and this certainly had an impact on the careers of all three.
There are examples from other races as well however the quarter Jewish examples are the most famous.
maybe 1/4th is a stretch or too hyperbolic, but in the US, you see people with extremely distant ancestry, who didn't grow up with it, claim it in a way that is frankly clownish. it is a type of performance, even minstrelsy.
I agree with you to some extent but to equate that with moving to the other side of the world and getting plastic surgery to dramatically alter your appearance is stretching matters to the breaking point.
Well what else are they supposed to claim? Americans are mixed to a great extent and it’s natural for them to ask themselves who they are and who they come from. Of course many Americans don’t even know who their fathers are so I guess 1/4 is a lot for people like that…
I wouldn’t really call 5-7 generations “extremely distant,” either. Only in the New World is this considered a long time. It’s not at all uncommon for many families in Europe and East Asia to be able to trace their lineages back double digit generations. America is the exception in the northern hemisphere and not the rule in this regard.
My reaction after reading this article was “believing in 21st century liberalism and American ideas about identity is a mental illness.”
I am right
“Some shift racial presentation for perceived social or economic advantages or cultural capital” made me think of Ariana grande
Another transracial baddie I grew up with…
Maybe my hometown is cursed
Katherine when I first followed you, I thought you were Chinese (“Dee” is a common Chinese last name in Southeast Asia)
LOL
This is fucking insane.
That is one interpretation
Look up Qwo-Li Driskill for a real scream along these lines
woa
Oh shit, I forgot about CV Vitolo-Hadad. Madtown represent!
We went to high school together! She was mean! Lmao
I can see it. She mean-girled some grad student out of a teaching assistant position because of his old tweets.
There's a study to be done in the fetishization of marginalized identities in affluent cities like Madison where even though almost everyone is as progressive as possible, it's still very white and still a significant economic racial divide. It manifests often as minorities being treated like "magical Negroes", which can get weird and makes for a strange social currency in perceived oppression. While the easiest way to leave the oppressor class is to assume a sexual/gender identity, sometimes people go all out with the trace ancestry instead (like if I tried to take a Birthright trip with my 2% Ashkenazi 23andme report.)
When reading the final encounter between Deckard and the replicants in Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, in the abandoned apartment building, I recommend listening to the song Mongoloid by Devo
One of my favorite bands
I think there's another group, (sometimes) overlapping with the status-seekers, and that's those who, unlike group 1, have *extensive* contact with the identity they are claiming. Scholars who have spent years researching a particular culture, and then claim to be of that culture, seems to be part of most of the academic cases.
Really good point. The term comes from adoptees, relatedly (eg black kids adopted into white families etc)
which was one of the factors in Dolezal's case, right? She had several adopted siblings from Africa IIRC, and was married to a black man.
I think she was trying to escape something
Oh sure, I came away from the documentary feeling quite sorry for her.
I wrote a bit about this thing in my essay "Losing Face in the Global Village" in 2021 ... but since the issue was so sensitive (even more so in 2021), I took a cautious approach. I also admit I didn't understand the motivation for "transracial" surgery.
https://aryngve.substack.com/p/losing-face-in-the-global-village
Good points.
I do think a lot of people don’t examine enough the differences between white transracialism, and other races. Would I be remiss to say it feels distinct?
Obviously a lot of nuance and grey area, but where do we slot the black/white biracial person who chooses to lean their identity towards one side based on how they look, how they talk, their interests, friends, family etc.
Or the countries like India with massive skin lightening industries.
There are whole entire groups online that truly believe things like “you’re not black if you were not raised by a black parent”.
A lot of different things going on.
TOTALLY agree. I think "transracialism because of adoption" is another category. White transracialism seems to be either affinity-based or rooted in Body Dysmorphia, whereas black transracialism really does feel like it comes from a place of self-hatred (at least per people who themselves identify this way).
I would argue that skin lightening in Brazil or India doesn't seem like conscious "transracialism" though it's obviously somewhere in the ecosystem. Like I don't know that Mindy Kaling is "less" Indian because she chose to adhere to a more Western beauty standard.
Well that’s the question isn’t it? IS she less “Indian”?
I certainly feel less African than anyone born in Africa. Ofc most (certainly not all) would agree that Black Americans are a unique case of basically a new “race” being created from scratch. Unique historical circumstances there that gets into even government policy during slavery such as “any child born to a slave mother is inherently a slave.”
And many in Africa would say they are “African not Black” but as globalism and the Internet proliferates, this ofc all gets jumbled.
This applies to white Americans too, right? Much has been said for generations about the wide gulfs between Italian Americans and people from their “homeland”.
You are welcome to write about this btw... If you so wish... For me, I mean...
Yes! I love these, always miss live (I’m working when you’re on even if you announce on twitter), but I love the videos. You said laying down is bad form, but there’s something about it that’s better than sitting down. As always, look amazing in most lighting 🫐🫐, and content is SO irresistibly intriguing 👏👏👏
Thank you Rufio!!! I wish I had more readers like you LMAO
how is Paul Wall not mentioned here
How is Shaun King not mentioned?
The way it blew my mind when I found out that Shaun King isn't black.