Walking between the worlds: 'AfraAmerIndians', identity, memory, categories of race.

摘要

The development of race categories and ideology based on a hierarchy of color and blood created particular problems for "mixed" people in the United States. With "whiteness" favored above all else, mixed people often self-identified with the lighter of their ancestors in spite of legal sanctions. However, for the children of Africans/African Americans and Native Americans, the options were more limited and their position within American society far more liminal. Thus, most people who would fall into the unofficial category that is becoming known as "Black Indian" identified themselves as either Indian or Black. Due to particular rules, laws, and practices in the U.S., those who could identify as Indian rarely acknowledged African descent while those who were categorized as "Black" could not officially identify their indigenous roots. "Mixed" identities are explored with an overview history of some mergers between "Indians" and "Black" people. The study utilizes interviews with people from the involved categories as well as auto-ethnography to provide an insider view of how categorization coupled with racism effects the people contained within limited categories.