Some of the essays, such as Lillian Comas-Diaz' discussion of mental health issues of African Latinas -- for whom she coins the term "LatiNegra" -- really drive home the poignant themes of exclusion, marginality and disconnectedness. Collectively they offer a prodigious amount of valuable information -- statistical, ethnographic, historical, sociological and psychological. They point out the obvious and not so obvious (What is the "natural" racial identity of a Black Jew?) and they are full of unexpected insights.
Many of the essays conclude with suggestions for future research or action plans aimed at specific issues or problems. Several of the essays focus on the intersection of race with gender and sexuality. In short, not much is left out of this volume, except for critiques of the multicultural movement and its political implications. But that will have to await another volume put together by another editor with an entirely different set of contributors -- which will likely include a good number of mixed-race individuals not unlike those gathered in this volume, but who eschew the multiracial identity in favor of a "colored" monoracial one.
In the meantime, read this wonderful collection of essays, for it will surely illuminate, delight and infuriate you.
Dr. Evelyn Hu-DeHart Professor and Chair, Dept. of Ethnic Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder
Dr. Hu-DeHart is raising three biracial children. The older two, both girls, currently identify themselves as "Amerasian," while the youngest, a boy of 11, has not voiced any preference.
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