Mixed relationships, racialised boundaries and white normativity in European Societies

Social boundaries associated with ‘race’ and identity and the historical legacy of European dominance have become increasingly contested in our contemporary world. With broader public discussions emerging about mixed-race, bi-racial and interracial identities, anti-black stereotyping and problems of white historical amnesia, privilege and ignorance, and the legitimacy of age-old statues and symbols of white European colonial domination under new public scrutiny, it is imperative for independent, critical social research to engage with, investigate and better understand the roles, complex lived experiences and shifting identities of mixed race people in Europe’s past and present. 

We ask the Independent Social Research Foundation to 

a) support our aim to create a new international, interdisciplinary research network to examine ‘mixed relationships’, explore the lived experiences and identities of interracial couples and investigate the historical legacy of racialised discourses and intersectional stereotypes of and discriminations against interracial relationships in European societies 

b) support our team’s collaborative discussion and collaborative research project development on this pressing social issue.

The 4 key objectives of our network activities and planned collaborative research project are to: 

1. Gain an original, historically grounded insight into the complex and shifting experiences and identities of black/white interracial families in Europe

2. Explore the role of intersecting markers of identity/difference (e.g., ‘race’, ethnicity, religion, nation, gender) in the identity constructions of interracial families

3. Examine the role of digital media as a space for mixed-race peoples’ self-representation – a space that potentially provides a ‘voice’ that can be mobilised to create and promote (counter-)-narratives, develop alternative trajectories, challenge stereotypical perceptions and provide a sense of belonging and support

4. Investigate the stereotyping of interracial relationships in Europe from a postcolonial critical perspective, capture the historical legacy of racist stereotypes and discriminations associated with ‘interracial’ relationships in Modern Europe and identify their contemporary repercussions.