Ethnicity and race as ‘symbolic’: the use of ethnic and racial symbols in asserting a biracial identity

Abstract

According to Waters (1990), most Americans have some choice in ethnic identity and the ability to practise symbolic ethnicity (Gans 1979). This choice, however, is available to whites only; black Americans have less choice because their ascribed race trumps any ethnic status. Drawing on interviews with forty black-white biracial adults, I ask: can ethnicity be optional for black Americans – in particular, for black-white biracial Americans who have been historically defined as black? Furthermore, can race, like ethnicity, be symbolic? I find that these biracial respondents frequently draw on white ethnic and racial symbols, not to identify as white or with a particular white ethnic group, but rather to highlight their white ancestries in order to identify as ‘biracial’. The functions of appropriating white symbols are explored.