Racial authenticity among second generation youth in multiethnic New York and London

Abstract

This paper analyzes racial authenticity in the multiethnic context, by showing how second generation teenagers in New York and London evaluate and express racial authenticity among diverse peers. In these multiethnic contexts expectations of racially “authentic” cultural practices vary between groups but are nonetheless important for social status across groups. The data suggest that in multiethnic contexts both in-group members and out-group members help to maintain the boundaries of ethnic and racial identities. I show how teens engage both ethnic cultures as well as (black-identified) popular culture, using South Asians in both cities to illustrate the hybrid consumption practices influenced by both. Because expectations of racial authenticity limited boundary crossing, South Asian consumption practices blurred the boundary between “black” and “South Asian” taste cultures. A multi-method approach triangulates this research: ethnographic observations in 2 high schools (1 in each city), a random survey of 191 students in each school, and 120 in-depth interviews.