Abstract
The most extensive theoretic and empirical studies of people of mixed racial descent extant today have addressed nations across the Atlantic. This article reveals how this literature on people of mixed racial descent is limited in its claims to represent a “global model”. In contrast, we argue that by juxtaposing institutional factors in the Atlantic region and Japan we can expand our understanding of people of mixed racial descent across a far wider range of social and political terrains. A consideration of Japan uncovers a fascinating combination of factors impactful in the emergence of populations of mixed origins in the Pacific region more generally. By identifying this range of variables, we believe this analysis can be instructive for scholars of race focusing on the Atlantic and can contribute to a more encompassing approach for theorizing people of mixed racial descent.
Highlights
In many nations around the world, people of mixed racial descent are growing in number and in diversity of background and are gaining more and more social acceptance and even greater visibility and attention than ever before (Daniel and Hernández 2020; Dixon and Telles 2017; Strmic-Pawl 2016)
It is the invariable point of departure for pretty much every aspect of people of mixed racial descent that emerged in the Americas, and it directly led to the early patterns of interracial dating in Europe
We have identified some of the major ways in which the Pacific manifests different dynamics—or at least different configurations of similar dynamics—than the Atlantic, as revealed in the six points we identified
Summary
In many nations around the world, people of mixed racial descent are growing in number and in diversity of background and are gaining more and more social acceptance and even greater visibility and attention than ever before (Daniel and Hernández 2020; Dixon and Telles 2017; Strmic-Pawl 2016). It is geographically limited to the Atlantic sphere and even in this sphere it no longer provides a satisfactory explanation of current demographic complexities This is the case, for example, in studies of people of mixed race that do not involve Black/White groups, such as Asian/White or Asian/Black, which tends to focus on those living in the Atlantic. Japan does not represent the Pacific region, but consideration of Japan uncovers a fascinating combination of factors that were—and are—impactful in the emergence of populations of mixed origins in the Pacific region more generally We believe this analysis provides key insights for scholars of race focusing on the Atlantic and expands the range of variables pertinent to an analysis of mixed racial descent beyond the Atlantic, especially as it introduces key variables (such as military bases) which are not central to analysis of the Atlantic region
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