Tricking the Border Guards: Performing Race

Abstract

In this paper I examine aspects of the notion of performativity as related to race. I propose that the experience of ‘mixed race’ identity can offer opportunities for the performance of racialized identities. Drawing from qualitative interviews, I suggest that some ‘mixed race’ women put into play racialized performances, demonstrating a desire to create new meanings out of imposed hierarchical and dualistic racial orders. They effectively take advantage of multiple, dynamic, and ambiguous racialized spaces. I begin by critiquing recent examinations of performativity in geography, pointing out that, although they contribute towards a greater understanding of the relationship between gender and performance, processes of racialization in regards to performativity have not yet been fully unravelled. Through the stories of some ‘mixed race’ women, I chronicle racialized performances in the social landscape in order to ground the notion of performativity through a racialized lens.