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RACE COGNIZANCE AND COLORBLINDNESS

Effects of Latino/Non-Hispanic White Intermarriage1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2014

Jessica M. Vasquez
Jessica M. Vasquez*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Oregon
*
*Corresponding author: Jessica M. Vasquez, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, 1291 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403–1291. E-mail: vasquezj@uoregon.edu
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Abstract

Latino racial/ethnic intermarriage has grown over time, increases with each generation in the United States, and occurs most frequently with non-Hispanic Whites. This article answers the question: How does intermarriage change racial/ethnic consciousness for both partners? Drawing on in-depth interviews with thirty intermarried Latinos and non-Hispanic Whites, I critique assimilation, Whiteness, and colorblindness theories, finding two predominant racial consciousness outcomes of intermarriage: race cognizance and racial colorblindness. First, intermarriage can enhance Whites’ understanding of race/ethnicity and racism, a phenomenon I call race cognizance. Second, intermarriage can produce colorblind discourse that focuses on similarity, yet in ways inconsistent with colorblind racism. Racial consciousness varies by ethnicity: most intermarried Whites reported race cognizance, an outcome unforeseen by traditional theories of integration, whereas Latinos more often espoused colorblindness. These understandings are used in different contexts: race cognizance is stimulated by the public domain, whereas colorblindness is evoked in private space. These findings demonstrate that racial consciousness is fluid, and influenced by intermarriage and ethnicity.

Keywords

IntermarriageLatinosWhitenessRaceAssimilationRacial AttitudesColorblindness
Type
State of the Art
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , Fall 2014 , pp. 273 - 293
Copyright
Copyright © Hutchins Center for African and African American Research 2014 

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