Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

2-2023

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Sociology

Advisor

Van C. Tran

Committee Members

Richard Alba

Erica Chito Childs

Jessica Halliday Hardie

Subject Categories

Family, Life Course, and Society | Gender and Sexuality | Migration Studies | Race and Ethnicity

Keywords

mixed race, intermarriage, assimilation, ethnicity, family

Abstract

This dissertation examines how White and second-generation Asian American heterosexual couples negotiate race, ethnicity, and gender as they come together and form families. While Asian-White intermarriage is often theorized as an endpoint of assimilation, this research concerns itself with the ways in which race plays a central role in shaping various domains of family life among mixed couples. Drawing on 62 semi-structured interviews with White and second-generation Asian American individuals, I find that race and gender jointly shape how the couples navigate household divisions of labor, in-law relationships, naming decisions, and transmitting ethnicity to children. By revealing the ongoing processes of racialization within mixed families, this study challenges the popular imagination of intermarriage as a symbol of racial transcendence. Instead, it argues that Asian-White mixed families are an important site to interrogate intersectional inequalities.

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