Neither Here Nor There: Navigating Belonging, Whiteness, and Anti-Asian Racism Among Mixed-Race Persons with Japanese and White Ancestries in Canada

Background and Purpose: Mixed-race individuals with Japanese and White ancestries in Canada occupy unique positions within racialized societal structures. Their embodied experiences, deeply influenced by their racializing and racialized ancestral roots, significantly affect how they navigate identity, belonging, and anti-Asian racism. Despite heightened attention and long standing resistance again racism, including anti-Asian discrimination, mixed-race experiences remain understudied. This research aims to deepen the understanding of how mixed-race individuals with Asian and White ancestries embody and negotiate their racial positionality amidst anti-Asian racism, guiding anti-racism efforts beyond binary views of White or People of Color categorization. The primary research question is: How do mixed-race individuals with Japanese and White ancestries experience and respond to anti-Asian racism through their embodied racial positionalities?

Methods: A qualitative approach utilizing semi-structured, in-depth interviews was employed with 10 mixed-race Japanese-White participants in Canada. Using snowball sampling methods through social media between January and March 2024, the study collected detailed narratives concerning participants' lived experiences of racism, intergenerational migration and embodied intersectional identities. Reflexive thematic analysis, guided by decolonial theory, Critical Race Theory (CRT), anti-oppressive practice (AOP), and intersectionality, was used to interpret how racialized and racializing ancestries manifest in their perceptions and experiences of race and racism.

Results: Analysis identified five primary themes: (1) Intergenerational migration, internment, and the construction of meaning, highlighting how historical traumas influence identity formation; (2) Implied Whiteness as a norm, demonstrating how Whiteness operates as an invisible standard in Canadian society; (3) Identity commodification, reflecting experiences of fetishization and exoticization primarily among female participants; (4) Distance and othering from Japan, capturing participants' complex feelings of exclusion and disconnection from Japanese cultural identity and community; (5) Anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic, illustrating nuanced positioning due to their mixed racial heritage. Participants described fluid and dynamic identity negotiations, often facing external racial assumptions categorization and internal authenticity struggles. Their racial ambiguity enabled selective engagement or detachment from anti-racist activism, influenced by their proximity to Whiteness and conditional privilege.

Conclusions and Implications: The study underscores the importance of recognizing nuanced and often fluid racial experiences and ancestral positionality among mixed-race persons with White ancestry. Their encounters with anti-Asian racism highlight critical implications for anti-racist social work practices to not overlook the intra-racial intersectionality. Practitioners should adopt embodied, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive approaches to validate and support complex mixed identities. Further research is encouraged to explore diverse mixed-race populations, fostering deeper understanding and promoting comprehensive anti-racist interventions that acknowledge and include the intricacies of mixed-race positionalities.