The Pigment of Your Imagination: Mixed Race in a Global Society

"Identities are the names we give to the different ways we are positioned by, and position ourselves within, the narratives of the past." Stuart Hall

Throughout the world arbitrary racial notions are used to define who is '"black" and who is "white" but the lines become blurred with people of mixed racial heritage. Joy Zarembka and her brother Tommy -- who are featured on the front cover of the book -- share the same parents and have striking physical similarities, yet were labelled at birth with very different racial designations; Joy was described as "black" and her brother as "white."

After extensive research in Britain, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Jamaica, Joy Zarembka explores the vastly divergent interpretations of racial identity in these countries and her native United States. By combining vivid anecdotes of her travels, historical background, and oral histories from mixed-race families, Joy Zarembka leads us to a new understanding of racial identity.

Customer Reviews:

Race truly is a social construct

By Michelle Hughes - June 4, 2007

I enjoyed this book. I read (& speak) a lot on race, transracial adoption, and Biracial identity. What I found interesting about this book is how as she moved from country to country (& sometimes within a country) her race changed. Also the rules of race- such as the "one drop rule"- changed. The "one drop rule" is an American constuct. There is an expression that race is not real; but racism is! This book really shows how race varies from place to place so race can't be real except as a social construct. But it also verifies racism is alive and well around the world and as one's race changes, so does the racism and/or prejudice that one experiences based on race. I might also add the historical information she gives on each country really puts into perspective how money (& power) and race/racism is intertwined. It is econimically important to seperate the races for some people.(Those with the money and power who wish to retain it and not share the wealth.)

While the book... read more

The Challenge for Interracial Families

By Cindy W. Bonner - January 4, 2008

Joy M. Zarembka was "born, bred, and buttered" in Pittsburgh, PA, to a Kenyan mother and a European-American father. On her birth certificate, Joy was listed as "black." Eighteen months later her brother, born to the same two parents, was listed as "white."

Pondering this racial ambiguity, as she says in her Introduction: "I have often wondered how I would explain the idea of race to a visually impaired person. Race is a nebulous concept that categorizes human beings based on physical differences ... that are transmitted by a few genes." Yet the rules of racial identification are being challenged today by interracial families, and their not-so-easily categorized offspring.

Zarembka's experiences of blackness and whiteness left her questioning what these terms meant outside the U.S. So she traveled to four different countries in an effort to explore the notion of racial identity, and to better understand the interpretations of race in different parts of the... read more