In the seventh episode of On Being Biracial, hosts Daralyse Lyons and Malcolm Burnley examine how skin color and visible appearances impact the lives of multiracial individuals. This installment delves into colorism, passing, privileges, hair, identity, and assimilation as they pertain to being mixed.

In this episode, you will learn:

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  What researchers have studied about multiracial hair, including the stress and anxiety that can come with negative hair experiences in a developmental age.

  
  


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  Why aspects of our appearances — including hair, jewelry, and clothing — can be a way to signal group identity, and minimize ambiguity, for mixed people.
  

  
  

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  How a mixed person's pigmentation and proximity to whiteness can provide certain advantages and privileges for biracial people, while also bringing about pains and anxieties.

  
  

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  How siblings can have vastly different experiences solely on the basis of things like hair tone or skin color while sharing the same biracial heritage.
  
  

  
  

This season's interviewees are: Ashanti Martin, Azaria Keys, Bárbara Idalissee Abadía-Rexach, Carter O'Brien Ford, Cat Dyson, Chantelle Fitzgerald, Charlotte Gill, David Ryan Barcega Castro-Harris, Drew Allmond, Evan Fong Jaroff, Hannah Wallace, Ian Burnley, Jewel Love, John Blake, Jourdin Davis, Kimberly Ortiz-Hartman, Lise Funderburg, Mat Johnson, Nora Elmarzouky, Rachael Go, Rachel Lauren, Samonte Cruz, Sandra Clark, Sarabella Rocha, Sarah Gaither, Sienna McWhirter, Tyla Taylor, Tyler Sloane, W Kamau Bell, Zein Hassanein, and Mark Hugo Lopez.

Click here for a transcript of the episode: Ep. 7 “Your hair is not a threat”- Transcript

Check out our website: onbeingbiracial.com

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Our partners include:

WURD Radio - wurdradio.com

Philadelphia Journalism Collaborative - resolvephilly.org

Kouvenda Media - kouvendamedia.com

For more content about topics referenced in this episode, please check out the following links:

Daralyse's Demystifying Diversity Podcast - Biraciality

Malcolm's Philly Mag essay

Rachael Go's The Mix'd Movement Podcast

Youth Voices: IDENTITY Episode of On Being Biracial

Lise Funderburg's Black, White, Other