The Realities (and Fantasies) of Racial Identity with Jamie Keener

MESSAGE ME HERE!Jason is back with me this week to talk with me about my interview with Jamie Keener, a student earning her masters degree in medieval English literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Jamie examines medieval race in texts surrounding Faerie and part-elf, part-human individuals. Her interest in the development of racial identity emerged from her own experiences growing up as a mixed race and third culture kid in both China and the United States. Join us as we talk about racial identity in the context of her personal experiences and her studies.Jamie is a biracial (Chinese and white-American) individual who has grown up between China and the US. She discusses her experiences as a child, especially while living in China, wanting to be white. At the international middle school she attended, she endured exclusion from cliques that didn't find her to be white enough. Listen to her story as she recounts wrestling with her identity as she got older and finally learning to accept and appreciate her Chinese heritage and appreciate the fact that she could be "both/and" while simultaneously being "neither/nor." If this is your first time with OTC, check out  EPISODE 1: START HERE for more background on the show. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram!Our True Colors is powered by The Culture Crucible. Go to THE HUB to learn more!Consider joining the Critical Mixed Race Studies Association!