Leanne Taylor

he past two decades have witnessed large, international shifts in the ways in which mixed race identity, experiences, and perspectives have been addressed and understood. Historically portrayed as tragic and confused, mixed race individuals are increasingly being celebrated and featured in a range of new settings. For example, new media such as mixed race blogs, websites, Facebook groups, as well as other emerging products such as dolls, toys, and books documenting experiences of growing up ‘mixed’, are all new resources from which many of today’s young multiracial population can draw. Mixed race youth are not only participating in these venues, but are increasingly becoming their creators. In this paper, I explore a set of Canadian texts and new media in which mixed race youth narrate their experiences. I suggest that the ideas coming out of those conversations offer an important critique of contemporary discussions of not only racial identity construction, but of discourses on youth identity.