Introduction

People from a ‘mixed’ or ‘inter’ racial and ethnic background, and people partnering and parenting across different racial and ethnic backgrounds – the mixedness and mixing of the title of this book – are of increasing political, public and intellectual interest internationally. In many countries discussion often focuses on assertions about identity (and the rights associated), black/white mixes and pathologically focused research agenda. The different racial histories of the countries concerned inform how these debates are understood and played out. Nonetheless, across contexts, mixedness and mixing often are significant in the light of debates about multi-culturalism, and ‘race’ and ethnicity more broadly, albeit in quite different ways.