ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book tackles the burgeoning field of critical mixed race studies, bringing together research that spans five continents and more than ten countries. It examines how mixed couples and families deal with familial and community response to their relationship and family. The book then documents how couples avoid public displays of affection, or going out together due to being stared at, harassed or in some cases physically attacked. It also exposes how cross-region brides become ‘internal others’, seen as a ‘dhabba’ or stain which their children are also viewed as carrying, based on beliefs about caste and religion. The book argues mixed families tend to use an ‘ethnically monolithic parenting style,’ effectively limiting their child’s access to their non-Scottish heritage, given how whiteness is embedded in the official discourse of Scottishness, and what it means to be Scottish.
