CROSSING THE COLOURLINE: INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE AND BIRACIAL IDENTITY by James Omolo

With the increasing number of Africans in Europe and subsequent upsurge in intermarriages, there has been a rise of biracial children and adults in most countries in Europe who do not fit in the realm of society’s social stratum.
Marriages transverse ethnic borders, rising in frequency, yet the cognitive debate on ethnicity, race, migration, and how these variables affect couples and their children from these interracial marriages is a serious hassle – love is not all you need in interracial marriage. This book therefore delves into the multiple realities of interracial marriages through personal narratives of those engaged in it and who go through it on a daily basis.
I find that biracial individuals define their identities in different ways likewise; I also find that their parents define them in various ways too. Some biracial individuals are strongly attached to their Black racial identity, while others engage in contextual and situational racial identity work, in spite of how the society perceives them. Affinity to Blackness encompasses a lot of competing identities such as, gender, age, and exposure to non-Blacks.
This book is also designed to understand how Black-white interracial parents categorize and reconcile their children’s racial identity. Moreover, the objective of this research book is to expose some of the approaches and strategies parents of biracial individuals convey to their children in order to influence or trivialise their racial identity.
My aim in writing this book – using narratives from the parents with biracial kids and also biracial individuals themselves – is that when one reads this book about biracial children and individuals, parents of biracial children, and their position within society, it will unfold an amalgam of multiple realities and multidimensional levels of sense of belonging. The way society identifies individuals has a dramatic effect on everyone, particularly children.
This research book starts by giving an overview of the concept of race as the perception of physical differences, and the research result on biracial individuals based on societal misrecognition, everyday challenges and their racial identity and sense of belonging.
The book presents the research results on interracial marriage, looking at the multiple challenges that emanates from interracial marriage and how these parents cope with the dual identity of their children.
It also delves into the discussion part on parenting as a micro-activism, racial socialization of biracial individuals, some tips in preparing children for encounter with racism and how to actively engage in the discourse on race issues.
The outcome of the survey affirms the main themes related to interracial couples and how they apprehend and strategize for the survival of their biracial children.