Two year study is claimed to be the largest and most detailed in the UK.

After years of failing to recognise the needs of the mixed-race population in Britain, the Government’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has awarded a group of researchers at the University of Kent £156,000 to investigate the range of identity choices potentially available to mixed-race young people in Britain.

Conducted by Peter Aspinall (Centre for Health Services Studies), Miri Song (School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research) and Ferhana Hashem (Centre for Health Services Studies), the two year study is claimed to be the largest and most detailed of its kind ever undertaken in the UK and will supply the research community, census agencies and the providers of educational, health and other public services with a comprehensive insight into the personal, group and political dimensions of mixed-race identities.

Aimed at 18-25 year-olds in colleges and further education the study will provide systematic empirical evidence for how around 300 mixed-race young adults make choices about the way they identify in racial/ethnic terms across a variety of social contexts and different situations. It will also examine what these choices mean in practice – in terms of friendship networks, membership in groups, and possible political and other affiliations – and will explore the kinds of strategies different kinds of ‘mixed’ people adopt in their efforts to assert their desired identities.

Peter Aspinall said: ‘The population of the UK is becoming increasingly diverse in terms of ethnicity, race, religion and national identity. In recent years we have seen a widening variety of migrant flows and the rise of hyphenated identities – such as ‘Scottish-Muslim’ – frequently incorporating nationality or religion. Similarly, the idea of multiple attachments or loyalties has come to the fore, cross-cutting traditional groupings and giving rise to the language of hybridity and Diaspora. The notion of ethnic identity as something that is fixed, stable, bounded, and homogeneous has been shown to have diminishing validity.

‘We expect this research will make significant contributions to theoretical developments in the field of ethnic/racial self-identification choices for the currently understudied mixed-race young adult population who are experiencing key transitions in their life-course.’

Sharron Hall founder of Intermix.org.uk adds:
Although I welcome research into the needs of mixed-race individuals this study will not provide a balanced view of themixed-race experience. By aiming the study at 18-25 year-olds in colleges and further education the researchers are already leaving out those whose mixed-race background has the greatest impact on their life chances. Children in care and those frompoorer backgrounds are far less likely to enter higher education and are far more likely to suffer the effects of society's marginalisation of those who fail to fit into the right box.

A study of 300 students will also not provide an accurate picture even if it was aimed at a wider group of young people, it will only give you a picture of how 300 students respond to the study and will not represent the whole of the mixed-race experience.

It is also doubtful this research will have any effect on how government and other statutory bodies respond to the needs of the mixed-race population. A recent study for the DFES which highlighted the lack of understanding within the education system of the needs of mixed-race children made no difference to the lives of mixed-race children despite findings to show that there were 'Low expectations of pupils by some teachers who base their assumptions on a stereotypical view of mixed-race pupils background and 'confused identities'' and 'That pupils often experience racism from teachers and from their White and Black peers targeted at their mixed heritage.'

This failure to act on what amounts to institutional racism within the education system was disappointing but not entirely unexpected in a nation that still has a long way to go in terms of anti-racist policy. However certain terms used in Peter Aspinall's statement triggered alarm bells. Maybe I'm being over-sensitive but using terms such as ‘Scottish-Muslim’ – frequently incorporating nationality or religion, 'widening migrant flows', 'multiple attachments or loyalties' suddenly got me thinking that the so called 'home-grown' terrorists may have caused the government to worry about other groups that might have loyalties elsewhere.

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