International Marketing Review #54

International Marketing Review – Interracial Relationships

Interracial marriage occurs when two people of differing racial groups marry, often creating multiracial children. This is a form of exogamy (marrying outside of one’s social group). In the Western world certain countries have had laws banning or restricting interracial marriage, including Germany during the Nazi period, South Africa under apartheid, and many states in the United States prior to the Supreme Court’s 1967 ruling in Loving v. Virginia. In both Nazi Germany and certain American states, such laws have been linked to eugenics programs.

Often, the result of these interracial marriages are Third Culture Kids (when a Japanese person marries a German and they live in Argentina).  Third Culture Kid’s have a natural Cross Cultural Vision that can be very useful in International Business Expansion.

Welcome to the 30 May 2009 International Marketing Review.

Gori Girl @GoriGirl presents Interracial Marriage in the US: Some Simple South Asian Demographics posted at Gori Girl saying “the statistics on interracial marriages in America are now here, courtesy the US Census, so we can put this baby to rest. Actually, the statistics have always been “here” since the 2000 Census information was released, but I’m not such a numbers nerd that I felt like crunching the raw data myself with SAS or STATA. Luckily for me, a pair of sociologists have already done the dirty work, and their results have been made available at Dr. C.N. Lee’s Asian Nation website. I’m going to only present the South Asian related statistics here, but Dr. Lee has the same sort of information available on all Asian ethnicities, and you can tease out information about other ethnicities as well.”

Janis Prince Inniss presents Black-White Interracial Relationships posted at Everyday Sociology saying “It was not until the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia , that interracial marriages became legal in the U.S. There are many aspects of this case that are striking, but in the context of this post, it is remarkable that this landmark case was of a black woman and white man. This combination of race and gender is noteworthy because, although interracial marriages are relatively rare overall, those of black women to white men are rarer still. (The most recent census data put these unions at about 7% of all U.S. marriages. Although this is a marked increase from 40 years ago, it is still a very low percentage.) ”

Ryan Barrett @RyanBarrett presents Musings on Interracial Relationships posted at Pop & Politics saying “I noticed a funny thing while visiting my family in D.C. for Christmas. Simply put: every female in the house (my mom and aunt, who are African-American, and me and my cousin, who are interracial) was either involved with or married to a White man. The truth is, the topic of interracial dating is always bubbling in the back of my mind. I went out on a limb and wrote a post about it some time ago on this blog, which got me into some deep water with a few of my readers (a disagreement that I haven’t fully resolved in my mind).”

Elizabeth presents Anti-Racism posted at  My ONE LOVE life saying “Contrary to what many believe being in an interracial relationship does not, by itself, magically make you anti racist or race conscious. It does not make you colorblind (nor is that desirable). In reality, when you are in an interracial relationship it is even more important to constantly examine yourself, your actions, and your beliefs. In an interracial relationship it can be even harder to be race conscious, because you have to be able to separate your interpersonal relationship from society’s race realities.”

maamej presents Harmony Day posted at Border Crossings saying “Saturday 21 March was Harmony Day in Australia, a day to celebrate our diverse society. It is also the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This is not a coincidence – it’s just that our government, in their wisdom, didn’t want to have a day that had the “R” word in its name. Instead they decided to call the day something that emphasised the positives about living in a multicultural society. Well, I’m all for that, but let’s not forget that racism’s still out there.”

Heather Lurdkee presents Interracial Marriage a Status Symbol? posted at Indian Ties saying “I know this blog is tongue-in-cheek, but I guess there’s a truth behind it.  For my husband, being married to me (a white girl) isn’t much of a status symbol – he didn’t go out looking specifically for an American or a white girl.  He didn’t “need me” in order to get somewhere in life.  We just happened to be at the right place at the right time and things worked out.”

NANeoKalypso presents Adaptation & A Working Relationship with the Indian Parents posted at The Milano Has Landed! saying “I wanted to write about how the chips are falling on my end.  After having the chance to get to know R’s family a bit, asking more questions, and feeling many feelings (good, bad, resentful, surprised), I think I have a decent sense of where R and my relationship is headed.  After the big reneg on the India invite, the “make a commitment!” demands from his parents, and their general “not knowing how to act around me” I was pissy and mad for a while that they just didn’t “get it.”  Allow me to let you in to the nitty gritty thoughts that went through my head: “They live HERE, not INDIA!  They should adapt (or have adapted a while ago)!!” “Those damn bloggers on CBC were right!” “Why won’t all my experiences/knowledge of India/Indians WORK here?!?!?!”  Call it the eye of the storm, or hopefully adaptation in my mind, but I’ve managed to get past must of this exasperation.”

Jody presents Cultural Isolation posted at The Link Between saying “A significant piece of this slump was  influenced by the cultural isolation we experience living in a non-diverse environment.  While there are many upsides to where we live (no commute, low cost of living, tight community, job satisfaction, balanced work-home commitments, etc.), one of the downsides that arises intensely at times is cultural isolation.  I was explaining a bit of this struggle to an Asian colleague who’s moving to our town, and he commented, “But you’re ok, right?” suggesting that because I’m white & American, I don’t experience the same struggles that the rest of my family does.  In a sense, I completely understand where he’s coming from, and he’s right.  I don’t experience what they do.  In another sense, though, it still affects me significantly because it affects the people I love most.  My husband hit a significant low – basically just feeling lonely for people who see him as “normal” (and frustrated by people who eye him wearily) – over January and all I can do is listen, give him a hug, and try not to diminish his feelings of isolation. My daughter’s continues to ask about race, the latest being, “Mama, why is everyone white except me?””

Bengali Wife presents The Importance of Good Communication posted at Bengali Wife saying “One of the most important aspects of a good intercultural relationship (whether it is with friends,a spouse,family etc..) is good communication. Sometimes when there is a problem with my husband and I in that regard, it just boils down to the fact that I am a woman and he is a man and sometimes he just doesn’t listen to what or how I say things.”

An ethnography on interracial relationships by UNC Chapel Hill students.

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Finally, there are several forums on Interracial Relationships, and this is just a small sampling of what is available.

Interracial Relationships.

Teenage/College Interracial Relationships.

CollegeNet Interracial Relationships.

ehealth Interracial Relationships.

Relationship Forums, Interracial Relationship.

More International Marketing Reviews:

• #54 – Interracial Relationships
• #53 – Multi-cultural Cities
  
• #52 – International Social Networking
• #51 – Mothers Day 2009
• #50 – Cross-Cultural Management
• #49 – Holidays Around The World In May 2009
• #48 – Earth Day 2009
• #47 – Easter 2009
• #46 – G20
• #45 – UN-Earth Hour Events On Earth Day
• #44 – World Water Day
• #43 – Flat Stanley travels the world
• #42 – English Tweeting Women to follow from Europe
• #41 – English Tweeting Women to follow from Europe
• #40 – Intercultural Encounters
• #39 – International Valentines Day 2009
• #38 – The White Paper Summit 2009
• #37 – Social Media Changes and President Obama
• #36 – Social Media and the President
• #35 – Globalization and the Global Economy
• #34 – Cross-Cultural Encounters
• #33 – Cultural & International Links
• #32 – 2009 Predictions
• #31 – Christmas Meals Around The World
• #30 – Christmas Trees Around The World
• #29 – Santa Claus In Different Cultures
• #28 – International Christmas Shopping
• #27 – On Multicultural Matters
• #26 – On International Sales
• #25 – On Cross-Cultural Communication
• #24 – On Translations
• #23 – On Email Marketing
• #19 – International Business

Here is a complete list of International Marketing Reviews Technorati tags:

the international marketing review, blog carnival, international sales best practice.

Tagged as: Interracial Marriage, Interracial Relationship forums, Interracial relationships, third culture kids