Farzana Nayani - Raising multiracial children : tools for nurturing identity in a racialized world

Raising Multiracial Children is an indispensable study that illustrates the importance of speaking with children on race so that they can be prepared to deal with the reality of it throughout their lives. Nayani uses accessible language to weave together terminology, anecdotes, classroom activities, recommended resources, and her own experiences as a multiethnic woman, mother, and educator to provide clear insight on how to have a meaningful conversation on race and multiracial identities. It is a vital book for parents, caregivers, and educators committed to this kind of work. Bravo!

Rudy P. Guevarra Jr., author of Becoming Mexipino: Multiethnic Identities and Communities in San Diego

Far too often, race is examined and discussed along a Black and White binary, which leaves multiracial children feeling as though they do not have a place at the table. In order to strive for racial inclusion and justice, our conversations must include the nuances of multiracial identity."

Liz Kleinrock, educator and founder of Teach and Transform

Raising Multiracial Children is an excellent resource for parents, teachers, family members, and friends of the increasing number of multiracial children. It provides exercises, questions, an intersectional analysis, resources, curricula, and lots of examples of age-appropriate guidelinesa veritable toolbox of resourcesfor nurturing and supporting the next generation of multiracial people and their allies. Farzana Nayani writes with caring, personal experience, and deep insight, illustrating her examples with moving personal stories from multiracial young people and adults.

Paul Kivel, educator, activist, and author of Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice

My wife is Indian, born in New Delhi, and I am African American, born in the American South. Our three childrenthe Three Little Blindiansare growing up in Los Angeles with a vastly different experience than either of us had. On my wifes side of the family tree, our children can trace their roots back to the founding of New Delhi. On my side, were aware of a few proud generations, and weve also had to find joy in discovering our African roots together. Weve done our best to teach them that they are not half anything. Rather, they have two rich ancestries that they can call on to ground them in their journey through life. As we have experienced in our own Black and Indian family, raising multiracial children is such a critical topic. Farzana isolates invaluable tools to help give any child a more comprehensive sense of self-identity.

Jason George, actor from Greys Anatomy and Station 19, on raising children with his wife, writer and educator Vandana Khanna

I cant imagine a person more qualified to write about multiracial and multicultural children than Farzana Nayani. She presents excellent advice to parents, teachers, and cross-cultural trainers concerning the challenges and opportunities faced by multiracial children. She brings a rich background to this task based on years of careful study, knowledge learned from leading workshops, and her own experiences as a spouse and mother.

Richard W. Brislin, professor emeritus, University of Hawai`i

A book like this one is critical to our united humanity. Whether we are teachers, parents, or friends, we all need tools to help the children in our lives cultivate their identity not as we or society see it or want it to be, but with regards to how they see it and need it to be. Ms. Nayanis book guides us in the consideration of those tools, and in our efforts to apply those tools in helping us grow and helping children grow.

Velina Hasu Houston, MFA, PhD, playwright and distinguished professor

Copyright 2020 by Farzana Nayani. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books.

Published by
North Atlantic Books
Berkeley, California

Cover art and design by Jess Morphew
Book design by Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Printed in Canada

Raising Multiracial Children: Tools for Nurturing Identity in a Racialized World is sponsored and published by the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences (dba North Atlantic Books), an educational nonprofit based in Berkeley, California, that collaborates with partners to develop cross-cultural perspectives, nurture holistic views of art, science, the humanities, and healing, and seed personal and global transformation by publishing work on the relationship of body, spirit, and nature.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available from the publisher upon request.

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For all the multiracial children of the world, including my dear Zakri and Zain

Farzana Nayani changes lives and human relationships. For the last couple of decades, she has been working with the people who inhabit corporations, universities, schools, and governmental agencies to help them get better at creating and managing multicultural settings and populations. Much of her work has a special focus on multiracial identity. The number of multiracial families and individuals has skyrocketed over the past couple of decades, and Farzana Nayani has been there to help us cope with our new reality.

It is often noted that many if not most Black and Brown parents give their children, especially their sons, various versions of The Talk. As the children come of age and gain social awareness, their parents let them know that they will be racialized in the public eye. They help their children develop strategies (albeit sometimes humiliating ones) for dealing with teachers, police, and other strangers who may fear them or think ill of them and so treat them badly. It is an unfortunate truth that in a deeply racist society, children of color need to be taught how to cope with everyday racism.

Now, in Raising Multiracial Children, Farzana Nayani gives us another talk, one that we need. This is The Talk for parents of multiracial children, for teachers and others who work closely with multiracial children, and also for society at large. Farzana says that we need to make space for multiracial people, and then she helps us learn how to do that. She tells us who multiracial people are and suggests ways of thinking about them and talking about them. She draws on insights from sociology, psychology, family therapy, social work, and other helping disciplines. She challenges us to engage directly, and appropriately, with race talk. She helps us see both the rigidity and the fluidity that may characterize racial identities. She engages questions of racial authenticity, racial performance, and colorism. She points out that racial identities are products both of external social imposition and personal choice and expression, and challenges us to lay our loyalty on the side of the individual.