“What Are You Mixed with?”: A Photovoice-Informed Exploration of Biracial Identity and Racialized Experience

Background and Purpose

This study examines how Black-White biracial individuals construct and negotiate racial identity within racially stratified social contexts. Although research on racial identity development has expanded, much of the literature relies on monoracial frameworks that fail to capture the complexity of biracial experiences, particularly in relation to anti-Blackness, colorism, and racial ambiguity. Additionally, limited research integrates visual and narrative methods to examine identity across the lifespan.

This project addresses these gaps by reframing the autoethnography What Are You Mixed With? Navigating Anti-Blackness, White Supremacy, and Light-Skinned Privilege as a photovoice-informed qualitative inquiry that centers lived experience as knowledge production. Grounded in critical race theory and intersectionality, the study explores how biracial individuals make meaning of identity and how visual–narrative methods deepen understanding of these processes.

Methods

This study utilizes a qualitative, photovoice-informed narrative design. Data consist of first-person narratives and accompanying visual artifacts (e.g., personal and historical photographs) drawn from a purposive sample of Black-White biracial contributors. These visual–narrative pairings function as both data and analytic material, capturing the embodied and relational dimensions of identity.

Narratives were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis informed by critical race theory and intersectionality. Coding focused on identity formation, racialized experiences, and strategies of adaptation and resistance. Visual materials were analyzed alongside narrative data to deepen contextual interpretation.

Results

Findings indicate that racial identity is fluid, relational, and frequently contested. Key themes include anti-Blackness and colorism, racial ambiguity and misrecognition, and ongoing negotiation of belonging within monoracial structures. Participants describe code-switching and identity performance as strategies to navigate social contexts, often resulting in identity fragmentation and psychological strain.

At the same time, narratives reflect resilience, resistance, and identity integration. Visual–narrative pairing reveals how identity is both internally constructed and externally imposed, highlighting the role of perception and power. Participants often occupy paradoxical positions, experiencing both proximity to privilege and racialized marginalization.

Conclusions and Implications

Findings underscore the value of multimodal, participatory approaches in capturing complex identity experiences. By centering lived experience and visual representation, this study advances inclusive, equity-centered knowledge production.

Implications for practice include integrating trauma-informed, antiracist frameworks that address the psychological and relational impacts of racial liminality. The study also supports the use of narrative and visual methods in clinical and educational settings to facilitate identity exploration. For research, this work demonstrates how photovoice-informed approaches can expand qualitative inquiry and elevate marginalized perspectives.