Miscegenation

Miscegenation (/mɪˌsɛdʒəˈneɪʃən/ mih-SEJ-ə-NAY-shən) is a derogatory term for a marriage or admixture between people who are members of different races or ethnicities.^[1] It is a controversial term and at times described something that has been illegal.

Modern science regards race as a social construct, an identity which is assigned based on rules made by society.^[2]^[3]^[4] While partly based on physical similarities within groups, race does not have an inherent physical or biological meaning.^[5]^[6]^[7] The concept of race is foundational to racism, the belief that humans can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. Although the derogatory term "miscegenation" was formed from the Latin for "mixing races/kinds,” and it might therefore be perceived as being value-neutral, it is almost always a pejorative term which is used by people who believe in racial superiority or purity.^[8] Less offensive terms for multiethnic relationships, such as interethnic or interracial marriage, and mixed-race, multiethnic, or multiracial people, are more common in contemporary usage. Adjectives describing “miscegenation” include "interethnic", "mixed-race", "multiethnic", "multiracial", and "interracial". However, none of these terms have scientific validity.

In the present day, the use of the word miscegenation is avoided by scholars because the term suggests that race is a concrete biological phenomenon, rather than a categorization which is imposed on certain relationships. The term's historical usage in contexts which typically implied disapproval is also a reason why more unambiguously neutral terms such as interracialism, interethnicism or cross-culturalism are more common in contemporary usage.^[9] The term does remain in use among scholars when referring to past practices concerning multiraciality, such as anti-miscegenation laws that banned interracial marriages.^[10] The term is especially used by people who believe in racial superiority or purity and object to interracial relationships.^[11]

^ "Miscegenation Definition & Meaning". britannica.com. Britannica Dictionary. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
^ Using Population Descriptors in Genetics and Genomics Research: A New Framework for an Evolving Field (Consensus Study Report). National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. doi:10.17226/26902. ISBN 978-0-309-70065-8. PMID 36989389. In humans, race is a socially constructed designation, a misleading and harmful surrogate for population genetic differences, and has a long history of being incorrectly identified as the major genetic reason for phenotypic differences between groups.
^ Amutah, C.; Greenidge, K.; Mante, A.; Munyikwa, M.; Surya, S. L.; Higginbotham, E.; Jones, D. S.; Lavizzo-Mourey, R.; Roberts, D.; Tsai, J.; Aysola, J. (March 2021). Malina, D. (ed.). "Misrepresenting Race — The Role of Medical Schools in Propagating Physician Bias". The New England Journal of Medicine. 384 (9). Massachusetts Medical Society: 872–878. doi:10.1056/NEJMms2025768. ISSN 1533-4406. PMID 33406326. S2CID 230820421.
^ Gannon, Megan (5 February 2016). "Race Is a Social Construct, Scientists Argue". Scientific American. ISSN 0036-8733. Archived from the original on 14 February 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
^ Barnshaw, John (2008). "Race". In Schaefer, Richard T. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society. Vol. 1. Sage Publications. pp. 1091–1093. ISBN 978-1-45-226586-5.
^ Cite error: The named reference Britannica was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Yudell, M.; Roberts, D.; DeSalle, R.; Tishkoff, S. (5 February 2016). "Taking race out of human genetics". Science. 351 (6273). American Association for the Advancement of Science: 564–565. Bibcode:2016Sci...351..564Y. doi:10.1126/science.aac4951. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 26912690. S2CID 206639306.
^ Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 2002. Retrieved 11 July 2020. The term is used esp. by people who believe in concepts of racial superiority or racial purity and therefore object to interracial relationships ....
^ Newman, Richard (1999). "Miscegenation". In Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates Jr. (ed.). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience (1st ed.). New York: Basic Civitas Books. p. 1320. ISBN 978-0-465-00071-5. Miscegenation, a term for sexual relations across racial lines; no longer in use because of its racist implications
^ Pascoe, P. (1996). "Miscegenation Law, Court Cases, and Ideologies of "Race" in Twentieth-Century America". The Journal of American History. 83 (1): 44–69. doi:10.2307/2945474. JSTOR 2945474.
^ Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 2002. Retrieved 11 July 2020. The term is used esp. by people who believe in concepts of racial superiority or racial purity and therefore object to interracial relationships ....

[1] "Miscegenation Definition & Meaning". britannica.com. Britannica Dictionary. Retrieved 24 March 2023.

[:8-2] Using Population Descriptors in Genetics and Genomics Research: A New Framework for an Evolving Field (Consensus Study Report). National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. doi:10.17226/26902. ISBN 978-0-309-70065-8. PMID 36989389. In humans, race is a socially constructed designation, a misleading and harmful surrogate for population genetic differences, and has a long history of being incorrectly identified as the major genetic reason for phenotypic differences between groups.

[Malina20212-3] Amutah, C.; Greenidge, K.; Mante, A.; Munyikwa, M.; Surya, S. L.; Higginbotham, E.; Jones, D. S.; Lavizzo-Mourey, R.; Roberts, D.; Tsai, J.; Aysola, J. (March 2021). Malina, D. (ed.). "Misrepresenting Race — The Role of Medical Schools in Propagating Physician Bias". The New England Journal of Medicine. 384 (9). Massachusetts Medical Society: 872–878. doi:10.1056/NEJMms2025768. ISSN 1533-4406. PMID 33406326. S2CID 230820421.

[Gannon20162-4] Gannon, Megan (5 February 2016). "Race Is a Social Construct, Scientists Argue". Scientific American. ISSN 0036-8733. Archived from the original on 14 February 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2023.

[Barnshaw-5] Barnshaw, John (2008). "Race". In Schaefer, Richard T. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society. Vol. 1. Sage Publications. pp. 1091–1093. ISBN 978-1-45-226586-5.

[Britannica-6] Cite error: The named reference Britannica was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[7] Yudell, M.; Roberts, D.; DeSalle, R.; Tishkoff, S. (5 February 2016). "Taking race out of human genetics". Science. 351 (6273). American Association for the Advancement of Science: 564–565. Bibcode:2016Sci...351..564Y. doi:10.1126/science.aac4951. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 26912690. S2CID 206639306.

[8] Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 2002. Retrieved 11 July 2020. The term is used esp. by people who believe in concepts of racial superiority or racial purity and therefore object to interracial relationships ....

[:0-9] Newman, Richard (1999). "Miscegenation". In Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates Jr. (ed.). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience (1st ed.). New York: Basic Civitas Books. p. 1320. ISBN 978-0-465-00071-5. Miscegenation, a term for sexual relations across racial lines; no longer in use because of its racist implications

[10] Pascoe, P. (1996). "Miscegenation Law, Court Cases, and Ideologies of "Race" in Twentieth-Century America". The Journal of American History. 83 (1): 44–69. doi:10.2307/2945474. JSTOR 2945474.

[11] Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 2002. Retrieved 11 July 2020. The term is used esp. by people who believe in concepts of racial superiority or racial purity and therefore object to interracial relationships ....

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