Mixed race studies is one of the fastest growing as well as one of the most important and controversial areas in the field of race and ethnicity. Bringing together pioneering and controversial scholarship from the social and biological sciences, as well as the humanities, this book charts the evolution of debates on race and mixed race from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. This collection adds a new dimension to the growing body of literature on the topic and provides a comprehensive history of the origins and directions of mixed race research as an intellectual movement.

It is divided into three main sections:

* tracing the origins: miscegenation, moral degeneracy and genetics
* mapping contemporary and foundational discourses: mixed race, identities politics and celebration
* debating definitions: census categories and critiques.

Each section begins with a brief editorial guide to the readings and includes revision probes for each reading as well as suggestions for further reading. Mixed Race Studies: A Reader is an invaluable resource for examining the complexities and paradoxes of racial thinking across space, time, and disciplines.