"Mixed Blood"

"Mixed Blood is a photographic and textual project portraying NYC and Beijing based families that include children with “mixed” races (sic), ethnicities, and cultures. Mixed Blood questions and diffuses the historical categorization process of race/ethnicity and focuses on connective, cross-cultural experiences. The portraits and accompanying narratives illustrate the varying relationships family members have with their backgrounds, cultural context and citizenship. This unifying of race (sic) and cultures within a family unit continues to influence the evolution of American and global identity today."
CYJO


Above: Valter Family, 2010. Citizenship: American, German. Ancestries: African-American, American Indian, Bahamian, French, German. Languages: English, German, French, Spanish. Live in New York (literally via).


Above: Doyle Family, 2010. Citizenship: American. Ancestries: African, American Indian, Creole, Cuban, French, Irish. Languages: English, Spanish, French. Live in New York (literally via).

Born in 1974, CYJO (pronounced see-joe) is an American visual artist that works mainly in the photographic medium but also with text and video. She is most known for her KYOPO Project (2004-2009), a photographic and textual project about American immigration and identity through the lens of the Korean ancestry. Over 200 people explore their relationships with their ancestral culture and the other cultures they embody through citizenship or life experiences. (literally via)


Above: Casarosa Family, 2010. Citizenships: American, Italian, Korean. Ancestries: Italian, Korean. Languages: English, Italian, Korean. Live in New York (literally via).

"what I find intriguing about these families is that they defy the border and racial conflicts that we read about or may have experienced. although there can be some complexities that hint at the tensions and differences from the power of heritage, these portraits and narratives illustrate how their love naturally crosses boundaries."
CYJO


Above: Snodgrass Family, 2013. Citizenships: American, Chinese. Ancestries: German, Han Chinese, Irish. Languages: English, Mandarin. Moved back and forth to China since 1999 (literally via).


Above: Huang Rierson Family, 2013. Citizenships: American, Belgium. Ancestries:Chinese, All Western Europe except France. Languages: Mandarin, French, English. Live in Beijing (literally via).

All members of the Huang Rierson family are fluent in three languages but have certain preferences depending on where and who they speak to. Both daughters prefer to speak Mandarin to each other because they find it easier while they speak English to their father and French to their mother. French is also the language of choice when they are having conversations at the dinner table (via).

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photographs by CYJO via and via and via and via and via, (c) CYJO

Londinium, the multicultural metropolis

London - founded by the Romans, conquered by the Saxons and Normans, developed as a commercial centre by Italian, Flemish, and Baltic traders - is a multicultural metropolis, a truly international city with 100 different languages spoken in almost each of its boroughs (via). In the past, immigration brought new life styles, foods, music, ... The mix of different cultures is not new, "London always was a city of foreigners" who become an essential part of British culture. In fact, for "much of its history the percentage of Londoners born outside the capital was actually far higher than today" (via); 37% of its current population is foreign-born (via).



According to the 1981 census, for instance, more than one in six were born outside the UK (mainly in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean). This characteristic of London, however, did not start in the 1980s but much earlier. In his book "A City Full of People", historian Peter Earle states that around 1700, "a clear majority of Londoners had not been born in the capital" but in France, Spain, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Germany, Southern Europe, ... Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and in other parts of England (at the time, people from Cornwall, for instance, were perceived as "foreigners"). About 150 years later, under Queen Victoria, London was still a multicultural city. In the 1840s alone, 50.000 people arrived from Ireland fleeing the famine and by 1850, London's Jewish population had increased to ca. 20.000 leaping to 120.000 in the following fifty years. By 1800, there were several thousand Africans living in London and more and more people from South East Asia settled in the city (via).



Even in its early Roman days Londoners were "just as cosmopolitan and diverse" as they are today. According to new DNA findings, gladiators in London circa 50 A.D. may have come from North Africa and different parts of Europe. The cosmopolitan nature of ancient London may have drawn on people from all over the Roman Empire and it seems that London "hasn't changed all that much in character" (via).

"But the findings serve as a reminder that the past often looked very, very different from the all-white panoramas built in the years since. Especially somewhere like London, a crossroads from its very beginning." (via)

"And so today's fears of a multicultural capital are myopic, because that is exactly what London always was, during the centuries of greatness when it became the top city in the world." (via)




- interesting: The ethnic population of England and Wales broken down by local authorities, The Guardian, 2011, link
- all photographs of London by Inge Morath (1923-2002) via, copyright The Inge Morath Foundation - Magnum Photos, courtesy 'Clair Gallery, last photograph by Inge Morath (street corner at World's End, 1954) via; fog photograph taken in 1954, all the others in 1953

Food as a Cultural Marker

Eating is not just a biological practice (Claxton). It is a cultural practice and as such reflects our personal and social identity (Cornejo Happel, 2012). Food plays a central role in the construction of both identities and stereotypes. In fact, stereotypes based on food are effective ways of disparaging others (Leizaola, 2006) as for instance ethnic slurs based on food illustrate: kraut, spaghettis, macaroni eaters, eskimo, frogs, roast-beefs, hamburgers, baguette-heads, the watermelon stereotype...

 

Positive food stereotypes are sometimes actively reinforced in order to meet e.g. tourists' expectations (Leizaola, 2006). Negative views are often expressed through food taboos: Those who respect the taboos are better than the others - better than the "Barbarians".
In other words, food demonstrates ethnicity and ethnocentrism through emotions ranging from contempt to disgust (De Garine, 2001). Food can be a highly emotive issue, indeed. Dog eating, for instance, is mainly criticised by Western societies, some calling for a total ban. This criticism provokes reactions as food is seen as part of culture and the criticism is regarded as one referring to a cultural practice. In South Korea, one of the few countries where dog eating is practiced, many people seem to be against banning dog meat (the study/survey referred to the dog species that was bred for this purpose only and not to any other practices). At the same time, many South Koreans do not seem to approve dog eating either and only eat dog meat twice or three times a year. Defending food seems to be defending identity (Podberscek, 2009).

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- Claxton, M. (n.y.) Culture, Food, and Identity.via
- Cornejo Happel, C. A. (2012) You are what you eat: Food as expression of social identity and intergroup relations in the colonial Andes, Cincinnati Romance Review, 33, 175-193
- De Graine, I. (2001) Views about food prejudice and stereotypes. Anthropology of food. Social Science Information, 40(3), 487-507
- Leizaola, A. (2006) Matching national stereotypes? Eating and drinking in the Basque borderland. Anthropological Notebooks 12(1), 79-94
- Podbersczek, A. L. (2009) Good to Pet and Eat: The Keeping and Consuming of Dogs and Cats in South Korea. Journal of Social Issues, 65(3), 615-632
- photograp by Elliott Erwitt via