On Being Biracial

In the tenth and final episode of On Being Biracial, hosts Daralyse Lyons and Malcolm Burnley interview each other about their reflections on the season and what they've learned as well as what's in store for multiracial people in America in the future. In this episode, you will learn: How this project affirmed, altered, and challenged the hosts' understanding of their own racial identities and as...

In the ninth episode of On Being Biracial, hosts Daralyse Lyons and Malcolm Burnley explore “families of choice” for biracial people — the relationships, romantic and platonic, which they pursue and nurture over the course of their lives. They discuss topics including dating, parenting and friendship. In this episode, you will learn: About personal experiences that align with sta...

In the eighth episode of On Being Biracial, hosts Daralyse Lyons and Malcolm Burnley look at the families we're born into and brought into as biracial people, and why those relationships can sometimes be trickier to navigate. In this episode, you will learn: How some multiracial households are at greater risk for instability than their monoracial counterparts, while others can be havens for inclus...

In the seventh episode of On Being Biracial, hosts Daralyse Lyons and Malcolm Burnley examine how skin color and visible appearances impact the lives of multiracial individuals. This installment delves into colorism, passing, privileges, hair, identity, and assimilation as they pertain to being mixed. In this episode, you will learn: What researchers have studied about multiracial hair, including...

In the sixth episode of On Being Biracial, hosts Daralyse Lyons and Malcolm Burnley interrogate the artistic and cultural representations of the biracial experience, both those created by mixed people and those created to make a point about them, ranging from 19th century novels to actors wrestling with race in their roles today. In this episode, you will learn: How our mainstream culture is rapid...

In the fifth episode of On Being Biracial, hosts Daralyse Lyons and Malcolm Burnley discuss the familiar feeling of being too much of one thing, not enough of another in the eyes of others, and the ways biracial people can find belonging and authenticity despite these experiences. In this episode, you will learn: How many biracial people with white ancestors seek to acknowledge their privileges wh...

In the fourth episode of this season's On Being Biracial podcast, hosts Daralyse Lyons and Malcolm Burnley dive into the intersections of both school and the workplace and mixed-race identity. How do those spaces change the ways we understand and express ourselves, for better and for worse? In this episode, you will learn: How the education system reinforces racial segregation and white supremacy,...

In the third episode of On Being Biracial, hosts Daralyse Lyons and Malcolm Burnley and their guests answer an essential question for multiracial people: Is our racial identity fixed, or is it fluid? In this episode, you will learn: Why the U.S. Census and other demographers are carefully embracing mixed-race or multiracial options in the racial data gathered in surveys. How group-identity categor...

In the second episode of this season on the On Being Biracial podcast, hosts Daralyse Lyons and Malcolm Burnley dissect the psychological, social, and physiological impact of multiracial people's repeated exposure to the “What Are You?” question. It's one of the most common experiences amongst multiracial people, and also one of the more divisive. In this episode, you will learn: How q...

In this season's first episode of the On Being Biracial podcast, hosts Daralyse Lyons and Malcolm Burnley discuss the major themes, throughlines and frameworks derived from our 30 interviews about the multiracial experience, while introducing listeners to many of the voices you'll hear throughout the season. In this episode, you will learn: Why identifying with one race, rather than multiple, rema...

In this last episode of the limited season release of the On Being Biracial Podcast (with more episodes and new guests to come in 2023!), hosts Daralyse Lyons and Malcolm Burnley discuss the ways multiracial youth perceive belonging, and also crave it when exclusion is part of their experience. In this episode, you will learn: How the secondary school environment, known for its ingroups and clique...

In this episode of our limited season release of the On Being Biracial Podcast, hosts Daralyse Lyons and Malcolm Burnley talk with young people ages 4-21 about their personal connections to culture, including the pastimes and familial traditions that mean the most to them. As these mixed-race individuals explore their relationships with culture, and the intergenerational connections that inform th...

In the first episode of this limited season release of the On Being Biracial Podcast (more to come in 2023!), hosts Daralyse Lyons and Malcolm Burnley explore how multiracial youth are rewriting old assumptions about identity and race. In this episode, you will learn: How paradigms such as the “one-drop rule” are being increasingly challenged by youth who embrace their mixed ancestry....