“… But … But I am Brown.” The Ascribed Categories of Identity: Children and Young People of Mixed Parentage

This paper explores the concept of the categorisation of social groups by looking at the issue of ascribed categories of identity for children and young people of mixed parentage. Our exploration of the knowledge-base in this area reveals that children and young people have clearly expressed views about their racial identity and that these views are broadly consistent across research studies. In essence, children and young people's expressed views are that they are not mixed-race, black or white, but are in fact brown. The emerging sociology of childhood and the government's current child participation agenda emphasise the centrality of children and young peoples' perspectives on the provision of services that seek to support them. Through this perception, which places children and young people's own understandings of their racial identity at the forefront of the analysis, we added fresh understandings to the existing data concerning ascribed categories of identity for children and young people of mixed parentage.