En-Blasianing the Future
En-Blasianing the Future
This final chapter summarizes the ways Blasian celebrities self-consciously offer versions of themselves that render the artificial indistinguishable from the real, contributing to a representation that destabilizes what it means to be both Black and Asian/American. Their embodied performance of Blasianness indicates a refusal to settle for what is visible and allows for the contestations of categorizations and hierarchies. The ascription of race by media and society is formidable, but the conflict between ascription and identification opens up a realm of possibilities. If prevalent notions of racial authenticity, or realness, can be overcome, then the opportunities for building coalitions across the pluralities of subjectivities and identities, grows exponentially.
Keywords: Embodied, Performance, Ascription, Identification, Coalition building