Raiding the Gene Pool. The Social Construction of Mixed Race.

Given that for the first time in the UK 2001 Census, people were able to describe themselves as of mixed ethnicity, the publication of Jill Olumide's book providing an in-depth exploration of the meaning of, as she calls it 'the mixed race condition' is very timely.According to the UK National Statistics website, 660 000 people in England and Wales described themselves as being mixed race in Census 2001.It would, therefore, seem inevitable that before long mixed race will make up another category of the explanatory variable 'ethnicity' to be associated with various health (and other) outcomes.The insights available through reading this book should make the innocent (or naïve) researcher more cautious when attempting such analysis.This well-written book takes us on a chapter by chapter journey through the author's doctoral thesis.It explores the concepts and terms required to work with the idea of mixed race, attempts to conceptualize mixed race in the context of other social divisions, critiques the existing literature on the 'study' of mixed race, and outlines a brief history of mixed race.This substantial section of the text provides a necessary