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The Documentary: My Mixed Up World

My Mixed Up World

12/05/2018 GMT

BBC World Service - The Documentary, My Mixed Up World

How do young people of mixed heritage decide what cultural and racial boxes they tick?

Nora Fakim, the daughter of a mixed race marriage, explores how young people decide what cultural and racial boxes they tick.

Meghan, the Royal bride to be, has spoken of her confusion as a child when asked to describe her race and the impact that has endured as she entered acting: not white enough for the white roles and never black enough for the black ones. As she prepares to marry she is embracing the elements inherent in her mixed heritage and is paving the way for others to do the same. Nora Fakim takes stock of this issue for herself and others she meets, starting each recording with the tick box forms that challenged her early ideas: is it possible to redraft it to encompass the world as it is today?

As a broadcaster, Nora is constantly encountering that key question: "where are you from?" Her own parents were from Morocco and Mauritius and she was born and raised in a leafy suburb outside London. Growing up with several identities (English, French and Arabic speaking Moroccan mother and Mauritian-Indian father) it was a struggle for her to fit into a particular community, making it sometimes lonely.  In these recordings she explores her own experiences and meets others whose parents married across boundaries. They, like Meghan, straddle different identities in today's society.

(Photo and Credit: Nora Fakim and Bilal Khan)

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