Introduction: Seeing Ethnicity Otherwise

1. Introduction

We are very pleased to publish this commemorative Special Issue, dedicated to the life and work of Peter J. Aspinall, a prolific and innovative social scientist, and a generous and supportive colleague and friend. Peter passed away in early 2023 and, as his colleagues, we have put together this Special Issue as a way to honour Peter’s contribution across disciplines, and his commitment to his editorial work at Genealogy.

Over the years, Peter worked across many fields, from urban and regional planning (where he started his career), to public health, ethnicity terminology and classifications, and mixed ethnic identities, inspiring many with his breadth and depth of knowledge and insight. In fact, the broad range of Peter’s research interests is well illustrated even if we focus on his recent publications in Genealogy alone. In 2020, as part of the Genealogy Special Issue “Genealogies of Racial and Ethnic Representation” that he co-edited with Chamion Caballero, he published a paper in the journal exploring how ethnic/racial terminology as representations are shaped not just by the bureaucratic processes of government but also the lived experiences of communities and advocacy work (Aspinall 2020a). This was followed in 2022 by a paper foregrounding the question of “mixed race” and arguing against the shift to “race” in official data collection and the continued use of “ethnic group” (Aspinall 2022a). In the same year, another paper appeared in Genealogy, this time a reflective piece on the choice of a sculpture to depict a “real family”—two local mixed-race sisters, who are single mothers, and their sons—in the city of Birmingham, demonstrating the plurality of family (Aspinall 2022b). His work was both theoretical and practical, drawing out key sociological and policy issues and seeking to make real change—providing that often elusive link between theorization and grounded work.

Peter made significant contributions to so many fields—too many to review in depth here. Browsing his list of over 200 publications on Google Scholar shows just how prolific he was as a researcher, and the thousands of citations are testament to the relevance and quality of his work. His work on census classifications and identity terminology was groundbreaking, with his detailed analysis of changes in the UK (and his practical role in guiding these changes) providing key lessons applicable all over the world (Aspinall 2020b). Peter explored how race and ethnicity have been measured in different ways globally in great depth, from the national census and birth/death/health records, to identity cards and household surveys (Aspinall 2001, 2012), drawing out how classifications have been heavily based on the idea of singular, mutually exclusive categories (Aspinall 2017). He carefully illustrated how a wide range of terminology is used (often inconsistently) to describe minority ethnic groups, and how broad, pan-ethnic terms may conceal more than they reveal (Aspinall 2000, 2002, 2003, 2011; Aspinall and Chinouya 2016), with significant consequences in terms of counting, population management and even health (Aspinall 1995, 2013, 2021). Peter’s work consistently highlighted how inadequate and overly broad ethnic categories in health data could obscure critical differences in health outcomes. He stressed the need for more detailed ethnic monitoring to inform targeted and equitable healthcare, influencing NHS policy and practice. For example, in papers co-authored with Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu OM DBE and other colleagues, he examined how poor ethnic data collection impacted access and services for patients from minority ethnic backgrounds living with cancer, or sickle cell disorders (Aspinall et al. 2002, 2003). He also investigated how racialised assumptions shaped care in areas such as reproductive and mental health, advocating for reforms in data collection and interpretation (Aspinall 2006). Through this grounded and collaborative approach, Peter’s work helped bridge the gap between data, policy and real-world care.

The importance of language, and how words matter in research and conceptualization, was very evident to Peter. He wrote a number of key pieces on how the language around race and ethnicity is crucial, and how terminology is used in different ways, to different ends, across different contexts (Aspinall 2007, 2020a). Peter also focused much of his attention on identities on the margins, from refugees to LGBTQ communities to the homeless: groups which he felt were not given enough policy and research attention, and were all the more vulnerable because of this (Aspinall 2009a, 2014; Aspinall and Watters 2010).

Peter was particularly influential in the field of mixed-race studies and ethnic classification, exploring in painstaking detail how traditional, singular, systems of classification have become more and more strained by increasingly diverse, transnational and mixed populations. These classificatory systems have particularly affected those with complex histories and identities, such as individuals of mixed ethnic heritage (Rocha and Aspinall 2020a). Along with his work with Miri Song on the contemporary identities of young people of mixed heritage in the UK (Aspinall and Song 2013), Peter and Chamion Caballero wrote a comprehensive history of racial mixing in Britain during the twentieth century (Caballero and Aspinall 2018), the research behind which became the foundations of the 2011 BBC Two series Mixed Britannia. He also co-edited an ambitious global collection on the classification of mixedness with Zarine L. Rocha (Rocha and Aspinall 2020b), and wrote numerous stand-alone articles exploring mixed identities, terminology, classification and data analysis (for example, Aspinall 2009b, 2017). His work had theoretical, policy and practical impacts, seen most clearly in his work on census classifications of mixed identities in the UK (as in Aspinall 2020b).

As well as being a prolific scholar, Peter was also a dedicated mentor and generously collaborative colleague. He served on the editorial boards of several journals—including Genealogy and the Journal of Critical Mixed Race Studies—and rarely refused a request from journals or publishers to review articles, proposals or books. Beyond his formal review work, Peter’s commitment to scholarship was evident in the time he devoted to offering guidance, knowledge and support to the many students, researchers, journalists and media producers who contacted him from all over the world for assistance on work relating to his wide-ranging fields of knowledge.

In these (post-?) pandemic years, it has taken some time to put this Special Issue together, reflecting the increased difficulties in balancing writing and life. Rather than rushing papers through, we hope we have learned from Peter in allowing time for people to do their best work. Having worked with Peter multiple times over the years, we all remember his gentle, generous and encouraging editorial approach, balancing intellectual rigour with much-needed kindness.

Like Peter’s work, this commemorative Special Issue covered a wide range of topics in the call for papers, and this is reflected in the diversity of papers and authors that have come together. The contributions have built on Peter’s vast body of work, seeking to reflect on their societal relevance and theoretical developments: linkages which Peter was able to articulate so clearly, and which continue to inspire us today. His work has had applications across countries and contexts, as can be seen in the case studies featured in this Special Issue, ranging from racial inequalities in the UK, and diasporic belonging in Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand, to gender and identity in colonial Senegambia and Congo, mixedness in Zambia, and the invisibility of “twice migrants” with East African Asian identities in New Zealand. We see this Special Issue as a lasting tribute to the continuing influence and legacy of Peter’s writing, and to the broadness and depth of his scholarship.

As a result, this Special Issue is quite unique, bringing together original research articles from around the world, reflective conceptual pieces and personal reflections on working with Peter over the years. Chamion Caballero’s “Remembering Peter Aspinall” opens the Special Issue as a reflective tribute to a two-decade collaboration and friendship. She recalls Peter’s quiet brilliance, generosity, and pivotal role as both a personal mentor and a key figure shaping scholarship on racial mixing in Britain. This is followed by Miri Song’s piece, “Research Collaboration: What It Means to Work with Someone”, an affectionate description of working with Peter on their well-regarded book, Mixed Race Identities (Aspinall and Song 2013). She highlights both his diligence and his wide-ranging knowledge, reflecting on their collaborative research.

The Research and Reflection papers that make up the rest of the Special Issue are theoretically and geographically diverse. The first piece, Lucy Bland and Chamion Caballero’s article “Investigating the Investigators: Moral Panic, Mixed-Race Families and Their Vilification in Interwar Britain”, discusses findings from one of the last projects Peter worked on: an ‘investigation into the investigators’ of Britain’s working-class, interwar communities. Continuing Peter’s interest in the social scientists and public officials who commissioned or contributed to the reporting on these populations—and the subsequent moral panic—the paper flips the focus from those mixed-race families and communities who were vilified, to the small group of individuals determined to make these everyday lives a subject for public concern.

In “Eurafrican Invisibility in Zambia’s Census as an Echo of Colonial Whiteness: The Case for a British Apology”, Juliette Milner-Thornton explores mixed identities and the colonial echoes of whiteness in Zambia, as compared to mixedness and racial classification in Australia. As a personal, reflective contribution, this article outlines the changing positionings of mixedness over the years, drawing out how ethnic classification and official recognition can contribute to making mixed identities invisible.

Robert Didham and Zarine L. Rocha contribute from Aotearoa New Zealand, exploring a topic Peter found endlessly fascinating: the granularity of census identity classifications, and what broad ethnic classifications can miss. In their piece “Not Indian, not African: Classifying the East African Asian Population in Aotearoa New Zealand”, they explore the case of East African Asian identity, and how these “twice-migrants” can be overlooked in ethnic classifications, with potentially significant implications for social policy and health. Patrick Broman then draws on Peter’s work on diaspora and identity, in his research article “A ‘Usable Past’? Irish Affiliation in CANZUS Settler States”. This comparative piece explores Irishness as a political identity in settler societies, using census data from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States to illustrate how Irish ethnic antecedents are remembered by local-born Whites.

As a thoughtful reflection piece, Martha Judith Chinouya and Sarah Lewis-Newton’s ““Boys and Men”: The Making of Senegambian and Congolese Masculinity and Identities in Tropical Africa” builds on much of the work Peter and Martha did together, looking at the history of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and of tropical medicine, as a precursor to public health. By interpreting photographs and letters from two white scientists at the turn of the twentieth century, this closing paper draws out the interconnections between the production of colonial masculinities, terminology and race.

2. Conclusions

This Special Issue stands as a testament not only to Peter Aspinall’s remarkable scholarly legacy, but also to the personal and professional connections he nurtured throughout his career. His influence, evident in the breadth and depth of the contributions gathered here, continues to shape how we understand ethnicity, identity, and classification across disciplines and borders. In celebrating his life and work, we also reflect on the values that underpinned his scholarship: intellectual rigour, curiosity, compassion, and a steadfast commitment to making research meaningful beyond the academy. It is our hope that this Special Issue honours Peter’s enduring impact and inspires future scholarship that follows his lead.