Using the history of race and ethnic categorization on the US Census as a framework, the Alternative Census creates a space for dialogue about categorization, identity, and belonging by inviting you to contribute your origin story and ideas about identity. Additionally, it offers historical context about race categories on the US Census.
Even for those who seem to fit more neatly into one of the simplified boxes, for instance those who would be comfortable ticking “White” or “Black” or “Chinese”, there is a disconnect between the abstracting and diminishing nature of categorization and the true complexity of our heritages; our ancestral origins and migrations; and the interweaving of histories and cultures through partnerships. No category can articulate the ways in which we identify and relate to ourselves and others. This Alternative Census provides a space for individual agency – leaving room for self-identification beyond the spectrum of race/ethnicity/culture and entering into imaginative and personal ways of self-identification which speak to the complexity of our heritages.
View the website here: https://alternative-census.glitch.me
