Half-caste

For other uses, see Half-caste (disambiguation).

An 1870 illustration by David Bonwick titled Last of the Tasmanians Woodcut 12 - with the description -- Walter George Arthur with his half-caste wife Mary Anne

Half-caste is a term used for individuals of multiracial descent.[1] The word caste is borrowed from the Portuguese or Spanish word casta, meaning race. Terms such as half-caste, caste, quarter-caste and mix-breed were used by colonial officials in the British Empire during their classification of indigenous populations, and in Australia used during the Australian government's pursuit of a policy of assimilation.[2] In Latin America, the equivalent term for half-castes was Cholo and Zambo.[3] Some people now consider the term offensive.

  1. ^ Memidex/WordNet
  2. ^ Michael Dodson (1994). "The Wentworth Lecture: The end in the beginning" (PDF). Australian Aboriginal Studies (3).
  3. ^ Julian Pitt-Rivers (Spring 1967). "Race, Color, and Class in Central America and the Andes". Daedalus. 96 (2). The MIT Press: 542–559. JSTOR 20027052.