Controlling bodies: The punishment of multiracialized sexual relations

Geographies of sexuality have paid minimal attention to interracial relatio ns. To rectify this, we examine the genealogy of the criminalization and pu nishment of "interracial" relations. Drawing on three historical moments in the evolution of race relations in Anglo-America, we argue that the crimin alization of these relations has historically been grounded in material rel ations and not in abstract ideals of racial purity or fears of racial degen eration. Using a strategy of "unnatural discourse," we suggest that as the American capitalist system expanded, the punishment of multiracialized sexu al relations has generated and retained important ideological functions tha t have never been far removed from their material base.