Cultural Identity:Race and Ethnicity

• Culture groups– Few or many characteristics (language,

religion, race, food, etc.)– Subculture

• Races– Single species– Secondary biological characteristics

• Ethnic groups– Ethnocentrism

Race –a categorization of humans based on skin color and other physical characteristics. Racial categories are social and political constructions because they are based on ideas that some biological differences are more important than others.

• Does not exist on a scientific level, despite influence of the idea.

• Biological variation is real; the order we impose on this variation by using the concept of race is not. Race is a product of the human mind, not of nature.

• Based on a three category system developed in Europe in the 18th century: caucasians, mongoloids, and blacks.

• The truth is that there is very little fundamental genetic variety between humans and no way to tell where one category stops and another begins. Race is literally skin deep. There has not been enough time for much genetic variation. We do not have distinct “races” or “subspecies.”

Race

The Human Race• Technically race is not a

correct term-since we are all the same race or species-human.

• Example-all dogs are the same species-yet great variation in size, color, shape, etc.-FAR LESS VARIETY IN HUMANS.

• Human subspecies exhibit a difference in gene frequency-e.g. northern Europe-blue-eyed dominant, southern Europe brown-eyed is dominant

Four Basic Human Stocks• Negroid stock from

African sources• Australoid stock of

Southeast Asia origins

• Mongoloid stock which arose in East Asia

• Caucasoid stock from Southwest Asia & European sources

• These stocks are based on skin color, physique, facial shape and hair style

Skin Color• Skin color is determined by melanin or pigment-

dark skin originated in low latitudes-light skin originated at high latitudes.

• Melanin is a pigment that protects the inner layers of skin from damage from ultraviolet rays.

• Darker skin produces more vitamin D.• Skin color not a reliable indicator of racial

relationships-e.g. Aboriginal Australians & Sub-Saharan Africans are dark-skinned, but not closely related genetically.

• Why do Tropical South Americans have lighter skin than Tropical Africans?-Arrival time-South American indigenous population arrive there between 13,000 to 30,000 years ago-thus not enough time for more melanin development.

Physique & Physical Traits• Bergmann’s Rule-people

in warmer climates tend to be more slender-people in cooler climates tend to be more squat-this also applies to animals

• Heads-cephalic index-ratio of width & length of skull-Europeans—long heads, Japanese—round heads.

• Noses-warm, moist climates—short,wide, flat noses; Low latitudes deserts, high latitude dry zones—long narrow noses

Physique & Physical Traits

• Hair- general tendency; Asians—straight hair; Europeans—curly hair, African—wooly hair.

• Eyes-epicanthic folds-small piece of overlapping skin that give the eyelid a distinctive appearance-the fold is present in East Asians, South African San people and Native Americans

Race as a Social Category• Race is more difficult to use as a social

category due to increased mixing of races.• In Africa-darkness of pigmentation is still the

basis of “racial” divisions, to some degree in India-Aryan, Dravidian.

• Racism-a belief that your race is superior to others-– Apartheid in South Africa ended in the 1990s– Racial Segregation in the US now banned-but often

still de facto

On Racism and Colonialism – “Colonial racism was a major element in that conception of ‘Empire’ which attempted to weld dynastic legitimacy and national community. It did so by generalizing a principle of innate, inherited superiority on which its own domestic position was (however shakily) based on the vastness of overseas possessions, covertly (or not so covertly) conveying the idea that if, say, English lords were naturally superior to other Englishmen, no matter: these other Englishmen were no less superior to the subjected natives.” - Benedict Anderson

• Racial Categories are typically imposed on people through: – Residential segregation-(Milwaukee, Detroit)– Racialized divisions of labor– Racial categories defined by governments

Overall residential segregation on the decline, however in the 220 urban areas it has increasedFor blacks the most racially segregated city is Milwaukee, followed by Detroit. The least racially segregated area for blacks was Orange County, California

Race in the U.S.

Rosa Parks Japan Town, San Francisco, 1910

• Genetic mixing is so common and complete that most geographers dismiss race as a category since it can not be clearly tied to place.

Population in the U.S. by Race, 2000In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau allowed Americans to categorize

themselves as one race or more than one race.

Estimated Percentage of U.S. Population by Race and Ethnicity until 2050 In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau calculated race and Hispanic origin separately. Estimates are that by 2050, the “White, non-Hispanic” population will no longer be the majority.

Residential Segregation• The “degree to which two or more

groups live separately from one another, in different parts of the urban environment.”– Massey and Denton

Highest Rate of

Residential Segregation for African Americans:Milwaukee,

Wisconsin

Lowest Rate of Residential Segregation for Hispanics/Latinos: Baltimore for

Asians/Pacific Islanders: Baltimore, Maryland

Invasion and Succession: new immigrants to a city often move to areas occupied by older immigrant

groups.

Identities in Neighborhoods change over time:

The Santo Domingo enclave of Washington Heights, New YorkThe Dominican flag waves from a flagpost-the language of almost all the retail signs is Spanish. Juan Pablo Duarte Boulevard bustles with customers.

Sense of Place• We infuse places with

meaning and feeling, with memories and emotions.

• Our sense of place becomes part of our identity and our identity affects the ways we define and experience place.

What is ethnicity? How is it different than race?

1. identity with a group of people who share the cultural traditions of a particular homeland or hearth. Thus: customs, cultural characteristics, language, common history, homeland, etc...

2. a socially created system of rules about who belongs and who does not belong to a particular group based on actual or perceived commonality of origin, race, culture. This notion is clearly tied to place.

Kazakh Thai Chinese

Armenian

TurkishPuerto Rican

Japanese

Mongolian

Ethnicity• Ethnicity –

a constructed identity that is tied to a place … it is often considered “natural” because it implies ancient relations among people over time.

Clockwise from top left: East African girls, Ethiopian priest, Masai dancers, and Bushman herder

Ethnic Patterns & Processes• Ethnicity is NOT the

same as race, but it is as important.

• It is culture, NOT race, that dominates the world’s patterns today

• Ethnicity is more difficult to define– Shared cultural traits– Common history– Treasured cultural

landscapes– Perceived threat to

language or religionQuechuan woman at a sacred Incan site

Ethnic Mosaics• Ethnic comes from

the Greek word for people or nation “ethnos”

• Ethnic often used to describe a neighborhood or a cuisine.

• Ethnic enclaves are common in urban areas; “China Town,” “Little Italy,” or “Little Mexico.”

• Racial or ethnic identity often a matter of self perception.

“Welcome to Little Havana”

Ethnicities in Chicago

Fig. 7-5: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and European Americans are clustered in different areas of the city.

Cultural Revival & Linkage• Ethnic dispersal takes place-yet links to the

old neighborhood or homeland remain. This linkage is aided by modern media & communication.

• African-Americans demonstrated against South African apartheid.

• Irish-Americans sent money to support the I.R.A. in its struggle against Britain.

Hispanic Americans in the U.S.

Fig. 7-2: The highest percentages of Hispanic Americans are in the southwest and in northern cities.

African Americans in the U.S.

Fig. 7-1: The highest percentages of African Americans are in the rural South and in northern cities.

Native Americans in the U.S.

Fig. 7-4: The highest percentages of Native Americans are in parts of the plains, the southwest, and Alaska.

How does a place change when the people who live there change?

Sexuality and SpaceWhere people with a shared identity cluster, how do they create a space for themselves?

Power Relationship

s• Power

Relationships assumptions and structures about who is in control, who has power over others.

Through power relationships, people create places where they limit the access of other peoplesBelfast, Northern Ireland

How do Power Relationships factor into How People are

Counted?The U.S. Census undercounts:

- minority populations (especially illegal/undocumented immigrants)

- the homeless (difficult to accurately count people who don’t have a permanent address and frequently move)

The Gross National Income (GNI)does not count:

- unpaid work of stay-at-home parents (mostly women)

- home production work done by rural women in poorer countries (because those products are generally not sold – consumed by families)

• Ethnic Groups in Los Angeles

• Barrioization – when the population of a neighborhood changes over largely to Hispanics.

• cultural landscapes change to reflect changing populations

• when ethnic strife occurs it is often tied to economic change

Nationalities and States• Nationality - legally it is a term

encompassing all the citizens of a state, but most definitions refer now to an identity with a group of people who generally occupy a specific territory and are bound together by a sense of unity arising from shared ethnicity, customs, belief, or legal status. Such unity rarely exists today within a state today.

• State - a politically organized territory that is administered by a sovereign government (aka. – a country)

• Nation-state – a sovereign state that is overwhelmingly dominated by one ethnicity or “nationality” (see definition above).Are there any states that still meet

the definition of nation-state?

Nationalism

• As simple patriotism it helps create national unity

• When extreme it can be very dangerous to minorities and

• Can breed intolerance of difference and of others

the policy or doctrine of asserting the interests of one's own nation, viewed as separate from the interests of other nations.