INTRODUCTION TO ETHNIC STUDIESSEPTEMBER 10 T H , 2012

What is Race?:Definitions, Classifications and

Categories

What did you say?

“Race..classifies individuals into a group/population based upon their pigmentation, heritage, appearance and so on.”

“The definition of race is ethnicity, and the definition of ethnicity is traits, background, allegiance, or association”.

“Race is where people originally originated from”.

“The skin color and facial structure of a person is a universal method used to racially categorize others”.

“Race, in the way we know it, is socially constructed”.

“Sometimes people try to identify others races by the way they look, talk or their physical characteristics. But that is not always an accurate method of figuring things out.”

Race

Social Construction

Physical Characteristics

Assumed Similarities

Defined from the outside

Stable

Ethnicity

Social Construction

Group Characteristics1. Shared origins/history2. Cultural aspects

Shared identity

Defined internally

Believed to be fluid

Nationality

Sovereignty

Unity

Identity

Example: Elena’s Peer Group*

Race: WhiteEthnicity: Greek, AmericanNationality: American

Race: WhiteEthnicity: JewishNationality: American

Race: AsianEthnicity: Chinese, EnglishNationality: Chinese, American

Race: Latina/?Ethnicity: MexicanNationality: American

*Using the definitions from Cornell and Hartmann, these may change depending whose definitions you will use.

Overlaps

Points of identification

Shared origins

Categories move over time

Race, ethnicity as a basis for nationalism

Differences

Internal vs. external locus

Physical vs. cultural markers

“Fixed” vs. fluid

Purpose

The Role of Power

Heavy with meaning

Who gets to define?

Origin of terms

Self-identification

Who is fluid?

Exercise: Race, Ethnicity and Nationality in Pop Culture

Buzzfeed.com (a popular pop-culture website) posted a list of 34 celebrities that you would

never guess had ‘mixed-heritages’.

When looking at these keep in mind the definitions about race, ethnicity and nationality that we are looking at.

Buzzfeed: 34 Celebrities You Would Never Guess Had a Mixed-Heritage

Website ‘Racialicious’ (a website that examines how race and pop culture intersect) makes some interesting points about this list.

1. You can spot a person with brown ancenstory

Buzzfeed: 34 Celebrities You Would Never Guess Had a Mixed-Heritage

2. Whiteness is normal

Buzzfeed: 34 Celebrities You Would Never Guess Had a Mixed-Heritage

3. Whiteness = Anglo-Saxon

Buzzfeed: 34 Celebrities You Would Never Guess Had a Mixed-Heritage

4. Identity= Blood