1Race is Socially ConstructedUS Racial Groups in 2000• White, not Hispanic 69%• African American / Black 12-13%• Asian 3-4%• American Indian 1 – 1.5%• “Other” (most are Hispanic) 5-6%• Hispanic/Latino (of all races) 12-13%– Nearly half “white Hispanic”– Nearly half “other”– Rest black, American Indian, AsianRace is Constructed• Racial categories & boundaries are not natural but created. • Constructions of race and politicized nature of language go together. • There is always political contestation over who is in a group, who is out, how many groups there are, what their boundaries are, what their names are. Race Seems “Natural” But Isn’t• Race as used in US is not a biological concept. Social, not physical.• We are all Africans. Geographic dispersion. Multitudes of geographic micro-races (breeding populations) and reality of continually blurred boundaries.• Race as a concept created in the wake of European colonial conquests as justification for domination. (Replaced Christian as boundary.)• Reality of mixed race. Different boundaries in different places. Boundary around “black” and “white” versus others in the US.• “Passing” “light-skinned black” “Is that person black or white?” as cues.Race is Social But it is Still “Real”• Things that are believed to be real are real in their consequences• In some societies, religion or language or culture is the barrier. The barriers are still real.• What “race” you are in the US has enormous social, economic, and political consequences that will affect you whether you “believe” in race or not.Naming is not trivial but there is no way to “get it right”• Racial groupings in US originate in European conquest, enslavement of others. Naming others is tied to an ideology justifying domination.• Other groups became race conscious in response.• Subordinate groups reject dominant names and re-name themselves as part of political contestation over hierarchy.• There are always disputes within a group about how to name themselves which are tied to politics. Pamela Oliver Sociology 220 Lecture Notes2White• White, Caucasian, European American, “Just Plain American”• German, Swiss, Danish, Russian, Italian, Swedish etc.• White as opposed to black or colored (or Indian)• Older debates about who was white: Irish, Eastern & Southern Europeans, Jews not “white”• Caucasian has origins in scientific racism (Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid) but today used widely• European American: reaction to African American, de-centers white sense of entitlement• “Just plain American” is an implicit political claim• American vs. North American vs. United StatesianAfrican American / Black• Black, Negro, African American, Afro-American. Original African ethnic identities largely lost among slaves.• Immigrants may identify as African, Nigerian, Jamaican, Puerto Rican, Haitian etc. Reality of mixed ancestry & ethnic differences & white racism• Politicized cycles & ongoing themes in naming• Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Negro: changing meanings over time & the late 1960s shift from Negro to Black• African American (& Afro-American 1970s): ties to Africa• “Colored person” vs. “person of color” as signification & connotation: genteel racism vs. a particular political stance• Why “nigger” is always an insultAmerican Indian• Indian is the European name, but a self-name in much casual use. (People from India object.)• Tribal/national Identities: Lakota, Navajo, Cherokee, Chickasaw. (Variation in balance between tribal identity and US/American identity)• Much mixing, intermarriage• Native American: politics & confusion• Also: indigenous, first nations (Canadian & some US), “real Americans” or “first Americans”Asian• Asian & Pacific Islander created as a political category in US political context: includes South Asians• Asian vs. Asian American• Most in category do not use it: Chinese, Hmong, Korean, etc.• Asian American is an identity of 3rd+ generation persons with no real ties to Asia (like Europeans)• US racialized experiences turn ethnic identities into racial identities. Vincent Chin case.• “Oriental” never meant as an insult, but may be taken as such by young activists. “Jap” “Chink” “Gook” etc. are all insults.Hispanic/ Latino• Ethnic designation becoming racialized.• Spanish language, Spanish surname, Latin American. (Brazilians?)• Mexican identity as mestizo (mixed Indian/white). Pride in Mexican. Is a racialized identity.– Mexican American vs. Mexican vs. Chicano.• Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Central Americans, South Americans. Spaniards.• Hispanic tied to hispano (Spanish) refers to European heritage & language, preferred by Cubans & Puerto Ricans. Latino refers to Latin America & indigenous ancestry, preferred by Mexicans.“Minority” or “Person of Color” or “Colored”• Lumps together everyone who is “not white”• Grounded in European colonialism, racism• Politically links everyone with common enemy, links US minorities to 3rdworld “southern hemisphere” struggles. • Usually a secondary identity.• “Colored” is not the same as “person of color” in its political
View Full Document
Unlocking...