1.10.13Introduction Lecture1. Race, Nationality, and Ethnicitya. Definitions of Key Termsi. Race1. Definition: the assumption of differences based on real or imagined physical characteristics 2. You choose your race3. A social construct that people made up; not a biological fact; based on assumptionsii. Racism: when you take the physical characteristics and you believe that somebody is inferior or superior because of them1. Believing that somebody is better than you because you are assuming something2. Example: assuming that Asians are better at math and scienceiii. Ethnicity1. Definition: a group of people that have something in common2. Religion, skin color, language, food, culture, holidays, how they dressa. Can have one of those things in common or none of those things in commoniv. Nativism: disliking someone because they are a certain ethnicity or from a certain ethnic group that are from another country1. Example: South Floridians feel like Cubans are taking over, in reality there is a very small percentage of Cubans in the USAv. Nationality1. Definition: where you were born2. Today used to refer to what citizenship you hold a. Dual-Citizenship: citizen in two countries3. Naturalized: citizen but wasn’t born therevi. What the United States does with this information1. Placed on a chart2. “The Other”a. Anybody other than you (could be different physical characteristics or different clothes)i. Already placing immigrants at a disservice ii. Now use the term alien 3. “Racial and Ethnic Hierarchies”a. People on the top are treated well and people on the bottom are noti. In America: White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASPS)b. Place “others” into categories based on how different they are from people in powerc. The closer you are to the people in power, the closer to the top they are going to put you d. People on the bottom have been referred to as “non-humans”2. The History of Immigration (Who comes, why and what happens)a. Three Movements (Waves) of Immigrationi. Formative Wave1. 1607-1830 (establishment of Jamestown)2. First movement of people (English) over herea. Called Formative Wave because the English believe that they created the United States of Americab. Set up informal and formal laws about how this country is going to workc. English were the largest group (free)d. English do not consider themselves to be immigrants3. Second largest group was Africans (not-free)4. Other groups to enter: Judeans, Northern Italians, Scots-Irish, Germansii. First Wave1. 1830-18802. Considered the first wave because the English didn’t consider themselves to be immigrants3. First encounter with immigrants, didn’t know what to do with them, so people came as they wanted4. 3 groups: Irish, Germans, and Chineseiii. Second Wave1. 1880-19202. Industrial Revolution3. People from Central and Eastern Europe (Orthodox Catholic), Greeks, Southern Italians, Japanese, Russian Jews (Ashkenazi/Orthodox), Polish, Czechs4. All of these people are very different5. Considered to be the worst wave6. Ended because we passed an Immigration Law in 1921iv. Fake Wave (Not an actual wave)1. America ignored the fact that there is a huge rise in immigration in the ast few years2. Don’t admit that there is an immigration situationb. Why do immigrants leave?i. War, poverty, exile, corruption, natural disaster, religious persecution, unemployment, want education, want freedomii. An immigrant is usually forced to leave 1. Very rare to have a voluntary migrantiii. We are raised to believe that all immigrants want to come here, in reality many don’t want to be hereand don’t want to leave their countries iv. Most people don’t want to come to the US1. Because is America is not nice to immigrants2. Because we have enemiesv. People might come here because…1. We let them – United States has the most open immigration policy2. America is the “safety school”3. It’s easy to get here, it has to get better, education, job opportunities vi. Immigrant laws everywhere else are very strict1. Australia – women immigrants cannot work in Australiac. How Immigrants Fit Ini. Assimilation 1. Definition: when an immigrant understands that they are coming to different country and they give up their former culture and adopt the new culture; give up your past and only look forward2. Complete switch over to the new cultureii. Acculturation 1. Definition: when you accept that you’re in a new country and you’re going to try to adoptsome of the culture (as much as you can) but you’re going to retain your old culturea. Speaking English in public, go home and speak your languageb. Most immigrants do thisc. Any keeping of your culture is acculturation iii. The Process1. How quickly or slowly?a. Environment can make assimilation fasteri. Move to somewhere where there is all white people; you’re going to assimilate very quickly1. Peer pressure2. Example: White suburbsii. The more people like you that you’re around, the slower you’re going to assimilate 1. Example: Moving to Chinatown San Francisco b. Age also determines how fast (young, fast; old, slow) c. Media; how much do you see of it and how much does it help you assimilate?i. Newspapers, television, etc.d. Someone who wanted to come here assimilates faster, compared to someone who wants to go home and doesn’t want to be heree. Marriage - your spouse will help you assimilate 2. What can make the difference?a. Same as aboveiv. Un-Assimilate-able1. Even if a person wants to assimilate and does everything they can, there are people who cannot assimilate because of the way they looka. Africans, Native Americans, Asiand. What does the United States want from Immigrants?i. FIRST – 1609-1960??ii. Anglo-Conformity1. Anglo = “white”2. Basically complete assimilation3. Leads to:a. Nativism: a dislike or hatred toward other ethnicities/immigrantsb. Xenophobia: a fear of the other (anybody who’s not you)e. Todayi. Cultural Pluralism: accepting that cultures are different and liking the representation of different cultures1. We are happy ii. 1980s to Present (kind-of, 9/11 screwed this up)1. After 9/11 we went backwards to Anglo-Conformity3. The Use of
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