GEO4421 Exam 2 review guide Race and ethnicity 2 12 Our experiences shape how we perceive the world critically Race biologically born into it unable to be changed genetic expression of phenotype skin color Ethnicity social distinction outcome of practices traditions can be changed Ex language religion societal variations o Hispanic Latino Puerto Rican Cuban etc I Western thinking vs the Rest a Rationality induced through scientific exploration categorization leads to the development of race distinctions Used as a way to separate people who are different from us ex Europeans began this during colonial exploration II Does race actually identify any differences other than skin pigments 1 One argument is NO it is simply a societal distinction that creates stereotypes and differences that are not based on biological characteristics 2 Another argument NO race is just as much of a social characteristic as ethnicity Shaped by conquest for power simply a means to separate individuals III How do we define race ethnicity 1 List of characteristics categories to describe people very hard to change natural Fixed Forgone conclusions of your actions possibilities trajectory established This led to the development of environmental determinism people made definable distinctions based on geography determination 2 Process based approach through a series of events debates and defining moments Power of one group to asserts its influence over another categories are derived Different attributes to yield power over another by creating distinctions Used to validate colonial conquest produced categories to exert power People mobilize socially o Ex Archer Ash on Monument Avenue people fought against the construction of Ash s statute on Monument Ave over racial distinctions He was black and all of the other statues are of white generals Social production implicates taxonomy aka there is something basic about social characteristics based on phenotypes meaning it can change Daily actions reify challenge stereotypical distinctions ex power dynamics o Ex Marco Rubio s response to the State of the Union on immigration 2 12 highlights Race biological ethnicity social distinction Defined through 1 List of characteristics fixed natural determinism 2 Process power socially produced can change 2 13 The White South s Last defeat Notes from the reading The White South s last defeat by Micheal Lind Defeats civil war civil rights immigration Unhyphenated Americans pure originated fro white British decent o Migration isolation segregation defeat o The whiteness that defines this group is a social distinction process o Social product of race ethnicity and regional distinctions o direct result of slavery and Jim Crow Laws segregation Hyphenated Americans less American impure tainted Isolation of the South from the rest of the US civil war Antebellum South prior to the civil war white pillar plantations slavery intense social physical domination of white gentry over others poor whites and blacks enslaved Southern gentry small portion of southerners who profited off outright domination exploration of slaves and poor white southern Most of the capital generated in this period was from the exploitation of labor Civil war erupted as a means to maintain the system of exploitation and profitability Perpetuated Antebellum South Profitability material explanation for slavery Ideological explanation of slavery 1 Denial of humanity treat enslaved as if they were draft animals a Chattel Slavery forced labor use of whips as if they were livestock 2 Treat slaves as children mentally incapable of taking care of themselves These fed directly into notion of White Supremacy Gentry and poor whites vs enslaved not even though poor whites were being exploited 1865 defeat of the South in Civil war Amendments 13 th abolished slavery 14 th granted citizenship 15 th granted right to vote Dramatic shift in relationships between whites and formerly enslaved by removing barriers Threatened profitability of gentry notions of white supremacy labor market idea that blacks are only good for agriculture manual labor Direct shifts 1 Freedom of movement slavery prevented enslaved from removing them from the labor market but now are able to travel not work change residency career choice Challenged WS forced to see blacks as something other than an animal or a child 2 Freedom of consumption ability to earn money save it and spend it on goods services Able to buy such goods in the same stores as white folks Challenged WS upset existing social order people seen as equals we identify with our purchases consumptions social distinctions 3 Establishment of franchise ability to vote and sway interest of gov t funds through allocation of resources and polices in their favor Challenged WS threatened social order diversion of gov t funding elsewhere Period of reconstruction Northern troops occupied south from 1865 1877 to keep the peace Friedman s Bureau program to help manage integration of slaves into normal life White supremacy caused poor white folks to partner with gentry against enslaved even though they were exploited oppressed indirectly through competition of enslaved labor Challenged notion of equality freedom because people still saw them as animals children This concept was built around slavery in South and used as a means to justify horrific treatment of enslaved 2 19 Reconstruction Era Northern confederate troops occupied south 1865 1877 Integration was still challenged poor whites were unwilling to be seen as below or equal to formerly enslaved Development of wage slavery construction of consumption rights institutions to intimidate All to maintain social order through WS 1 Labor contracts to facilitate wage slavery btwn formerly enslaved and planters post Bellum gentry Black laborers were mostly illiterate un educated thus they couldn t understand the contracts Balance of power entirely in the hands of tenant farmers famer lends modes of production tools animals land to laborer who often fell to debt or received no wage due to contracts Also referred to as debt peonage 2 Denial of land reform after emancipation formerly enslaved were promised 40acres and a mule If your only skill set was labor and you owned no land you were forced to work for planters 3 Legal re enslavement 3 annual capital tax you would go to jail and be assigned to a work release and assigned to a work release program Vagrancy laws 4 Denial of the Vote for the privilege of living paid