Ethnicity and Race 9

8/14/2019 Ethnicity and Race 9

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OverviewThe goal of this tutorial is to help you objectively analyze the phenomena of

race and ethnicity as well as some of the world wide patterns ofdiscrimination based on them. In doing this, it is important to suspend ourown biases as much as possible and to take acultural relativityapproach.That is to say, we must not let our own cultural biases get in the way ofunderstanding the lives of other people. This is a very difficult task given theemotionally charged feelings and deep beliefs that most people haveconcerning race and ethnicity. However, suspending these attitudinal barriersin order to gain a better understanding of the phenomena is worth the effort. Have you ever asked yourself what are the defining characteristics of being

"white" or "black" in America today? Is it solely a matter of skin color? Areother factors as important or even more important? What makes someone

"Hispanic " or "Latino ." Is it language? Country of origin? Culturaltraditions? Family values? Religion? Skin color? Can you be "white" or"black" and Hispanic at the same time? Can you be a non-Spanish speakingmember of one of Mexico's Indian communities and be Hispanic? Are peoplefrom Spain and Portuguese speaking Brazilians Hispanic? The answers tothese questions probably are not entirely clear to you nor are they to mostAmericans. It addition, the answers very likely will differ depending on theregion of America in which you live.

Test yourself.Which of these people do you thinkis Hispanic? Look at them carefully...

Click the button to seeif you are correct.

The ways in which we personally acquire our own group identities are oftencomplex. Similarly, the way we assign group identity to others is not alwaysstraight forward. Race and ethnic group labels in America are not clearly
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based on criteria that everyone understand, agree with, and can easily use.As a result, someone else may label you in a way that you considerinaccurate and very offensive. This can instantly create a barrier to opencommunication even if the slight was unintended.To comprehend the human diversity of the United States or any other country,it is important to first understand the criteria commonly used for making groupdistinctions. These generally are based on cultural and/or biological factors.Americans tend to see each other in terms of age, economic class,

religion,gender , ethnicity, and race. We are usually a member of aparticular group for each of these criteria. Which of our group identities ismost important varies with the social situation. In America today, gender,ethnicity, and race often have the most far ranging impacts on us asindividuals.Ethnicity refers to selected cultural and sometimes physical characteristicsused to classify people into groups or categories considered to be significantlydifferent from others. Commonly recognized American ethnic groups includeAmerican Indians, Latinos, Chinese, African Americans, European Americans,etc. In some cases, ethnicity involves merely a loose group identity with littleor no cultural traditions in common. This is the case with many Irish andGerman Americans. In contrast, some ethnic groups are coherentsubcultures with a shared language and body of tradition. Newly arrivedimmigrant groups often fit this pattern.It is important not to confuse the termminoritywithethnic group. Ethnicgroups may be either a minority or a majority in a population. Whether agroup is a minority or a majority also is not an absolute fact but depends onthe perspective. For instance, in some towns along the southern border of theU.S., people of Mexican ancestry are the overwhelming majority populationand control most of the important social and political institutions but are stilldefined by state and national governments as a minority. Insmallhomogenous societies, such as those ofhunters and

gatherersandpastoralists , there is essentially only one ethnic group and

no minorities.
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For many people, ethnic categorization implies a connectionbetween biological inheritance and culture. They believethat biological inheritance determines much of culturalidentity. If this were true, for instance, African Americancultural traits, such as "black English", would stem fromgenetic inheritance. We now know that this is not true--biological race and culture are not the same thing. Thepioneering English anthropologist Edward Tylormay havebeen the first scientist to understand this fact and to state itin print. In 1871, he wrote that cultural traits are entirelylearned. Subsequently, a baby can be placed into another culture shortly after

birth and can be thoroughlyenculturated to that culture, regardless of theirskin color, body shape, and other presumed racial features. For example,both women in the photographs on the right are genetically African, but they

do not speak the same language nor do they share any other significantcultural patterns due to the fact that they were brought up in very differentsocieties. The African American woman is far more similar culturally to herEuropean American neighbors than to the West African woman from Senegal.A race is a biological subspecies , or variety of a species, consisting of amore or less distinct population with anatomical traits that distinguish it clearlyfrom other races. This biologist's definition does not fit the reality of humangenetic variation today. We are an extremely homogenousspeciesgenetically. As a matter of fact, all humans today are 99.9%

genetically identical, and most of the variation that does occur is in thedifference between males and females and our unique personal traits. Thishomogeneity is very unusual in the animal kingdom. Even ourclosest biological relatives, the chimpanzees have 2-3 times more geneticvariation than people. Orangutans have 8-10 times more variation.It is now clear that our human "races" are primarily cultural creations, notbiological realities. The commonly held belief in the existence of humanbiological races is based on the false assumption that anatomical traits, suchas skin color and specific facial characteristics, cluster together in single

distinct groups of people. They do not. There are no clearly distinct "black","white", or other races.The popularly held view of human races ignores the fact that anatomical traitssupposedly identifying a particular race are often found extensively in otherpopulations as well. This is due to the fact that similar natural selectionfactors in different parts of the world often result in the evolution of similar

African American

Senagalese
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between people. It is also important to remember that these traits are nomore accurate in making distinctions between human groups than any othergenetically inherited characteristics. All such attempts to scientifically dividehumanity into biological races have proven fruitless.In the final analysis, it is clear that people, not nature, create ouridentities. Ethnicity and supposed "racial" groups are largely culturaland historical constructs. They are primarily social rather than biologicalphenomena. This does not mean that they do not exist. To the contrary,"races" are very real in the world today. In order to understand them,however, we must look into culture and social interaction rather than biology.

Nature of EthnicityAll around the world, members of ethnic and so-called"racial" groups commonly use ethnic symbols asbadges of identity to emphasize their distinctness fromother groups. Language, religion, and style of dress arecommon ethnic symbols. In addition to such culturaltraits, biological characteristics may be important at times

as well. The Canadian women shown on the right areusing their clothing to strongly communicate their Greekidentity on a special occasion.

African Americanethnicity is usuallydefined by dark brownskin color. However, shared experience anddialect are often as important since the rangeof skin coloration is quite broad among

African Americans today due to centuries ofinterbreeding with Europeans, Native

Americans, and, more recently, Asians.Ethnic group unity needs to be reinforced by a constant emphasis on whattraits set the members apart from others, rather than what they share incommon with the outsiders. This is a universal means of boundary

Canadian women usingclothing to symbolizetheir Greek ethnicity

African Americans


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maintenance, or defense, between ethnic groups. Ethnic symbols areconvenient markers for making "we-they" distinctions and are the focal points

forracismand other unpleasant manifestations ofethnocentrism . Theyalso mask in-group differences. In the United States. for instance, they helppropagate the myth that there is a single, coherent AmericanIndian ethnicgroup. The same goes for Hispanics, European Americans, AfricanAmericans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders.Whether or not individuals in minority ethnic or "racial" groups prominentlyemphasize their ethnic symbols may vary with the situation. They may notemphasize them if they are trying to identify with or join the dominant culturein their society. That is to say, they may de-emphasize the things that make

them different if they wish toassimilate into the dominant ethnic group. Forinstance, the children of many immigrants to the United States prefer to speak

in the local colloquial dialect of English rather than in their parents' nativelanguage. Likewise, they choose to dress and act like other Americans intheir schools. This has the effect of making them less different from theirneighbors while estranging them from their parents.Assimilation can be speeded up by marriage across ethnic or "racial"boundaries. As intermarriage becomes common, ethnic/racial differencesoften are progressively blurred. Not surprisingly, many ethnic/racial grouporganizations are opposed to intermarriage--they see it as a tool

ofethnocide .The effect of intermarriage on reducing ethnic group identity can be seen inthe reduction of discrimination against each of the European immigrant groupin North America after several generations. In the case of Jews,discrimination lasted longer but has also reduced dramatically with theprogressive increase in marriage to non-Jews. In the early 1960's, only 6%of American Jews married outsiders. By 1985, the rate had grown to nearly25%. By the mid 1990's it was 52%. Over these four decades, discriminatorybarriers to Jews largely disappeared. Of course, there were social changes inAmerica that also contributed to the reduction in

institutionalizeddiscrimination.
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African Americans have had a relatively low frequency ofintermarriage, though this is beginning to change also. In1970, only 2.6% of their marriages were with EuropeanAmericans. By 1993, the rate had increased to 12.1%.The number of intermarriages by African American menhas been 3 times higher than those by AfricanAmerican women. However, the intermarriage rate forAfrican American women is now growing at a relativelyfaster rate.Asian and Latin Americans have a comparatively high intermarriage rate withother ethnic/racial groups. Among Asian Americans, 12% of the men and25% of the women have intermarried with others, especially EuropeanAmericans. The relatively high rate of intermarriage for Asian and LatinAmericans likely is an indication of a lower resistance to assimilation in theircommunities and a greater acceptance of them by the dominant EuropeanAmerican society. However, assimilation is not easy or even possible formembers of some minority groups since they are subject to more persistentstereotyping and discrimination. This is generally the case with AfricanAmericans today. Partly in response to this rejection, assimilation has ceasedbeing a desirable goal of many African Americans.When ethnic differences are strongly emphasized, asin the case of "black" and "white" Americans today, itinevitably leads to increased polarization. It alsoleads to false notions of biological and culturalhomogeneity within these groups. In addition, itresults in a selective blindness in looking at the past.Polarized people easily fall into the trap of justifyingan interpretation of history that favors their own groupand demonizes others. This occurred in a particularlysinister way in Bosnia and Kosovo during the 1990's, after the breakup ofYugoslavia. Previously peaceful and overtly friendly Muslims, Croats, andSerbs living there brutally slaughtered each other to repay perceived past

wrongs and to "ethnically cleanse" the land.

"Interracial" marriage


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The American mass media andgovernment historic preoccupation with black/whiterelations has tended to make othersmaller ethnic groupsrelatively invisible and discounted their concerns. This isethnic discrimination by not acknowledging the existenceof people and not taking them into consideration. Anexample of a largely overlooked ethnic group is the

unobtrusive Filipino population concentrated in Southern California. FewAmericans realize that they are the 2nd largest recent immigrant group in thecountry.

Forms of DiscriminationPrejudiceand discrimination based on presumed ethnic/racial differences areuniversal--they are found in various forms in all societies. Acts of prejudicerange all the way from benign classification of people to cruel persecution.However, the term racism has come to be imprecisely applied to all of thesebehaviors. Kwame Appiah, a British and Ghanaian scholar of AfricanAmerican issues, has made a useful distinction between kinds of prejudicialbehavior. He uses the term racialism for the more benign forms ofdiscrimination such as categorizing people for reference purposes on thebasis of age, gender, and ethnicity/race. He reserves the term racism forharmful discrimination such as not hiring someone because of their "race."

This distinction will be followed here.We are allracialists. It is normal to categorize people in our daily lives basedon a number of traits. It can be a useful aid in predicting behavior. Forinstance, when you are lost in a strange city, you very likely approach an adultrather than a young child for help because you surmise that the adult willknow more. Similarly, when you want to take an out-of-town guest to a goodtraditional Mexican restaurant, you may ask a Mexican American friend forrecommendations. However, when categorizing leads to behavior that harmsanother person, it becomesracism.

Filipino Americans
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No one ethnic/racial group has themonopoly on racism. Even membersof groups that are aggressivelydiscriminated against by others maythink and act in a vicious racistmanner. Racism has been a commonelement in American history.However, the most pervasive racistacts are not being carried out inAmerica today. Far from it. Over thelast two decades, they have been in such places as the former Yugoslavia,Israel, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Rwanda, South Africa and Sudan. In all ofthese countries, ethnic identities have been strongly emphasized as a

government policy. The result has been the rise oftribalism and

evengenocide in some regions. Throughout history, there have beennumerous atrocities carried out in the name of ethnic/racial purification. Ifracism and ethnic persecution are indeed as much a part of human nature asethnocentrism, we can expect that such atrocities will occur in the future aswell.While racism is universal, its focus usually changes in the transitionfromSmall-scale societiestolarge-scaleones. The smallest societies arealmost always biologically and culturally homogenous without ethnic groupdistinctions. In such societies, the target of racism is other societies.

Strangers are often thought of as being not quite human. In contrast, largesocieties are often heterogeneous and have many ethnic groups. The targetsof racism are mostly other ethnic groups within the same society. In Italy, forinstance, Northern Italians often look down upon Southern Italians

andstereotype them as being ignorant, dishonest, and lazy. SouthernItalians often view Northern Italians as being impersonal, dull, and nottrustworthy. A similar north-south stereotyping occurs in China.We have seen that prejudice in human interaction is a universalphenomenon. The results of prejudgment can range all the way from

relatively harmless racialist categorizing to vicious racist acts. By stronglyemphasizing ethnic symbols for boundary maintenance purposes, ethnicgroups indirectly foster racism which, in turn, can become an effective tool inpreserving and enhancing the distinctness of the groups. However, racismand other unpleasant products of heightened ethnic identity can also diminishas a result of increased communication and intermarriage between groups.

Recent hotspots of severe racism
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mothers, and relatively poor performance in school. After generations ofimages reflecting this view, many African Americans came to definethemselves negatively. It was not a mere coincidence that the "black power"political movement of the 1960's created the catch phrase "black is beautiful."This was a conscious effort to counter negative images with a positive one.African Americans are not unique in having a relentless negative image ofthemselves portrayed in the popular media. Mexican Americans, ArabAmericans, and some Southeast Asian groups are also experiencing it tosome degree. In fact, most minority groups in heterogeneous societies likethe United States have had a similar experience. Even European immigrants,such as the Irish in the 19th century, were commonly portrayed in the press asbeing dirty, stupid, alcoholic, and violent. Before the Civil War in the southernstates, Irish immigrants were hired for construction jobs that were consideredtoo risky for black slaves because they were monetarily valuable, unlike theIrish. Even as late as the mid 20th century, unemployed Irishmen in theNortheastern U.S. were at times faced by signs saying "No Irishmen needapply."

Hollywood's strongly negative portrayal of specific ethnic groups continues.However, the targets have changed. Today, Moslem Arabs, Iranians, andAfghans are consistently cast as irrational terrorists and villains in actionfilms. They have been impersonalized and stereotyped on-screen withderogatory slurs such as "rag heads." They have mostly replaced Germans,Japanese, American Indians, African Americans, Eastern European, Chinese,and Communists from any nation as the most dangerous "bad guys."Whether you have a negative or a positive self-image stemming from yourethnicity/race, gender, or physical condition generally has a powerful effect onthe way you relate to others and lead your own life. For instance, a belief thatyou are not likely to succeed in education, because "members of your groupare inherently less intelligent," can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Why try tosucceed in school if you think that you will fail? Likewise, a strong belief thatmost members of another group actively discriminate against your group islikely to lead you to be distrusting of the others and to even seek revengeagainst them.In North American middle class "white" families today, it is not uncommon forteenagers to feel a lack of ethnic identity. There is a perception that they arenot anything. This should not be a surprise since their education hasgenerally emphasized the value of ethnicity for others but not them. The useof terms such as "people of color" for African, Asian, and Native Americans in


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a sense stigmatizes European Americans as "people without color"--anegative classification. This along with revised American history thatemphasizes the unfairness of "whites" in their interactions with others leadsmany European American youths to have a somewhat negative image of theirethnicity and of themselves. Subsequently, they become eager vessels toaccept the ethnic traits of others. This may be one of the reasons that theyhave readily adopted the music, style of dress, and slang of Black America.Likewise, tacos, burritos, and other Mexican foods have become as popularas hamburgers for teenagers and young adults, especially in the Southwest.

Creation of New Ethnic GroupsDuring the 19th century, new ethnic groups were created by Europeancolonial governments in order to facilitate ruling their new indigenous

subjects. This was the case in Australia and over much of Western NorthAmerica where there had been small, independent bands of foragingsocieties. The bands were combined into larger political units by governmentofficials in order to simplify the control of them. Indigenous leadershippositions, such as chiefs, were created for peoples who previously did nothave the concept of aleader who could act andspeak for their societies.Similarly, the colonial

powers forced diverseethnic groups to seethemselves as being partof larger nations withcommon ethnicity. Thiswas the case in India,Malaysia, New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, and much of Africa. Inpart, these new nations were created to facilitate control.Some ethnic groups have been created by themselves for the rational goal of

gaining political and economic power. It has been suggested that this was thecase withLatinosin the United States. Until the1960's, their identity wasmostly as distinct Mexican American, Cuban American, and Puerto Ricangroups. Since then, a feeling of shared cultural identity as "Hispanics" hasbeen fostered by Latino leaders. At the same time, the significant culturaldifferences between these groups have been underplayed in order toreinforce Latino unity. As new Central and South American immigrants

European colonial empires in 1938
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arrived, the Latino ethnic group redefined itself to incorporate them as well.Even Portuguese speaking Brazilians have been included. The creation andrecognition of a homogenous Hispanic identity was fostered by the nationalgovernment. The term "Hispanic" was actually created by federal bureaucratsworking under President Nixon in the early 1970's.

SummaryWe have seen that ethnic identity is often complex. It can change dynamicallythrough time as situations alter. It can be created by self definition or otherscan define it for us whether we wish them to or not. The power to labelothers is the power to control them. Our stereotypes of groups has a strongeffect on how we view and relate to members of those groups. It also canhave a profound effect on how we see ourselves. Definitions of ethnicity and

"race" have immense political importance in America today. Those ethnicgroups that have a high public visibility generally have political clout. Thosethat are largely invisible do not.

What are You?Shortly after birth, most Americans have the ethnic/racial group identity oftheir biological parents placed on their birth certificates. This provides anidentity for children that will usually stay with them throughout their lives andwill have a major impact on how they see themselves and how others treatthem. It often restricts their choices of friends and marriage partners. It maygive them advantages or it may create road blocks in their educations,careers, and the neighborhoods in which they wish to live.Many, if not most, European Americans now believe that this officialethnic/racial classification and life-long tracking is unnecessary. The writerTony Morrison has observed that "whites see themselves as unraced." Forthose who do not label themselves in terms of "race", official racialdesignations naturally seem irrelevant and even counter productive to socialharmony and individual rights. In contrast, members of ethnic/racial minoritiesgenerally see value in this group classification system because they do not


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consider themselves to be "unraced." For them, labeling may prevent theirofficial invisibility and subsequent social and economic discrimination. Thisview is not surprising considering the history of past discrimination and evenslavery of some groups.The official state and national government practice over the last century in theU.S. was to try to force everyone into one of a number of specific racial/ethniccategories for the national census, hiring goals, college admission records,etc. Ultimately, these categories are based on the false assumption thatsomewhere there are "pure races" and "pure cultures." Such groups do notexist today and may never have existed due to intergroup mating and to themore or less constant diffusion of culture traits around the world. Despite thefuzzy assumptions about the nature of ethnicity and race, groups based onthese phenomena continue to be officially recognized largely because it ispolitically popular.In many cases, being assigned to a particular ethnic/racial group on birthcertificates and national census reports in America is somewhat arbitrary andmostly based on how people wish to define themselves and their children. Inpart, this is due to the fact that the high frequency of intermarriages hasresulted in millions of Americans who no longer have a simple, straightforward group identity--they could be legitimately placed into a number ofethnic/racial group categories.Which ethnic/racial category is selected for birth certificates and nationalcensus reporting has tended to vary with the social situation and historical

changes. The Chumash Indians of the Santa Barbara area of Californiaprovide an example of this phenomenon. Up until the 1960's, it was thoughtthat there were no surviving Chumash. The last one had presumably died inthe 1940's. In fact, for a generation, they had been defining themselves asMexican for census purposes. Only with the political reawakening of NativeAmericans in the 1960's did they once again claim to be Chumash. Now evenpeople with very remote Chumash genetic ancestry and virtually no Chumashcultural heritage are claiming to be Chumash.In the 1990 U.S. census, everyone who was not defined as being NativeAmerican, Asian, or Pacific Islander apparently was assumed to be "black" or"white." This simplistic system was used despite the fact that for fourcenturies, there has been considerable intergroup mating and extensivecultural exchanges between European, African, and Native Americans.Asians and Pacific Islanders have also been added to the mix over the last 1centuries, especially in Hawaii and urban areas of thewestern states.
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Many Americans of mixed ancestry do not fullyidentify with the single racial/ethnic categorythat they have been assigned to and do not feelcomfortable with it. For instance, when oneparent is of European and Chinese descent andthe other is African and Native American, whatsingle category would their children fit into? Formany Americans with complex ancestries suchas this, the answer is that they are multi-racial,mixed-racial, or multi-ethnic. The number of these multi-racial children inAmerica has doubled during each of the last 3 decades.

When asked to provide personal family information for the year 2000 Census,nearly 7 million Americans reported that their ancestry included two or more"races." The real number of multi-racial Americans is certainly far higher.Government agencies have been officially blind in the past to such realitiesexcept for providing the option of the ambiguous category of "other race" oninformation request forms. There are several active national lobbying groupstrying to get a "multi-racial" category added to future censuses and otherfederal records. Strongly opposing this addition are racial/ethnic rightsorganizations, such as the National Association for the Advancement ofColored People and the National Council of La Raza. Apparently, theiropposition is due to anticipated decreased numbers in their groups and asubsequent loss of political power. While the year 2000 census for the first

time allowed people to identify themselves as being members of more thanone "race", a "multi-racial" category was not allowed. Compounding theproblem of getting an accurate picture of American society, the U.S. CensusBureau decided that people who identified themselves as black and someother "racial" group on the year 2000 census would be counted as beingblack for some purposes--they would not be given a choice. This created thecurious situation in which someone who is 90% Asian and only 10% blackwould not be considered Asian.There has been an inconsistency in the official definition of ethnic/racial group

categories in America. Depending on the company, institution, orgovernment entity, the number of categories used over the last two decadeshas ranged from 5 to 20 or more. The trend has been progressively to breakdown all categories, except "black" and "white", into smaller, more specificgroupings. For example, the Pacific Islander group category is nowcommonly divided into Filipino, Guamanian, Hawaiian, Samoan, and "OtherPacific Islander."

"Multi-racial" Americans


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In 17th century Spanish colonial America, there were 15 "racial" categoriesbased on the percent of one's ancestry from different groups:

Bermejos 100% EuropeanIndios 100% Native AmericanNegros 100% AfricanMulatos European and African mixture (7 categories)Mestizos European and Native American mixture (5 categories)

The term "mestizo" is still commonly used in Mexico. Depending on theperson speaking, it can be a term of pride or of derision. "Ladino" is nowmore often used instead of "mestizo" in Central America. Cultural traits areoften as important as biological ones in ethnic identity there. In Guatemala,for instance, it is often language (Spanish or Maya Indian), education, and

style of clothing that are used to identify people as being ladino instead ofindio (Indian).In 18th century French colonial Haiti, there were 9 categories of African andEuropean mixture that were defined based on the assumption that peoplehave 128 parts of inheritance:

Blanc 100% European (128 parts European ancestry)Ngre 100% African (128 parts African ancestry)Multre 64 parts European and 64 parts AfricanSacatra 8 to 32 parts EuropeanGriffe 24 to 39 parts EuropeanMarabou 40 to 48 parts EuropeanQuateron 71 to 100 parts EuropeanMtif 101 to 112 parts EuropeanMamelouc 113 to 120 parts EuropeanQuateronn 121 to 124 parts EuropeanSang-ml 125 to 127 parts European

These "racial" terms are still important to many people in Haiti, especiallymembers of the largely mixed ancestry upper class. Similar kinds ofdistinctions are found in the neighboring Dominican Republic today.

Summary


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Contributing to the problem of counting the number of societies, cultures, andethnic groups is not only the overlapping nature of many of these groups butthe fact that they are now changing rapidly as mass media and relativelyinexpensive long distance travel increasingly blur cultural differences. We areexperiencing culture change on a scale and at a pace that is unprecedented inhuman history.A good indication of cultural survival is the continued use of traditionallanguages and dialects. People who are unable to readily communicatebecause of language differences are more likely to maintain culturaldifferences as well. Linguists estimate that the world's peoples speak 5000-6000 languages. The most common "native" language is Mandarin Chinese.English is a distant third.

SPOKEN AS "NATIVE" LANGUAGETOTAL

SPEAKERS1. Mandarin Chinese 874,000,0002. Hindi (India) 366,000,0003. English 341,000,0004. Spanish 322-358,000,0005. Bengali (India and Bangladesh) 207,000,0006. Portuguese 176,000,0007. Russian 167,000,0008. Japanese 125,000,0009. German (standard) 100,000,00010. Korean 78,000,000Note: If the 15 major variants of Arabic are consideredone language, Arabic is the 6th most common languagein the world having 198-201,000,000 native speakers.Source: EthnologueVolume I: Languages of theWorld, 14th ed. (2000). These statistics are onlyrough approximations in most cases.

While English is not spoken as a native language by the largest number ofpeople, it is the most world wide in its distribution. It has become the secondlanguage of choice in most countries. About 1/4 to 1/3 of humanity now

understand and speak it to some degree. As English and a few other majorlanguages grow in popularity and as culturaldiffusionaccelerates, many ofthe languages of smaller ethnic groups are dying. As many as 1/2 of thelanguages in the world are no longer spoken by children. This is a major stepin the direction of language and cultural extinction. The languages that arebecoming extinct are not doing so because they are "primitive" or unable toallow adequate communication. They are dying because their speakers find it
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more useful to speak other languages. This is largely a result of the growth ininfluence and power of nation states over their indigenous minoritypopulations and of the increasingglobalizationof our economies. The culturehomogenizing effect of mass media should not be underestimated either.Much of the television programming viewed around the world originated inWestern Nations. It is startling to realize that the most popular televisionshows world wide in recent years have been stereotypical American sitcomssuch as "Will and Grace" and "Friends."The rapid global growth in the importance of the English language and ofWestern culture (especially American) has not been as straight forward andsimple as it initially may seem. Cultural traits have not only diffused from theWestern Industrial societies to the rest of the world. They have gone the otherway as well. American society, culture, and language have become far morediverse. For instance, English now contains words from more than 240 otherlanguages. In less than a generation, the cultural influences of Asia and LatinAmerica especially have dramatically changed life in the U.S. and Canada.This has been particularly true of the food preferences inurban areas.Countering these rapid globalization trends in the late 20th and early21st centuries has been the dramatic resurgence oftribalism. While manysmall indigenous societies are disappearing into national societies, manylarger ethnic groups are violently reasserting their presence and evenindependence from the nations that they have been integral parts of untilnow. The breakup of Yugoslavia into ethnically "purified" areas in the 1990'sis a prime example. Similar "tribal" reemergences have occurred throughoutEastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Tribalism also recently hasspawned genocidal conflicts in Africa, especially in Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda,and Congo.

American Diversity PatternsMost numerical data on ethnicity and "race" in the U.S. derive from nationalcensus data gathered every 10 years. Unfortunately, even the latest censusis flawed due to inconsistent and incomplete data collection. It is likely that
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some urban minorities and migrant farm workers are undercounted. Inaddition, people have been counted in terms of ethnicity and "race" mostly asa result of their own self-disclosure as to which categories they fit, and theyhad to choose from the limited list specified by the national government. Thefailure to allow people to identify with categories that they themselvessubjectively volunteer makes the data less reliable.The U.S. Census Bureau considers some group differences to be racial andothers to be purely ethnic. Specifically, they make an ethnic distinctionbetween Hispanic and non-Hispanic. In contrast, categories such as Chineseand Vietnamese are considered racial.

What do you suppose these twopeople consider themselves to be?

Click the button to seeif you are correct.

People of European ancestry are lumped together in the U.S. Census as"white", while everyone with African ancestry is considered to be "black." It islikely that the vast majority of people who are a mixture of the two, definethemselves as being "black." This is a result of the now deeply ingrainedhistorical pattern of considering someone who has even a minute percentage

of African ancestry to be "black." This "drop of blood", or hypodescent ,criterion for identity was once insisted upon by European Americans and isnow strongly advocated by most African Americans. For example, the golfingpro Tiger Woods is usually claimed by African American organizations asbeing "black" despite the fact that he is only 1/8 African in ancestry. He isalso 1/2 Thai, 1/4 European, and 1/8 Native American.The census categories for Native Americans, LatinAmericans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders have beensubdivided into smaller categories. Members of these

groups are counted separately in terms of their specificnational or ethnic origins. For instance, PacificIslanders are counted as Filipinos, Hawaiians,Samoans, Guamanians, etc. Latin Americans arecounted as Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, etc.

Cuban American women
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Recent "black" immigrants fromsub-Saharan Africaand the Caribbean arenot similarly distinguished in terms of national origin on the census--they arelumped into the black, or African American, category without regard for theirlinguistic, religious, and other cultural differences. Many recent African andblack Caribbean immigrants have been troubled by the fact that they areusually lumped into this category despite the fact that they think of themselvesas Africans, Nigerians, Somalis, Jamaicans, etc. Likewise, many blackswhose ancestry included slavery in the U.S. do not feel kinship with these newimmigrants because of their radically different historical and culturalbackgrounds. Adding to this social division between native born andimmigrant blacks has been the fact that the foreign born blacks more oftenhave university degrees and subsequently are able to obtain higher payingjobs. Similar to the lumping of diverse peoples into the black category for thecensus, all European, Middle Eastern, and North African immigrants aredefined as "white" without concern for their significant cultural differences. Tolearn how races were officially defined for the year 2000 Censusclick here.

Members of different European national groups (Danesand Spaniards) wearing traditional clothes that identifytheir ethnicity

Despite these limitations and peculiarities of the U.S. Census, it is instructiveto examine its data and the trends that they indicate concerning race andethnicity. The data from the year 2000 Census are summarized below:

RACIAL AND ETHNIC CATEGORIES NUMBEROF PEOPLE PERCENT OFPOPULATION

Total U.S. population 281,421,906 100.0%Race: (see note 1)--- One race 274,595,678 97.6%--- White

211,460,626 75.1%

--- Black or African American 34,658,190 12.3%--- American Indian and Alaska Native 2,475,956 0.9%--- Asian 10,242,998 3.6%--- Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander 398,835 0.1%--- Some other race (see note 2) 15,359,073 5.5%--- Two or more races (see note 3) 6,826,228 2.4%
http://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/glossary.htm#sub-Saharan_Africahttp://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/glossary.htm#sub-Saharan_Africahttp://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/glossary.htm#sub-Saharan_Africahttp://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/2000_census_definitiions_of_races.htmhttp://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/2000_census_definitiions_of_races.htmhttp://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/2000_census_definitiions_of_races.htmhttp://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/2000_census_definitiions_of_races.htmhttp://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/glossary.htm#sub-Saharan_Africa


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Ethnicity: (see note 4)--- Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 35,305,818 12.5%--- Not Hispanic or Latino 246,116,088 87.5%

1. There was no "decline to state" option allowed for "race" designation for

the year 2000 Census.2. 97% of the people who reported that they were "some other race" said

that they were also "Hispanic or Latino" in terms of ethnicity.

3. There are 57 possible combinations of 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 races that wereallowed. 93% of the people who reported more than one race, reportedonly two. The most common combination was "white" with some other"race."

4. 48% of Hispanics reported that they were "white" and 42% said theywere "some other race."

The vast majority of Americans (97.6%) reported that they are only one

"race." It is very likely that a significant percentage of this group actually couldclaim ancestry from more than one "race" but chose not to. Nearly a quarterof all Americans (24.9%) claimed to be either members of "non-white" racialgroups or two or more "races." A comparison of the 1980-2000 censusesshows that the "non-white" groups have been increasing in numbers morerapidly than "whites."

RACIAL CATEGORIES(see note 1)

INCREASE BETWEEN1980 AND 1990 INCREASE BETWEEN1990 AND 2000

Total U.S. population 9.8% 13.2%--- White 6.0% 5.9%--- Black 13.2% 15.6%--- American Indian and Alaska Native 37.9% 26.4%--- Asian and Pacific Islander 107.8% 46.3%

1. Because of major changes in the way "race" information was collected for the year2000 Census, these data are not entirely comparable with data from earlier censuses.People who claim more than one race are not reflected in these data.

A similar trend of rapidly increasing numbers has occurred for Hispanics incomparison to non-Hispanics.

ETHNIC CATEGORIES INCREASE BETWEEN1980 AND 1990 INCREASE BETWEEN1990 AND 2000

Total U.S. population 9.8% 13.2%--- Hispanic or Latino 53.0% 57.9%--- Not Hispanic or Latino 6.8% 8.7%


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NOTE: these data indicating dramatic increases in the size of minority groupsrelative to the majority European American or "white" population aredeceptive. In small groups, a large percentage increase results from theaddition of relatively few people. For instance, the increase in the Vietnamesepopulation of 82.7% between 1990 and 2000 actually resulted from theaddition of only 507,981 people. During the same period, the 5.9% increaseamong the "white" population resulted from 11,774,556 new people.

Over the long run, however, the trend of more rapidly increasing minoritypopulations will have a cumulative effect in changing the broad demographicpatterns in the United States. Projecting to the year 2015, the U.S. CensusBureau suggests that America will still remain predominantly "white" but thatother groups will continue to increase disproportionately. Perhaps the most

dramatic result of these changing population trends during the last few yearshas been that African Americans were replaced by Hispanics as the largestminority group. This change is a result of large numbers of immigrantsentering the country from Latin America and high birth rates among Hispanics.Between 1990 and 2000, nearly 33 million people were added to our nationalpopulation. This was the largest 10 year increase in U.S. history. The fastestgrowing regions were the "sunbelt areas" of the West and the Southeast. The patterns of diversity are not the same throughout America. Most ethnic

and "racial" minorities are concentrated in major urban centers and inparticular states. For instance, Hispanics of Mexican ancestry have theirhighest frequency in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. While theymake up only 12.5% of the U.S. population, Hispanics now are 32.4% ofCalifornia's population and 77.1% of them have a Mexican heritage. GreaterLos Angeles is, in effect, the 2nd largest Mexican city--only Mexico City has alarger Mexican population. Half of all U.S. Hispanics live in California andTexas. However, the presence of people with Hispanic ancestry is nowgrowing rapidly outside of the Southwest as well. This is particularly true inNew York City, Chicago, and major farming regions such as the YakimaValley in Washington.

CITIES WITH LARGENUMBERS OF HISPANICS

NUMBER OFHISPANICS(see note 1)

PERCENT OFPOPULATION

THAT IS HISPANIC

New York 2,160,554 27.0%Los Angeles (see note 2) 1,719,073 46.5%


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Chicago 753,644 26.0%Houston 730,865 37.4%San Antonio 671,394 58.7%Phoenix 449,972 34.1%El Paso

431,875

76.6%

Dallas 422,587 35.8%San Diego 310,752 25.4%

1 It is likely that these numbers are undercounts because manyundocumented aliens from Latin America apparently did notparticipate in the year 2000 Census.

2 In East and South Los Angeles, Hispanics comprise 96.8%of the population. At least 4.2 million Hispanics live in LosAngeles County. This is 3.2 times more Hispanics than inany other county in the U.S.

Among the people who identified themselves as Hispanic in the year 2000Census, the largest group by far consisted of those of Mexican ancestry.Well over half of all American Hispanics claimed to be Mexican.

HISPANIC CATEGORIES NUMBEROF PEOPLE

PERCENT OF TOTALHISPANIC POPULATION

All Hispanic or Latino 35,305,818 100.0%--- Mexican 20,640,711 58.5%--- Puerto Rican 3,406,178 9.6%--- Cuban 1,241,685 3.5%--- Dominican 764,945 2.2%--- Central American (excludes Mexican) 1,686,937 4.8%--- South American 1,353,562 3.8%--- Spaniard 100,135 0.3%--- All other Hispanic or Latino 6,111,665 17.3%

Among Americans of Asian or Pacific Islander ancestry, the largest groups inthe year 2000 Census were Chinese, Filipinos, and Asian Indians. However,Koreans and Vietnamese are catching up.

ASIAN AND PACIFICISLANDER CATEGORIES POPULATION PERCENT OF TOTAL ASIAN ANDPACIFIC ISLANDER

POPULATION

All Asian 10,242,998 96.3%--- Asian Indian 1,678,765 15.8%--- Chinese 2,432,585 22.9%--- Filipino 1,850,314 17.4%--- Japanese 796,700 7.5%


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--- Korean 1,076,872 10.1%--- Vietnamese 1,122,528 10.6%--- Other Asian 1,285,234 12.1%All Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander 398,835 3.8%--- Native Hawaiian 140,652 1.3%--- Guamanian or Chamorro 58,240 0.6%--- Samoan 91,029 0.9%--- Other Pacific Islander 108,914 1.0%

Implications of the Changing Population PatternsBeyond the numerical data for ethnicity and "race" in America, it is importantto grasp the human personal dimension of this diversity. It has had profound

effects on the attitudes and actions of both minority and majority groups.Perceptions of racial identity are especially important among AfricanAmericans today. Their history of slavery and severe institutionalizeddiscrimination are not easily put behind them. To the contrary, they havebecome importantethnic symbolsin the "racial"boundarymaintenanceseparating African Americans from other groups.The rate of loss of a minority group's distinct identity and theassimilationof itsmembers into the majority population has depended on a number of historicaland social factors. It has been relatively easy for most European immigrants

to assimilate within 1-2 generations due to their similarity in physicalappearance to the majority population. However, people with darker skincolor have not been able to assimilate as readily or at all in some cases. Thishas been particularly true of African Americans and some Hispanics. As aresult, assimilation now is often rejected as a goal by "minorities of color" infavor of gaining respect and acceptance as economically and politically equalbut separate ethnic groups.Another major factor affecting the likelihood of assimilation has been the sizeand concentration of ethnic groups. Those that make up the predominate

population in a large community greatly insulate their members from thedominant cultural patterns of the national society. Their members can livesurrounded by people sharing the same ethnicity and speaking the samefamiliar language or dialect. In this situation, pressures to assimilate can begreatly ignored. This has been the case with many Mexicans and CentralAmericans in East and South Los Angeles. In part, this has also been due to
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the continued high rates of immigration of Spanish speakers into thesecommunities.When immigrants are isolated from others of their ethnic group, it is muchmore difficult for them to resist the pressure to assimilate. This was the case

with some of the Vietnamese boat people who arrived in the 1970's. Thechildren of those who were relocated in smaller towns in the Midwest, ratherthan major cities in California, usually acquired non-Vietnamese friends andlearned relatively quickly to speak English without a Vietnamese accent.These are important first steps in assimilation. However, whether or not itoccurs also depends on the acceptance of the newcomers by the majoritypopulation.

What Will the Future Be Like

Those Americans who favor a society which acknowledges the permanentexistence of unassimilated or only partially assimilated ethnic/racial minorities

generally advocate multiculturalism (or pluralism). This is essentiallyan encouragement of continued diversity. The concept of multiculturalismcame to the United States from Canada in the 1970's. Pierre Elliot Trudeau,the Canadian Prime Minister, first used the term publicly in 1972 to describethe acceptance of a permanently unassimilated French speaking society inQuebec Province. Today, multiculturalism in Canada is a deep-rooted policy

at every level of government and has been expanded to cover all ethnicgroups.Multiculturalism has not been as widely accepted in the United States despiteits support by national and state governments. Those Americans who wish tofacilitate and speed up assimilation in order to reinforce national cultural unitygenerally advocate a cultural melting pot instead. This latter approach is onein which ethnic/racial distinctness is perceived of as getting in the way ofdeveloping a culturally homogenous American society. In the past, most ofthose who held this view apparently visualized the new American society as

one in which everyone spoke English and had European American values,perceptions, and goals. "Americanization" of new immigrants essentiallymeant educating everyone in the public schools to be like the existing majorityEuropean American population.Americans have been forced by circumstances to focus on this debate overwhat the country should be like in the future. Generally, those advocating the
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continuance of the older melting pot model are European Americans.Ethnic/racial minorities and younger, more politically liberal EuropeanAmericans more often advocate the multiculturalism model. However, it is amistake to assume how any American would vote on this issue based on theirage, ethnicity, "race", and political leaning. It is a complex issue that also hasbecome intertwined with questions ofaffirmative action, gender equity, sexualpreference, rights of the disabled, and public costs of the massive immigrationthat has occurred over the last two decades.Richard Rodriguez, a leading American essayist andsocial commentator, believes that the debate betweenthe multiculturalism and melting pot models is largelyirrelevant because constant close contact betweenpeople of different ethnic/racial groups in the U.S. isprogressively resulting in a blurring of the differencesbetween them. Rodriguez suggests that "we aremelting into each other" genetically and culturally.More and more children are being born with two ormore different ethnic/racial backgrounds. He refers tothis as the "browning of America." However, he is notonly referring to skin color. He points out that wehave developed a distinct national culture by borrowing from each other andcreating a new cultural synthesis. Rodriguez believes that governmentpolicies supporting multiculturalism only put off the inevitable. However, he

also thinks that the old melting pot model was incorrect in assuming thatfuture generations will essentially be like European Americans today. What isemerging is a new fusion of peoples and cultures. Actually this process ofgenetic and ethnic intermixing has been going on since the beginning of theEuropean colonies in North America more than four centuries ago. In recentgenerations, thehomogenizing of people and their cultures has been mostintense in Hawaii and the southwestern states but is rapidly moving east andnorth. If asked the question of what the future will be like for Americans,Rodriguez would very likely say that we only need to open our eyes and reallysee what it is like today.

Is America a physically andculturally "browning" society?
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Ethnicity and Race 9