Race in Cultures where Diversity is Minimized

Diversity in Japan is also erased by dominant majority

10% of Japan’s population minorities of various sorts

Intrinsic racism – belief that perceived racial difference is a sufficient reason to value one person less than another

American culture ignores considerable diversity as it socially constructs race within U.S.

Race in Japan

Valued group in Japan is majority (“pure”) Japanese, who are believed to share “the same blood”

80-90% of population

From Japanese wedding designer Yumi Katsura’s2006 Collection; Credit: english.peopledaily.com.cn

Race in Japan

Japanese culture regards certain ethnic groups as having a biological basis, when there is no evidenceBurakumin or "mura-no-mono" ("village

people") – descendants of a low-status social class; genetically indistinguishable from the dominant population; treated as a different race

Discrimination against Burakumin strikingly similar to discrimination that blacks faced in U.S. or “low castes” in South Asia

• Majority Japanese (~110 million) define themselves by opposition to others

Minority Ethnic Groups of Japan Ainu (15k) Kikai (15k) Korean (670k) Kunigami (5k) Miyako (68k) Okinawan (2

million) Yaeyama (48k)

~1945 Elderly Okinawan woman getting cigaretteFrom soldier; Photo: cache.viewimages.com

Cultures that maximize Racial Diversity: Race in Brazil

The Brazilian construction of race is attuned to relatively slight phenotypic differences

~190 Ethnic groups with different languages in Brazil

Fluid Brazilian Race & EthnicityPhenotype – organism’s evident traits, including skin color, hair form, facial features, and eye color

Genotype - genetic differences

More than 500 distinct racial labels reported

Brazilian Race & Ethnicity

Individual’s racial classification may change due to achieved status, developmental biological changes, and other irregular factors

No hypodescent rule ever developed in Brazil to seperate whites and blacks

• Brazilian “race” far more flexible

Traditional Racial Laws of NepalRacial hierarchy based on Hindu

Laws Wearers of the holy cord (Brahman,

Thakuri, Chetri, highest Newar) Non-enslavable alcohol drinkers (Magar,

Gurung, some Newar) Enslavable alcohol drinkers (Tibetans,

small tribes) Impure but touchable (Newar butchers,

musicians, washerwomen, Muslims, & Europeans!)

Untouchable (Hindu blacksmiths, tanners, shoemakers, tailors)

Hindu Social Hierarchies

Ethnic Groups and Nationalities

Nation now similar to a “state” – independent, centrally organized political unit

Migration, conquest, and colonialism led most nation-states to become ethnically heterogeneous.

• Nation once synonymous with “tribe” or “ethnic group” as in “Navajo nation”

Ethnic Groups, Nations, and Nationalities

Nation-State: stratified society with formal, central government Migration, conquest, and colonialism

led most nation-states not to beethnically homogeneous

• Nation: a large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory

Nations as “Imagined Communities”

Nation - a social construction created by print media Since rise of printing technologies

Use of vernacular spread languages

regardless of the actual inequality, the nation is conceived as a deep, horizontal community of neighbors.

1983, Benedict Anderson

Assimilation

“Melting pot” model Incorporates into the dominant culture to

point where it becomes a subculture Cultural Hegemony - Ruling class creates

ideologies that others internalize“Time is Money”“You can never be too rich or too thin”“Pull yourself up by your bootstraps”

• When minority adopts the patterns and culture of a host culture

The Plural Society

Barth believed ethnic boundaries are most stable and enduring when groups occupy different ecological niches

Barth shifted analytic focus from specific cultural practices and values to relations between ethnic groups

• A society combining ethnic contrasts, ecological specialization, and economic interdependence

Multiculturalism and Ethnic Identity

Number and size of ethnic groups grew dramatically in recent years

Multiculturalism seeks ways for people to understand and interact with a respect for differences

• Multiculturalism – socializes individuals into the dominant culture and into an ethnic culture

Ethnic Composition of the United States

Roots of Ethnic Conflict

Prejudice – devaluing a group because of its assume behavior, values, capabilities or attributes

Discrimination – policies and practices that harm a group and its membersDe facto – practiced but not legally sanctionedDe jure – part of the law

• Prejudice and Discrimination

Roots of Ethnic Conflict

Ethnic competition and conflict evident in North AmericaNew arrivals versus long-established

ethnic groups

Aftermaths of oppression Genocide Forced assimilation Ethnocide Cultural colonialism

• Chips in the Mosaic

Roots of Ethnic Conflict

Colonialism – political, social, economic, and cultural domination of a territory and its people by a foreign power for an extended time

State of Colonialism in 1763

Ethnic Refugees in the U.S.

3 generations of Basques in Montana

Refugees: peoles who have been foreced to flee a country to escape persecution, war, or violence