Exam 1 Flashcards
Racialization of Native Americans
English settlers came and met the Native Americans, homogenized them under the term ‘Indians’ in order to make it easier to make a difference between us/them
–> easy to say that they are all the same, all savage, shared characteristics
Blacks
- 1st taken to colonies as indentured servants but this eventually became permanent and hereditary
- manumission was not extended to blacks
- justification for slavery–defining what it means to be black (use of biology to prove this)
Mexicans
- desire to get more land for sugar and cotton leads to racialization of Mexico
- US takes over Mexico as they gain independence from Spain –> Mexican-American War
- justification= American dury, Manifest Destiny
- not taking too much of mexio bc they only wanted land, not the people occupying it (fear of dilution of white population) –> only took sparsely populated lands
Asian (Chinese, Filipinos)
- motive: saw them only as a labor source, developing ideology of whiteness to separate
- bringing Chinese to Hawaii and the West Coast (gold rush)
- extra taxes to Chinese, exclusion of Chinese prostitutes (and essentially all women)
- US tried to explain what people were like in their colonies and depicted them as black to communicate that they were inferior
- policies: Chinese Exclusion, Page law
White
- definition of race= based on their relations to POC
- whites exist as a category of people subject to a double negative
- 20th century homogenization of whiteness–> began with differences amongst the whites
- -> but eventually the political need for whites to come together and homogenize themselves to stand as us v. them
- -> poor whites wanted to distinguish themselves in the workplace (formed only white unions so they could have advantages
motives: shoring up political power
2 visions of race
inclusionary vision: expansive membership in society
exclusionary vision: membership restricted
both determined by/dependent on race
exclusionary vision implications
disregard for family of POC pop.
residential segregation
voter suppression
2020 census making US appear more white than it is
racial project
“simultaneously an interpretation, representation, or explanation of racial identities and meanings and an effort to organize and distribute resources (economic, political, cultural) along particular racial lines.”
2 kinds of racial projects: cultural work
interpretation, representation, explanation of racial identities
ex: how certain racial groups are represented in the media
2 kinds of racial projects: structural work
efforts to organize and distribute resources ($$, political, cultural) along particular racial lines
ex: SES differences btwn racial groups
laws policies, economic and political arrangements
2 goals of Racial Projects
- racist in nature: creation of racial hierarchies and focus on inequalities
- anti-racist in nature: aimed at addressing inequalities
Misconceptions about R/E
- Race is black and white–not binary, clear obvious; no clear lines
- Racial identity constitutes racial expertise
- -> tokenism: one individual cannot speak for the entire group
- -> your racial experiences don’t always extend to point of generalizable and factual
culture
ideas, meanings, interpretations
widely shared beliefs, norms, values, symbolically meaningful practices
structure
actions/behaviors, roles
- -father is perceived as breadwinner
- -systematic/predictable–> institutions
Kanchan Chandra (race/ethnicity)
race/ethnicity are categories which descent-based attributes are necessary to determine eligibility for membership
to claim membership, there must be an evidence-backed claim about descent (DNA, last name, language, etc.)
Weber (race/ethnicity)
a group of people who entertain a subjective belief of common descent
Schermerhorn
a collectivity within a larger society having real or putative common ancestry, memories of a shared historical past, and a cultural focus on one or more symbolic elements defined as the epitome of their peoplehood
Why is race not straightforward
Terms “race” and “ethnicity” are used interchangeably
They are often used without definition (such as on forms to check off race)
Lack of consensus around definitions even in academia
The definitions differ depending on context/location
They are quite similar with each other fundamentally
The way in which Hispanics are an ethnicity but not a race according to federal regulations
David Hollinger (ethnoracial pentagon)
5 races in america
- white
- asians
- blacks
- American Indians
- Latinx
“Hispanics”
began in 1977 through classification due to the task of anti-discrimination programs and the need for categories
one drop rule
perpetuates the idea that there is a pure white race and black blood taints that
ethnicity
a collectivity within a larger society having real or putative common ancestry, memories of a shared historical past, and a cultural focus on one or more symbolic elements defined as the epitome of their peoplehood
ethnicization
process by which a group of persons comes to see itself as a distinct group linked by bonds of kinship or equivalents, by a shared history, and by cultural symbols
main qualities of an ethnic group
Real/putative ancestry
Subpopulation of larger population (in context of Others)
Self-consciousness based in labels used by outsiders
Symbolic elements
race
group of human beings socially defined on the basis of physical characteristics that are thought to be inherent
racialization
process by which certain bodily features or assumed biological characteristics are used systematically to mark certain persons for differential status or treatment
Hypodescent
any type of African ancestry even if it’s very small, you are considered black but this rule doesn’t extend to other US-defined Races
Essentialist
race is a reflection of innate/natural characteristics of individuals
Constructivist:
race is socially constructed systems of classification
Anti-Essentialist:
argues for constructivist viewpoint but uses biological evidence to move beyond sociohistorical evidence
ethnic groups
human groups with subjective beliefs of common descent–similarities in appearances in appearance, customs both
Schermerhorn: ethnicity
collectivity within larger society larger society having real or perceived common ancestry, historical past, symbolic elements + self-consciousness
- subpopulation in larger groups
- assertion of difference by group itself
- variable/changing (easier to cross than racial lines
Morning: ethnicity
notions of common descent by claim/or perception of it evidenced by perceived cultural similarity (subjective)
Morning: race
notions of common descent supported by perceived (innate, biological similarities)
constructivist
race as a socially determined social construct
created by society, shaped by political, economic, social context
essentialist
races are not invented–they reflect inborn fixed naturally occurring traits of individuals
evidence: biological data
anti-essentialist
argue for constructivist viewpoint using biological arguments
Fuentes, Augustin - Myth Busting
variation within populations is greater than between populations
- blood types
- immune system/disease
- genetic variation
- body shape/size
- skin color
- cranial variations
Fredrickson George M: Religion and the Invention of Racism
2 forms of racism which can be traced back to religious origins
- anti-semitism
- black/white color coded
Smedley, Audrey, Brian D. Smedley: Growth of English Ideology
identify ideological components of race in British North American colonies
Desmond, Matthew Mustafa Emirbayer: Invention of Race
to trace timeline of how Racism developed in America starting with the conquest by Spain
Haney Lopez: White by Law
using court cases that discussed expansiveness of “white” definitions to see how idea of white was constructed
evidence: court cases
Loewen James: Sundown Towns
post-civil war recons
Loewen James: Sundown Towns
post-civil war reconstruction–> evidence that exclusion based on race was not limited to the South because there were mechanisms of racial exclusion and inequality in North
What is racism based on
- sense of exclusiveness
- group rankings–english norms
- attributed behavior to innate traits
Bacon’s Rebellion
In the decades following Bacon’s Rebellion, most free Americans began to view white servants as people who could be assimilated into society and black servants as those would be slaves for life. Moreover, as poor whites gained freedom, enslaved Black people descended into a state of permanent slavery. (page 55/56, Desmond’s Invention of Race)
Bacon’s Rebellion was a wake up call for those in power (landowning white males). Their economic system was based on indentured servitude where Irish, Native American and African servants all had equal status allowing them to unify and rebel against unfair labor practices. Race was constructed as a mechanism to divide the labor force and justify the prevailing economic system (which soon evolved into slavery).
What’s the difference between ethnicization and racialization?
Ethnicization: process where a group of people sees itself as a group through linked kinship, shared history and cultural bonds
Racialization: process where certain bodily features or assumed bodily characteristics are used to mark people for differential treatment
What is at stake in the constructivism vs. essentialism debate?
- Justification for racism
- Power dynamics
- Equality/inequality
- Resources
- Dignity/egos
- Grounds for change
- Accuracy of science
- Identity options
