Human Geo Chapter 7 Vocab Flashcards
Ethnicity
Identity with a group of people who share the cultural traditions of a particular homeland or hearth. An ethnicity could refer to a group occupying a very small area, such as the Tutsis of Central Africa, or it could refer to a large heterogeneous group, such as Asian Americans. It is place-based.
Race
Identity with a group of people who are perceived to share a physiological trait, such as skin color. It isn’t place-based, but is an important concept because it is often misused as a synonym for ethnicity.
Nationality
Identity with a group of people who share legal attachment to a particular country. It is also place-based.
Racism
The belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. At worst, biological classification by race is the basis for racism.
Racist
A person who subscribes to the belifs of racism and discriminates or feels prejudice against people of particular races.
Ethnic Enclave
(EE) A place with a high concentration of an ethnic group that is distinct from those in the surrounding area. Most are neighborhoods within large cities, and some have distinctive appearances & social structures that form through migration. Newcomers can find people who have similar language, food, religion, etc, and get economic support. They can get help to get a job, learn the language, & adapt to the culture.
Ethnoburb
A suburban area with a cluster of a certain ethnic population. For descendants of Europeans, ethnic identity is retained through religion, food, & other traditions INSTEAD of location of residence. Visible remnant of early 20th European ethnic neighborhoods: Little Italy & Greek-town. Chicago: In 1910, most residents were descended from Europeans, but by 1990, there were equal amounts of Latin Americans & Asian descendants.
Triangular Slave Trade
A practice, primarily during the eighteenth century, in which European ships transported slaves from Africa to Caribbean islands, molasses from the Caribbean to Europe, and trade goods from Europe to Africa.
Sharecropper
A person who works fields rented from a landowner and pays the rent and repays the loans by turning over to the landowner a share of the crops. They get a line of credit to buy seed, tools, food, etc. and have to repay with more crops. This system burdened the African Americans with high interest rates and heavy debts. They were forced to grow cash crops like Cotton, not what they could eat. Sharecropping became less common in the 20th century (due to new farm machinery and less land).
Blockbusting
A process by which real estate agents convince white property owners to sell their houses at low prices because of fear that persons of color will soon move into the neighborhood. The agents then sold the houses at much higher prices to black families coming in. It encouraged “white flight,’ or the emigration of whites from an area in anticipation of blacks coming.
Redlining
A process by which financial institutions draw red-colored lines on a map & refuse to give people money to purchase or improve property within the lines. Through this, African Americans were prevented from getting mortgages to buy houses in the neighborhoods where whites fled. Through these processes, a neighborhood could change from white to black in a few months, & real estate agents could start the process in another area.
Black Lives Matter
Movement that campaigns against violence and perceived racism toward black people and educates others about the challenges that African Americans continue to face in the US. Founded in 2013 after several unarmed African American men were killed.
Apartheid
Laws (no longer in effect) in South Africa that physically separated different races into different geographic areas. A newborn baby was classified as being 1 of 4 gov’t-designated races: black, white, colored (mixed white and black), or Asian (mostly Indian). The system was created by descendants of whites from Netherlands arriving in 1652 in Cape Town, South Africa. Started around 1948.
Nationalism
Loyalty and devotion to a nationality. It promotes a sense of national consciousness that exalts one nation above others & emphasizes its cultures/interests as opposed to those of other nationalities. People display it by supporting a country that preserves/enhances attitudes of their nationality. States foster nationalism by promoting country symbols. It is an important example of a centripetal force that unifies & enhances support.
Ethnophobia
Fear of people of a particular ethnicity.
