Week 9: Inequality Around the World

Question 1

South Africa

Answer 1

• colonization of indigenous Blacks by the Dutch (mid-1600s): racial inequality and genocide
• British take control: Dutch increased conquering and subordination of native population
• Dutch (Afrikaners) established apartheid
• – rigid caste system, institutionalized inequality
• – White control of land and wealth
• – Blacks denied right to vote
• international pressure (sanctions) + rising protests
• first non-racial elections: Nelson Mandela
• end of apartheid, but continuing inequality

Question 2

Northern Ireland

Answer 2

• Britain control over Ireland (16th century)
• tensions between native Catholic Irish, Protestant English settlers and Protestant Scottish
• Division: Northern controlled by Protestants
• Catholics demanded equality
• violence between Protestants and Catholics
• Joint Protestant-Catholic government elected in 2007
• still, highly segregated

Question 3

Quebec, Canada

Answer 3

• conflict between White colonizers
• British control of French settlers
• violence, separatist movement
• referendums failed
• establishment of French as official language
• possibility of separation

Question 4

Iraq

Answer 4

• created by Great Britain (WW1)
• comprised 3 provinces from old Ottoman Empire
• grouped 3 ethnic groups: Kurds, Sunni Muslims, and Shi’ite Muslims
• Shi’ites comprise 60% of population
• Sunni, favored by British, controlled until 2003
• US invasion: end of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, beginning of civil war
• Kurdish autonomy, continuing violence between Sunnis and Shi’ites

Question 5

Former Soviet Union

Answer 5

• created 1917, Bolshevik revolution led by Lenin
• comprised territory annexed and conquered by the Russian empire since the 16th century
• Lenin had defended the right of secession; in reality, the centralized state (ruled by Russians) prevented independence
• Stalin’s dictatorship suppressed any thought of independence
• After Stalin’s death and reinstatement of freedom of expression, ethnic groups sought independence
• violence among ethnic groups (Azerbaijan and Armenia; separatist Chechens in Russia)

Question 6

Former Yugoslavia

Answer 6

• formed in 1918, comprised of diverse ethnic groups
• controlled by Serbs, secession suppressed by central rule and fear of Soviet domination
• with the death of its leader and the dissolution of Soviet Union, groups sought independence
• Civil war in Bosnia: Serbs, Croats, and Bosniasks
• – Ethnic cleansing (250,000 killed)
• – Peace agreement (1995)
• Civil war in Serbia: independence of Kosovo
• – independence declared in 2008

Question 7

Israel and Palestine

Answer 7

• both Jews and Arabs view the area as their homeland
• no significant Jewish presence, are settled by Arabs
• Jewish return to the area after Holocaust
• state of Israel is created in 1948 against the will of native Arabs
• violence against and subordination of Arabs
• Israeli expansion on Arab territory
• In 1993, both parties acknowledged each other’s claim to the land
• Peace talks in 2000, 2003, 2007
• violence still continues

Question 8

Great Britain and France

Answer 8

• Most immigrants from Africa and Asia
• inequality and discrimination similar to minorities in the US: employment, housing, education
• violent uprising

Question 9

Switzerland and Hawaii

Answer 9

• diverse groups coexist
• Switzerland, 4 official languages
• Hawaii, 3 official languages
• Switzerland: groups were voluntarily incorporated
• Hawaii: natives were organized, Whites respected and cooperated, interest in trade rather than conquest, interracial marriage was common

Question 10

Brazil and Mexico

Answer 10

• both have levels of assimilation, considered to have peaceful intergroup relations
• most colonizers were male: more interracial marriages
• colonizers were Christians: emphasized equality and conversion of Natives
• Brazil: class over racial inequality
• Mexico: large and developed native population