Race and Ethnicity

 Race vs Ethnicity

If someone asked you to describe your identity to them, where would you begin? Would it come down to your skin color or your nationality? What about the language you speak, your religion, your cultural traditions or your family's ancestry?

These words are often used interchangeably, but , they're defined as separate things. 

• "'Race' and 'ethnicity' have been and continue to be used as ways to describe human diversity,
• Race is understood by most people as a mixture of physical, behavioral and cultural attributes. 
• Ethnicity recognizes differences between people mostly on the basis of language and shared culture. 

In other words, race is often perceived as something that's inherent in our biology, and therefore inherited across generations. Ethnicity, on the other hand, is typically understood as something we acquire, or self-ascribe, based on factors like where we live or the culture we share with others. 

The basis of "races"

The idea of "race" originated from anthropologists and philosophers in the 18th century, who used geographical location and phenotypic traits like skin color to place people into different social groupings.

• That not only formed the notion that there are separate racial "types" but also fueled the idea that these differences had a biological basis. 
• That flawed principle laid the groundwork for the belief that some races were superior to others — creating global power imbalances that benefited white Europeans over other groups, in the form of the slave trade and colonialism.
• We can't understand race and racism outside of the context of history, and more importantly economics. Because the driver of the triangular trade [which included slavery] was capitalism, and the accumulation of wealth. 

The effects of this history prevail today, where there's still an underlying assumption that traits like skin color or hair texture have biological, genetic underpinnings that are completely unique to different racial groups. 

• If you take a group of 1,000 people from the recognized 'races' of modern people, you will find a lot of variation within each group--- but, he amount of genetic variation within any of these groups is greater than the average difference between any two [racial] groups.
• there are no genes that are unique to any particular 'race',

In other words, if you compare the genomes of people from different parts of the world, there are no genetic variants that occur in all members of one racial group but not in another. 

• the racial groupings we have invented are actually genetically more similar to each other than they are different — meaning there's no way to definitively separate people into races according to their biology. 
• those are values that humans have chosen to ascribe to each other or themselves. 
• In short, variations in human appearance don't equate to genetic difference. "Races were created by naturalists and philosophers of the 18th century. They are not naturally occurring groups," 

Where ethnicity comes in

Ethnicity is a complicated mix of customs, traditions and behaviors that are rooted in heritage 

• Most people get cues about their ethnicity from family, society and the media. And most people don't identify with all of the traits ascribed to a given ethnicity, such as enjoying spicy food or having a close-knit extended family

While race is ascribed to individuals on the basis of physical traits, ethnicity is more frequently chosen by the individual. And, because it encompasses everything from language, to nationality, culture and religion, it can also enable people to take on several identities.

• Someone might choose to identify themselves as Asian American, British Somali or an Ashkenazi Jew, for instance, drawing on different aspects of their ascribed racial identity, culture, ancestry and religion. 

Ethnicity has been used to oppress different groups, as occurred during the Holocaust, or within interethnic conflict of the Rwandan genocide, where ethnicity was used to justify mass killings. 

• Yet, ethnicity can also be a boon for people who feel like they're siloed into one racial group or another, because it offers a degree of agency

Ethnicity and race are also irrevocably intertwined — not only because someone's ascribed race can be part of their chosen ethnicity but also because of other social factors. 

• If you have a minority position [in society], more often than not, you're racialized before you’re allowed access to your ethnic identity ---That's what happens when a lot of African immigrants come to the United States and suddenly realize that while in their home countries, they were Senegalese or Kenyan or Nigerian, they come to the U.S. — and they're black. 
• Even with a chosen ethnicity, "race is always lurking in the background," 

Some people have more Freedom to choose their ethnic identification than others. Those that are not marked by a racialized trait of some sort.

• Ethnicity is Fluid and constantly negotiated in situations where people have agency, but in some cases it is solidified or imposed (Rwanda-Hutu and Tutsi) 

Ethnicity is commonly the outcome of assimilation

• Immigrant's acculturate, but their children, once "Americans" will or may choose to maintain and express a secondary identity in a myriad of ways with a myriad of degrees of intensity.

More than a social construct

Race and ethnicity may be largely abstract concepts, but that doesn't override their very genuine, real-world influence. 

• These constructs wield immense power in terms of how societies work--- Defining people by race, especially, is ingrained in the way that societies are structured, how they function and how they understand their citizens. 
• The legacy of racial categories has also shaped society in ways that have resulted in vastly different socioeconomic realities for different groups. 
• It's not just that we have constructed these [racial] categories; we have constructed these categories hierarchically
• It continues to determine people's access to opportunity, privilege and also livelihood in many instances

Perceptions of race even inform the way we construct our own identities — though this isn't always a negative thing. 

• A sense of racial identity in minority groups can foster pride mutual support and awareness. 
• Even politically, using race to gauge levels of inequality across a population can be informative, helping to determine which groups need more support, because of the socioeconomic situation they’re in. 

Racial mismatch (Rachael Dolezal Explained?)

People commonly feel some discord between their internal and external ethnic or racial identity. 

• For instance, expatriates may acquire some of the cultural habits of the local people
• children who are surrounded by people of other ethnicities and races may "try on" different ways of dressing, eating or acting, but if the people around them don't encourage it, they mostly "grow out of it,
• Many children who are adopted by parents of a race different from their own continue to feel an ethnic or racial difference from their families, and instead identify more closely with their birth race or ethnicity

Passing as black

Historically, African Americans who were light-skinned may have passed as white, to escape oppression or even, to infiltrate white supremacist groups to get information on their plans for lynchings or other terrorist acts

• Given the oppression faced by people identified as black, that's understandable to most people
• But Dolezal's case is counterintuitive because she is "passing" in the opposite direction. 
• Clearly, her identity as black seems to be deeply held, as she could have just said she was white but supportive of African American causes and made the controversy go away
• Either way, the deception is problematic because most people don't get to choose their race (only their ethnicity)
• Dolezal is probably benefiting from her African American identity without having experienced a lifetime of racism. 
• she can shed her black persona if it becomes inconvenient--She can hide in her whiteness at any moment if she wants to