Ethnic identites Essay

There are two different dimensions of our identities: ethnicity and race. Ethnicity refers to one’s belonging to a specific cultural, or racial group that makes up culture, race language, and/or place of origin. For example, one can be African-American but have different ethnicities, one African-American and the other African-Caribbean decent. Race is a social construct that can be changed over time. Historically, referring to its specific characteristics one possesses based on: ethnicity, religion, or language; today's its classified solely based upon the color of one’s skin. Nevertheless, ethnic and racial identities are important and instill a sense of belonging and identifying with that specific group through attitude, behaviors. Moreover,

Defining exactly what shapes ethnic identity in the United States is the hardest question I can imagine being asked. As a child born in the United States, I find this question so difficult because I have been exposed to a large variety of cultures within the small boundaries of my own family. This makes it very difficult to determine one, or even a few characteristics that define ethnic identity. In the case of many of these novels, the task of defining ethnic identity is not so complicated. The list of determinants that I believe to define ethnic identity includes language, geographic location, and tradition.

Racial identification is harder than ethnic identification for most people to avoid. To explain this, in “Racial Identities” in the

This paper will identify the ethnic identifications within individuals. Ethnicity is part of everyone’s identity development. Individuals may have one ethnicity or multiple, depending on their current location, homelands, generations, religion, environment, language/dialect, physical appearance, and more. A cultural individual is considered ethnic either by being first, second, or third generation. According to Phinney (1989), there are four stages of ethnic identity development: diffuse, foreclosed, moratorium, and achieved. They describe when an individual explores or does not explore their own ethnicity, and accepting clarification and understanding of ethnicity. An individual can be placed within these stages throughout their developing lives. It is important to recognize these stages within an individual to better apprehend their identity and where they perceive their own identity in their position.

Historical and comparative approaches to race and ethnicity teach us a wide range of issues and approaches to social problem that our own society do not. Race and ethnicity are part of what makes a person who they are and who they will become. Scholars such as Nirenberg, McCallum and Lewis will be discussed to demonstrate what historical and comparative approaches to race and ethnicity teach us about them that our own society fails to. First, it allows us to move away from the traditional approach to studying and understanding race and ethnicity. It allows us to differentiate between the terms race and ethnicity as they are often misused as if they had the same meaning. Historical and comparative approach depicts the linkage between race and ethnicity and how they interact with one another, allowing for a racial discourse to transpire.

Race is a way to categorize people with similarly perceived biological characteristics into one labeled group. However, race has no biological standing, as race highly “depends on our social location [and] on who is doing the [classification]” (Henslin, 2015, p. 266). Ethnicity averts from race in that ethnicity exemplifies the ancestry and cultural heritage in which one affiliates themselves with. A “sense of belonging may center on their nation or region of origin, distinctive foods, clothing, language, music, religion, or family names and relationships” (Henslin, 2015, p. 266). Both race and ethnicity are exceedingly interchanged with one another even though the terms have different meanings. A great example of this misinterpretation of race and ethnicity is the Jewish “race.” “Jews […] are more properly considered an ethnic group, since it is their cultural characteristics, especially their religion, that bind them together” (Henslin, 2015, p. 266-267). Despite the fact that race and ethnicity are distinctive ideas, they do come together in the way of identifying one group from another; whether it be by characteristics or cultural heritage. Race and ethnicity are also similar in that a person can identify with multiple ethnicities or races; as they may have two parents from different cultures. Albeit, race and ethnicity are related in ways, but they still

Ethnic identity is described as one’s sense of belonging to an ethnic group that is composed of ethnic awareness, self-identification, attitudes, and behaviors as a part of their membership. In America, there are many minorities, such as Latinos, Asians, and Blacks, who have a unique culture integrated within their ethnic group. However, society has been guilty of assimilating people into becoming more “American” rather than allowing them to express their culture. Through their own personal experiences, authors Amy Tan, Gloria Anzaldua, and Zora Neale Hurston advocate that the ability to find one’s ethnic identity is by seeking the importance and impact their past experiences mademakes in their lives.

This essay will be delving into the roots of race and ethnicity and will be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of racial and ethnic labelling and ways to overcome the negative things that are associated with racial and ethnic labelling and categorization. Race and ethnicity are two different things but yet have striking similarities. One focuses on the biological characteristics of a person the other focuses on the cultural practices of a group or

In this article written by Weatherford, the form and use of ethnic identity is the core focus and further elaborations has been provided on roles of various factors in shaping ethnic identities such as, religion, economics, politics and so forth. Weatherford has also discussed the various usages that ethnic identities may have: Men in pursuit of their own vested interests have used ethnic identities as a means to reach their goals and interests such as wealth, fame and even sexual indulgence. The study was done on Central Asian countries, mostly those which were in the eastern bloc, it is argued

Deeply driven by our sense of self, humans place a fundamental importance on creating and preserving individual identity. Comprised of many aspects, such as age, cultural beliefs, equality, gender, race, social class, etc., identity can be defined as “the qualities or beliefs that make one person or group different from others (www.websters.com).” In exploring Culture and Identity in the literary works, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hasberry, Everyday Use by Alice Walker and Etheridge Knight’s A Poem for Myself, several outside forces can be found shaping the identity of the respective characters. The most recurrent theme found among the aforementioned works was the impact racial divide made on their identity and how they have either evolved or failed to evolve as a result.

The most fundamental shift in my ideologies, evidently, is the way I now view race and racialisation. The following statements from Richard Dyer’s (1997, p.40) ‘White’ marked the beginning of my shift in thinking: “whiteness is an invisible racial position. At the level of racial representation, whites are not of a certain race. They are just the human race, a ‘colour’ against which other ethnicities are always examined… white power secures its power by seeming to be not anything in particular.” These statements, alongside the 47 daily effects of white privilege described by McIntosh (1990, pp. 31-36) and Tannoch-Bland (1998, pp. 34-36), have illustrated to me the reality behind the notion that “I can choose whether or not to be concerned about racism” (Tannoch-Bland 1998, p.36). Prior to this course I believed that an individual’s cultural background and heritage should just be an aspect, rather than the ‘defining’ and forefront characterisation of their personality. Whilst I would still like to believe this wholeheartedly – ‘because all our blood is red’ (Blanch, F. 2014, workshop presentation, 28th July) - I have come to the realisation that this is probably a rather ‘utopian’ ideal (Sefa Dei 2008, p.97). As shown over centuries of research, societal artefacts and daily communication, it is in our nature as humans to classify and allocate labels to every aspect of our lives for the sake of fulfilling the Lemert’s (2010, p.6) defined notion of arrogance, to show evidence that we ‘understand’. Thus, when an individual is not ‘white’ they are automatically discounted as the ‘other’ figure, assigned with the preconceived knowledges and stereotypes, based on the first sighting of their aesthetics alone (Ladson-Billings 1998, p.8). I realise now, that as a ‘white’ individual, I have had the luxury of not being

The World War 2 was a significant turning point of ethnicity studies towards modern studies. There was a process of constructing modern nation-states with clear border or territories and diverse ethnicities around the world (Plianroong, 2010, p. 2). The process contributed to significance of ethnic identity when various ethnicities around the world had more interaction. “ Ethnicity became a key concept in addressing cultural difference in multicultural societies and as a concept aimed at surpassing the essentializing and biological analysis dominating earlier analyses of race.” (Georgious, 2006) The theorisation of new ethicities was evolved into the beginning of primally put identity into specific context of diaspora and translaitonalism according to “Stuart Hall’s (1988)analytical concept of new ethicities” (Georgious, 2006, p. 45). It is therefore diaspora and diasporic identities becomes hitherto interestedness.

The concept of Britishness is actually an interesting dynamic. On the one hand, it is a simple concept in that it is the act of being British. The government driving politics in the UK has a very narrowly defined definition of Britishness that it often uses to define the idea to foreigners trying to become part of British life (Clarke 211). This concept reveals Britishness as the fact of being from a particular region and speaking a particular language. Yet it is within a social science perspective that the concept of Britishness becomes much more multi-faceted and diverse, even controversial when trying to decide if it is an ideology of a nation or an ethnicity. In this capacity, "the meaning of British has changed over time and continues to give rise to confusion and debate" (Clarke 230). It is within this concept that the argument on whether or not

Born and bred in Malaysia, I am proud to call myself a Malaysian national. My parents are Malaysians as well. However, my paternal grandparents identify themselves as Indian, while my maternal grandparents prefer to be referred to as Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) . Going back further, my ancestors would have identified themselves as Portuguese. We originate from the same bloodline, with similar heritage, almost identical ethnicity, and to a certain extent, common values, traditions and culture; yet, we identify ourselves as individuals from different nations. A simple anecdote regarding a student’s heritage can show you that defining an individual’s nationality is more complex than we perceive it to be. You cannot come to a conclusion regarding an individual’s nationality by simply looking at his/her passport details.

In much of the political science and law literatures, the term `minority rights’ is used to refer to legal provisions that have two key features: first, they are intended to recognize or accommodate the distinctive needs of non-dominant ethnic or racial groups; and second, they do so by adopting minority-specific measures, above and beyond the non-discriminatory enforcement of universal individual rights that apply regardless of group membership. In this respect, minority rights are often distinguished from anti-discrimination policies, as two distinct (but complementary) tools for protecting minorities from injustice at the hands of dominant groups. Ensuring that members of minorities have equal access as individual citizens to the ballot box is an anti-discrimination measure; ensuring that a certain number of parliamentary seats are reserved for members of minorities, or establishing self-governing institutions within a minority’s homeland, are minority rights measures. Similarly, the right to speak or publish freely in a minority language is entailed by the basic individual right of freedom of speech – to forbid speech in a minority language would constitute discrimination in the exercise of that right – but to insist that the state provide road signs, public education or tax forms in a minority’s language is a minority right. Minority rights, in short, involve positive group-specific measures, not just the non-discriminatory enforcement of universal individual rights.