Identity: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

1. Chapter 5 Identity: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

2. I. What is Identity, and How are Identities Constructed? • Identity- how we make sense of ourselves • Experiences, emotions, connections, & rejections • Identifying Against- define others to see “what we are not”

3. Race • Constructed Identity, false assumption • All “races” are biologically the same in the way that humans refer to it • Ideas of race grew out of European Colonialism • Benedict Anderson says socioeconomic classes (wealth) fueled the idea of racial superiority • Europeans used terms such as “savages, mystical, and others” leading to idea of superiority

4. Gender • Gender – “a culture’s assumptions about the differences between men and women: their ‘characters,’ the roles they play in society, what they represent.” - Domosh and Seager

5. What defines a Race? • Skin color, eye color, hair color? • Each of these are differences WITHIN races, not BETWEEN them • Skin color- Unreliable method of determining race • Sunlight stimulates production of melanin which darkens the skin to protect from UV rays • Dark skin means more melanin • Probably comes from generations of exposure to sun in tropical areas, nothing more

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7. Racism in the US • Categories of “Race” practiced through: • Residential segregation • Racialized divisions of labor • Categories of “race” recorded by the census bureau • Hispanic is now defined as an ethnicity • White/Hispanic white/non-Hispanic or black/Hispanic black/non-Hispanic

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10. Residential Segregation • “degree to which 2 ore more groups live separately from one another, in different parts of urban environment” • On the decline in the US everywhere & between all groups • Most segregated for African Americans: Milwaukee, Wis. – least segregated is Orange County, Cal. • Most segregated for Asians: San Francisco - least is Sulffolk (NY) & Baltimore MD • Most for Hispanics: New York City - Least is Baltimore, MD • Oklahoma is the least segregated state overall

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13. II. How Do Places Affect Identity, and How Can We See Identities in Places? • Sense of Place- giving meaning to a place by attaching experiences and memories

14. Ethnic Patterns and Process • Ethnicity is in many senses as important a category as race • Term ethnic comes from the Greek word ethnos, meaning “people” or “nation” • Racial identity is largely a matter of self-perception • Defining characteristics differ from place to place • Shared cultural traits • Common history • Treasured cultural landscape • Real or potential threats to language or faith • The Hutu and Tutsi are African peoples who define themselves in terms of cultural history and lifestyle, not race – so this is and ethnic conflict- not a racial one

15. Ethnic Spaces and Places • In America, ethnic enclaves are common • Have names such as “Chinatown,” “Little Italy,” or “Little Havana” etc. • Place names can record the aspirations of some of America’s immigrants – use of the word “new” • Chinatown in Mexicali- map on page 137 shows how Chinese have made huge impact in this town which was primarily Hispanic • Now cultural landscape is primarily Chinese due to businesses • Some immigrants hoped to find comparable or familiar natural environments • Ethnic Islands- certain rural ethnic groups are concentrated in environments similar to their source area • Example- Scandinavians live in Minnesota

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17. Advantages of ethnic community • Group identity and cohesiveness • Makes a social network • For the new arrival to the area it eases transition • A familiar language and common church • Preserves and protects customs and traditions to mutual advantage

18. Ethnic Conflict • Conflict is called “Ethnic” when “Racial” distinction can’t easily be made between conflicting groups • Causes and deterrents • Deterring factors • Achieving independence • Prosperity • Achieving power in government • Causes • Discrimination and lack of political power • Lack of territory • When governments seek to suppress or deny the existence of ethnic minorities

19. III. How do Power Relationships Subjugate Certain Groups of People? • Inequality of Gender • Economy and productivity • Women’s productivity • Their work is not included in the world’s GNP • It is unpaid • If it was counted, GNP would increase about 30%

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21. A woman’s unpaid labor in the periphery (less developed countries) • Produce more than ½ of all the food • Build homes, dig wells, and make clothes • Plant and harvest crops

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23. Sub-Saharan Africa • Women probably have the hardest life • Produce an estimated 70% of the food by hand labor • Gather firewood from ever-increasing distances • Left many times without a husband who has moved to the city • Cannot get bank loans or title to the land she works • A young girl will start working 12 hours a day as soon as she is able • Cash crops such as tea are called “men’s crops” because the men trade what the women produce

24. Women in the labor force • In the core realms from 35-39 percent of the labor force • In Sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 80% work in agriculture • In Asia more than 50% work in agriculture • The small number working in manufacturing is rising • Many women engage in home-based economic activities • Tailoring, beer brewing, food preparation, and soap making, etc. • These Informal Activities are often the mainstay of the community • All over the world, women still face job discrimination

25. Politics and public life • The dominance of males • In the United States, approximately half the voters are women • In the US and Canada, women did not receive full enfranchisement- the right to vote- until 1920 • Male domination of political institutions was well established by 1920 • Not all countries have given women the right to vote • Many countries gave the right for women to vote only recently • The right to vote does not give women political power • In recent years there has been an increase of women in politics • In 2001, 14% of Congress were women • A few national leaders have been women • When women have been in power, their policies tend to emphasize equality, development, and peace

26. Women in India • Lisa Ling was on OPRAH! in 2004 to discuss India’s gender differences (issues at India’s local scale), taking them to the global scale • Girls are still forced into arranged marriages • Dowry deaths are on the rise • When a bride is killed because the father failed to pay the full dowry • 1985: 999 deaths, 1986: 1786 dead, 1989: 2436 dead, 2001: 7000+ dead

27. Cont. • Ling interviewed woman- Husband demanded $25,000, flat screen TV, washing machine, air conditioners, refrigerators, & car • Father didn’t pay b/c husband demanded even more after they were married, husband came to hurt her & she had cell phone to call police & stop this (p. 143 picture) • Federal and state governments created legal aid offices to help women • Family courts to hear domestic cases have been created • Tend to be run by older male judges • Try to force the battered or threatened women back into the family fold • Hindu culture attaches great importance to the family structured

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29. Female infanticide in India • Revealed 300,000 more girls than boys die each year- many are aborted after gender-detection tests • Many thousands of female infants are killed each year • Modern techniques of prenatal gender detection contribute far more to the imbalance between male and female • Laws prohibiting prenatal tests solely to determine sex of a fetus are being violated • Fathers want male children to see the lineage preserved • Oldest son lights funeral pyre • Tradition of dowry makes males valuable even if it is now illegal

30. Power Relations in Los Angeles • LA- jumped from 4% Hispanic in 1960 to 90+ percent Hispanic in 1990 in some neighborhoods • Barrioization- ethnic succession of a neighborhood from one group to another • Asians seen as “model minority” b/c they are stereotyped as prospering through peaceful means despite harassment, exclusion, and discrimination

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32. April 29-30th 1992- LA Riots Occur • 43 dead, 2383 injured, 16,291 arrested • Property damage over $1 billion dollars! • Media said cause was “not guilty” verdict for white officers beating Rodney King

33. Geographic Explanation show riots as local reactions to: • Influx of new immigrants • Replacement of ethnic neighborhoods by new ethnic groups • Changing cultural landscape • Housing conditions declining • Scarce public resources

34. Cont. • Myths such as “model minorities” • Many Koreans targeted during riots • Economic Downturn- loss of many jobs • Manufacturing plants closed in S. Central LA, moving out of city & country • Over 70,000 jobs lost there in early 1980’s alone! • Police brutality simply topped off these problems to lead to violently vented frustrations