Chapter 7 in a Nutshell

1. Chapter 7 in a Nutshell • Defining Ethnicity in the US • Black vs African American • Hispanic, Latino or Chicano • Distribution: Where • US: Regional Distribution • US: Urban Distribution • Ethnicity and Racial Discrimination • Ethnicity in the City • Ethnicity and Nationality • Nationalism • Multinational States • Revival of ethnicity in Europe • Ethnic Conflict • Dominance in multiethnic states • Ethnicities divided among multiple staes • Ethnic Cleansing

2. Ethnicity • Identity with a group of people who chare the cultural traditions of a particular homeland • Ethnic usually implies outsider

3. Census Definitions • Race – White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, some other race • 2000: allowed to select multiple races • Ethnicity: Hispanic or Latino, Not Hispanic or Latino • Nationality • Country of Birth

4. Race • Race is “socially constructed” • It is meaningful because society says so • It is not biologically meaningful • Most of the genetic diversity in human populations is found within ALL races, and not between races.

5. African-American vs Black American • 1890 census: black, mulatto, quadroon, octoroon. • 20th century: colored -> Negro -> black -> African-American • Jesse Jackson promoted African-American in the 1980s • Can Americans descended from Africans, but not from Slaves, call themselves African-American?

6. Hispanic, Chicano, Latino • Hispanic • 1980 census: Spanish/Hispanic Origin or Descent • Spain included, Brazil excluded • Some consider derogatory • Chicano • Exclusively Mexican-American • Tends to emphasize indigenous, not Spanish descent • Used by militants in 1960s/70s • Latino • Latin American • My opinion - Perhaps a more neutral term, but perhaps gendered. • Key point: Identity is both chosen for us and by us.

7. Ethnicity in US Cities

8. Why do ethnicities cluster? • Defensive functions: Reduce isolation and vulnerability of individuals • Support functions: “port-of entry” and “haven” functions. Religion, welfare, protection of ethnic enterprise, … • Cultural preservation: preservation and promotion. • “Attack” functions: political representation

9. The gatekeepers of segregation • Discriminatory behavior • Lenders • Realtors • Block-busting and Steering • Insurors • Landlords • You and me • Different cultural definitions of “integrated”

10. Assimilation • Both charter group and ethnic group are changed. • Behavioral Assimilation: acquisition of language, norms and values of charter group. • Structural Assimilation: diffusion of the ethnic group through social and occupational strata of charter group. • Most research has assumed that assimilation is a good thing. • Is assimilation good? • If not, how should we change our descriptions of it?