Reflection Précis 1, Race and Ethnicity
Part I: During the last lecture sessions, Dr. Jendian talked about appreciating diversity, race, ethnicity, and racism. In his lecture, we learned that many people believe that race is something biological. However, the true reality is that race is a social construct and not a biological one. For example, in the documentary Race: The Power of An Illusion, we were able to understand that there are more variations among people in the same “race” than with people from another “race.” However, physical differences, for example, the most obvious skin color, has created prejudices against minority groups. These prejudices that “white” people carry leads to discrimination against people of color. During the lecture, Dr. Jendian explained about ethnocentrism as well. The definition that he provided states that we judge others using our culture’s values, beliefs, and practices. Therefore, we believe the way of doing things is superior, so other people’s ways are inferior. For example, the professor explained that one day he went to a Oaxacan restaurant and that he ate crickets. He explained that for people that don’t have the same culture, this food might be uncommon, however, it is not uncommon for the people of Oaxaca. According to Aguirre and Tuner in their chapter “Ethnicity and Ethnic Relations,” minority groups are single out living on unequal treatment, thus, becoming objects of discrimination. For example, one of the minority groups
Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own culture or group is superior to others and the tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one’s own. In addition to Wise’s claim, every race/ethnicity constructs ideas like this. There’s a certain burden people of color carry when it comes to performance. They constantly have to worry about confirming certain stereotypes on a daily basis where as white people don’t because their actions are not ascribe to their race. In speculation these stereotypes can be a result of the numerous amounts of racism and discrimination throughout history.
This simple nine word quotation from Matshona Dhliwayo summarizes much of what Jane Elliot has spent her entire career trying to get people to understand. Watching the film, The Essential Blue Eyed, gave me an entirely new perspective on racism and in truth, showed how ignorant I had been. Jane Elliot is able to give study participants and viewers a completely new perspective on the social construction of race. According to the University of Minnesota, race refers to a category of people that share physical characteristics such as facial features and skin color (UMN 1).
The beginning of the book highlights the importance of race. Race was invented and assigned to individuals solely on their outward appearance. Most Americans unconsciously accept race as a product of Mother Nature. In reality, it has nothing to do with your genetics.
Many stereotypes that plague African Americans also affect Latinos and Asians, as seen by Exclusion Law and the push against immigration. Race is not concrete or permanent; it is constantly changing based on the political struggles of our society (Omi and
Certain studies have shown a damaging correlation between racial groups and health problems, such as high blood pressure in African-Americans or low birth weight for Arab newborns after 9/11 (Gravlee, 52). These indications are imperative to understanding how race affects biology because both are impacted by societal, cultural, and environmental factors. The author also recognizes the impact that anthropologists had on past ideology, such as eugenics (Gravlee, 48), and how it has shaped racialized thinking in the modern world. Gravlee argues that skin color is a major factor in social processes (Gravlee, 52) and ultimately, it contributes to the cycle of inequality and unseen health problems in minorities (Gravlee, 48). In response to the pre-existing notions in both pop culture and academia, the author unifies both statements and states that race manifests itself in the person’s biology (Gravlee,
Ali Kawash Sociology Mr. Moorehead 11 March 2018 Mid-term paper Rebecca Chiyoko King, a senior lecturer in the department of Sociology, has a three-level model of racial formation (self-perception, presentation of self to others, and negotiation with a larger group) which examines how we view ourselves, how people view us, and how we react to the way we’re viewed. In this essay, I will be explaining race in social interaction, gender in social fact, and finally an example leading to my path to college.
There’s an old saying that “sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you.” In reality, that saying is wrong. Words hurt a person as much as punch or a kick can. It may not hurt someone physically, but it can scar someone mentally and emotionally. Due to the topics they are associated with, certain words or phrases can elicit strong reactions; some are positive, while others are negative but nonetheless, they all leave an impact on people.
This type of thinking leads one to promulgate the cycle of racism by differentiating one person from another. One of the primary problems with the concept of race is that it continues to promote separatism amongst the people (Ernst, 2009). Utilizing race as a social construct, society continues to establish a hierarchical network that promotes status, power and fear within a group through the means of collective agreement and acceptance. The creation of stereotypes ascertain a set of beliefs, values and attitudes to a particular group, thus making them different from the dominant group.
Reflection Precis 5, “Contemporary Racial Framing” (March 20-22, 2018) 108788 Part I: During these two lectures, Dr. Jendian talked about our hidden biases and the way we denied discrimination. According to Joe R. Feagin (123), “In more recent surveys, black and white Americans still differ dramatically in how they view discrimination.”
Race, nationality and ethnicity Race and ethnicity are seen as form of an individual’s cultural identity. Researchers have linked the concept of “race” to the discourses of social Darwinism that in essence is a categorization of “types” of people, grouping them by biological and physical characteristics, most common one being skin pigmentation. Grouping people based on their physical traits has lead in time to the phenomenon of “racialization” (or race formation), as people began to see race as more of a social construct and not a result or a category of biology.
Ethnocentrism is the belief of one’s personal ethnic group to be far more superior than the others. It can be developed based from one’s cultural background, ethnicity or religious differences. Very often, an Ethnocentric person judges an individuals based on their ethnic group especially their religions, customs, languages and behaviors. According to Berry & Kalin (1995), “Ethnocentrism is viewed as lacking acceptance of cultural diversity and intolerance for outgroups”. A perceptions from an Ethnocentric very often lead to divisions amongst members of the society, foster negative judgments, prejudice and racism.
It is not uncommon to have both privileged and oppressed social identities. As an able-bodied heterosexual black female, I experience this phenomenon which is better known as intersectionality. I am made aware of some of the hardships that people with disabilities face because I am close to someone who is bound to a wheelchair. Since I also enjoy the privileges of being heterosexual and I wanted a completely different experience, I decided to focus my plunge on the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning and others (LGBTQ+) community. In doing so, the three events I attended were the Amateur Drag Show hosted by the Pride Student Union, Understanding Intersectionality co-hosted by the Black Student Union and the Pride Student Union,
Throughout history social scientists have been trying to examine the different parameters of race in terms of phenotypic characteristics, and cultural behaviors regarding the different groups that society construct’s. legally judges have had different rulings regarding the categorization of different ethnicities and groups within the United States. Many philosophers such as Kwame Appiah, and Scientists such as Dr. James Watson have had opposing arguments on the topic of race and whether it exists or not. In order to do so we need to examine the different definitions of race, and analyze them in order to see how race is a social construct, where people’s notions of race and their interactions with different races determine the way they perceive
When I first started watching this documentary produced I honestly did not know how to feel about it. I questioned myself a little when Jose was asking the students about what is white. After watching the first ten minutes of this documentary I found myself to become very frustrated because of how whites are viewed in America. Yes, we do have a history of being racists but that is history. Not saying some individuals are still and always be racist.
Just as a cover does not fully reveal the text of its book, the ambiguousness of my physical appearance has never truly represented the cultural diversity and experiences of my life. People have inquired about my nationality and guessed countries from the sunny shores of Samoa to the mango orchards of India. In the sunshine and heat of the summer, a person wouldn't likely guess, from the melanin in my skin and salty ringlet curls that crown my head, that I fluently speak Croatian and love the Croatian folk dance “kolo.” However, weeks into winter that same person would not guess from my pale tan and straightened hair that I experience the prejudice of bearing the label “Black.” The diversity of my background continues when a person asks me where I am from, to which I recite the following: “My dad is an African-American soldier from