Transcript Ethnicity

Ethnicity
Ethnicity Terms
• Ethnicity
• identity with a group of people
who share the cultural
traditions of a particular
homeland or hearth
• Comes from Greek word
ethnikos (national)
• Race:
• identity with a group of people
who share a biological
ancestor
• Comes from the French word
for generation
• Geographers are interested
in where ethnicities are
distributed across space
• Ethnic groups tied to a place
• No globalizing ethnicity
• Ethnicity is strongest
bulwark for preservation of
local diversity
Where are Ethnicities
distributed?
• Ethnicities may be clustered
in specific areas within a
country, or the area it
inhabits may closely match
the boundaries of a country
• Two largest ethnicities
• Distribution in U.S.
• Regional Concentrations
• Clustering on two scales
• May live in particular
region(s) of the country
• May live in particular
neighborhoods within
cities
• Hispanics (Latinos) – 15% of
population
• African Americans – 13% of
population
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South: African Americans
Southwest: Hispanics
West: Asians
Mid-West: Native
Americans
Concentration of
Ethnicities in cities
• African-Americans and
Hispanics cluster in urban
areas
• African-Americans:
• ½ live in cities
• Only ¼ of American
population lives in cities
• Example: Detroit
• African Americans
comprise 85% of
population in Detroit
• Only make up 7% of
population of Michigan
• Chicago
• 1/3 African American
• 1/12 rest of Illinois
Concentration of
Ethnicities in Cities
• Hispanic distribution similar to
African-Americans
• New York City
• ¼ Hispanic
• 1/16 rest of New York
• States with largest populations
• California
• ½ of Los Angeles population
• ½ or less in other major Cali
cities
• Texas
• El Paso and San Antonio are
more than ½ Hispanic
• Other cities are at or below 1/3
African American
Migration Patterns
• Three major migration flows:
• Africa to America in 1700’s
• Forced migration of slaves
• US South to Northern cities
during early 1900s
• Ghettos formed
• Inner city to other urban
neighborhoods during late
1900’s to 2000’s
• Forced Migration (1st wave)
• 1st Africans brought to
American colonies as slaves
arrived at Jamestown,
Virginia in 1619
• 1700’s 400,000 Africans
shipped to 13 colonies
• 1808 US banned bringing in
additional slaves, but
250,000 were illegally
imported
• Height of slave trade (17101810) at least 10 million
Africans were forced to
Western Hemisphere for sale
in slave markets
African American
Migration Patterns
• Nearly all Africans shipped to
colonies ended up in Southeast
• Attitudes towards slavery
dominated politics in 1800’s
• Civil War (1861-1865)
• US adopted 13th amendment to
constitution prohibiting slavery
• Freed slaves remained in the
south for the most part as
sharecroppers
• System burdened poor African
Americans with high interest
rates and heavy debts
• Immigration to Northern cities
(2nd wave)
• Industrial boom pulled AA’s to
the north
• Migrated out of clearly
defined channels
• Two main waves
• 1910’s and 1920’s migration
• 1940’s and 1950’s
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Encouraged by jobs needed
from WWI and WWII
African American
Immigration Patterns
• AA clustered into one or two
neighborhoods
• Named ghetto’s after the
term from WWII
• Baltimore 1950s
• Baltimore’s ¼ of African
Americans lived in a 1 square
mile neighborhood
• Ghettos
• Densities typical of 40,000
inhabitants per square mile
• Compared to 2,000 p2m in
suburbs
• Often result of multiple
families living together
• Often lacked bathrooms,
kitchens, hot water, and
heat
• 3rd wave: Ghettos to
neighborhoods
• Moved into adjacent
neighborhoods in 1950’s and
1960’s
Differentiating Ethnicity
and Race
• Difficulty to differentiate between
ethnicity and race
• Asian
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• Three prominent ethnicities in US
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Hispanic Americans
African Americans
Asian Americans
• All three display distinct cultural
features that originated at particular
hearths
recognized as a distinct race by U.S. Bureau
of Census
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Asian race and ethnicity usually same group
Asian ethnicity “lumps” together people
with ties to many countries in Asia
• African-American
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Supposedly two different groups
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African American
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Black
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trace heritage to an African Immigrant
Ethnicity and group with extensive
cultural tradition
heritage from other regions like Latin
American, Asia
A principle that denotes darker skin (bio)
Most see themselves as both
• Latino
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Not considered a race
Can choose any race on the census
Race in the United States
• Traits that characterize race
are those that can be
genetically transmitted
from parents to children
• Example:
• Lactose intolerance in large
percentage of AsianAmericans
• Biological classification by
race is the basis for racism
• Idea that some races are
superior to others
• 2000 census
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White
Black, African American
American Indian or Alaska Native
Asian Indian
Chinese
Filipino
Japanese
Korean
Vietnamese
Other Asian
Native Hawiian
Guamanian
Samoan
Other Pacific Islander
Other race
South Africa
• While U.S. was repealing
segregation laws in 1950s and
1960s, South Africa was enacting
them
• System created by Boers
(Afrikaners) of Dutch descent
• Cornerstone of South African policy
= Apartheid
• Physical separation of races into
different geographic areas
• Four classifications
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Black
White
Mixed
Asian
• Consequences
• Different legal status
• Limitations
• Laws appealed in 1991
• African National Congress legalized
• Nelson Mandela released from jail
• 1994 Mandela
• 1st elections
• Nelson Mandela elected 1st black
President
• Today
• Still a work in progress, especially
economically
South Africa