-A few common racial classifications
are White, African Americans, Latino, Pacific Islander, and Asian. According to
stereotypes, Whites are classified as Whites by their pale skin, blonde hair
and blue eyes; African Americans are classified as African American by their
dark complexion; Hispanics are defined by their tanned skin, and their
curly/wavy dark brown hair; Asians are classified as Asians by their yellow
skin, small eyes, and straight black hair.
-A group of people will be classified
as a race when they share the same general line of ancestry. They also share
the same physical features such as hair color, eye color, and skin complexion. You
can also be born into multiple races, as a result of having two parents of
different races.
-I don’t think racial
categorizations are universal. From experience, I think they change from area to area. For example, when I lived in
Vallejo, California, when you think of an Asian, you would automatically think
of a Filipino. After all, Filipinos are the primary Asians in Vallejo; however,
when I came to San Francisco, because there are a lot of
Chinese, all Asians are thought to be Chinese. Even though the two cities aren’t
too far from each other, the views are different.
-I would define ethnicity as a population of people
who identify with each other because they share a common ancestry as well as
other things such as having shared cultural traits and a shared group history. I also think that they
generally live in the same area. I think some ethnic groups even share common
religious beliefs and language, though that may not always be the case. For example,
although many Americans, share the same historic background of having a their ancestors
immigrate into America, they don’t all believe in the same religion.
-I often confused the two terms when I was younger,
and often still do now; however I think the Race focuses on grouping people
based on their physical attributes whereas ethnicity focuses more on a social
grouping of people based on their shared nationality and beliefs.
-Whenever I fill out a job application or a survey I
would usually fill in the bubble next to “Two or More Races” because that’s
what I identify with. I was born half-Filipino and half-Samoan. That’s all
there is to it. As for my ethnicity, I would say I’m quite American. Although
there are a few traditional cultural things I practice that belong to my Filipino
and Samoan culture, most of the things I do are the common practice of other
Americans.
- There were times where a few have guessed my race
wrong. According to the persons who guessed, it was because I didn’t look a
certain way like my race is “supposed” to. However, there were times when
people were able to guess correctly. According to those guessers, they said
that I looked like the race I am. (This is confusing to me as well, I guess that
different people characterizes races differently.)
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Hi Isabella,
ReplyDeleteYour blog was truly a joy to read- your writing has a genuine reflective quality that makes the reader very engaged.
Your observations about race and ethnicity seem to be really in line with the definitions that the text and the movie put forward. I also really appreciate your reflection on the differences between what "Asian" means to people in cities as close as San Francisco and Vallejo (Which is interesting, by the way- I never knew that!). This example does a good job of showing that race is contextual- people make the categorizations that they do depending on what is around them. Additionally, I think your confusion about why people guess correctly or incorrectly actually shows very clearly the general confusion about race in this country- for the reasons discussed both in the reading and the movie, people tend to think that race is very concrete and stable, so it can be frustrating or confusing when they see people who don't fit into their pre-described boxes about what race is (There is a whole body of literature on mix-raced folks that addresses this). What are some of the connections between the definitions of race and racism? Who gets to do the naming of what the races are and does this matter?
--eas