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My List
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The
Census
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Major
Races
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White,
African American, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Hawaiian, Native American,
Indian, Samoan, Filipino, Mexican
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White,
Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino,
Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Other Asian, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or
Chamorro, Samoan, Other Pacific Islander, Some other race
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Major
Ethnicities
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Hispanic,
Asian, Pacific Islander, African American, Indian
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Hispanic,
Spanish, or Latino Origin or Not of Hispanic, Spanish or Latino origin.
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- The census seems to have included more into their list of
races probably because they were able to do a survey of what people identified
as a race across the United States. Also, when I compare the list of races and
ethnicities, some of the ethnicities I listed were classified as a race in
their list. This is probably due to the fact that the definition of race and ethnicity
is still a tricky thing to understand. What I think is a race, can be an
ethnicity or vice versa.
- If I were person 1 I wouldn’t know what to mark for number
8. At first, I was pretty sure that I would have marked no; however, I took a
second and thought about it. The Philippines was colonized by Spain and
therefore most Filipinos were given Spanish last names, as well as having lots
of Filipinos mix with Spaniards. With that said, it’s quite possible that I
have Spanish ancestry. Because I’m unsure, I would mark no since I don’t strongly
identify myself as a person with a Spanish origin.
- For question number 9, however, was a bit easier for
me. Because my father was full Samoan
and my mother was full Filipino, I identify myself as someone who is half of
each, meaning I checked
the boxes next to those two races.
- I
think the census does have a part in influencing the racial and ethnic categories that we use on an everyday
basis because it offers the main basis society will judge off of. To clarify,
filling out the census is what everyone must fill out. When reading the census,
each individual is forced to identify themselves as one of the categories
given. Although there is some leniency, where someone could fill in their
claimed race into the boxes given, most people would try to fit themselves into
one of those categories. After filling out a census, one could start
identifying themselves as one of those categories outside of the census because
they might believe that the census reflects what the rest of society thinks a
race is and that they have to fit into one of those categories.
- I
believe that over time the census has changed. As the demographics of the
population changed, the categories of the census must have changed too in order
to keep up with the times. For example, they probably didn’t add Chinese and
other races until a sufficient amount has immigrated into the US. Also, I think
the terms used for certain races have changed as well. For example, Blacks are
sometimes referred to as African American or before used to even have to
identify as Negro.
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Hi Isabella,
ReplyDeleteI so greatly appreciate your reflection about whether or not Filipinos would check having a Hispanic ethnicity- that did not occur to me! Although, this would really challenge some of the assumptions that the Census makes about Filipinos (as labeled as an Asian sub-group). It would be wonderful if you brought this up in our discussion this week! A similar conversation has occurred about the inclusion of Pacific Islanders in the Asian category. Many Pacific Islanders feel they have more in common with American Indians than with Asians. Again, thanks for a great blog!
--eas