Identity, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality

• What is ethnicity?– The sharing of common cultural tradition(s)

• What traditions? Language, religion, etc.• Physical characteristics?

– Euphemism for race

• Focus may vary between groups– Jewish: religion– Amish: folk culture and religion– Germans/Americans: language

Identity

• Identity – “how we make sense of ourselves” – Rose

• How do we establish identities?- we construct our identities through experiences, emotions connections, and rejections.

- An identity is a snapshot of who we are at a point in time- Identities are fluid, constantly changing, shifting,

becoming.- Identities vary across scales, and affect each other across

scales.- Identities are also constructed by identifying against

(defining the other and then defining ourselves as “not that.”)

Race –a categorization of humans based on skin color and other physical characteristics. Racial categories are social and political constructions because they are based on ideas that some biological differences are more important than others.

Ethnicity

• Race: a biological ancestry– But biologically we are all the same– What is race and what is ethnicity

• Asian• Black• Hispanic• White• Genetic transmission of traits

– Skin color, hair type, facial features, shape of head/eyes

Gender

Gender – “a culture’s assumptions about the differences between men and women: their ‘characters,’ the roles they play in society, what they represent.”

- Domosh and Seager

• Do we identify more with race or ethnicity?

• Ethnicity is important to a groups (cultures) survival

• Universities: Ethnic studies not race studies

What is important to geographers?

• Distribution

• Migration/diffusion

• Ethnicity vs nationalism

• Ethnic conflicts/Power struggles

• Ethnic cleansing

Distribution of ethnic groups• From different scales

– World, country, state, urban area• Different ethnic groups may be represented more in

urban vs rural areas • World

– Kurds– Palestinians

• Country– Canada (French)– Former Yugoslavia– Guest workers– Palestinians and Israelis

• State– Florida

• City– Ethnic mosaic in many large urban areas

Estimated Percentage of U.S. Population by Race and Ethnicity until 2050 In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau calculated race and Hispanic origin separately. Estimates are that by 2050, the “White, non-Hispanic population will no longer be the majority.

Highest Rate of

Residential Segregation for African Americans:

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Migration/Diffusion

• African American experience– Slave trade– Support agriculture in the South– Movements to northern urban areas after labor

demands reduced– Look to cities for employment

• Detroit, Chicago

• Diffusion as function of segregation• Chain migration

– Pull of families and extended families

Ethnicity/Nationalism

• Ethnicity: an attachment to cultural traditions• Nationalism: an attachment to a particular

country (political entity) • Which is stronger?• Why an attachment to a country?

– Self-determination– Rise of nation-states

• Counties aligned closely with an ethnicity– Japan, Denmark, Israel

• Nation-States

Multiethnic Examples

• Belgium– Dutch Flemish– French Walloons

• Russia– European– Asian

• Former Yugoslavia– Serbs, Croats, Albanian, Hungarian, Bosnian

Examples-Continued

• Czechoslovakia– Velvet revolution

• Czech Republic and Slovakia– Czech and Slovak

• United Kingdom– Scots, Welch, N. Ireland

• Kurds in Turkey about 20%• Ukraine- Orange revolution

– Ukrainians and Russians

Examples - Continued

• Canada– British and French

• United States– ?

• African states – much the same

• You get the idea: Very multiethnic world which leads to nationalistic pressures

Ethnic Conflicts• Ethiopia/Eritrea• India/Pakistan (Kashmir)• Sudan• West Africa

– Senegal– Sierra Leone

• Rwanda and Burundi• Lebanon• Pakistan

– Kashmir• Turkey – Kurds• Sri Lanka

– Sinhalese and Tamils• Indonesia

– From west (Aceh) to east (East Timor)• Palestinian and Israeli conflict

Why?

• One group feels oppressed– Political power– Minority with few rights

• Ethnicity and religion

• Control of resources

• Territorial disputes

• Loss of a controlling figure (Tito)

Ethnic conflicts turn to

• Ethnocentrism: one ethnic group feels better (superior) to another

• Ethnic cleansing– Nazi Germany– Former Yugoslavia

• Balkanization: breakdown of state due to ethnic conflicts

• Kosovo (Albanians inside Yugoslavia)– Irredentism:

• Africa– Borders do not match ethnic– Transition region between Sub-Saharan

African and the area south of the Sahara– Legacy of European colonization

Nationalism

• Tie between state and nation strengthens

• Loyalty and devotion to a state– Flag– Sports

• Olympics

– Anthems– Heroes– Historical events

Sense of Place

• We infuse places with meaning and feeling, with memories and emotions.

• Our sense of place becomes part of our identity and our identity affects the ways we define and experience place.

Sexuality and Space

Where people with a shared identity cluster, how do they create a space for themselves?

Power relationships affect identity and mark the cultural landscape

Power Relationships

• Power Relationships –

assumptions and structures about who is in control, who has power over others.

How are power relationships reflected in cultural landscapes (the visible human imprint on the landscape)?

Through power relationships,

People create places where they limit the access of other peoples.

Belfast, Northern Ireland

How do power relationships factor into how people are counted?

The U.S. Census undercounts:- minority populations

- the homeless

The Gross National Income (GNI)

does not count:- unpaid work of women in the household

- work done by rural women in poorer countries

Women in Subsaharan Africa

- populate much of the rural areas, as men migrate to cities for work.- produce 70% of the region’s food. - only a small percentage of women have legal title to their land.

-Dowry Deaths in India- murders of brides (often by burning) when a dispute arises over a dowry. Difficult to “legislate away” the power relationships that lead to dowry deaths female infanticide is also tied to the disempowerment of women

Terms

• Identity

• Race

• Gender

• Ethnic Cleansing

• Ethnicity

• Multi-ethnic state

• Nationalism