Classification Essay On Race And Ethnicity

Ethnicity and Race are very difficult to define. The two words are so closely related and often times used interchangeably.

Race is a classification system used to categorize humans into large and distinct populations or groups by anatomical, cultural, ethnic, genetic, geographical,

Race and Ethnicity – Race is a concept used to differ population groups on the basis of physical characteristics. Races used by the government for statistical purposes are Alaskan Native, American Indian, Asian or Pacific Islander, Black, White, and Unknown. Ethnicity is a concept used to differ population on the basis of cultural characteristics or geographical origins. Ethnic designations used by the government for statistical purposes are of a Hispanic origin o nor of Hispanic origin, and Unknown.

Upon entering the class I was anxious, curious, and also oblivious to the ideas I would be encountering. Like other students who had not previously spent time discussing topics of race and ethnicity, I myself had nervous tendencies in assuming that such a class may not strengthen my understanding of ethnic and race relations. I realized I knew little about race or ethnicity, and even the possible similarities or differences. However, I welcomed the opportunity to further discover the possibilities of the class. My understanding of race was concentrated in a definition that could be understood as different skin colors. My limited conception of ethnicity applied to people’s origin or where they lived. It seemed as though my lack of

The only racial group that the United States Census calculates and measured as in individual group is the Latino/Hispanic culture. According to the U.S. Census, a Latino/Hispanic individual can be of several nationalities. When we talk about cultural class, we must realize there are a lot of variables that may contribute to the racial group that can stump some individuals on what is deemed to be a Hispanic individual or something distinctive. Around the time period of the twentieth century the census gave the authorization to classify the Hispanic culture within the United States Census. The terminology of Latino/Hispanic has produced a lot of misunderstanding throughout society. In the Forties, our current President Theodore Roosevelt made a contract in which we had made agreements with Mexico. In spite of this, when three migrants were not permitted residency because they were not Caucasian, the president avoided the bylaw and calculated Hispanics and Mexicans as Caucasians, in so doing permitting access and residency to the United States. In the year 2000, Hispanic was thought to be several races. Some of the Hispanic cultures or Subcultures that fall into this category are the Cuban's, Puerto Rican's, central and South American's, Dominican,

“Think about race in its universality. Where is your measurement device? There is no way to measure race. We sometimes do it by skin color, other people may do it by hair texture - other people may have the dividing lines different in terms of skin color. What is black in the United States is not what 's black in Brazil or what 's black in South Africa.”-Dr.Goodman, Race: The Power of an Illusion

When I get asked about my race I always say Hispanic or Latina; I don’t even know what I am. In high school my Spanish teacher once told me that Hispanic and Latina is not the same thing. Hispanics are individuals who are related to Spain and Latinos are individuals who are related to Latin America. However, there is also Chicano/ Chicana, a person who is born in the U.S but their parents were born in Mexico.

While filling out a questionnaire like the Census it is solely up to the individual to decide the race they considered themselves to be in. Race can have many different meanings while trying to categorize a person. As we have learned in the past weeks, there are many aspects that can be considered while defining someone’s race. A few examples would be color, culture, family history and place of origin. Because of the flexibility in defining race, different ethnicities focus more on certain aspects. This causes a discontinuity while defining race. This leads to the question brought up by Julie Dowling in her writing.

There have been scientific findings that race is not biological. There are many things that make up a person and one-size fits all label does not always work. There is a huge difference between race and ethnicity. Every single person has a different makeup, as far as culture, ethnicity, and race. The world is changing so much, with immigration, culture, and social norms, we need to learn to change and adapt with them.

Race is not a biological reality because there are no indications of some biological DNA that would have a certain outcomes of a race. The variation in skin tone comes from the mix of certain races. For example, the mix of black and white would result a skin color of Latino. However, the mix of white and yellow (Asians) will most likely result a child having more essential characteristics of white people. It is impossible to classify humans into races because human is making a new race every single moment from the combination of two people who come from different races. Light skin and dark skin have a lot to deal with the temperature, latitude and langtitude of the region. It could be characterized by a regions, instead of ethnic groups. Race

In the United States it is not uncommon to hear the question, “What are you?” This seemingly simple question stems from the American belief that individuals can be divided into different biologically defined racial groups. However, anthropologists have long argued that U.S. racial groups are a product of American cultural constructions, meaning that racial groups are not genetically determined but only represent the way cultures (in this case Americans) classify people. For example, in the U.S individuals are classified into different races based on their heritage. However in Brazil, people are classified into a series of “tipos" based on their physical appearance. In the article “Mixed Blood”, Jeffrey Fish supports the claim that race is nothing more, but a social construct by demonstrating the cultural basis of race by comparing how races are defined in the United States and Brazil.

Modern use of race has continued to alter itself, much like its ancestral use has. According to the United States Department of Interior, the census used during the 1870’s separated the population in the states into five races: White, Colored (Black), Colored (Mulatto), Chinese, and Indian. Then in the 1950’s, the United States used a different categorizing system, the races were divided into only three races: White, Black, and Others. The American culture once again changed its approach in how it racially divided groups this was seen in the 1980’s census. The census if the 1980’s used a more ethnically individualized groupings, the races used were: White, Black, Hispanic, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, American Indian, Asian Indian, Hawaiian, Guamanian, Samoan, Eskimo, Aleut, and Other. Great Britain, much like the united stated, in 1981 recognized many different races; the races recognized by Great Britain included Lebanese, Indian, Vietnamese, and Sri Lankan. The country of Brazil uses many names for to define the degrees of difference between the white and black, some of these names include preto, cabra, escuro, and pardo. The continuous change of separation by races shows how the more the political landscape shifted in the United States and around the world the amount of races

In 1492 Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue. Everyone knows the story of Christopher Columbus; they are taught it in grade school if not before then. When he landed in America by accident, he had no idea that he would be creating the world's largest Melting Pot. This "melting pot" provided means for a new country, made from a mixture of many cultures and beliefs, thus creating a new country with a new and ever-changing culture. One complication with a Melting Pot is that you cannot put people of different race and ethnicity together without conflict.

Ethnicity, however, relates more to a person’s identity outside of their genetic material. This could be based off of what type of culture a person was raised in. A persons’ ethnicity can be reflective of their race, but it could also differ. Sometimes, as Henslin explains, ethnicities can be confused and seen as races. One example he gives is Judaism. Some people see being Jewish as a race. Although for some people their beliefs may be tied in with their race, no genetic material determines if you are Jewish or not. For many people it is passed down through generations, yet it is by educating and raising a child in that culture rather than them being genetically imbedded with Judaism. Being Jewish does not dictate a person’s skin

Race is a social construct that was created by the Europeans in order to minoritize different racial groups. In the reading by Bonilla-Silva, he defines race to be manmade, “This means that notions of racial difference are human creations rather than eternal, essential categories… racial categories have a history and are subject to change.” For example in a lecture by Dr. Aguilar-Hernandez, he stated that the Irish, Italians and Jews were called black before but are now considered white, Mexican-Americans were also considered white up until the 1980s. These ideas lead to the racialization of racial groups.