...The Solution to Ethnic and Racial Civil Conflict Jacqueline Zhang GOVT 150W Introduction to International Politics Introduction Within a period of three months in 1994, an estimated five to eight hundred thousand people were killed as a result of civil war and genocide in Rwanda. Large numbers were physically and psychologically afflicted for life through maiming, rape and other trauma; over two million fled to neighboring countries and maybe half as many became internally displaced within Rwanda. This human suffering was and is incomprehensible. Similar ethnic and racial civil conflicts have deeply scarred countries and are threatening to break out in many places around the globe. Too much blood has been shed for ethnic and racial causes and too many have died in ethnic and racial wars. In accordance to the constructivist model of nationalism, identity (re)construction solves ethnic and racial civil conflict. Definition For the purpose of demonstrating how identity (re)construction solves ethnic and racial civil conflicts, “solve” can be defined as 1) to explain and 2) to put an end to, settle. In addition, “explain” means to make clear the cause, origin or reason of. Furthermore, an ethnicity is a population of human beings whose members identify with each other, on the basis of a real or a presumed common genealogy or ancestry. The term race refers to the concept of dividing people into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of physical characteristics...
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...the negotiation of the experience of other ethnic groups interacting with mainstream American culture. Exploring the aesthetics of border narratives in the way Anzaldùa constructs it together with the mechanisms of stereotyping and the politics of ethnic identity representations she opts for urges a new conception of the literary creation situated in-between multiple ideological and symbolic borders. The hybrid construct around which the rhetoric of boder is built becomes dialogic: it witnesses the presence of mainstream culture and marginal- ethnic culture .The latter is endowed by the power...
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...dynamically constructed group identities while integrating. Before uncovering group identities, though, we must define so-called social construction. According to Nancy Foner, social construction refers to “how physical characteristics and/or putative ancestry are interpreted within particular social contexts and are used to define categories of people as inferior and superior” (12). In the U.S., a group of intolerant native-born Americans known as nativists have ranked immigrant groups as inferior and superior based on national origin, physiognomy, economics, religion, and language. From multiple scholarly perspectives,...
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...Exploring the Ethnic Diversity in Shakira’s Song ( Objection) Literary studies in English Dr. Shanthini Pillai Feras Ismail Ali P61421 Review: Over the ages, humans migrated from place to place. Between 1700s to 1800s have been substantial migrations among the world. One of these migrations was the Latin Americans to United State of America. By the time the number of Latin Americans increased to reach 30 million with different ancestral, cultural background and traditions, those immigrants establish their own heritage, customs, traditions and values to build their own identity. This raises the concept of panethnicity. Panethnicity is a collection of different small identities which form a community. The different ethnicities in panethnic community have similarities in their customs, values, language and music. ( Andrea Bedoya, 2007, P1). Shakira and her family was one of the families who migrate to USA, when she became a famous singer all over the world, she tries to maintain her origins and culture through her lyrics and symbols in her songs. These movements of different origins and parts created diasporas who have to maintain their roots with their origin land, looking for their ancestral land and culture although they have to cope with the new land and culture, Shakira in her song presented these feelings clearly through the music, lyrics, setting, clothes, instruments and dancing. She tries to save her culture through singing. Karim (1998, P2) argued that “diasporas...
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...depicts pride and honor, an American. Being an American in a country as diverse as ours means more than just living on American soil, it has endless benefits that allows one to feel free. Unfortunately, the rapid flow of immigrants into America has led to many issues. One of the main ones is the concept of assimilation, which has been disputed for years due to the capacity of the incoming immigrants. Jay Nordlinger, in his essay “Bassackwards: Construction Spanish and Other Signs of the Times” notes that not “everyone who comes to America is dying to melt into the pot”. Yet he stresses, as does Linda Chavez in her essay “Supporting Family Values”, the need for immigrants to assimilate to American culture. These two concepts have been floating around America since the first illegal immigrants started to show up and they’ve been controversial ever since. Everyone is looking for a happy medium for the issue but can’t seem to find it. Recent immigrants are being expected to trade their ethnic and national identities for new American identities, and the concept of ‘Americanization’ commences. Is the idea of American culture as a “melting pot” still valid, or are immigrants becoming ‘Americanized’? Being an American means to live on American soil. But more than that, to be American is to...
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...5 This chapter explores how racial and ethnic identity develops and how a sensitivity to this process can improve adult education. Racial and Ethnic Identity and Development Alicia Fedelina Chávez, Florence Guido-DiBrito Racial and ethnic identity are critical parts of the overall framework of individual and collective identity. For some especially visible and legally defined minority populations in the United States, racial and ethnic identity are manifested in very conscious ways. This manifestation is triggered most often by two conflicting social and cultural influences. First, deep conscious immersion into cultural traditions and values through religious, familial, neighborhood, and educational communities instills a positive sense of ethnic identity and confidence. Second, and in contrast, individuals often must filter ethnic identity through negative treatment and media messages received from others because of their race and ethnicity. These messages make it clear that people with minority status have a different ethnic make-up and one that is less than desirable within mainstream society. Others, especially white Americans, manifest ethnic and racial identity in mostly unconscious ways through their behaviors, values, beliefs, and assumptions. For them, ethnicity is usually invisible and unconscious because societal norms have been constructed around their racial, ethnic, and cultural frameworks, values, and priorities and then referred to as “standard...
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...Social Construction of Whiteness The concept of whiteness, or white privilege, for centuries has been ignored as a potential area of study because it has been widely accepted as the societal norm. Many whites have benefited socially, economically and politically without understanding that most of the privileges they have historically received are solely due to their race and/or gender. The purpose of this review is to analyze the social construction of whiteness from a theoretical perspective, whites understanding themselves and their social status, in addition to the evolution of whiteness. Many studies have been undertaken on the social construction of whiteness. These studies shed a lot of light on the different perceptions on whiteness, gaps in research, areas of highest research interest, strengths and weaknesses of the various methodologies, and direction for future studies. In the study done by Hartmann, Gerteis, and Croll, the focus was on the theoretical aspects of whiteness studies. The findings led the researchers to estimate that in the United States, 15% of the population exhibit what may be called ‘categorical whiteness’ (404). The study by Hartmann, et.al, was carried out using data obtained during a recent national survey, which helped provide an empirical assessment of the theoretical underpinnings of whiteness studies (Hartmann, et.al 404). Three propositions regarding the awareness and conception of whites about their own racial status were analyzed. The...
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...Race and Ethnicity has been equivalently used by people as referring to both meanings being the same. Race is a biological myth, because society believes that it’s real. Ethnicity is a self-identity with a shared culture. Society is structured around one’s social perception of race and ethnicity, which enables society to categorize according to importance. I’ll discuss how one’s position in the racial hierarchy encourages and permits prejudice and discrimination. Today’s society is structured in a way by the dominant group that prejudice and discrimination comes across more subtlety and even at times unintentionally. This wasn’t always depicted that way in the past. For instance, in the 1930’s and 40’s the Nazi Party, the dominant group, was very open about their prejudice and discrimination toward the subordinate groups which included Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and Jehovah Witnesses. Not only did they express their feelings of hate, but also acted upon them by taking away their civil rights and perused them with violence. The terms race and ethnicity are often used synonymously to each other. The definition of race has altered by society and time. These terms need to be independently defined in order to fully understand when and how to use the terms race and ethnicity correctly. Race is socially defined as a category based on people’s distinctive physical characteristics that are inherited, such as color of skin, shape of eyes, facial structures. Many groups have...
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...constructedness of their identities. He decries the homeland model, on the grounds that it perpetuates a politics of exclusivism and expulsion. Barua worries for Manipur should the Nagas integrate into a unified Nagaland, Nagalim. India should not change boundaries. There is tension between constructivist understanding of identities among most contemporary theorists and the practice of nationalists or ethnic activists who engage in the construction of such identities (Suny 2001, cited in Barua 2003: 323). The Naga project is a disastrous road to ethnic violence unless Nagas confront their constructedness (2003: 324). He engages with Nagas who are pro-India as well as “independentist” Nagas and admit they both share the goal Naga unification. It is obviously Barua’s intention to provide a fillip to the faltering India-Nagaland peace process coming through the August 1997 ceasefire. He wrote this in 2003, soon after India recognised the “uniqueness of the Naga history and situation”. Barua recognises that the politics of recognition is an underlying theme. The notion of bounded collectivities living in national homelands relies on a very different spatial discourse from the one of “overlapping frontiers and hierarchical politics” that preceded it. Saving the India-Naga peace process will require confronting the constructionism of modern identities by the political actors themselves. He reiterates he does not de-emphasise the power of these identities. He proposes that confronting...
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...Afro-Peruvians in national television Introduction Despite the ethnic and cultural diversity that exists in Peru, the establishment of racial ideologies have influenced the ways in which these minorities are located in society and the levels of discrimination and systematic exclusion that they have suffered through time. This discrimination has affected them at a social level, but also at an institutional level, since they have been systematically marginalized and denied of their basic human rights. Although racial and ethnic discrimination might be manifested in multiple ways, the current research proposal will focus on the Afro-Peruvian population , one of the groups that are most vulnerable to experience racism and discrimination, and that has been invisible both to society and to the Peruvian government for decades. Because of it, the proposal will analyze the ways in which this...
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...THE ALEVI COMMUNITY IN TURKEY AFTER 1980: AN EVALUATION OF POLITICAL GROUP BOUNDARIES IN THE CONTEXT OF ETHNICITY THEORIES A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF THE MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY ALİ MURAT İRAT IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION APRIL 2006 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Sencer Ayata Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Feride Acar Head of Department This is to certify that we read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Akçalı Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Ayşe Ayata Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Akçalı Assist. Prof. Dr. Aykan Erdemir (METU-ADM) (METU-ADM) (METU-SOC) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Ali Murat İrat Signature : iii ABSTRACT THE ALEVI COMMUNITY IN TURKEY AFTER 1980: AN EVALUATION OF POLITICAL GROUP BOUNDARIES IN THE CONTEXT OF ETHNICITY THEORIES ...
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...provide us the most authentic and most informative perspective of the transformation of a lived experience to an object of knowledge as it provides us a more personal social commentary of the ideologies present at the time. The production of knowledge of these lived experiences comes from the construction of an alternate world view that is particular to the Filipino American community. The transformation stems from the idea of empowerment through the colonial oppression of Filipinos in the Philippines as well as the racial oppression and backlash that Filipinos faced in America when they immigrated here. This is the case in Carlos Bulosan’s “America is in the Heart” as the author provides us his own personal story in order to personalize the history of Filipino immigrants in America who came to America to fulfill “promises of a better life”, the ideological belief of the ‘American Dream.’ From Bulosan’s accounting of his story, one can uncover the experience of Filipino immigrants in America that have helped build America through their own unique experiences of community building through the racial discrimination they faced and defining what it meant to maintain strong nationalistic identities by incorporating Filipino beliefs and traditions into the Filipino American community. It is through the voices of immigrants...
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...Racialized gender identity is a sociological concept that refers to the critical analysis of the simultaneous effects of race and gender processes on individuals (Ali, 2012). The study conducted by Ali (2012) focuses on the influence of socialization practices on the individual. Social environments such as the family, communities, and institutions provide the frame in which experience is interpreted and communicated and the self (e.g., identity) is defined in relation to difference. According to Ali (2012), the family is the primary site for the socialization of gender identity. For this reason, scholars like Kubota (2003), Ali (2012), Asghar (2013) have focused on the extent to which ethnic families have performed traditional gender norms...
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...individuals who elaborate on whether or not each group expects to be treated as a separate entity, or be considered just Americans without the hyphen. Is the United States better off by classifying individuals by their ethnic background? What do we actually gain by these separate entities? Why is the government so concerned on everyone’s ethnic background? These are just a few of many questions that are being discussed and I will answer based on facts. While mixed racial and cultural groups continue to rise in the United States, it seems that the vast majority continues to pursue their separate ethnicity with-in the United States, but when approached abroad with-in another country, they seem to consider themselves as Americans vice African-American, Mexican American, Asian American, etc. (Perez and Hirshmann, “The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of the United States). Many Americans have multiple identities that reflect complex ancestral origins, tribal and communal associations, and varied ideological outlooks on race and culture. In general, people do not change their ethnicities as a matter of fashion, but they may emphasize different aspects depending on the circumstances. The United States is better off by classifying everyone by their ethnic background for one simple reason; to accurately report the origins of their parents, grandparents, and more distant ancestors. In many cases, knowledge of ancestral origins is passed along in families or communities,...
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...1 CHAPTER OUTLINE Ranking Groups Types of Groups Listen to Our Voices Problem of the Color Line Does Race Matter? Biracial and Multiracial Identity: Who Am I? Research Focus Multiracial Identity Sociology and the Study of Race and Ethnicity The Creation of Subordinate-Group Status The Consequences of Subordinate-Group Status Resistance and Change WHAT WILL YOU LEARN? How Does Society Rank Different Groups? What Are the Four Types of Groups? Does Race Still Matter? How is Biracial and Multiracial Identity Defined? How Is Sociology Applied to the Study of Race and Ethnicity? What Leads to the Creation of Subordinate-Group Status? What Are the Consequences of Subordinate-Group Status? How Does Change Occur in Race Relations? ISBN 1-256-48952-2 2 Racial and Ethnic Groups, Thirteenth edition, by Richard T. Schaefer. Published by Merrill Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. Exploring Race and Ethnicity Minority groups are subordinated in terms of power and privilege to the majority, or dominant group. A minority is defined not by being outnumbered but by five characteristics: unequal treatment, distinguishing physical or cultural traits, involuntary membership, awareness of subordination, and ingroup marriage. Subordinate groups are classified in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, and gender. The social importance of race is derived from a process of racial formation; any biological significance is relatively unimportant to society...
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