5:37pm July 30, 2013

➸ Urocyon's Jaunts: alcantumble: clatterbane: alcantumble: babyshibe: thesixpennybook:...

andreashettle:

alcantumble:

clatterbane:

alcantumble:

babyshibe:

thesixpennybook:

like if you’re American and the concept of FEMEN not being White Girls™ is difficult, try remembering that Western Europe:Eastern Europe::North America:South and Central America.

obviously it’s…

Not so much from first hand experience, but based on things I have read or otherwise learned, there does seem to be a lot of variation across countries and cultures (as has been noted here in the discussion thread above) in how different “races" (and ethnicities) are defined.

In Brazil, the bit I’ve read suggests that many people define race based on socio-economic class rather than skin color: thus a person who has very dark skin may be defined as “white" if they are well educated, have a prestigious job, and are economically well off.

In some Latin American countries, the people who are defined as belonging to indigenous peoples may be defined by being descended from indigenous peoples (regardless of your primary/native language, cultural identification, etc.), but in some countries it is primarily defined by language: if your primary language is an indigenous language and you don’t speak much Spanish then you’re defined as belonging to an indigenous people, but if you are fluent in Spanish then you’re not an indigenous person even if most of your ancestry (including your parents) were. In some Latin American countries, there is a separate category for people of mixed Spainard/Indingenous heritage (usually “mestizo" or the like), but in some countries the only dividing line is between Spanish hertiage vs. indigenous heritage with no separate category for “mestizos". And all this without even getting into people whose ancestry is neither indigenous nor Spanish (or, who might have some ancestry belonging to either or both of these but also some ancestry from elsewhere). For example, in the 19th century a lot of people from China migrated to places all around the world—including to various parts of Latin America. And people kidnapped from western Africa to serve as slaves were brought to various places in Latin America (though many Americans seem surprised to learn this, they often think only the US had slaves which of course is not the case). And so forth.

All of which goes to show that race is ultimately a social construct, or there wouldn’t be so many different ways to define it in different countries. Of course the fact that race is a social construct rather than some kind of biologically defined reality doesn’t erase the impact that race can have on one’s experiences with racism, cultural identification, etc. Race is still “real" in the sense that one’s experience of life is shaped by how their race is perceived and defined in the society where they reside.

Excellent points.

I am also reminded of Jack Forbes’ analysis, in The Mestizo Concept: A Product of European Imperialism. Including the observation that:
In the United States many Chicanos of unmixed physical appearance are classified as whites with Spanish surnames. In Mexico a man of complete Indian appearance who wears a suit, has a college education, and speaks Spanish has to be mestizo, since he could never be an indio…

Interestingly, the English, Scots, and Russians (like the Spanish) are never categorized as mestizos. Seldom does one ever ask a Scotsman if he is part Norman-French, nor indeed, does anyone ever ask a Scotsman if he has even a drop of Celtic (Pictish-Scottish) blood. Such questions are seemingly only asked of knocked-down, conquered, colonized, and powerless peoples.

The same kind of analysis can be made of almost all major ethnic groups- Chinese, Japanese, East Indians, Arabs, Turks, and so on. Almost all such peoples possess a mixed racial heritage and a mixed culture. But they are not mestizos (even when their ancient “race" and culture have been almost totally erased or altered). Furthermore modern Mexican and Chicano people possess far greater connection with their ancient Mexican past than many European groups do with their respective past.

Similar has kept impressing me, just with the most cursory look at history. But, yeah, he offers some interesting observations about how some of this stuff has been constructed in the Americas, in particular. Which is also a lot more complicated than the Great American Race Binary-based discussions want to admit, of course. :/