RACE, ETHNICITY AND CULTURE

 

Race and ethnicity are used to classify certain sections of the population. Basically, race describes physical characteristics and ethnicity is cultural identity. 

Nation is something we learn and you can recognize race as something you inherit. Race and ethnicity are two concepts related to the human race. Nation is defined as "a group of human beings with certain physical characteristics." The term ethnicity is more broadly defined as "large groups classified according to common ethnic, national, ethnic, religious, linguistic or cultural origin or background." 

“Race” is usually associated with biology and physical characteristics such as skin color or hair texture. “Ethnicity” is associated with cultural expression and identity. Both, however, are social structures used to classify and characterize different populations.

A race is a grouping of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into categories generally viewed as distinct by society. The term was first used to refer to speakers of a common language and then to denote national affiliations. 

By the 17th century the term began to refer to physical (phenotypical) traits. Modern science regards race as a social construct, an identity which is assigned based on rules made by society. While partially based on physical similarities within groups, race does not have an inherent physical or biological meaning.

H U M A N   R A C E

Here we can usefully turn to biology, and especially to human genetics for specialist advice. As far as the unity of humankind is concerned, scientific observation confirms that homo sapiens is a single species. 

Nevertheless, human beings of all kinds, colors and appearances can successfully inter-breed with one another, and the offspring of all such unions are themselves fertile: these are precisely the criteria which biologist use to identify whether or not a given population constitutes a single species. 

Clearly there is a limited degree of genetic diversity within the overall condition of homogeneity which is characteristic of the species homo sapiens.

An ethnic group or ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups such as a common set of traditions, ancestry, language, history, society, culture, nation, religion or social treatment within their residing area. 

Ethnicity is sometimes used interchangeably with the term nation, particularly in cases of ethnic nationalism, and is separate from, but related to the concept of races. 

Ethnicity can be an inherited status or based on the society within which one lives. Ethnic groups often continue to speak related languages.

U N D E R S T A N D I N G   E T H N I C I T Y

Different approaches to understanding ethnicity have been used by different social scientists when trying to understand the nature of ethnicity as a factor in human life and society.

Examples of various approaches are primordialism, essentialism, perennialism, constructivism, modernism, and instrumentalism.

• Primordialism - "Primordialism", holds that ethnicity has existed at all times of human history and that modern ethnic groups have historical continuity into the far past.

• Perennialism - "Perennialism", an approach that is primarily concerned with nationhood but tends to see nations and ethnic communities as basically the same phenomenon holds that the nation, as a type of social and political organization, is of an immemorial or "perennial" character.

• Constructivism - "Constructivism" sees both primordialist and perennialist views as basically flawed, and rejects the notion of ethnicity as a basic human condition.

Ethnicity is an important means by which people may identify with a larger group. Many social scientists, such as anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric Wolf, do not consider ethnic identity to be universal. 

They regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups. The process that results in emergence of such identification is called ethnogenesis. 

E T H N I C I T Y   O F   C O N T I N E N T S

• Africa - Ethnic groups in Africa number in the hundreds, each generally having its own language (or dialect of a language) and culture. Many ethnic groups and nations of Africa qualify, although some groups are of a size larger than a tribal society. These mostly originate with the Sahelian kingdoms of the medieval period, such as that of the Akan, deriving from Bonoman (11th century) then the Hobyo Sultanate (17th century).

• Asia - As Asia adapts to many climatic zones, ethnic groups are proliferating throughout Asia. Ethnic groups have adapted to mountains, deserts, grasslands and forests. On the coasts of Asia, the ethnic groups have adopted various methods of harvest and transport. Some groups are primarily hunter-gatherers, some practice transhumance (nomadic lifestyle), others have been agrarian/rural for millennia and others becoming industrial/urban.

• Europe - Europe has a large number of ethnic groups. The total number of national minority populations in Europe is estimated at 105 million people or 14% of 770 million Europeans. An example of a largely nomadic ethnic group in Europe is the Roma, pejoratively known as Gypsies. They originated from India and speak the Romani language.

• North America - The indigenous people in North America are Native Americans. During European colonization, Europeans arrived in North America. The largest ethnic group in the United States is White Americans. Hispanic and Latino Americans (Mexican Americans in particular) and Asian Americans have immigrated to the United States recently.

Culture is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups. 

Humans acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization, which is shown by the diversity of cultures across societies.

A N T H R O P O L O G Y

Although anthropologists worldwide refer to Tylor's definition of culture, in the 20th century "culture" emerged as the central and unifying concept of American anthropology, where it most commonly refers to the universal human capacity to classify and encode human experiences symbolically, and to communicate symbolically encoded experiences socially.

Martin Lindstrom asserts that Kulturbrille, which allow us to make sense of the culture we inhabit, also "can blind us to things outsiders pick up immediately."

S O C I O L O G Y

The sociology of culture concerns culture as manifested in society. For sociologist Georg Simmel (1858–1918), culture referred to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history." 

Culture can be any of two types, non-material culture or material culture. Non-material culture refers to the non-physical ideas that individuals have about their culture, including values, belief systems, rules, norms, morals, language, organizations, and institutions, while material culture is the physical evidence of a culture in the objects and architecture they make or have made. 

P S Y C H O L O G Y

Culture may affect the way that people experience and express emotions. Starting in the 1990s, psychological research on culture influence began to grow and challenge the universality assumed in general psychology. 

Culture psychologists began to try to explore the relationship between emotions and culture, and answer whether the human mind is independent from culture. Some researchers try to look for differences between people's personalities across cultures.

From what has been discussed, it is clear that race, ethnicity and culture are very important aspects of social and personal identity and similarities with one's classmates with such dimensions are important in generating a sense of school membership and membership. 

Culture also brings significant social and economic benefits. Culture enhances our quality of life and enhances the overall well-being of individuals and communities, with enhanced learning and health, increased tolerance and opportunities to interact with others. All of the above show that race, ethnicity and culture are essential to everyone's life and they need to know about them.

I hope you were able to learn a lot of new information about race, ethnicity and culture based on the above. Add these things to your life.

- T h a n k   Y o u -

Ashan Sajitha

ashann188@gmail.com