Racial fluidity

Last updated

Racial fluidity is the idea that race is not permanent and fixed, but rather imprecise and variable. [1] The interpretation of someone's race, including their self-identification and identification by others, can change over the course of a lifetime, including in response to social situations. The racial identity of groups can change over time as well. [2]

Contents

Applications and examples

Latin America

The conception of racial identity has been historically fluid in Latin America, especially during the colonial period. Racial classification still varies among countries, and is mostly based on the appearance of skin color without regard to one's ancestry. In the Dominican Republic, about half of those with the darkest skin color self-identify as Black, compared to 90% in Panama. There is a high usage of self-identification terms like pardo , mulato , indio , moreno , and mestizo for those with dark skin color. Mulato is considered a particularly fluid designation, used by people of all skin colors. [3]

Social status impacts how people self-identify, with more wealthy people in Brazil self-identifying as White, regardless of actual skin color. The wealthier an individual is, the more likely they are to self-identify as White. In Colombia, Panama, and the Dominican Republic, researchers did not discover a link between wealth and racial identity. Education plays a role in self-identification, with the highly educated in the Dominican Republic more likely to identify as Black. The role of age is variable; older respondents in Brazil were more likely to self-identify as White, compared to older respondents in Dominican Republic who were more likely to self-identify as Black. Even the skin color of the interviewer was noted to have an effect on identification. Brazilians and Colombians were more likely to self-identify as "darker" racial categories when talking to a darker interviewer, whereas Panamanians and Dominicans were more likely to "whiten" their responses while being surveyed by a darker interviewer. [3]

A person's gender also influences their self-identification. Researchers speculated that racial boundaries were more porous for men than for women. Brazilian men were about 25% more likely than Brazilian women to self-identify as White. [3]

United States

Racial fluidity can apply to both groups of people and individuals, including how individuals self-identify and how they are perceived by others. [1] The availability and use of racial fluidity is generally limited to three circumstances in the US: a small number of Americans with mixed ancestries, including those who identify as Native American, Hispanic, or biracial; changes in social hierarchies that resulted in the "whitening" of previously nonwhite groups; people from highly racially heterogeneous countries, such as Brazil. [2]

Individuals

On the individual level, racial fluidity is particularly applicable to those with mixed racial heritage, particularly, in the US, of White and another race. A person could present as white in socially advantageous circumstances, such interacting with law enforcement or applying for an apartment. Conversely, they could use their non-white identity in the limited situations where it is more valuable, such as applying to college scholarships. [4] Racial self-identification tends to be very stable in the US, with the most stability seen in White and Black people, and variation in identification seen in Hispanic and multiracial people. [1] On an individual level, people most frequently self-identify the same race or ethnicity on the US census, with 6% of participants changing their responses from 2000 to 2010. Native Americans had the highest level of fluidity; of the 3.3 million who listed Native American ethnicity in the 2000 and 2010 censuses, only one third listed the same ethnicity for both. [1] Self-identification of race may be situational, with immigrants from the Dominican Republic much more likely to self-identify as black while in the US than while in the Dominican Republic. [1] Research on the effect of genealogical DNA tests on racial self-identification has found, rather than embracing the full report, test recipients select a few aspects of their background to embrace based on favored identities or socially accepted ones. [1]

Racial identity as perceived by others is also subject to change over time. The perception of whiteness by others is increased when someone gets married or increases their social standing. Perception of blackness by others is increased when someone loses employment or otherwise loses social standing. [2] The political beliefs of the observer also influence their perceptions. When viewing a racially ambiguous face, White conservatives are more likely than White liberals to apply the one-drop rule and categorize the face as "Black". [1]

Groups

Historically, in the US, Jewish, Italian, and Irish people were once considered non-white, though as "whiteness" is not rigidly defined, these groups "became" White over time by seeking to distance themselves from Black Americans. [1] Once considered White, Italian and Irish immigrants were less likely to experience harassment and discrimination. [5]

Related Research Articles

Black people is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and a skin color–based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all black people have dark skin; in certain countries, often in socially based systems of racial classification in the Western world, the term "black" is used to describe persons who are perceived as dark-skinned compared to other populations. It is mostly used for people of Sub-Saharan African descent and the indigenous peoples of Oceania. Indigenous African societies do not use the term black as a racial identity outside of influences brought by Western cultures. The term "black" may or may not be capitalized. The AP Stylebook changed its guide to capitalize the "b" in black in 2020. The ASA Style Guide says that the "b" should not be capitalized.

Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their skin color, or racial or ethnic origin. Individuals can discriminate by refusing to do business with, socialize with, or share resources with people of a certain group. Governments can discriminate in a de facto fashion or explicitly in law, for example through policies of racial segregation, disparate enforcement of laws, or disproportionate allocation of resources. Some jurisdictions have anti-discrimination laws which prohibit the government or individuals from discriminating based on race in various circumstances. Some institutions and laws use affirmative action to attempt to overcome or compensate for the effects of racial discrimination. In some cases, this is simply enhanced recruitment of members of underrepresented groups; in other cases, there are firm racial quotas. Opponents of strong remedies like quotas characterize them as reverse discrimination, where members of a dominant or majority group are discriminated against.

Mulatto is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed black African and white European ancestry. A mulatta is a female mulatto.

Multiracial people are people of many races. Many terms exist for people of various multiracial backgrounds, including multiracial, biracial, multiethnic, polyethnic, Métis, Creole, Muwallad, mulatto, Colored, Dougla, half-caste, mestizo, Melungeon, quadroon, Chindian, sambo/zambo, Eurasian, hapa, hāfu, Garifuna, pardo and Guran.

Discrimination based on skin color, also known as colorism or shadeism, is a form of prejudice or discrimination in which people who are usually members of the same race are treated differently based on the social implications which come with the cultural meanings which are attached to skin color.

In Brazil, Pardo, is an ethnic and skin color category used by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in the Brazilian censuses. The term "pardo" is a complex one, more commonly used to refer to Brazilians of mixed ethnic ancestries. Pardo Brazilians represent a diverse range of skin colors and ethnic backgrounds. They are typically a mixture of Europeans, Sub-Saharan Africans and/or Native Brazilian.

The one-drop rule is a social and legal principle of racial classification that was historically prominent in the United States in the 20th century. It asserted that any person with even one ancestor of black ancestry is considered black.

Multiracialism

Multiracialism is a conceptual framework used to theorize and interpret identity formation in global multiracial populations. Multiracialism explores the tendency for multiracial individuals to identify with a third category of 'mixed-ness' as opposed to being a fully accepted member of multiple, or any, racial group(s). As an analytical tool, multiracialism strives to emphasize that societies are increasingly composed of multiracial individuals, warranting a broader recognition of those who do not fit into a society's clear-cut notions of race. Additionally, multiracialism also focuses on what identity formation means in the context of oppressive histories and cultural erasure.

Social interpretations of race regard the common categorizations of people into different races, often with biologist tagging of particular "racial" attributes beyond mere anatomy, as more socially and culturally determined than based upon biology. Some interpretations are often deconstructionist and poststructuralist in that they critically analyze the historical construction and development of racial categories.

Brown or brown people is a racial and ethnic term. Like black people and white people, it is a term for race based solely on human skin color.

Internalized racism is a form of internalized oppression, defined by sociologist Karen D. Pyke as the "internalization of racial oppression by the racially subordinated." In her study The Psychology of Racism, Robin Nicole Johnson emphasizes that internalized racism involves both "conscious and unconscious acceptance of a racial hierarchy in which whites are consistently ranked above people of color." These definitions encompass a wide range of instances, including, but not limited to, belief in negative racial stereotypes, adaptations to white cultural standards, and thinking that supports the status quo.

<i>Mestiço</i> Ethnic group

Mestiço, in Colonial Brazil, was initially used to refer to mamelucos, persons born from a couple in which one was an Indigenous American and the other a European. It literally translates as "mameluke", probably referring to the common Iberian comparisons of swarthy people to North Africans.

Racial whitening, or "whitening" (branqueamento), is an ideology that was widely accepted in Brazil between 1889 and 1914, as the solution to the "Negro problem." However, racial whitening specific to Brazil also encompasses the perception of individuals as being white in relation to their position in the class system. Supporters of the Whitening ideology believed that the Negro race would advance culturally and genetically, or even disappear totally, within several generations of mixed breeding between white people and black people. This ideology gained its support from two scientific racism beliefs that were prominent during this time. One being social Darwinism, which applied Darwin's theory of natural selection to a society or race, and the other being Aryanism, the belief that the "white" "Aryan" race was superior to all other cultures. By combining these two ideas, the white elites of the time believed that because "white" blood was superior it would inevitably "whiten" the inferior races' blood.

In the United States, Black Hispanics or Afro-Hispanics, as officially classified by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget and other U.S. government agencies, are people who are racially black and are from Latin America and/or speak Spanish as their first language.

Brazilian society is made up of a confluence of people of several different origins, from the original Native Brazilians, with the influence of Portuguese colonists and people of African descent. Other significant groups include Italians, Spaniards, Germans and Japanese.

Race and ethnicity in Latin America

There is no single system of races or ethnicities that covers all modern Latin America, and usage of labels may vary substantially.

<i>Blanqueamiento</i> "whitening" of a race, such as marrying a white person so as to have lighter-skinned children

Blanqueamiento, branqueamento, or whitening, is a social, political, and economic practice used in many post-colonial countries in the Americas and Oceania to "improve the race" towards a supposed ideal of whiteness. The term blanqueamiento is rooted in Latin America and is used more or less synonymously with racial whitening. However, blanqueamiento can be considered in both the symbolic and biological sense. Symbolically, blanqueamiento represents an ideology that emerged from legacies of European colonialism, described by Anibal Quijano's theory of coloniality of power, which caters to white dominance in social hierarchies. Biologically, blanqueamiento is the process of whitening by marrying a lighter-skinned individual to produce lighter-skinned offspring.

Biracial and multiracial identity development is described as a process across the life span that is based on internal and external forces such as individual family structure, cultural knowledge, physical appearance, geographic location, peer culture, opportunities for exploration, socio-historical context, etc.

Colorism in the Caribbean describes discrimination based on skin tone, or colorism, in the Caribbean.

Racism in the Dominican Republic exists due to the after-effects of slavery and the African Diaspora. Today, many Dominicans have African ancestry, as most slaves were transported to South America and the Caribbean islands. Due to the influence of European colonization and European propagation of Africans or "dark-people" as lesser, being of African ancestry is often not desired or acknowledged in the Dominican Republic. Approximately 90% of Dominicans have some extent of African descent, however, few people self-identify as being black. According to Gates, only 4.13% of Dominicans identified themselves as black while the majority, 82% identified as "Indio". "Indio" is a term to mean in-between "whiteness" and "blackness", so not explicitly black despite the facts that many Dominicans possess physical features much more similar to Africans. In the Dominican Republic, "blackness" is often associated with being Haitian and those who possess more African-like phenotypic features are often victims of discrimination. The discrimination Haitians and Dominicans of darker skin tone endure led to the trend of Dominicans denying their African ancestry.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Davenport, Lauren (2020). "The Fluidity of Racial Classifications". Annual Review of Political Science. 23: 221–240. doi: 10.1146/annurev-polisci-060418-042801 .
  2. 1 2 3 Saperstein, Aliya; Penner, Andrew M. (2012). "Racial Fluidity and Inequality in the United States". American Journal of Sociology. 118 (3): 676–727. doi:10.1086/667722.
  3. 1 2 3 Edward, Edward; Paschel, Tianna (2014). "Who is Black, White, or Mixed Race? How Skin Color, Status, and Nation Shape Racial Classification in Latin America". American Journal of Sociology. 120 (3): 864–907. doi:10.1086/679252. PMID   25848671.
  4. ↑ Leong, Nancy (17 June 2015). "Racial Fluidity Complicates the Value We Assign to Race" . Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  5. ↑ Sanchez, Diana T.; Garcia, Julia A. (5 March 2012). "Putting race in context: socioeconomic status predicts racial fluidity". In Fiske, Susan T.; Markus, Hazel Rose (eds.). Facing Social Class: How Societal Rank Influences Interaction. pp. 216–225. ISBN   9781610447812.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.