Chapter 7ethnicity

Case Study

It happened in Rwanda's capital Kigali. It also involved the neighboring countries of Burundi and Bujumbura. There are 2 ethnicities… Hutu and Tutsi

 

Ethnicity- identity with a group who share the cultural traditions of a particular homeland or hearth

    African-Americans: southeast 12%

    Hispanics: southwest 14%

    Asian-Americans: west 4%

    American Indians: southwest and plains 1%

Clustering of ethnicities

    Geographers look at two scales…

• Particular regions of the country
  
• Particular neighborhoods of cities
  

Regional- Hispanics

    Most Hispanics identify themselves with specific countries

    Many Hispanics are clustered in the southwestern portion of the united states- Arizona, new

    Mexico and Texas make up more than 1/3 state populations

    There are large Hispanic communities in Florida and New York

Asian- Americans

    In USA…

• Chinese- 23%
  
• Filipino- 18%
  
• Asian Indians-19%
  
• Japanese- 7%
  
• Vietnamese- 10%
  
• Korean- 10%
  
• Other- 13%
  

The highest percentages of Asians live in Hawaii and California

Native Americans (American Indians/ Alaska natives)

    1% of US population

    In lower 48 states- Clustered in the southwest and plains

Neighborhoods of cities

    ¼ of all Americans live in cities

    More than ½ of African-Americans live in cities

• Detroit
  
• Chicago
  

Ethnicities in cities

    Hispanics are highly clustered in New York and Los Angeles

    Violence between asian-americans and African-americans

    1992 Rodney King – a black man caught in DUI and white police officers caught him and beat his     

    ass. The po-po were set ffffrrrreeee!!!

African American migration

    Ancestors were here because of forced migration - slave trade

    The 1^st wave of African Americans to America was the gold coast of West Africa to west indies

• to American colony (triangle trade-> 1619-1808)
  

    the 2^nd migration wave was from the south to the north in the first half of the 20^th century,

• slavery à freedom
  
• sharecropping became popular among plantation owners but many af. Ams moved to northern cities because they were unsatisfied
  
• when African Americans moved to northern cities, the word ghetto was redefined
  

the 3^rd wave was from inner city ghetto to urban neighborhoods during the second ½ of 20^th century

• there was an expansion of the ghetto
  
• during and after the civil rights movement, and jobs were more acailable, they moved from middle to upperclass neighborhoods
  

differentiating between race and ethnicity

    race- an identity with a group of people who share a biological ancestor

• classification by race can lead to racism- the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
  
• contemporary geographers focus more oon ethnicities than race
  
• one feature of race that is studied is skin color
  

ethnicity- identity of groups who share the same cultural traditions from a common hearth

South Africa

    For many years, the south African government was referred to apartheid (- a complete

    separation of all races), which means "serperatness"

• black, white, asian, and colored neighborhoods
  
  • most whites were descendents of dutch settlers, boers, and were referred to as afrikaaners. They speak Afrikaans.
    

Became a part of the british empire in 1902

The british and the boers had several wars, the boer wars,

1848, apartheid was created, a combonation of british and boer communities

The world passed economic sanctions agains the south Africans

Government during the 1970s and 1980s

• 1991 apartheid laws were repealed and this allowed the African national congress led by black leaders to become the dominant political party in the counry
  
• Nelson Mandela was released from prison after being there for 30 years
  
• 1994 Mandela became the first black president of South Africa
  

Nationality- identity with a group of people who share legal attatchment and personal allegiance to a particular country

Relationship between nationality and ethnicity in the USA

    American nationality- US citizen

    Ethnicity- African-american, Hispanic Americans

    Race- black, white, person of color

    Every citizen living in the USA considers themselves a member of the American nationality and a     member of a race but only some people identify with an ethnicity

• Ex- a morrocan student in us: black race, ethnicity Islamic? Arabic?, NOT an African American
  
• Ex- Quebecois: 2^nd nationality in Canada, outside northamerica more difficult to distinguish nationality from ethnicity
  

 

 

EXAM ESSAY:(!!!!!!!!!) States, Nations, and Nationstates

    Outside of north America, it is harder to decide nationality from ethnicity

Self-determination- the belief that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves

Throughout the 19^th, 20^th centuries, the earth's surface was organized into nation-states

*State*- a politically organized sterritory ruled by an establishedgovernment with control over its internal and foreign affairs

• Has to have territory, population, sovereignty and government. Ex, turkey, Britain, any country.
  

*Nation*- more of an ethnic term, a tightly knit group of people possessing bonds of language, ethnicity, religion and other shared cultural attributes; it doesn't have to have its own state.

• Ex, Scotland in the UK… kurds in Iraq, turkey, iran and syria had a shortlived independent state called Kurdistan but it was taken over by turkey
  

*Nation-State*- when one nation/ethnicity controls the state.

• There is NO such thing as a pure nation state
  
• Closest Ex, Denmark because majority ethnicity in Denmark are the Danes. Therefore, they control Denmark. But it isn't a perfect example because…
  
  • Denmark borders germany on the border of the two countriesthere is Schleswig Holstein. On the germany side are living the Danes and vice versa.
    
  • Denmark controls the Faeroe islands and the people there are of a different ethnicity.
    
  • Denmark controld Greenland or "kalaallit nunaat," and the capital is nuuk
    
• [region A] Another Ex, western Europe- Portugal, Poland ,Iceland
  

  Eastern Europe- Slovenia,Czech republic and Slovakia
  

  • Ethnic clensing in yugosavia --- Yugoslavia broke up into several new nation-states (ie- Slovenia, Croatia)
    
• [region B] Another Ex, Asia- turkey, japan, korea (north and south)
  

  Middle East- Israel, Palestinian Authority
  

  • Because of Palestinian, Israeli conflict, you have separate countries of Israel and Palestinian authority
    
• The closest example in the Americas is in south America, Uruguay. Predominantly a European ethnicity with few mestizos.
  

 

ESSAY EXAM 2 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)-nationalism

    Nationalism- loyalty to a nationality

• Sometimes nationalism can be positive which means that nationalism promotes national unity and identity, nationalism can also promote patriotism
  

Centripetal force – an attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state

• Negative impact- especially when many ethnicities within a state would like to have their own nation state
  

Centrifugal force- an attitude that divides ethnic groups within a state to desire their own nation state

• One problem with ethnicity is that it often overlaps race, religion and language use
  
• In 1974, india won its independence; however, because of conflicts between Indian hindus in india and Indian muslims in Pakistan. The two were given independence.
  
  • Pakistan was divided into east and west Pakistan on either side of india. Because of the split they were hard to govern
    
  • Example of how ethnicity and religion overlapped—east Pakistan= bangledesh. West Pakistan= Pakistan
    
• Time period where india and Pakistan split up into 2 countries was called partitian. This broke ghandis heart because he wanted india to be a unified countryand have the hindus and muslims coexist peacefully, violence was stopped by his fasting, he almost died.
  
• In the state of Kashmir (in north india)- source of ethnic tension for india and Pakistan for many years. Indians in Kashmir- want it to be in Pakistan, muslims want it to stay where it is.
  
• Another Indian state, Punjab, has been the place of tension between the Sikhs and the hindus
  
• Sri lanka (once called Ceylon) there has been ethnic conflicts between the Sinhalese (mainly Buddhists) and tamils (Hindus- Dravidian), conflict sometimes referred to as a civil war.
  
  • There's a group in Sri Lanka known as the Tamil tigers- they have been trying to stop the Sinhalese control of the government because they had been mistreated.
    

END essay 2

 

Multi-ethnic states- contain more than one ethnicity, the ethnicities also agree to form one nationality together

Ex. Belgium – has two ethnicities, Flemish from Flanders and Walloons from Wallonia

Ex. #2 Switzerland – Germans, French, Italian and Swiss Romash

Multi-national state- contain 2 or more ethnic groups with traditions of self determination, which agree to coexist peacefully by recognizing each other as distinct nationalities

Ex. UK- England, Scotland, Whales and Northern Ireland. Each nationality competes separately

in sports

The largest multi-national state is Russia

Many multi-ethnic states and multi-national states have ethnicities that do not get along.

In these situations, devolution of power can occur.—the central government starts to give up power to different ethnic groups and allow the country to fall apart.

• In the horn Africa…
  
  • Ethiopia- there was an ethnicity called the Eritreans who wanted to have their own independent country. Eritrea was given independence in 1993
    
  • Sudan- there has been civil war here between arab muslims and black Christian and animist groups
    
  • Darfur- the region where many civil rights groups are concerned because of the ethnic cleansing. The arab muslims are attacking the black tribal groups who are either Christian or animists…the lost boys
    
  • Somalia- the united states got involved ffrom 1992 to 1994 trying to help up the situation in Somalia. Somalia was divided into 6 ethnic groups. .each had a warlord and a military commander. Somalia=anarchy …Somali pirates
    
  • Central Africa- Rwanda and Burundi. The hutu and the Tutsis. Spilled over into the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), which used to be called Zaire.
    

Overlapping ethnicities and nationalities

    The middle east…

• Israel has an ongoing conflict with its Arab Neighbors and Palestinians .
  
  • Conflict has been ongoing since Israel was formed in 1948
    
• In 1967, Israel shocked the world as it struck first creating the 6-day war. It too the west bank from Jordan, the Golan heights from Syria and the gaza strip and Sinai peninsula from Egypt,
  
• The camp david meetings took place in 1979. Jimmy carter was president and he convinced Sadat, the president of Egypt, and Begin, the prime minister of Israel
  
• Israel attacked Southern Lebanon in 1982 to get the palesltine liberation organization
  
• Jerusalem is still the center of much tension between Israel and palestine as it is a holy city of 3 major religions
  
• In 1993, the Palestinians were given autonomy and were given all of gaza and the west bank
  
• 2000, Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon however, as recent as 2006, Israel went against the Hezbollah.
  

EP3 NOT….palestinian and Israeli perspectives

    After 1973 and the yom kippur war, Egypt Jordan and Syria were at peace with israel. The main     

    Problem that Israelis had were dealing with Palestinians within their borders

    Palestinians are a member of 5 different overlapping groups…

• People who live in the west bank, gaza, and east Jerusalem
  
• Citizens of Israel who are muslim
  
• People who fled Israel after the 1948-49 war
  
• The people who fled the west bank and gaza after the 1967 war to live in other countries
  
• Citizens of other countries who identify themselves as Palestinians but who never return to Israel
  

The Palestinian perspective

1. The jewish settlements in the west bank shows israels unwillingness to grant complete independence to the Palestinians
   
2. Palestinians were snot satisfies with the territory given to them by Israel. PLO and yassir erafat faught to improve territory of Palestine
   
3. Palestinians wanted Israel to follow original UN partition plan of 1947. This plan gave Palestine territory from Jordan all the way to the sea.
   

Israeli perspective

1. Israel is a very small country surrounded by hostile neighbors
   
2. Has 2 problems with local landscapes
   
   1. Major populations for Israel are close to national borders making cities vulnerable to attack… tel aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem.
      
   2. In original UN plans, Israel was given the lowlands, coastal plains,and Jordan river valley. Palestine was given the highlands of the west bank and syria's Golan heights 1948-67. Israel got bombarded by Palestinians.
      
   3. Israel is still divided over the compromise
      

      -no group will compromise with the old city of Jerusalem
      

End of EP3 not

    The Fall of Communism and The revival of ethnicity

        The end of the Cold War resulted in:

• Soviet Union fell apart which ended Russian dominance
  
• Yugolsavia fell apart which ended Serbian Dominance
  
• Czechoslovakia split which ended Czech dominance
  
• Many new nations worked hard to create new nation states
  

Yugoslavia

Devolution of power in the balkan peninsula which is named for the Balkan mountains.Other countries in this area include Albania Bulgaria Greece and Romania. At one time this region was controlled by the Austro-Hungarian empire. (WWII began in this area… the "powder keg" of Europe. Archduke franz Ferdinand was shot in Sarajevo.) "Yugo" means south. The south slavs wanted to unite together into one country. The 2 most numerous Slavic ethnicities are the serbs and the croats. Other ethnicities include the Slovenes, Macedonians, montenegrens, and Bosnian muslims. Tito was the communist dictator of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia under tito was not a part of the soviet union because tito wanted to rule his own country. Tito was kicked out of the Warsaw pact and he and Yugoslavia joined the non-aligned movement. The dinar, their currency, was the main unifying characteristic. Communist rule provided stability.

EP 4 NOT: the balkanization of yugoslavia

After Tito's Death in 1980, ethnic rivalries resurfaced. In the early 1990's when the communist governments of eastern Europe fell, the country of Yugoslavia began to fall apart. Five independent countries were formed….

• Bosnia Herzegovina- Sarajevo
  
• Croatia- Zagreb
  
• Slovenia-ljuljana
  
• Macedonia-skopje
  
• Yugoslavia-belgrade
  
• Including Serbia and Montenegro
  

4 of ugoslavia's five nationalities were able to be a majority in one of the new countries.

• Croats in Croatia
  
• Macedonians in Macedonia
  
• Serbs in Yugoslavia
  
• Slovenes in Slovenia
  
• Montenegro stayed with Serbia
  
• Bosnia-herzegovina had Bosnian muslims, theyre considered an ethnicity and not a nationality
  
  • Bosnian muslims made up 40%
    
  • Serbs 32%
    
  • Croats 18%
    

The serbs and croats in Croatia and Yugoslavia started a process of ethnic cleansing for the Bosnian muslims.

• Sobrenica the city was hit hard by the ethnic cleansing
  
• The Dayton accords of 1996. Bosnia Herzegovina was devided up into 3 regions: serbs, croats and muslims.
  
• UN and NATO peacekeepers were sent in.
  
• After things settled down, in Kosovo, the serbs tried to carry out ethnic cleansing on Albanians.
  
• When tito was alive, he allowed ethnic Albanians to live peacefully. After his death, the serbs took control of kosovo and carried out this ethnic cleansing process.
  
• US and other countries used NATO airstrikes to end the ethnic cleansing. One missile went astray and hit the Chinese embassy.
  
• Eventually NATO had 50,000 peacekeepers
  
• United Nations took control of Kosovo.
  

Yugoslavia Update:

• Slobodan Milosevic was arrested in 2000 and out on War Crime Trial in The Hague, Netherlands. Died before the end of trial.
  
• Montenegro declared independence in 2006
  
• Kosovo independence in 2008
  
• Serbia now alone
  
• Today 7 independent countries from the former Yugoslavia
  

Case Study pg 250

• Tribes make up the traditional unit of African society.
  
• When African countries gained independence from European countries they kept the same colonial borders.