Recitation 8: Race, Ethnicity the World(s) We Inhabit

This essay is due in recitation and will be the subject of discussion for the period. It must be TYPED.

When you enrolled in Geog 1982, you might have assumed we would be testing your knowledge of nation-states and their different characteristics. As we've now learned, politics and culture shape the places we live. We've learned how the origins and contemporary make-up of countries are highly politicized; they are less "organic" than a Hostess "Twinkie" (i.e., think about our Israeli/Palestinian role play).

Examining conflicts overseas helped us comprehend the issues geographers grapple with and their approach to analyzing geo-politics today. We need not, however, look beyond the borders of the United States to understand how culture and group affiliations give places their character.

In this exercise, we want to review fundamental terminology that reflects how group affiliations are built and affect our everyday experience. In other words, it is a chance for us to consider our, and our families' place in this nation-state. The goal is to reflect on how you perceive your status in our society in relation to your racial/ethnic background. By relating your own experience to the cultural history of the United States, we will be sure that you understand related terminology and how North America achieved its special cultural blend.

Please define the following terms. Use Rowntree, but be sure to fully comprehend the definition the book provides:

Please answer the following questions. Those demanding full paragraphs are starred (*).

  1. *What is the racial/ethnic background and migration history of your own family. How do these trends depart or parallel from larger North American trends (see Chapter 3, Rowntree.)
  2. *Is where you live conditioned by your race/ethnicity? In other words, is you environment shaped by your race or ethnicity? You may answer this question through reference to your family's (economic, social political) history in the United States, or - if you are an international student - how your entry in the United States has been conditioned by your race/ethnicity/origins.
  3. What have you learned about your race/ethnicity from people of your OWN ethnicity?