Ethnic Segregation and Conflict
UNIT 3: CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
Session
12
LEARNING TARGETS
• Define ethnocentrism
• Discuss de facto segregation
• Define de jure segregation
• Explain ethnic conflict during
• Identify causes of ethnic conflict
• Define ethnic-cleansing
• Discuss ethnic conflict in the
former Yugoslavia
• Explain the ethnic conflict in
Rwanda
• Identify global ethnic conflict
SESSION 12
Ethnic Segregation and
Conflict
• Ethnicity is strongest tie for local diversity against
globalization. Even if globalization engulfs religion
and language, ethnicity will likely remain
• Ethnocentrism: one’s conviction of ethnic superiority
(like racism for an ethnic group) can occur in countries
and regions where ethnic diversity is high
• Ethnocentrism is often the direct cause of segregation and
ethnic violence
Ethnocentrism
• Ethnic groups usually have ties to a particular homeland
that can lead to outbreaks of violence if a group feels
threatened they may lose their land or have to share it
with another group
Session
12
• Ethnic enclave: Voluntary residential segregation based on ethnicity
(i.e. ethnic neighborhoods)
•
•
•
•
Hispanic barrios
China town
Little Havana
Little Italy
• De Facto segregation can happen on various scales:
• Regional Segregation in U.S.
•
•
•
•
African Americans in SE and cities
Hispanics in SW
Asian Am in west (Hawaii, CA)
American Indians in SW and plains
Forms of Segregation
• De Facto Segregation: Segregation that occurs naturally due to
the desire for groups to stay in ethnically homogenous
communities also defined as ethnic clustering or ethnic enclaves
• Local Segregation in U.S. (within cities)
• African Americans highly clustered in cities (¼ of all Americans live in
cities, but ½ of all African Americans live in cities)
• Chicago is 1/3 African-American…Illinois 1/12 African-American
• Detroit is 4/5 African-American…Michigan 1/14 African-American
Session
12
• Jim Crow Era in American history established
by Plessy v. Ferguson that established separate
but equal in the South which supported
segregation until the Brown v. BOE decision in
1954
• Nazi “ghettos” set up before and during
World War II which required the Jews and
other ethnic groups be confined to specific
neighborhoods and wear special identification.
• Apartheid in South Africa where the African
population faced various restrictions from the
white minority government including residential
segregation and prohibition from voting and
inter-marriage eventually ending with the
election of Nelson Mandela in 1994.
• De Jure segregation still exists but in minor
cases globally
Forms of Segregation
• De Jure Segregation: Legalized and
enforced separation of ethnic groups (usually
minorities) often highly discriminatory and
fueled by racism/ethnocentrism.
Session
12
What is ethnocentrism? How does it form? How is it
different than racism?
What is de facto segregation? What are ethnic
enclaves? What are examples of de facto segregation?
What is de jure segregation? What are historic
examples of it?
Check for Understanding: Student Discussion
• In recorded history, large empires have been able to control
a number of different ethnic groups within its boundaries
with varying levels of success
• The World Wars were directly caused by highly militarized
nations fighting for superiority with a focus on destroying
their ethnic rivals
• The Nazis accentuated the idea of ethnocentrism and ethnic
cleansing
• Hitler targeted any number of ethnic groups including Jews,
Poles, Slavs, etc.
• Japan similarly committed atrocities against the Chinese as
well as the Koreans
History of Ethnic Conflict
• Ethnic conflict has been occurring amongst groups for
thousands of year beginning in pre-historic civilizations
Session
12
• What leads to Ethnic Conflict?
• Nationalism and competition amongst groups
• Unrepresented ethnic groups within a country being oppressed
• Formation of new states after the break-up of another
• Yugoslavia, USSR, Czechoslovakia (example of a peaceful resolution)
• Border disputes
• Over 90% of world’s countries contain more than one ethnicity
and all countries share borders with other ethnicities.
• Many otherwise cohesive ethnic groups have been artificially
divided by political boundaries
• Scramble for Africa imposed boundaries across ethnic/tribal groups who
were not hostile with one another until they were placed in the same state.
Causes of Ethnic Conflict
• The last 25 years has seen a resurgence of ethnic violence
especially with the conclusion of the Cold War and the collapse
of Communism as well as the Arab Spring
Session
12
Causes of Ethnic Conflict
Session
12
• Can be achieved by…
• Forced migration - push out, burn homes, destroy towns
• Genocide: premeditated effort to kill all from certain ethnic
group (Holocaust)
• Sub Sahara Africa and Balkans especially plagued
with ethnic violence have been the sites of the most
recent occurrences of ethnic cleansing and acts
genocide
Ethnic Cleansing
• In worst cases ethnic conflict can lead to ethnic
cleansing – process by which more powerful ethnic
group forcibly removes less powerful ethnic group in
order to create ethnic homogeneity.
• Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur
Session
12
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Serbs
Croats
Bosniak-Muslims
Slovenes
Albanian-Kosovars
Macedonians
Yugoslavs
Montenegrins
Hungarians
Roma (Gypsies)
Turks
Slovaks
Romanians
Bulgarians
Italians
Other
36.3%
19.7%
8.9%
7.8%
7.7%
6.0%
5.4%
2.6%
1.9%
0.7%
0.5%
0.4%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
1.7%
Why was Yugoslavia a bad idea?
Ethnic Violence: Yugoslavia
Ethnic composition of
Yugoslavia in 1981
Session
12
• Belgrade (in Serbia) is made the capital…significance?
• Differences also existed in language and alphabet, and religion
• Early Ethnic Conflict: During the Second World War, the Nazis
conquered the country splintering it, with some aiding the Axis
(Croatia) and others the Allies (Serbia led by Josip Tito)
• Croats helped Nazi Germans round up and kill Serbs during WW II
• Cold War Stability: Under the leadership of its dictator Josip Tito
ethnic animosities were subdued, forged Yugoslav identity and virtually
held Yugoslavia together for several decades
• Post-Tito: Tito dies in 1980, but Serb dominated Yugoslavia is still
united by Communism until its collapse in 1991 when the country began
to become politically unstable and ethnically volatile.
Ethnic Violence: Yugoslavia
• Formation: In 1918 following the end of WWI, Yugoslavia was
founded which included seven distinct ethnic groups…Serbs, Croats,
Slovenes, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Bosniaks, and Kosovars
(Albanians) as well as a number of other ethnic groups)within its
boundaries
Session
12
• Ethnic Hostilities Begin: Also in 1991, Croatia declared
independence this time sparking war with the Yugoslavian
government due to the Serbian population living within its
borders. A brutal war between the two sides will last 4 years
and lead to the deaths of 20,000 soldiers and civilians.
• Ethnic Warfare in Bosnia: When Muslim Bosniaks declared their
independence in 1992 it became the focal point of ethnic strife
due to its diverse population.
• 40% Muslim, 32% Serb, 18% Croat – Bosnian-Serbs and BosnianCroats want to join with Croatia and Serbia. To strengthen claim,
ethnically cleanse Bosnian Muslims.
Ethnic Violence: Yugoslavia
• First Fragmentation: In 1991, Slovenia departed Yugoslavia
first with little violence due to its primarily homogenous
population. Macedonia has similar results due to a lack of a
Serbian population and UN presence
Session
12
Ethnic Violence: Yugoslavia
Session
12
• Most notably the massacre of 8,000 Bosniak men and boys outside
the town of Srebrenica
• Ending the War: UN presence and NATO airstrikes finally
brought the conflict to an end with the Dayton Agreement in
1995.
• Ethnic Conflict in Kosovo: In 1998 the southern province of
Serbia and Montenegro was 90% Albanian. When ethnic
Albanians declared independence, Serbs use ethnic
cleansing to push them off land into the nation of Albania.
Ethnic Violence: Yugoslavia
• Ethnic Violence in Bosnia: Both Serbs and Croats were
guilty of various atrocities during the war in Bosnia, but
forms “ethnic cleansing” and acts of genocide were
perpetrated mainly by the Serbs.
• US and NATO bombed Serbia and forced Serbia to withdraw
from Kosovo.
Session
12
• Territorial Results: Bosnia-Herzegovina gained its
independence but remained fragmented ethnically and
politically
• Bosnian Serbs = 33% pop got 50% country
• Bosnian Croats = 18% pop got 25%country
• Bosnian Muslims = 44% pop got 27% country
• Outcomes of the War: Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic
was arrested in 2001 and many Serbian generals are
charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity by the
International Criminal Court
• Milosevic dies of a heart attack while awaiting trial at the Hague
• Balkanization has become the term used to mean the
breakdown of a state through ethnic conflict
Ethnic Violence: Yugoslavia
• Casualties of War: An estimated 100,000 were killed in
violence the majority in which 68,000 were ethnic Bosniaks
and of that nearly 26,000 were civilians
Session
12
• Students will fill in their
video guide: 10 points
(Those who miss this will be
required to watch it at
home through Loudoun
Vision)
Video: Ghosts of Rwanda
Ethnic Conflicts
• We will watch the
documentary “Ghosts of
Rwanda”
Session
12
Activity: Global Ethnic Conflicts
Ethnic Conflicts
• Using the reading, identify
and define various ethnic
conflicts and fill out the
graphic organizer
provided
Session
12
NEXT CLASS
TEST: UNIT 3