Chapter 7 - Ethnicity
Jokes
 These four guys were walking down the
street, a Saudi, a Russian, a North Korean,
and a New Yorker. A reporter comes running
up and says, “Excuse me, what is your
opinion about the meat shortage?” The Saudi
says, “What’s a shortage?” The Russian
says, “What’s meat?” The North Korean says,
“What’s an opinion?” The New Yorker, says,
“Excuse me?? What’s excuse me?”
 Two Arabs boarded a shuttle out of Washington for New York. One
sat in the window seat, the other in the middle seat. Just before
takeoff a fat, little Israeli guy got on and took the aisle seat next to
the Arabs. He kicked off his shoes, wiggled his toes and was
settling in when the Arab in the window seat said, “I think I ll go up
and get a coke.” “No problem,” said the Israeli. “I ll get it for you.”
While he was gone, the Arab picked up the Israeli’s shoe and spit
in it. When the Israeli returned with the coke, the other Arab said,
“That looks good. I think I ll have one too.” Again, the Israeli
obligingly went to fetch it, and while he is gone the Arab other
picked up the other shoe and spit in it. The Israeli returned with the
coke, and they all sat back and enjoyed the short flight to New
York. As the plane was landing the Israeli slipped his feet into his
shoes and knew immediately what had happened. “How long must
this go on?” he asked. “This enmity between our peoples….. this
hatred… this animosity… this spitting in shoes and peeing in
cokes?”
 An Irishman, a black guy, and a white guy were driving through the
desert when they suddenly ran out of gas. They all decided to start
walking to the nearest town (which they had passed 50 miles back) to
get some help. A rancher was sitting on his front porch that evening
when he saw the white guy top the horizon and walk toward him. The
rancher noticed that the white guy was carrying a glass of water, so
when he was within hearing distance, the rancher said, “Hi there…what
are you doing carring a glass of water through the desert?” The white
guy explained his predicament and explained that since he had a long
way to go, he might get thirsty, so that’s why he was carrying the water.
A little while later the rancher noticed the black guy walking toward him
with a loaf of bread in his hand. “What are you doing?” asked the
rancher again. As before, the black guy explained the’s ituation and
said that since he had a long way to go, he might get hungry and that’s
why he had the bread. Finally the Irishman appeared, dragging a car
door through the sand. More curious than ever, the rancher asked,
“Hey, why are you dragging that car door?” “Well,” he said, “I have a
long way to go, so if it gets too hot, I ll roll down the window.”
Jokes are just harmless fun right?
 What’s the problems with ethnic jokes?
 Where do they come from?
 Why do we often find them funny?
 Are we being “too sensitive”?
 Are we not being upset ENOUGH by these
jokes?
What do you know? – Partner up
& brainstorm
 What racial issues are you aware of?
 What ethnic issues are you aware of?
 How have these turned out?
 Where are they happening mostly?
What is the difference?
 Ethnicity: one’s identity based on cultural
traits, such as language, religion, food,
clothing, family structure, values, traditions.
Share traditions of a homeland or hearth.
 Race: one’s identity based on one’s
physical characteristics. Genetic
 Nationality: one’s identity based on the
country that one is from.
Race
 Racism = belief that race is primary
determinant of human traits. Belief that
some races are superior.
 One feature DOES matter in geography
– color of skin. It is a fundamental basis
in societies where people live, attend
school, etc.
 Through history, it has become LESS of
an identifier.
Indigenous & Mixed Races
 Means “original” people who settled area.
Problem is… how do you REALLY know?
 Suspected N.Ams are really Asian race.
 Mestizo – EUR & N.Am
 Mulatto – EUR & African (negative meaning)
 Creole – EUR & N.Am and African
Friedrich Ratzel
 Father of modern H.Geo.
 Same time race developed, so did
environmental determinism – remember?
Culture/surroundings determined by phys. Env’t
 He believed this, was later proved wrong.
 1800s though, used to prove racist ideologies
like ppl from tropics are lazy (hot), people from
cold are hard workers.
 Obviously ppl from hot can move to cold &
survive.
 Led to Nazism
Carl Sauer
 Opposed this view w/possibilism!
 Partially shaped by env’t & resources avail.
 1920s
Internal/external Identity
 Internal: How you express your identity to
those who share your heritage/origin.
 External: How express to those OUTSIDE your
heritage.
 Ex. 2 people from Africa vs. 2 people, 1 from
Canada, 1 from Af.
Ethnic Identity and Geography
 Where we are from: One’s ethnic
identity is always tied to a place of
origin: our home, where our
grandfather’s grave is, where we built
our temple, where our history lies,
where our national hero brought us
during the time of the famine, where we
fought and died.
Ethnic Identity can be Fluid
 Any cultural trait, no matter how
superficial, can be a basis for ethnic
identity.
 A charismatic leader or outside
influence can cause a group to see
themselves as an ethnic group.
 A person can discover their roots and
become re-identified with ethnic
heritage.
Role of ethnic groups
 Keepers of distinctive cultural traditions
 Focal point of various kinds of social
interaction
 Provide group identity, friendships, and
marriage partners
 Also provides a recreational outlet, business
success, and a political power base
 Can give rise to suspicion, friction, distrust,
clannishness, and even violence
How ethnic minorities can be
changed by their host culture
 Acculturation — an ethnic group adopts enough of
the host society’s ways to be able to function
economically and socially
 Assimilation — a complete blending with the host
culture
 Involves loss of all distinctive ethnic traits
 American host culture now includes many
descendants of —Germans, Scots, Irish,
French, Swedes, and Welsh
 Intermarriage is perhaps the most effective
assimilatory device
Problems encountered when
defining ethnic group
 Membership in an ethnic group is
involuntary
 He or she must be born into the group
 Often individuals choose to discard
their ethnicity
 Politics can also help provide the basis for the
we/they dichotomy that underlies ethnicity
Problems encountered when
defining ethnic group
 Main problem is different groups base their
identities on different traits
 The Jews—primarily means religion
 The Amish—both folk culture and religion
 African-Americans—skin color
 Swiss-Americans—national origin
 German-Americans—ancestral language
 Cuban-Americans—mainly anti-Castro,
and anti-Marxist sentiment
How ethnic minorities can be
changed by their host culture
 In reality few ethnic groups have been
assimilated in the so-called “melting-pot”
 It was assumed all ethnic groups would
eventually be assimilated
 The last 25 years has witnessed a
resurgence of ethnic identity in the
United States, Canada, Europe, and
elsewhere
 Ethnicity easily made the transition from
folk to popular culture
 Popular culture reveals a vivid ethnic
component
Ethnicity in the World Today
 About 5,000 ethnic groups.
 There are 190 countries in the world
today.
Key Issue 1: Where are Ethnicities
Distributed? First up – U.S.
 2 biggest:
 (Hispanic or Latino) – 14% of total pop.
 African-American – 12%
 4% = Asian American and 1% American Indian
 Hispanic means ppl of all Spanish-speaking
countries.
 Some f/Latin Am. Descent adopted term Latino or
Latina.
 What regions of U.S. do you PRIMARILY find
these groups?
 Website on Ethnicity in U.S.
Break it down…
 Most Hispanics identify with more specific
ethnic group:



Chicanos/Chicanas (used to be offensive)
Cuban
Puerto Rican
 Asian-Americans:
 Indian
 Filipino
 Korean
 Japanese, etc..
African-Americans in the U.S.
Fig. 7-1: The highest percentages of African Americans are in the rural South and in
northern cities.
Concentrations of Ethnicities
 Clustering more pronounced
in neighborhoods in cities.
 Detroit’s Greektown and
Poletown.
Examples of ethnic enclaves in the
United States
 North Boston - Voluntary
Mounted statue of Paul Revere - Italian
neighborhood
 Most businesses have Italian names
 Women lean out of upper-story windows
conversing —Naples-style — to neighbors
across the street
 Italian-dominated outdoor vegetable market
 Pilgrimage to the site where the American
Revolution began has become a trip to Little
Italy

Ethnic Enclaves
 Involuntary:
When a group is
segregated by
law and by force
and not allowed
to participate in
the broader
society: ghetto,
reservation,
homeland.
Charlotte?
 Greek festival
 Anything else??
 Southern enclaves? “Northern” transplants.
 Bars – picking college teams.
 Epicenter – Strike City, Ohio State. 
 Tavern on the Tracks – Michigan. 
Urban ethnic neighborhoods and
ghettos
 Benefits of the ethnic neighborhood
Common use of language
 Nearby kin
 Stores and services specially tailored to a certain
group’s tastes
 Presence of factories relying on ethnically based
division of labor
 Institutions important to the group — churches and
lodges
 The ghetto — traditionally been used to describe an
area within the city where a certain ethnic group is
forced to live

Jewish Ghetto: Salzburg, Austria
 The name of this street
is Judengasse – Jew
Street.
 Here, as in many
European cities, Jews
were forced to live in a
specific walled and
gated area.
 The term ghetto derives
from the Jewish quarter
by the Ghetto Novo or
New Foundry in Venice.
Power of Place
 Again – another one that’s not SUPER
exciting.. But good info for AP FRQ
questions!
 #3 – “Strousburg”
African-American Migration Patterns

3 migration flows:
1. From Africa to the colonies (forced) 18th C.
1619 – 1st ships to Jamestown, VA., height = 17101810, 10MIL Africans displaced. What is a
sharecropper? How did sharecropping affect
migration?
400,000 in 18th C
Triangular slave trade
1808 though illegal, still another 250,000
2. From U.S. South to Northern cities, 1st ½ 20th C.,
Before/after WW I & II (1910-1950s)
3. Inner-city ghetto to urban neighborhoods, 2nd ½ 20th C.
Triangular Slave Trade
Fig. 7-7: The British triangular slave trading system operated among Britain, Africa,
and the Caribbean and North America.
Race in the U.S.
 2000 Census (still waiting on specifics
for these in 2010):
 75% White
 12% Black
 4% Asian
 1% Am Indian or Alaska Native
 6% Other
 Interesting: Hispanic or Latino is NOT
considered a race by census.
“Separate But Equal” – The U.S.
 Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 est “Jim Crow” laws
 Brown v. Board of Ed, Topeka, KS
 “White Flight” – disinvestment, moving out to
suburbs.
 Riots in 1967 further
intensified problem
Blockbusting used
South Africa
 Apartheid – late 20th C. peaked.
 Physical separation of different races into diff.
geographic areas.
 Blacks = 75%, whites 14%, Colored 8%, Asian
3%.
 Laws said where you could live, work, attend
school, etc.
 70’s/80’s – lots of countries cut them off.
 Nelson Mandela
 Still lots of issues though – VIDEO South Africa
Revealed
Key Issue 2 – Why Have Ethnicities
Been Transformed Into Nationalities?
 Nationality – based on shared country.
 U.S. = “American” nationality
 Everyone who lives here = American. Every
American belongs to a race (your color), but
not everyone identifies with an ethnicity.
 Self-determination: when ethnicities believe
they have the right to govern themselves.
 In U.S. nationality & ethnicity separate
concepts
Remember Quebec?
 The Quebecois are totally different in language,
relig & other aspects
 Do they form a distinct ethnicity within the
Canadian nationality OR a SECOND nationality
SEPARATE from Anglo-Canadian?
 This is the heart of their debate
Book with confuse you..
 They say a “nation OR nationality” is… a group of
ppl tied together. CONFUSING! USE these 2
separately:
 Nationality: identity with a group of ppl who share
legal attachment & personal allegiance to a
particular country.
 Nation: group of people tied together to a place
thru legal STATUS (not citizenship… think
“refugee” status) and/or cultural identity (religion,
language, etc).

Kurds, Palestinians
Now, get this clear…
 DO NOT use the U.S., N. America or W. EUR for
examples
 These terms are used for specific situations,
mostly in E. Europe & Africa because of turmoil.
 Centripetal force: unites – think PHYSICS.. Pulls
you IN. Centrifugal pushes you OUT.
 Nationalism is an example of a centripetal force –
unifies people.
 Both terms used HEAVILY in AP Test!
 What would some other centipetal and centrifugal
forces be?
Nation-States
 State: Self-governing legal entity organized into a
political unit, ruled by an est. gov’t w/control over its
affairs. Pretty synonymous w/term “country”
 Nation-state: territory corresponds to a particular
ethnicity that has been transformed into a
nationality.
 When a nation of people have a State or country of
their own, it is called a nation-state

Denmark: Danish ethnicity & border are pretty close.
Nationalism
 Nationalism = loyalty.
 Mass media is ESSENTIAL!
 Symbols = flags, songs (hello.. Why do
people burn the American flag?)
 What is the negative impact?
 Nationalism = centripetal force – attitude
that tends to unify ppl and enhance
support for a state.
 Terms RARELY used in N. America
Multinational States
 Multi-ethnic = more than 1 ethnicity (duh)
 Multi-national states = 2 or more ethnic groups
w/traditions of self-determination, exist peacefully
by recognizing each other. Ex. = Belgium, U.K
 Relationships vary – the main element of national
identity in U.K?
 Former Soviet Union – map! Want to make sure
we’ve got these!
 Be sure to read about these nation-states, good
examples for nation-state questions on AP exam!
 Largest Multinational State is???
15 Republics of former Soviet Union
Remember those names from T.V?
 Chechens – group of Sunni Muslims. Chechnya under
Russia
 VIDEO: Chechens War for Independence 1:32
 The Republic of Chechnya is located on the N slope of
the Caucasus Mountains within 100 kilometers of the
Caspian Sea.
Vital to the Russian Federation for two reasons. First,
access routes to both the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea
Second, vital Russian oil and gas pipeline connections with
Kazakstan and Azerbaijan also run through Chechnya.
The declaration of full independence issued in 1993 by the
Chechen government of Dzhokar Dudayev led to civil war
in that republic, and several Russian-backed attempts to
overthrow Dudayev failed in 1993 and 1994.
Chechnya
The 15 republics split…
 Now have 3 BALTIC states – Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania 1918-1940 Independence. LITH is
most closely the nation-state of the group!!
Lithuanians = 83% of the pop.
 European: Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, eh… not
so much the nation-states
 C. Asian: (THE STANS!) Kazak, Kyrgyz, Tajiki,
Turkemini, Uzbeki
 Caucasus: Azerbaijan, Armenia & Georgia
 Then Russia which is huge
Revival of Ethnic Identity
 What did Karl Marx believe in regards to
maintaining power?
 Communist countries typically suppress culture.
Key Issue 3: Why do Ethnicities
Clash?
 Ethiopia and Eritrea = land
 Sudan – Darfur – VIDEO: Frontline (already
watched?) = religious
 Somalia = language & religious – VIDEO: Ambush
in Mogadishu
 Lebanon = religious
 It’s pretty much the same kind of story…The key
is they all are ex’s of competition to dominate the
nationality. Struggle for power, avoid oppression.
Dividing Among More than 1 State:
 India – split Pakistan, forced ppl to migrate.
 Never agree on boundaries = dispute.
 Sri Lanka
 Kurds – divided among several states now.
Some U.S. involvement to protect Kurds (they
were driven out of Iraq by Saddam Hussein).
 VIDEO: Kurds Flee Iraq
Ethnic Cleansing – Key Issue 4
You’ve heard of Kosovo? Bosnia
 Yugoslavia – the 7/6/5/4/3/2/1.. And a partridge
in a pear tree…
 Bosnia – Serbs & Croats getting rid of Bosnian
Muslims. Bosnian Serbs vs. Bosnian Muslims
 Video: Bill Clinton – more Political Deployment
than any other president in 50 years.
 Kosovo – more U.S. involvement w/NATO too
 What does it mean to be “Balkanized”?
 Rwanda (yeah, that movie)…
Stuff I missed, but for AP exam:
 Ethnic homelands





Cover large areas, often over-lapping state and
provincial borders
Have sizable populations
Residents seek or enjoy some measure of political
autonomy or self-rule
Populations usually exhibit a strong sense of
attachment to the region
Most homelands belong to indigenous ethnic
groups
Examples of ethnic homelands in
North America





Acadiana — Louisiana French increasingly
identified with the Cajun people and recognized
as a perceptual region
Spanish-American — highland New Mexico,
Colorado, and South Texas
Navajo Reservation — New Mexico and Arizona
French-Canadian — centered on valley of lower
St. Lawrence River in Quebec
Some include Deseret— Mormon homeland in
the Great Basin of the Intermontane West
Some ethnic homelands have
experienced decline and decay




Pennsylvania “Dutch” — weakened to almost
extinction by assimilation
Southern “Black Belt” — diminished by collapse
of plantation-sharecrop system resulting in outmigration to urban areas
Mormon absorption into the American cultural
mainstream
Non-ethnic immigration has damaged the
Spanish-American homeland
More…
 Most vigorous homelands are the French-
Canadians and South Texas MexicanAmericans
 Ethnic substrate
 Occurs when a people in a homeland are
assimilated into the host culture and a
geographical residue remains
 The resultant culture region retains some
distinctiveness
Ethnic substrate

Geographers often find traces of an ancient,
vanished ethnicity in a region
 Italian province of Tuscany owes both its
name and some uniqueness to the
Etruscan people who ceased as an ethnic
group 2,000 years ago
 Massive German presence in American
Heartland helped shape cultural character
of the Midwest, which can be said to have
a German ethnic substrate
Ethnic Island: Westby, Wisconsin
 Although traditional
events such as the fall
lutefisk dinner and the
May 17th Norwegian
Independence Day
celebration are
celebrated, this ethnic
group has essentially
assimilated with the
host culture.
 Note the various
popular cultural
organizations and
activities in this
community.
Ethnic culture regions in rural
North America
 Ethnic islands in North America
Small dots in the countryside
 Usually occupy less area than a county
 Much smaller than a homeland-serve as
home to only several hundred or several
thousand people
 More numerous than homelands or
substrates
 Many found in large areas of rural North
America

Ethnic culture regions in rural
North America
 Ethnic islands in North America





Crazy-quilt pattern found in some areas of Midwest
Germans form the largest group found in ethnic
islands—southeastern Pennsylvania and in
Wisconsin
Scandinavians — primarily Swedes and
Norwegians —came mainly to Minnesota, the
eastern Dakotas, and western Wisconsin
Ukrainians settled mainly in the Canadian Prairie
Provinces
Slavic groups — mainly Poles and Czechs —
established scattered colonies in the Midwest and
Texas
REMINDER for Ms. K
 Skipped Power of Place #3.. Watch it!