AP Human Geography Chapter 5 Identity

Summarize how the "great chain of being" contributed to an ideology of racism.

1. It helped to naturalize the idea of human difference. It was understood not as a social construction, but rather as a natural construction - a reflection of a God-given hierarchical ordering of the world that included human races. 2. It supported views that emphasized the differences between people & provided a way to link those differences to ideas about genetic & intellectual inferiority as well as inequality. 3. "Whiteness" became a standard against which others were measured.

Distinguish between a social construction and an ideology.

A social construction is an idea or a phenomenon that does not exist in nature but is created and given meaning by people. An ideology is a system of ideas that has been socially "constructed".

How did racism develop?

Events associated w/Eruopean colonization of Americas contributed significantly. The practice of separating whites & blacks in colonial VA created Bacon's Rebellion (1676) when poor whites & blacks threatened white elite control. Racism and slavery provided a way to maintain social control & power. The 18th Century Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus, in conjunction with developing his system for naming & classifying plants & animals, he developed four major groups of people inhabiting the Earth: African, Native American, Asiatic, and European. See also "great chain of being".

sexuality

a basis for personal and social identity that stems from sexual orientation, attitudes, desires, and practices.

Race

a categorization of humans based on skin color and other physical characteristics. Race is a "constructed identity" and is a perfect example of how identities are built. Racial categories are social and political constructions because they are based on ideas that some biological differences (especially skin color) are more important than others (e.g., height, etc), even though the latter might have more significance in terms of human activity. With its roots in sixteenth-century England, the term is closely associated with European colonialism because of the impact of that development on global understandings of racial differences.

ethnoscape

a cultural landscape that reveals or expresses aspects of the identity of an ethnic group

gender gap

a disparity between men and women in their opportunities, rights, benefits, behavior, or attitudes

public space

a kind of commons, a space intended to be open and accessible to anyone

location quotient

a measure that can be used to show how the proportional presence of an ethnic group in a region compares to the proportional presence of that same ethnic group in the country

pluralism

a model of ethnic interaction that characterizes members of immigrant ethnic groups as resisting pressures to assimilate and retaining those traits, beliefs, and practices that make them distinctive.

ethnoburb

a multiethnic residential, commercial, or mixed suburban cluster in which a single ethnic group is unlikely to form a majority of the population

ethnic neighborhood

a pattern of settlement formed by some ethnic groups in urban areas

ethnic island

a pattern of settlement, quite variable in size and population, formed by some ethnic groups in rural areas

heterolocalism

a reflection of the impact of globalization on ethnic interaction such that members of an ethnic group maintain their sense of shared identity even though they are residentially dispersed.

institutional discrimination

a situation in which the policies, practices, or laws of an organization or government disadvantage people because of their cultural differences

ethnic geography

a subfield of human geography that studies the migration and spatial distribution of ethnic groups, ethnic interaction and networks, and the various expressions or imprints of ethnicity in the landscape

ideology

a system of ideas, beliefs, and values that justify the views, practices, or orientation of a group. Racism can be thought of as an ideology that has been exploited by certain groups, such as the Nazis, at different times.

Ethnicity

affiliation or identity within a group of people bound by common ancestry and culture.

social construction

an idea or a phenomenon that does not exist in nature but is created and given meaning by people

great chain of being

based on the idea that there is a natural and ranked order of life in the world, from aquatic life at the bottom up to the heavens. If the broad classes of living things were ranked, it followed that the members of those classes could be ranked as well. Visible differences including skin color were used to distinguish among different ranks and races of people. The great chain of being was a very influential idea during the Enlightenment (17th & 18th centuries) that contributed to an ideology of racism.

discourse

communication that provides insight on social values, attitudes, priorities and ways of understanding the world

identifying against

constructing an identity by first defining the "other" and then defining ourselves as "not the other". For example, Europeans, over time, constructed an identity for the region that is now more commonly called the "Middle East and Asia". They defined the region as "mystical" and called it the "Orient". They defined Africans and Americans as "savage" and also "mystical". Through these definitions of the "other", Europeans defined themselves to be "not mystical" and "not savages" and therefore as "civilized.

Space

defined by Doreen Massey and Pat Jess as "social relations stretched out."

identity

defined by geographer Gillian Rose as "how we make sense of ourselves"; how people see themselves at different scales.

Barrioization

defined by geographer James Curtis as the dramatic increase in Hispanic population in a given neighborhood; referring to barrio, the Spanish word for neighborhood.

Residential segregation

defined by geographers Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton as the degree to which two or more groups live separately from one another, in different parts of an urban environment.

assimilation

describes the outcome of an interaction between an ethnic group and outsiders; the gradual loss of cultural traits, beliefs, and practices that distinguish immigrant ethnic groups and their members. Society as a "melting pot"; New York City.

apartheid

government-sponsored racial segregation and discrimination in West Africa

Gendered

in terms of a place, whether the place is designed for or claimed by men or women.

Dowry deaths

in the contest of arranged marriages in India, disputes over the price to be paid by the family of the bride to the father of the groom (the dowry) have, in some extreme cases, led to the death of the bride.

Racism

intolerance of people perceived to be inherently or genetically inferior. frequently referred to as system or attitude toward visible differences in individuals, racism is an ideology of difference that ascribes (predominantly negative) significance and meaning to culturally, socially, and politically constructed ideas based on phenotypical features, like the color of someone's skin.

ascription

occurs when people assign a certain quality or identity to others or to themselves (self-ascription). For example, when a Turk marries a Kurd, he or she may be ascribed a Kurdish identity.

transgender

people who do not identify with the gender they are born with.

ethnic group

people who share a collective identity that may derive from common ancestry, history, language, or religion, and who have a conscious sense of belonging to that group

Invasion and succession

process by which new immigrants to a city move to and dominate or take over areas or neighborhoods occupied by older immigrant groups. For example, in the early twentieth century, Puerto Ricans "invaded" the immigrant Jewish neighborhood of East Harlem and successfully took over the neighborhood or "succeeded" the immigrant Jewish population as the dominant immigrant group in the neighborhood.

Gender

social differences between men and women, rather than the anatomical, biological differences between sexes. Notions of gender differences-that is, what is considered "feminine" or "masculine"-vary greatly over time and space. Identity - defined by geographers Gillian Rose as "how we make sense of ourselves;" how people see themselves at different scales. Identifying against- constructing an identity by first defining the "other" and then defining ourselves as "not the others."

Sense of place

state of mind derived through the infusion of a place with meaning and emotion by remembering important events that occurred in that place or by labeling a place with a certain character.

othering

the act of differentiating between individuals and groups such that distinctions are made between "me" and "you" and between "us" and "them"

heterosexual norm

the conventional, binary division of the sexes based on clearly defined masculine and feminine gender roles.

environmental justice

the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. For example, exporting toxic waste to developing countries to be disposed of is an example of environmental injustice

ethnic cleansing

the forced removal of an ethnic group from an area

human trafficking

the forcible and/or fraudulent recruitment of people for work in exploitative conditions, for example, as child soldiers or prostitutes.

Place

the fourth theme of geography as defined by the Geography Educational National Implementation Project; uniqueness of a location.

gender role

the idea that there are certain social expectations, responsibilities, or rights associated with femininity and masculinity.

symbolic ethnicity

the way in which a collection of symbols, i.e.) flags, music, dress styles) imparts meaning and identity to members of an ethnic group.

Queer theory

theory defined by geographers Glen Elder, Lawrence Knopp, and Heidi Nast that highlights the contextual nature of opposition to the heteronormative and focuses on the political engagement of "queers" with the heteronormative.