Exam 3
There are indigenous people in the US who are not federally recognized, had their recognition terminated, and who have state recognition only
-Branch of Acknowledgement and Research (BAR) of the Bureau of Indian Affairs -1952-mid 1960's: more than 100 tribe's recognition terminated -State Recognition
Reel Bad Arabs: Does the film argue that Arabs should only play "good guys" and "good girls"? Why or why not?
-No it doesn't. The film implies that Hollywood dehumanizes Arabs and often portray them as criminals, cold-blood people, and killers more so than they do "good " characters. -no, want to be portrayed as human (in a more complex fashion) so not merely "good" or "bad", more nuanced backgrounds
Yang 2006: What theoretical concept from class best relates to our discussion of American Born Chinese? Think Omi and Winant
Racial Formation Theory-race is something we construct everyday
Barreiro 2005: What was the response to the interpreter who suggested that the important thing was just to get into the country?
-they wanted recognition, not special treatment -"the important thing is not to get in, the important thing is to make sure that every step of the way our validity as Indian nations is recognized"
Barreiro 2005: What problems did the Haudenosaunee delegation confront upon trying to enter Geneva?
-they were offered a special permit to enter Geneva, but they thought that it would negate the validity of their passports -alluding that Haudenosaunee passports were illegitimate to Geneva's documentation.
Keck and Sikkink's "boomerang effect"
-when indigenous people are pushing governments {the states} for rights, sometimes it's insufficient *government isn't willing to listen *or will listen and won't grant rights -what they need to do is reach outside the state for recognition and rights (usually international organizations, non-governmental) -these organizations will then put pressure on the government the people were initially seeking help from
Describe Milton Gordon's two main levels of assimilation theory
1. Cultural: values, beliefs, dogmas, ideologies of the dominant culture, civic responsibility (political and social affiliation) 2. Structural: families, close friends, clubs and organizations, marital status, ethnic identification
Zinn 1997: Be able to identify someone from our activity who had an opinion about why the United States was at war with Mexico? What was their opinion about why the US was at war?
Andrew Jackson (7th president)- one of the few people in the South who owned a lot of slaves, was for the Mexican- American war because he knew America would gain more territory.
Bell 1992: How does this fictional account challenge or reify binary notions of race?
Reify: oversimplifying race between black & white. Fiction makes it seems as if it's cut and dry/ black and white when in reality race is more fluid (light skinned, dark skinned Blacks, ..) *are Asians and Latinos included in white? *what about people being black on some documents and white on others? Challenge: introducing other races/ethnicities also challenges the binary (e.g. jews)
Families are constructed as monoracial and racial homogeneity is...
fundamental to the construction of families
Reel Bad Arab: How does this relate to the documentary we watched on Native American stereotypes in film and the portrayal of other minorities on television (such as the article we read on Lost and Heroes)?
it relates because arabs are constantly viewed as stereotypical criminals, but when they are portrayed as good characters they don't have lead roles in the films.
What are the two contradictory American impulses that symbolic ethnicity reconciles?
the desire for both individuality and conformity *"having an ethnic identity is something that makes you both special and simultaneously part of a community. It is something that comes to you involuntarily through heredity, and at the same time it is a personal choice"
Kennedy points out that some multiracial activists have noted that checking more than 1 box on the census indicates that...
"multiracial individuals are only parts of other communities, rather than constituent members of a distinct multiracial community of their own"
Branch of Acknowledgement and Research (BAR) of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
-As of 2000: received 237 petitions for recognition, -1978-2000: only officially recognized 15 tribes and denied recognition of 15 tribes (Southeastern Cherokee Confederacy, Kaweah Indian Nation, Lower Muscogee Creek Tribe east of Mississippi) -extremely slow, expensive, and political process -already recognized groups often don't want more groups to be recognized
Be able to describe the 4 steps of assimilation according to Robert Park (who I called the "Poppa of assimilation theories")
-Contact -Conflict-competition for jobs and resources, new social organization -Accommodation-rapid, migrating group's forced adjustment to a new social situation, stabilization of relations -Assimilation-process of interpenetration and fusion in which persons and groups acquire the memories, sentiments, and attitudes of other persons or groups, and, by sharing their experience and history, are incorporated with them in a common cultural life
The Mam, an indigenous cross-border nation in the Americas, weave in and out of essentialism and constructivism and Mam weave in and out of different narratives of belonging (collective identities localized within municipal borders, extending to the Guatemala-Mexico border, and transcending the Guatemala-Mexico border) (see power points)
-Essentialist-only authentic if... *wearing corte *bathing in the Chuj *speaking Mam -Constructivists challenge the ideas of Essentialism. *if you don't wear traditional, speak traditional language, or self identify, then you fall into this constructivists approach.
What does the conclusion (p. 86) tell us about the power relationship between the federal government and indigenous politics?
-Federal government still has the ultimate say over who gets recognized as an official indigenous tribes. -Federal gov't is the dominant factor over recognition of indian groups in America.
Zinn 1997: How is the notion of Manifest Destiny tied to race?
-Manifest Destiny-thought that the US would be spreading the blessings of liberty and democracy via the war -Tied to race-it's the "white man's burden" to colonize/civilize the "natives", doing them a favor
Tossed salad metaphor as a reaction to the melting pot
-Melting Pot-the ingredients in the pot (people of different cultures and religions) are combined so as to lose their discrete identities and yield a final product of uniform consistency and flavor, which is quite different from the original inputs *fits with assimilationism *no way to test if this will actually happen -Tossed Salad-ingredients are encouraged to retain their cultural identities, thus retaining their "integrity and flavor" while still contributing to the whole American flavor *fits with pluralism *no way to know if it will always be this way
The Matrix of Domination ( when unique different categories (class, race, gender etc. come together to form domination/oppression)
-Several forces work hand in hand to produce inequality and oppression -Collins suggests that resistance will work when we privilege other "ways of knowing" beyond institutionalized forms of knowledge that have been used as tools of domination. -intersectionality is an approach that we can use to understand matrix of domination and the oppression of others through sex, gender, race, etc.
"Indigenous" and "peasant" are often conflated (we discussed this in relation to class and other ethnic subpopulations too)
-often treated as one in the same -don't have to be poor to be indigenous -essentialists-when indigenous become wealthy they are seen as less authentic indigenous
starks et al. 2011:How does the US territorial boundaries and the Tohono O'odham territorial boundaries differ geographically?
-Tohono O'odham boundaries followed ecological/geographical boundaries tied to resources (rivers) -US boundaries was not based on this-much more rigid and political, less natural.
Intersectionality
-examines how race, class, gender, and sexuality work together to create inequality in "interlocking systems of oppression"--> how these things come together to form oppression. (an approach to look at how these things come together) -ie. how Black women experience oppression, or how Arab American women experience oppression... etc. applicable to all. -Collins argues that Black feminism creates and validates knowledge in ways that are very different from the American educational system, which has been dominated by elite White men. -These educational institutions are privileging white males still, more than others because we learn from books, professors, etc that embrace a white male's perspective.
How does a multiracial identity reaffirm biological arguments about race?
-logic of mixed race stems from the same underlying logic that preceded it-that individuals have race, and when they combine sexually we get "racial mixture" -both ideas assume there is race, it is carried in the body, and its mixed through sexual reproduction -pretty much, to be multi racial. both parents are considered to be of two different races, and so the child is multi racial suggesting that race is biological.
starks et al. 201: Reasons why documentation is an issue for Tohono O'odham Nation (i.e., why is it challenging to obtain documentation and how does a lack of documentation impede access to valued resources?)
-many tribe members are without birth certificates *reservation is large *villages remote (don't have necessary resources to get to places to retrieve documentation) *many born at home via traditional birth methods -No birth certificate affects work status, social security benefits, crossing border to visit family/ceremonies very difficult
starks et al. 201: What did the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Gadsden Purchase do to the Tohono O'odham Nation's territory?
-moved the US-Mexican border down to the Rio Grande River -Gadsden Purchase gave land to US and cut right through the Tohono O'odham nation -Basically both expanded US territory while disrupting Tohono O'odham's boundaries/ tribes/ nations
How are "recognition" and "redistribution" related?
-often treated as two different things-can "recognize" a group of people and do not have to "redistribute" their resources to them -but indigenous people make the assumption-once they are federally "recognized" they can then receive the resources taken from them -However, two sides of the same coin -Identity is tied to their territories so in order to "recognize" them you must "redistribute" their original lands to them -once recognized as a nation, you'll receive resources/ distributive rights; if you've received rights then you're considered a nation
1952-mid 1960's: more than 100 tribe's recognition terminated
-severed trust, ended government benefits and services -recognition began to be "restored" in 1970's and officially rejected by Congress in 1988
State Recognition
-some recognized since colonial era -BIA considers state recognition when deciding Federal --recognition but it is NOT a requirement
What is Steinberg's attitude toward assimilation in terms of its existence? In other words, according to Steinberg, does the melting pot continue to exist, and if so, for whom? Or does he argue that the assimilation does not exist?
America's melting pot has been inclusive of everybody (whites, latinos, asians) except for african-americans, but will exist for everyone at some indeterminate time based on evidence of interracial marriages and adoption of English only by Latinos and Asians
According to Steinberg, who do ethnic pluralists and opponents of the "melting pot" argue the melting pot now exists for?
Exists for groups of European ancestry (Irish, German, Italian, etc), a lot of groups that identify as "white" now
Zhou 2004: Was the question of whether Asian-Americans are "becoming white" the point of Zhou's article? Why or why not?
No, "becoming white or not is beside the point. The bottom line is: Americans of Asian ancestry still have to constantly prove that they truly are loyal Americans"
Pros and Cons of assimilation theories
PRO: Provides us with different measures to assess migrant ethnic subpopulation adaption to dominant culture CON: Although assimilation theories reveal the consequences of discrimination, they don't explain how discriminatory forces operate
Pros and Cons of pluralism theories
PRO: invaluable/useful corrective to assimilation theory; acts as check and balance for the assimilation theories.. CON: Doesn't adequately explain macro social (structural) forces that cause and sustain discrimination
According to lecture and discussion what particular challenges do indigenous cross- border nations face?
Sometimes not recognized/allowed to cross border because they lack documentation
Yang 2006: How does the portrayal of main characters in this book relate to the construction of racial and ethnic identities?
The main character changes his appearance (appears to be two different characters in the book), how he looks at himself, how he wants others to view him
Starks et al. 2011: Why are the Tohono O'odham and other indigenous cross-border nations considered "One people, two countries"?
The people who made the US-Mexico border did not do so with the intention of keeping the tribes intact within the same boundaries (split-some in Mexico, some in US)
Zhou 2004: "American" is coded colloquially as "White" among many Asian-American families, according to Zhou's research.
To Asian families, to be American is to be white. But to to be any other American ethnicity, you are recognized with your ethnic group before you're recognized as American.
Mexican-Americans
Today many Mexican-Americans are considered and treated by politicians and lay people alike as immigrants (first generation, second generation, third generation, or even more removed down the line, but nonetheless as crossing the US-Mexico border at some point). However, this more nuanced understanding of the border calls on us to view the border as a line that crossed over many Mexican ancestors rather than simply viewing Mexican ancestors as people that at some point in history crossed over a line.
What's the purpose of "theory" according to class lecture?
Used to explain why or how something happens
