Ethnicity
-Christina Garcia-
Where Are Ethnicities Distributed?
The major ethnicities in the US are Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans. The largest groups of Hispanics are from Mexico and Puerto Rico. They come to the US because they believe they will have a better life here. African Americans are in the US because of the slave trade when Americans brought African slaves. The largest group of Asian Americans come from China. They came to the US because of the Gold Rush in the 1850's.
The major ethnicities, which are Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans, are distributed in a certain pattern. African Americans are clustered in the Southeast because that's where the slave trade happened. Hispanics are clustered in the Southwest because it's closer to where they came from. Asian Americans are clustered in the West because that's where their ancestors migrated to.
Ethnicity In The US
Why Did Ethnicities Have Distinctive Distributions?
The patterns of forced and voluntary migration of African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans are different. Most African Americans trace their heritage to the forced migration from Africa for slavery. Hispanics and Asian Americans trace their heritage to people who voluntarily migrated for economic prospects and political freedom.
There were patterns of migration of African Americans within the US, too. They migrated in large numbers in the early twentieth century. African Americans moved from the South to the North and West. This was because they were escaping slavery in the South.
There once used to be laws to segregate races in the US and South Africa. They were legal until the late twentieth century. In the US, there used to be laws that segregated whites and blacks by making separate public places. They built separate schools, bathrooms, restaurants, etc. In South Africa, the whites were supreme and they forced blacks to live in reserves. They called it "apartheid" which means separateness.
Segregation In The US
Why Do Conflicts Arise Among Ethnicities?
Ethnicity and nationality are not the same thing. Ethnicity is a broader concept than nationality. It's a group's self-identification based on cultural, historical, physical, or other characteristics. But nationality is identity with a group of people who share legal attachment and personal allegiance to a particular country. Hence the word "nationalism" which means loyalty and devotation to a nationality.
The principle ethnicities in Lebanon are Phoenician, Armenian, and Arab. The principle ethnicities in Sri Lanka are Sinhalese, Tamil, and Moor. These are examples of of countries where ethnicities have not been able to live in peace.
The Kurds have been divided among more than one nationality because they never really had a country of their own. "Kurdistan" is the mountainous area where the Kurds are. It's where the borders of Iraq, Iran, and Turkey meet. Most of them, though, live in Turkey. The Kurds aren't the only ethnicity that is divided among nationalities. Muslims and Hindus are also divided.
The principle ethnicities of Western Asia are encompassed by the four main nationalities. These are Iraqi, Iranian, Afghan, and Pakistani. Most of the ethnicities inhabit more than one of the region’s countries. The lack of correspondence betweeen territory is severe and caused fighting among them.
Ethnicities in Lebanon
Ethnicities in Sri Lanka
Why Do Ethnicities Engage In Ethnic Cleansing And Genocide?
Ethnic cleansing is the act of forcefully removing one ethnicity from a specific area. It is the largest level of forced migration since the early nineteenth century. During ethnic cleansing, a more powerful ethnic group removes a less powerful group to create an ethnically homogeneous region. To avoid fights between armies, they force every member of the less powerful ethnicity out of that region.
Ethnic cleansing has been undertaken in the Balkans. It happened in recent years. They created "balkanization" which is the process by which a state breaks through conflicts among ethnicities. Balkanized areas are small geographic areas that couldn't successfully be organized into one or more stable states.
There are episodes of genocide in northeastern and central Africa. Genocide is the killing of a group of people to elimainate them from their existence. It is practiced in several places in Africa including Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Several civil wars have raged in these countries because of genocide. The US sent thousands of troops to Somalia after about 300,000 people died from famine and warfare. Most of them were women and children.
