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These
discussion topics are designed to get you thinking about the readings on
race and ethnicity in Scupin in Chapter 16.
This subject is also touched on in the video: "Displaced in the South." The reading for this week from Theorizing the City
is Chapter 7 on "Wholesale Sushi," which shows how culture shapes the
way a marketplace is structured as more than just an economic exchange.
A major theme to
consider is the way anthropologists have moved away from using the word
"race," because the term is so negatively loaded with notions of "racism,"
preferring instead to use the term "ethnicity" to refer to cultural
differences between groups. The general anthropological
thinking is that "race" is not an accurate term, since it is really a
cultural construct but is used to claim real biological differences
between groups. Yet, since the concept of race is so widely
use in popular culture, is this really a matter of semantics, substituting
the word "ethnicity" in its place.
In any event, I've selected a
few themes from each of the readings and videos, which I thought
especially interesting and relevant in light of developments today.
Feel free to add additional topics in the "other" thread, and there is an extra section for the discussion of
the
videos for students in Contra Costa, since videos will arrive there
a week late. I'll leave the section up for the midterm for the
rest of this week and then will take that down along with the discussion
topics in the weeks before the midterm.
Discussion
Topics from Chapter 16 in Scupin
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In Chapter 16, Scupin begins with a discussion of the way
races have been classified by different groups, although there are no
biological essential features characterizing distinctive races.
Yet it also seems that throughout history, people have continually
created these classifications, making distinctions between their group
and groups of outsiders. And then these distinctions have shaped
the way people have reacted to or treated others. What do you
think about these developments -- and how do you think these
distinctions apply in the U.S. and other countries today?
What about the recent developments in Iraq: do you think these racial
distinctions might have any bearing on the way the GI's have treated
prisoners in Iraq? |
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There is some discussion about two models of developing
an ethnic identity -- the "primordialist model," which proposes that
ethnic attachments form the core of a person's identity, and the "circumstantialist
model," which suggests that ethnic relations can be fluid and
continually renegotiated in a multiethnic society. What do
you think of these two models? What is your own experience or that
of others you know who belong to different ethnic groups.
Does identity seem to be mainly fixed or changing, or some combination
of these two depending upon circumstances and why? |
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At one time, the American ideal was a melting pot, where
all would blend together to become assimilated into some kind of
homogenized American, though now the model is more of a plural or
multicultural society, where cultural differences are preserved, along
with commonly accepted norms and values. At the same time, the
chapter talks about the continuing influence of "WASP ethnicity" and
dominance. Yet increasingly, European Americans are becoming
a minority, while other groups, particularly African Americans, Hispanic
Americans, and Asian Americans, are becoming a growing percentage of
American society. What are your thoughts about these changes?
What have you noticed of these different influences in your own
community? What about in the political leadership of the country
today on the national, state, and local level? |
Discussion Topics from the Videos: "Displaced in
the South" (1995)
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In "Displaced in the South," the video focuses on
the experiences of minority group members in the South.
What are your reactions to their experiences? How do you think their
experience might be different in other areas of the country? And
have any of you lived in the South? If so, how was life different
for you there, compared to your life here in California?
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Discussion Topics from "Wholesale Sushi" in
Theorizing the City
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In "Wholesale Sushi," Theodore C. Bestor
distinguishes between the economic exchange that occurs in the wholesale
market as a "market" versus the broader context of this exchange as a
"marketplace" influenced by a variety of social and cultural factors.
What do you think about these distinctions? And what
particularly impressed you about the operations of this wholesale fish
market? What also struck me in reading this article were some
parallels between the operations of a fish market in Seattle that was
written about in several business books as Fish Tales, based on how
managers can learn from the fish mongers to create a more satisfying and
productive workplace environment. If anyone has read any of
these books, you might think about the Tokyo fish market in light of these
Fish Tales books.
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