The Study of Racialism

fwsweet · Posted: Tue 25 Jul 2006 15:42 Post subject: Welcome to Ethnicity in America

This is a first-draft statement subject to revision by the moderators.

The concept of ethnicity refers to a group's self-identity within a larger hegemonic mainstream culture. It does not refer to mainstream national cultures themselves. For example, the customs, traditions, language, and folklore of Spaniards living in Spain are not an "ethnicity"; they are a national culture. But the rhetoric of unity expressed by Spanish-Americans and their descendants in the United States is an "ethnicity." Topics about national cultures should be posted under "International Stories" or under the more detailed forums "Latin America" or "The Caribbean." Comparative stories of Native Americans, Irish-Americans, Japanese-Americans, etc. should be posted here.

This forum is not limited to U.S. ethnic groups. It is true that few Old-World nations have fully-formed active ethnic groups who define themselves as separate from the mainstream. (Gypsies and Jews being the prime exception.) But New-World nations often do (Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Trinidad). So discussions of Canadian Sikhs, Japanese descendants in Brazil, Trini Muslims, and the like, would also go here.