defined+in+other+cultures

How is race defined in other cultures?

Race is defined many different ways in many differenet cultures. In a [|census] taken in 2000-2001, there was a record of how different countries categorized race. In such places as Canada and England, they had just about the same groupings as the United States (white, black, mixed, ext). However, in places like Brazil, people were grouped mainly on the color of their skin (white, black, yellow, brown). There wasn't any mixed race only undeclared. In Bulgaria, people were placed into racial groups by their nationality. If you were Bulgarian you were one race and if you were Turkish, you were another group. One interesting group that Bulgaria has is the group of Gypsies. Picture taken in 1552 of Gipsies or Romani People

Gypsies also known as [|Romani people]originated in India and spread in Europe. It just so happens, that in Bulgaria, they are a race. In Guam, race and nationality are interchangeable meaning that someone can be known as a color of the skin or of their nationality. Tongan is a nationality or a race in Guam. Kingdom of Tonga or the Friendly Islands are located in the South Pacific Islands. [|Kingdom of Tonga] or the Friendly Islands

Some countries such as Mexico answer the question of what race someone is by a yes or no question. In Mexico the question is are you nahuati, mayan, zapoteco, muxteco, or of another indigenous (native) group.

In South Africa they have to separate groupings of the people in the race we as Americans call "black". The two groupings are Coloured people and Black people. The Coulored people are pretty much the leftovers. They are the ones that have black skin but do not fit the law of South Africa for black people because they are of mixed descent. What is insane about this is that Coloured people are the third largest population. A Coloured Women from Cape Town, South Africa

PBS.org claims that "[|Race has no genetic basis]." PBS.org thinks that not one trait can categorize members of one race compared to the other race. If this is true, then how can people define race as black and white? On this same website a census from 2000-2001 was put up. On the US portion of the Global Census it asked the person to check what he or she was (Korean, White, ect). PBS.org also thinks that race is a [|social idea]. They claim that the government is the one that is giving advantages to "white" people. Though how the government categorizes "white" people is a mystery to me.

During an interview with [|Joseph Graves, Jr]. a professor of evolutionary biology at Embry-Riddle University that PBS took, he mentioned racial classification. He said that race is grouped on a [|genetic characteristic]. If we were to change the genetic characteristic that we based race on, then the whole world (United States)would have to be put into different groups then before. He gave the example of blood type. Every person would be placed according to the blood type that he or she had. This is the way that people today place people. They place them in positions on parts of them that they cannot control.

With more research into this topic, I would like to look into race in South Africa more. I have some information on South Africa but not as much as I would like to know. I know what race's they have in their country, but I do not know how each race is viewed. Wither one race is more important or viewed higher up in society then the other. This would be interesting to learn about because in the United States we used to view people who came from their country as a lower classification of people. Do they or did they use to view us as a lower classification of people?

South African Population from 1904 Census

If you would like some more information on race in India or South Africa please see Ethan C.'s pages: http://carace.wikispaces.com/India http://carace.wikispaces.com/South+Africa If you want to explore more on race in countries over all please see Gerry C.'s page: http://carace.wikispaces.com/viewed+in+other+countries

AnnBibMcKay