Question

How would you characterize what you learned about America's racial and history? For example, what is the conventional wisdom you have heard surround ing Whites, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, and Middle Easterners?

Answer 1

SOLUTION

'' AMERICA'S RACIAL AND HISTORY''

The racial and ethnic make-up of the American people is in flux. New immigrants from Asia and Latin America have added a large measure of cultural and Phenotypic diversity to the American population in recent decades, just as waves of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe did a century ago. Moreover the boundaries between racial and ethnic groups are becoming blurred by high rates of inter-marraige and the growing number of persons with mixed ancestry. Descriptions and projections of the racial and ethnic composition of the American people appear Kaleidoscopic, with varied accounts and interpretations.Some commentators anticipate a new melting pot, often labeled as the ''browning of America'', characterized by the continued blurring of once- distinct racial and ethnic divisions. This interpretation is consistent with the thesis of the declining significance of race and ethinicity in American society. Others see new racial divisions arising as snome immigrant groups are allowed to intergrate with an expanded and priviliged white population, while other groups are racialized as disadvantaged brown and black minorities. These conflicting accounts arise, in part, because of differing ideological presuppositions, but also because racial and ethnic identities are not mutually exclusive or immutable.

Many Americans have multiple identities that reflect complex ancestral origins, tribal and communal associations, and varied ideological outlooks on race and culture. In general, people do not change their ethinicities as a matter of fashion, but they emphasize different aspects depending on the circnumstances. For instance, a person who identifies as Mexican among relatives might identify as Hispanic at work and as American's while at overseas. A person of mixed heritage might be a native American in one context, but white in another. These possibilities exist in census data, just as they do in informal conversationsn and settings, because of the opportunities for varied responses to different questions about race and ethinicity.

An ever greater obstacle to describing the ethnic make-up of the American people is the assumption that most people are able and willing to accurately report the origins of their parents, grand-parents and more distant ancestors. In many cases, knowlege about ancestral origins is passed along in families or communities, but in some cases these narratives are suppressed or simply lost in history.