Race and ethnicity (Anthropology)

This book presents research that considers cultural plurality as a cross-curricular theme, an issue that has been intensely discussed in recent times in Brazil, largely due to the implementation of new National Curriculum Parameters. This study examines the ways in which English as a Foreign Language teachers understand and address ‘race’/ethnicity in education. The main argument of this book is that unless teachers understand issues surrounding ‘race’/ethnicity, cultural plurality as a cross-curricular theme in schools will not be adequately addressed. As the ‘myth of racial democracy’ still holds much power in Brazil it is important to understand the context in which teachers work. This research is largely qualitative and uses the framework of Critical Race Theory (CRT) to examine teachers’ accounts and practices. The use of CRT as an analytical tool is important because it clearly demonstrates the way that injustice and inequality related to ‘race’ occur in Brazil. My findings indicate that dealing with issues of ‘race’/ethnicity in schools requires more than legislation, the provision of curriculum materials and teachers’ commitment issues of pedagogy are crucial. My research demonstrates that unless teachers’ professional development in the area of cultural plurality as a cross-curricular theme is put in place, issues around ‘race’/ethnicity will continue to be inadequately addressed.

Excerpt: "This scientific pathology consists of two steps. First, the author acknowledges the latest advances in the field; Jones and Hall are the main references, with echoes of Eriksen, Shennan, Hodder and, ultimately, Barth. Following this, the author proceeds to ignore any consequences derived from the first introductory part and continues to interpret variations in material culture as signs of ethnic change. In this sense, there is not much difference in such works from the Siedlungsarchäologie practised by Kossinna. This is the ‘introduction to ethnicity-syndrome’, essentially tipping your hat to recent advances, and then moving on to classic ethnic interpretations."

""Discussions of race are inevitably fraught with tension, both in opinion and positioning. Too frequently, debates are framed as clear points of opposition—us versus them. And when considering white racial identity, a split between progressive movements and a neoconservative backlash is all too frequently assumed. Taken at face value, it would seem that whites are splintering into antagonistic groups, with differing worldviews, values, and ideological stances.

White Bound investigates these dividing lines, questioning the very notion of a fracturing whiteness, and in so doing offers a unique view of white racial identity. Matthew Hughey spent over a year attending the meetings, reading the literature, and interviewing members of two white organizations—a white nationalist group and a white antiracist group. Though he found immediate political differences, he observed surprising similarities. Both groups make meaning of whiteness through a reliance on similar racist and reactionary stories and worldviews.

On the whole, this book puts abstract beliefs and theoretical projection about the supposed fracturing of whiteness into relief against the realities of two groups never before directly compared with this much breadth and depth. By examining the similarities and differences between seemingly antithetical white groups, we see not just the many ways of being white, but how these actors make meaning of whiteness in ways that collectively reproduce both white identity and, ultimately, white supremacy.""

"SHORT
Can a local folk theory of race, which convincingly posits a non-essentialist view of race, predict results in an experimental task which asks ordinary people to decide whether race or other social categories are inferentially richer? This paper demonstrates how tools derived from cognitive psychology enrich the interpretation of ethnographic data.

LONG
In Yapatera, Peru, a village descended from African slaves and indigenous labourers, I document a local folk theory of race, procreation and kinship which posits that personhood is physiologically and socially ‘mixed’. The logical outcome is that no individual can be grouped unambiguously into any discrete racial category, thereby undermining the very existence of such racial groups and downplaying the importance of race as a meaningful social marker to favour class, locality and religion. Will the folk theory withstand experimental tasks where participants are forced to choose whether race or other social categories are inferentially richer? I introduce two tasks conducted at the end of 16 months of fieldwork, derived from cognitive psychology, but re-designed to answer questions which emerge from the local ethnographic context.
Evidence from evolutionary and cognitive psychology suggests that human adults and children think ‘essentialistically’ about race posing a challenge to a theory my informants hold on to dearly. My task results confirm how people respond to ideologies of mixing in their reasoning about race but also illuminate how they have at their disposal two alternate models of race through which to think. Holding on to one theory requires a concerted effort. This leads me to pay greater attention to inconsistencies of the local folk theory, to explore reactions to the task, and to reinterpret the way in which the category of ‘race’ matters. The combination of methods here can help explain how this specific group has adapted to their particular historical position.
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