Shade of Citizenship: Race, Citizenship in Modern Politics A very vexing topic of discussion indeed when it comes to the census and its racial undertones. The census can be defined as the scientific method of collecting data as records for the government or state use for the proper control of public properties. However, what completely alters the whole process is its highly comparative analytical stance adopted which inserts in elements of difference. The census is a crucial political instrument for good governance in the proper administration and organization of data collection of the population. It functions as a tool of differentiation and recognition in its attempt of grouping and segmenting the population/citizens. Therefore, its main dialectics of operation becomes ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion.’ Obviously, this inclusion/exclusion binary underpins the highly racist nature of this imposed social stratification. Race becomes the lynchpin of the census debate. Census politics can be read as synonymous to the racial politics, an intrinsic seam of the social fabric and is by far not as innocent as it appears. The fundamental crux of the book under study is therefore to call into question the racial ‘shades’ that permeate censuses. In so doing, Nobles proposes the historical analysis and evolution of two seemingly distinct case studies: US census and Brazilian narrative one. At core of her analysis is the conclusion as to how there is a razialisation process at play. Nobles never fails to highlight the census as a state tool, very much subjective in its state-centeredness and constructed framework. Construction is a politically bias process and in the social make up of the society, the census ends up demarcating categories... ... middle of paper ... ...nd racial discourses. But at present attempts are being made for the census to resist the assimilative stance and asserting the politics of difference of all forms of nuances. Conclusion Census racial categorization is scientifically baseless; an infringement of human rights and Shade of Citizenship can be thus read as a manifesto for the colorblind theory. First time in US history, individuals are able to identity themselves as belonging to more than one race. The ‘Duel Citizenship’ is catering for the growing multiracial proportion of the population. Henceforth, the 19th century pseudoscientific Social Darwinism theory of race is strongly contested restricting access of opportunities to only the privileges. Self valorization and the demonisation of the other (non-white) that was perennial for white supremacy and domination has been reduced to mere fallacy state.
Race has been an issue in North America for many years. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva discusses the new racism in his book, Racism without Racists. Bonilla-Silva classifies the new racial discrimination as color blind racism. Color blind racism is then structured under four frames (26). Color blind racism is believed to have lead to the segregation of the white race from other minorities called white habitus. Color blind racism and white habitus has affected many people, whom don’t even realize that they are, have been or will be affected.
Race-thinking: what is it? Isn’t the world past the issue of race? Do races even exist and if so, what does it mean to have a racial identity? Is colorblindness possible and how important is it? These are the questions Paul Taylor addresses in the book “Race: A Philosophical Introduction”. Paul Taylor is a self-proclaimed “radical constructionist” who will maintain that race is very real in our world and in the United States as a whole (p. 80). Taylor takes care to ensure he addresses the real needs concerning racial dynamics in the U.S., referencing historical events, prevailing policy affairs, and even pop culture to explain that everyone capable of forming opinions ought to have some sort of grasp of the concept of race-thinking. As Taylor will analyze, race and race-thinking “has shaped and continues to shape private interactions as well as the largest political choices” (p. 8). In other words, race-thinking encompasses everything we do and every interaction we have. In this paper I will attempt to interpret and expound Taylor’s views and definitions of race, concepts associated with race, and input my own interpretations as they are appropriate.
Controlling the population to aid counterinsurgency actions were seen by both men as essential. They both agreed that creating a census card to control the population would be very useful. The purpose of the census is to cut off, or at least reduce significantly, the contact between the population and the guerrillas. By watching the population’s activities after a while, the counterinsurgent personnel will be familiar with the population and easily spot unusual behavior patterns. Society could be kept in a somewhat organized mode to feel psychologically safe and thus help with the political mindset of the populous.
Winant, Howard. 2000 "Race and race theory." Annual review of sociology ():-. Retrieved from http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/winant/Race_and_Race_Theory.html on Mar 17, 1980
Race and ethnicity is a main factor in the way we identify others and ourselves. The real question here is does race/ethnicity still matter in the U.S.? For some groups race is not a factor that affects them greatly and for others it is a constant occurrence in their mind. But how do people of mix race reacts to this concept, do they feel greatly affected by their race? This is the question we will answer throughout the paper. I will first examine the battle of interracial relationship throughout history and explain how the history greatly explains the importance of being multiracial today. This includes the backlash and cruelty towards interracial couple and their multiracial children. Being part of a multiracial group still contains its impact in today’s society; therefore race still remaining to matter to this group in the U.S. People who place themselves in this category are constantly conflicted with more than one cultural backgrounds and often have difficulty to be accepted.
concerns racial equality in America. The myth of the “Melting Pot” is a farce within American society, which hinders Americans from facing societal equality issues at hand. Only when America decides to face the truth, that society is not equal, and delve into the reasons why such equality is a dream instead of reality. Will society be able to tackle suc...
The analytical significance of corridos is that it gave voice to the marginalized social groups
The United States is a racialized society, with racism deeply embedded into its history. The most renowned display of racism in the United States is the enslavement of Africans by white people. This is one of the many instances that highlights the government’s implementation of institutional racism, which has been experienced by people of many different races. In this documentary, American citizenship, the Federal Housing Administration, and real estate appear to be the focal portrayals of institutional racism. For hundreds of years, being white was essential to gaining American citizenship. In 1922, Ozawa, a Japanese businessman attempted to gain citizenship. However, the Supreme Court denied his request, stating that he was scientifically classified as Mongolian, not white. Three months later, a South Asian man, Thind, proved to the Court that he was white because he was scientifically classified as Caucasian, and therefore
That is where we see that the state and government have enormous power when it comes to defining what race actually is. The state can fundamentally shape your social status within their means. They have all access to one’s economic opportunities, including employment, and they also can control your political rights. The government pretty much has control of how you look and define yourself, but more importantly the control how others will define you. The state controls medical and research facilities and can influence all that fall under these categories, creating things such as race based
Mount, Steve. “Constitutional Topic: The Census.” USConstitution.net. 3 Jan. 2011. Web. 31 July 2011. .
"Social Forces." The Skin Color Paradox and the American Racial Order. Oxfordjournals,org, 2007. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
This struggle against marginalization is one of the principal elements that bind their sense of community, ...
The effects of this in the Brazilian mentality can be seen in a survey conducted in the years before the Vargas regime, where attitudes towards race and immigration show that “while 97 percent of those queried favored continued immigration of Europeans to Brazil, preferably Italians, Germans, and Portuguese, only 45 percent would permit Asiatics to enter” (Levine 21) and that “although virtually all respondents paid homage to the value of the Negro’s services rendered as slave and free laborer, only 18 percent declared their willingness to permit black immigration.” (Levine 21, 22) This demonstrates how other races were not only marginalized and excluded from political and social participation, but the state under Vargas also attempted to eradicate the country of their presence.
One might wonder how different the world would be if everyone had the genetic mutation and were colorblind to the biological color of race. Michael Omi and Howard Winant defined race as “a concept which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to difference of human bodies. Race has had a big factor in the history of the United States and even into present day it can decide who gets educated and who gets a quality education. One should not be ignorant to race, as not many people would deny that race exists. However, the issue is whether someone’s race affects their individual life outcomes, especially in the lens of education. Simply put, citizenship in the United States was equated by minorities to have a share
We question, however, the notion of Cultural Diversity brought in the discursive dimension of the social practices geared toward these communities. Although we have advanced in the discussion on the notion of "culture" exists in the governmental agenda, we question the extent to which social interventions, in the mediation of the local powers, are reflecting this advance. In some local institutional dimensions, the discourse can still be based on an essentialist multicultural exoticism - for example, an exaggeratedly Afrocentrist perspective - which brings a notion of Cultural Diversity coined in a mystical and distant origin, not considering the intertextual branches occurred in the process of cultural hybridization. The traditional communities, in turn, strategically utilize some traditional cultural elements for the reach of the social rights in the face of historical injustices, contextualizing the contemporary demands in the process of fighting. That is what Spivak () calls strategic