Soc week 3

Ethnic Group

a *group of people that a person identifies with based on cultural characteristics, including traditions, beliefs and values, way of life, language, foods.*

Ethnic Identification

*how we think of ourselves in relation to a specific ethnic group or several ethnic groups*.

How we think of ourselves can be due in part to our

**socialization, or growing up**

**ethnic identification is**

socially created,

**Social Construction of Reality**.

*This theory explains that the way we see our social world is created by our interactions with others*

    Smaller size of group:

  more identification

Less power of group in society

more identification

Feeling different than the larger society

more identification

Being discriminated Against:

more identification

Ethnic work

How ethnicity is constructed, enhanced and maintained

n the **Social Identity theory,** psychologists stress

the importance of connection; a strong connection enhances a person’s sense of belonging.

**ethnocentrism**

the person sees their group’s culture as the better one

our ancestors evolved in **East Africa** approximately 200,000 years ago and began

the world’s greatest migration from east africa to other parts of the world.

Race too is a **Social Construction of Reality**, an idea developed mainly in the 1600s - 1800s to justify

**Europe’s colonization** of other regions of the world.

he world’s groups were mainly divided into three races:

white, black, or brown/other, or maybe White, Negroid, and Oriental.

when the identity is established,

udgement toward other groups also exists. This judgement acts as a rationalization for our behavior and interaction with other groups

**Race** is a

concept that is based almost solely on physical characteristics:

**Racism**

*the belief that one group of people with certain physical characteristics is superior to another*

The idea of a census is to

count the number of persons,

**minority or minority group.**

people denied equal treatment in a society (**discriminated** against) because of their membership in a particular social or ethnic group

**Minority groups** are defined by

**physical or cultural characteristics**;

**ascribed status**

given to the individual

minority group does not equal

ethnic group

minority group status is another

**social construction of reality**

minority group status is **not**

**permanent**; power does shift in any society, and definitions do change

the opposite of minority group is

**dominant group**

**dominant group**

has the *power to define which characteristics are “inferior” and the power to deny equal access to the minority group.*

**Patterns of Interaction Between Groups**

• genocide \n • expulsion/population transfer \n • economic exploitation (which includes colonialism and slavery) \n • segregation \n • assimilation \n • pluralism/multiculturalism

What are the geographic divisions of Africa?

1\.  North Africa and Sudan \n 2.  Western Africa \n 3.  Eastern Africa  \n 4.  Central Africa  \n 5.  Southern Africa

 Madagascar  is sometimes considered

separately or with another region

Who prospered in the Mediterranean sea?

**Egyptian Pharaohs, Arabian Muslims, Berbers, European groups, Turkish groups.** 

**Islam** is the most prevalent since

the Arabian invasion in the 7th century, bringing with it a belief system, values and behaviors, and material cultures including dress, mosques, and life style.

continuing conflicts between Islam and Christianity divided

**Sudan** and other more southern regions.

Southern egypt habited

**Berbers, Arabs, Nubians** in southern Egypt and the **Beja**

he most common language spoken in egypt

arabic

when did the arabs invade egypt

**Arabs** who invaded along the northern rim and in 711 AD

when did berber invade

invaded the Iberian (Spanish) peninsula eventually going as far north as southern France.

Northern Africa is not conducive to farming so many of the groups…

traders by moving caravans across the Desert areas. The **trans-Saharan trade** brought gold, ivory and slaves north and carried salt, cloth and Islam south.

approximately 411 million people live in the region

west africa

 **Nigeria** is the seventh most populated country in the

orld

**Nigeria** is the most

populated

**Burkina Faso** the **Mossi** ethnic group are

dominant in terms of numbers

**Benin, the Fon** are the

largest ethnic group

he **Fon** controlled a kingdom which was then called

**Dahomey**

Two of the largest ethnic groups in west africa

**Hausa and Fulani.** The **Hausa**, who number around 20 million, are found mostly in northwestern Nigeria and southern Niger

Hausa living in other West African countries, like

**Togo, Benin**, and **Ghana**.

The **Hausa language** is

the most widely spoken language in West Africa

The **Fulani, the world's largest**

**nomadic group**

n the late 1960s into the 1970s, the **Igbo** attempted to

separate into an independent nation, resulting in civil war and over a million deaths. 

**Islam and Christianity** are the major religions of

West Africa

Islam is most present in the

northern states

**East Africa**, made up of

**Kenya, Tanzania,** **Uganda, Zambia and South Sudan,** ; and the **Horn of Africa**, made up of **Somalia, Djibouti**, **Eritrea, and Ethiopia**

 Island nations off the Eastern Coast include

**Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles** in the Indian Ocean and **Réunion and Mayotte**

it is this Eastern region of Africa from which the

***Homo Sapien sapiens*** evolved about 200,000 years ago, and first started migration north in to the Mediterranean Sea

**Bantu** tribes

migrated from West Africa into the Eastern region and southward into Central and Southern Africa, almost a circular migration from where our species started

the most influential groups in that nation are the

**Nuer** and **Dinka** tribes;

The **Nuer** and **Dinka** united to fight against the

Northern Sudanese but now that they have accomplished a separate nation, **South Sudan**, have turned against each other in conflict over political and economic power.

Colonial powers, whether **France, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany** or others earlier, usually favored a specific group in each region or colony, creating

conflict between the groups for power after independence was declared. 

When **Belgium** declared **Rwanda** an independent nation, conflict led to

the brutal **genocide** by the **Hutus** against the **Tutsis** in 1994

In **Uganda**, the **Ganda** ethnic group was

favored by the British and acquired more power and status than other group

**Ethiopia** is the oldest

independent nation in Africa, with a population today of approximately 111 million,

the second most populated in the African continent

ethiopia

Ethiopia is

the only African nation to avoid colonial rule

Ethiopia is the home of the

**Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church,** whose followers practice a Christian faith believed to have been founded by St Matthew

**Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo churched aligned with**

the **Eastern Orthodox Church** and the **Coptic Christian Church of Egypt**

The last Emperor of the **Solomonic dynasty**

was **Haile Selassie** who ruled from 1930 until 1974, when he was overthrown by a military coup

Haile Selassie was the inspiration for the

**Rastafarian movement and religion**

**Rastafarian movement and religion** started in

the 1930s in Jamaica

where is central africa

below the Sahara Dessert, east of the portion we described as West Africa and to the west of the Great Rift Valley

The largest nation is the

**Democratic Republic of Congo**

nations in central africa

**Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon,  and the islands of Sao Tome and Principe.**

central africa

is the location of some of the most important **natural resources** for today's technology but also shows high levels of poverty and disease

Copper was the major export of the

**Kuba Kingdom**

**Portugal** formed a colony,

**Sao Tome**, an island off the coast of the region, which farmed sugar cane crops and operated sugar mills.

**France** gained control of the **Congo region** in the

1700s and expanded the slave trade from there, sending many slaves to what became known as **Haiti.**

**King Leopard II of Belgium**

declared the **Congo** his personal property and made millions, He allowed such horrific treatment of the native peoples that between 1885 and 1908, it is estimated that over 10 million Congolese died from exploitation and disease

central africa native langugage derives from

**Bantu migration**, but the colonial languages of France, Belgium, Great Britain and Germany are still spoken. 

**Albert Schweitzer** established a hospital in

French Equatorial Africa, which are today the nations of **Chad, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon**

The earliest known inhabitants are believed to be the

**Pygmies** who arrived millions of years ago.  Today the existing **Pygmy tribes** are the Bambuti, the Twa, and the Babingaa

Southern africa groups

**San and the Khosisi**, today known as the **Khoisan**

main langauge in madagascar

Malagasy and French, both official languages, reflecting the origins of the indigenous ethnic groups as well as the colonial period which in this location was dominated by France

The largest ethnic group today in madagascar are the

**Merina** and the **Cotier**

the **Cotier**

a mixture of many different peoples, including African and Arab. The biggest distinction in lifestyle and culture is that the Merina are mostly urban and the Citier mostly rural.

German, Dutch, and French -- created a

new **ethnic identification** for themselves after their defeat by the British in what would become South Africa. 

**Afrikaners was created by the**

**Boer Wars**

the British imposed discriminatory practices against other Europeans in the Cape Colony, including

withholding privileges (like jury duty), eliminating their language(s) in the school system, and dominating their religions. 

many left south africa bc of the british but

Great Britain would not allow these states to exist independently leading to the horrific and brutal **Boer Wars of 1899-1902**

The elements of culture forming

**Language, symbols, beliefs, norms, and material culture**

**cultural entrepreneurs**

people in a group (or society) who "engage... in an effort to assign to a particular identity a *unique history and future* to create a stock of cultural symbols that can serve to mobilize and unite group members on the group's behalf.

**South Africa** as a political unit, a nation, was created

n 1910, combining the British colonies of the Cape and Natal, and the Boer (Dutch, German, French Huguenot peoples) republics of Transvaal, and Orange Free State (South Africa Profile – Timeline). 

**South Africa** was created after

the English defeated earlier Dutch, German and French settlers in the infamous Boer Wars

**Boer people** are now known as

**Afrikaners**.

The earliest indigenous peoples were the

S**an and Kokihi peoples**, who we know today as the **Khoisan** people

The **San** were primarily forgers and were called

**Bushmen** by the Europeans

The Khoi were called

**“Hottentots”** by the Europeans,

The largest number of South Africans today are descendants of the

**Bantu people**, accounting for approximately 80% of the native African population in South Africa

the **Zulu,** their origins are from

the migration of the **Bantu people**.

\n

The **Bantu** were originally from

West Africa, in the region of present day Nigeria.

the period of **Apartheid** from 1948 to 1994, laws were

passed in South Africa which defined groups of people, where they would live, who could marry, vote, or participate in certain occupations.