CCAS 101 (Quiz #1 Study Guide)

Self Identity

Personal Identity + Social Identity

Personal Identity

- An aspect of the self-composed of psychological traits and dispositions that give us personal uniqueness.

- E.g., I am a singer, musician, artist, writer, scientist, etc.

Social Identity

The aspects of an individual's self-identity that derive from their knowledge of being a member of categories and groups, together with the value and emotional significance attached to those memberships.

Social vs. Personal Identity

Difference between social and personal identities: e.g., can have social identities in common—gender, ethnicity, class, and race—yet, be different individuals—e.g., powerful, intimidating, savvy, strong, funny, and observant

Chicano Social Identity

- Defined as 'a person of Mexican descent living in the U.S.'

- It emphasizes pride in the Mexican culture, history, and Indigenous roots, as well as an interest in activism.

Social Categorization

We put groups into categories or boxes.

Social Comparison

We compare our group with the other groups around us.

Psychological Work

- Taking a stigmatized identity and trying to heal from it.

- It involves recognizing that society has placed a negative label or judgment on part of who you are.

Birthplace-Based Citizenship (Jus Soli)

Means you become a citizen of a country simply because you were born there, no matter what your parents' citizenship is.

Ancestry-Based Citizenship (Jus Sanguinis)

The idea that you become a citizen of a country because of your parents' or ancestors' nationality, not because of where you were born.

U.S. Birthright Citizenship

- Born in U.S. = Citizen.

- It means that anyone born on U.S. soil automatically becomes a U.S. citizen, no matter their parents' immigration status.

Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship: Presidential Action. January 20, 2025

This executive order redefines birthright citizenship and asserts that the Fourteenth Amendment does not guarantee citizenship to everyone born on U.S. soil.

Dred Scott Case: Basic Ruling

The Supreme Court ruling that denied citizenship to African Americans, leading to the passage of the 14th Amendment.

14th Amendment

Passed in 1868, it overturned the Dred Scott decision by guaranteeing birthright citizenship to all people born in the U.S.

Native Americans and Citizenship

Snyder Act: Also known as the Indian Citizenship Act, it was enacted on June 2, 1924, granting citizenship rights to Native Americans.

Wong Kim Ark Case: Basic Ruling

The Court ruled that anyone born in the United States is a U.S. citizen, regardless of their parents' immigration status.

Jus Soli

A legal principle meaning 'right of the soil,' which determines citizenship based on birthplace.

Status of Trump Executive Action on Birthright Citizenship in the Courts

Currently halted due to injunctions issued by judges nationwide, pending a hearing by the Supreme Court.

White By Law Book: What were main points of book discussed in lecture?

- This book "addresses what might be termed the formal legal construction of race—that is, how law as a formal matter.

- Either through legislation or adjudication, directly engages racial definitions"

Legal Construction of Race

- Laws are constantly shaping what it means to be a certain race by means of outlining who deserves certain privileges and who should be excluded.

- Example: The discussion of who is considered "white" to grant them citizenship.

Racial Prerequisite Cases

The "prerequisite cases" refer to a series of legal rulings, primarily from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that determined whether individuals from non-European backgrounds were considered "white" and therefore eligible for citizenship, based on racial prerequisites.

Race as Social Construction

- Human beings created the categories of race to distinguish themselves from others and in the process, a hierarchy was made.

- Race is not a natural thing.

Bagat Singh Thind case

Bhagat Singh Thind, an Indian Sikh man, argued that he should be eligible for U.S. citizenship because he was caucasian by race, but the Supreme Court ruled he was not White and thus not eligible for citizenship.

Common Knowledge

Appealed to popular, widely-held conceptions of races and racial divisions.

Scientific Evidence

Reasoning based upon supposedly objective, technical, and specialized knowledge, including naturalistic studies of humankind.

Colorblindness

The idea of ignoring or disregarding racial differences when making decisions, advocating for equal treatment without discrimination based on race or ethnicity.

Racial Formation definition

- The process by which social, economic, and political forces shape the meaning and structure of race in society.

- Creating, changing, and giving meaning to racial categories through laws, media, culture, and institutions.

Redlining

The discriminatory practice where banks and other institutions refused to lend money or provide services to people living in certain neighborhoods, particularly those predominantly inhabited by people of color.

Racial Projects definition

- Any effort to organize or interpret race — whether through policies, laws, cultural images, or ideologies.

- It can reproduce racism (intentionally or not), or it can challenge it.

- Example:

Civil Rights activism = racial project that resists racism.

Racists Project definition

A law that denies voting rights to people with felony convictions (which disproportionately affects Black Americans) = racial project that reinforces inequality.

Racial Dictatorship

From founding of the U.S. until the Civil Rights Era, racism was encoded into law and forced through direct domination and official policy.

Consequences of Racial Dictatorship

- Defined American identity as 'white'

- Organized a 'color line' which drove racial divisions

- Consolidated an oppositional racial construction; 'Indian', 'Black', 'Chicano'.

Domination

- Direct rule by coercion and force.

- E.g., the initial conquests of the Americas.

Hegemony

- Rule by coercion and consent.

- Today: racial disparities maintained through hegemony

Domination vs. Hegemony

Domination is about open force — using violence, laws, and fear to keep people of color down; hegemony is more subtle — maintained through culture, ideas, and 'common sense' beliefs.

U.S.-Mexico War

A conflict that led to Mexican independence from Spain in 1821.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

This treaty ended the U.S.-Mexico War, where Mexico ceded over half of its territory to the U.S. in exchange for $15 million and respect for the rights of Mexicans in those territories.

Citizenship and Article IX

- Article IX promised that Mexicans in the newly U.S.-acquired lands would be "admitted to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United States."

- However, in practice, many Mexicans faced discrimination, exclusion, and denial of full citizenship rights, especially in terms of voting, property rights, and legal protections.

Pablo de la Guerra Case: Basic Facts

- Pablo de la Guerra was a Californio (Mexican elite in California) who became a prominent political leader after U.S. annexation.

- The case highlighted the tension between the promises of Article IX and the reality of racial discrimination in the legal system.

Property and Article X

- Article X was supposed to guarantee the protection of Mexican land grants in the ceded territories.

- However, the U.S. Senate deleted Article X during ratification, leaving many Mexican landowners vulnerable.

- Many Californios lost their land through legal disputes, taxes, and fraud.

CA Constitution of 1849 and Mexican Voting Rights

- The California Constitution of 1849 allowed only "white males" to vote.

- Even though many Mexicans were legally U.S. citizens under the treaty, the racial language excluded non white people, including many Mexicans (especially Indigenous or mixed-race ones), from voting.

Laura Gomez Article: Mexicans as "offwhite" and racial wedge group

- Mexicans as "off-white": an "in-between" racial group was neither Black nor fully white: a wedge group that both challenged and reinforced white supremacy.

- Gómez argues that Mexican Americans occupied an "off-white" status—a position that was legally classified as white but socially treated as non-white.

Latino Threat Narrative

The narrative that Latinos are unwilling or incapable of integrating into the national community, seen as an invading force bent on reconquering land.

Media Spectacles

Events or public performances that receive an inordinate volume of media attention and public opinion.

What topics are commonly associated with media spectacles?

Border surveillance, reproduction, fertility levels, fears of immigrant invasions and reconquests, amnesty programs, economic impacts, alleged inability to assimilate.