Why do Conflicts arise among Ethnicities?

nationality: identity with a group of people who share legal attachment and personal allegiance to a particular country

Ethnicities and Nationalities

• cultural values shared with people of the same ethnicity derive from

  • religion

  • language

  • material culture

• cultural values shared with people of the same nationality derive from

  • voting

  • obtaining a passport

  • performing civic duties

Nationalities in North America

• nationality in US

  • citizens of the US

    • those born into the country

    • those who immigrated in and have become citizens

• ethnicity in US

  • groups with distinct ancestry and cultural traditions

    • ex. African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Chinese Americans, Polish Americans, etc.

• race in US

  • distinguishes blacks and other persons of color from whites

• how a US nationality was forged

  • from a collection of ethnic groups mainly from Europe and Africa

  • through sharing the values in the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution

    • to be an American meant believing in the “unalienable rights” of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”

  • NOT from issuing passports

    • African Americans weren’t considered citizens

  • NOT from voting

    • women and African Americans couldn’t vote

• the Quebecois have a different language, religion, and other cultural traditions than the Anglo-Canadians in Canada

  • want to be seen as a different nationality

    • this can give them a stronger justification to break away and form an independent country

Ethnicities and Nationalities in the United Kingdom

• the British Isles have 4 main ethnicities

  • English

    • descendants of Germanic tribes who crossed the North Sea and invaded

  • Welsh

    • Celtic people conquered and united to England

  • Scots

    • Celtic people from Scotland which was united with England

  • Irish

    • Celtic people who were ruled by England

• Ireland and Great Britain have 2 nationalities

  • United Kingdom

    • comprises Great Britain and Northern Ireland

    • “British”

  • Republic of Ireland

    • comprises the rest of Ireland

    • “Irish”

• strong ethnic identity comes from sports in the UK

• during tournaments such as the World Cup and the Six Nations’ Championship, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy, and France, are separated and usually cheer against England due to its history of colonization

Nationalism

nationalism: loyalty and devotion to a nationality

• nationalism is expressed through promoting symbols of the country, such as flags and songs

• nationalism causes people to cause negative views on other countries and cause intense dislike leading to conflict

centripetal force: an attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state

Ethnic Competition

Ethnic Competition in Lebanon

• divided into

  • Christians - 40%

    • most numerous sect is Maronite, ruled by the patriarch of Antioch, perform the liturgy in the ancient Syrian language

      • concentrated in the west-central part

    • another sect is Greek Orthodox, that uses a Byzantine liturgy

    • consider themselves ethnically descended from the ancient Phoenicians

  • Muslims - 60%

    • most belong to Shiite

      • concentrated in the south and east

    • Sunnis are the minority

      • concentrated in the northwest

    • have another branch called Druze

    • consider themselves Arabs

• once it became independent, it required each religion to be represented in the Chamber of Deputies

  • president: Maronite Christian

  • premier: Sunni

  • speaker: Shiite

  • foreign minister: Greek Orthodox

• a civil war eventually broke out, and was ended when both religions agreed to give each religion one-half of the seats in Parliament

• Israel and the US tried to restore the peace but failed

• Lebanon was controlled by Syria, but it eventually also withdrew its troops

Ethnic Diversity in Sri Lanka

• 3 main ethnicities (Sinhalese, Tamil, Moors), and Sinhalese and Tamil had a war between each other

  • Sinhalese (74%)

    • migrated from northern India

    • converted to Buddhism

    • Indo-European language in the Indo-Iranian branch

  • Tamils (16%)

    • migrated from the Palk Strait

    • Hindus

    • Dravidian language

  • Moors (10%)

    • ethnic Arabs

    • descended from traders from Southwest Asia

    • Muslims

    • speak Tamil or Sanhalese

• conflict was suppressed while controlled by Europeans

• once Sri Lanka became independent, Sinhalese have dominated everything

• Tamils felt discriminated against and rebelled

• the war ended and the Tamils were defeated, and they fear Sri Lanka may not be able to be a multinational state

• Sinhalese made Buddhism the only religion and Sinhala the only language

Dividing Ethnicities

Dividing South Asian Ethnicities Among Nationalities

• Britian created India and Pakistan after it ended its colonial rule

• India created West and East Pakistan in Pakistan

  • this was for ethnicity reasons; the Muslims and Hindus there had a lot of conflict

  • with British rule, Muslims, Hindus, and the British were fighting each other

  • creating this boundary caused about 17 million people have to migrate, and many people died by the rival region while they tried to leave

    • 6 millions Muslims from India to West Pakistan

    • 1 million from India to East Pakistan

    • 6 million Hindus from West Pakistan to India

    • 3.5 million Hindus from East Pakistan to India

• Pakistan and India never agreed on the boundary in Kashmir, causing fights and conflict

• more unrest in India comes from 25 million Sikhs upset that they didn’t get their own independent country, and fight for the Punjab state

Dividing the Kurds Among Nationalities

• the Kurds

  • Sunni Muslims

  • speak a language in the Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European

  • 30 million are split

    • 14 million in eastern Turkey

    • 5 million in northern Iraq

    • 4 million in western Iran

    • 2 million in Syria

  • make up

    • 19% of the population in Turkey

    • 16% of the population in Iraq

    • 9% in Syria

    • 6% in Iran

• the Treaty of Sevres was supposed to create an independent state of Kurdistan, but before it was approved, the Turks took it

• the Turks have tried to suppress Kurdish culture

  • Kurdish language was illegal

• Kurdish nationalists waged a guerrilla war

• Kurds continue trying to get an independent state but fail time and time again

• the US attacked Iraq and brought more autonomy to Kurds there, but not independence

Ethnic Diversity in Western Asia

• 4 nationalities

  • Iraqi

  • Iranian

  • Afghan

  • Pakistani

Ethnic Diversity in Iraq

• ethnicities

  • 3/4th are Arabs

    • 2/3rd are Shiite

      • in the south

    • 1/3rd are Sunni

      • in the center

  • 1/6th are Kurds

    • in the north

• US attacked Iraq and removed its president because of his dictatorship, weapons, and terrorism

  • Kurds welcome the US because they gained security and autonomy

  • Sunnis opposed because they feared loss of power and privilege

  • Shiites opposed because they shared hostility to US with Iran

Ethnic Diversity in Iran

• ethnicities

  • Persian

    • Shiite

    • believed to be descendants of Indo-European tribes

  • Azeri

  • Baluchi

Ethnic Diversity in Afghanistan

• ethnicities

  • Pashtun

  • Tajik

  • Hazara

• after a rebellion, the Soviet Union left Afghanistan and fighting between ethnicities continued

• the Taliban gained control and imposed very strict laws

• the US overthrew the Taliban and unleashed more control struggles with the ethnicities

Ethnic Diversity in Pakistan

• ethnicities

  • main is Punjabi

    • Sunni

  • Baluchi

  • Pashtun

    • Shiite

• conflict has caused people to leave their homes