Race and Ethnicity The United States and the World

by Scupin, Raymond R, Ph.D.

• ISBN13: 9780205064472
• ISBN10: 0205064477
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-07-13
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

The second edition of Race and Ethnicity: The United States and the Worldcontinues its legacy as an introductory survey text covering the basic concepts and research of theoretical issues and empirical studies of race and ethnicity in the U.S. and throughout the world.    Through state of the art chapters, Dr. Scupin introduces the concepts of race, the fallacies of scientific racism, and theoretical perspectives on ethnicity - ; followed by fourteen chapters that detail the empirical findings of anthropologists on race and ethnicity in the U.S. and the world.

Author Biography

In This Section

 

I. Author Bio

II. Author Letter

 

 

I. Author Bio

 

Raymond Scupin is Professor of Anthropology and International Studies at Lindenwood University. His research interests include Asia, Islam, religion, race and ethnicity issues, and political economy. He has done ethnographic research in Thailand and among American Indians in California. Recent publications include Cultural Anthropology: A Global Perspective and Religion and Culture: An Anthropological Focus, both published by Prentice Hall.

 

 

II. Author Letter

 

Dear Colleague,

 

One of the major objectives of both sociology and anthropology is to comprehend both the differences and similarities among different groups of humans throughout the world. A major lesson derived from anthropological and sociological research is that as different groups learn about each other’s cultural values, norms, behaviours, goals, and aspirations, the less likely they are to maintain rigid stereotypes and misconceptions about one another, thus, one of the practical results of anthropological and sociological research is a reduction in racism, ethnocentrism, and in-group and out-group animosities and tensions.

 

I invite you to consider my new edition of Race and Ethnicity: The United States and the World (The Second Edition) to introduce your students to the most current, interesting, and exciting research in this field.

 

My text on race and ethnicity issues based on research contributions of anthropologists and sociologists provides undergraduate students an understanding of these phenomena from a global perspective.  It covers the concept of ethnicity by demonstrating how anthropologists and sociologists do research on various ethnic, nationalist, and ethnonationalists issues.  In fact, the first five chapters of R&E provide students with the state-of-the-art research on the history of scientific racialism, the contemporary concept of race as understood by modern anthropologists, and some provocative research on how humans tend to classify ethnic groups in essentialist forms all over the world.  These chapters help students develop a more nuanced, up-to-date, critical view of race and ethnicity concepts and constructs.

 

Students are then introduced to the research of anthropologists and sociologists on race and ethnicity within the United States. Up-to-date chapters on Native American Indians, Wasps and white ethnics, Jewish Americans, African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, Asian Americans and Arab Americans are written by specialists in these areas — combining history along with anthropological and sociological research on the contemporary conditions of these different ethnic groups in U.S. society. These chapters help expand the awareness of American or international students from many different backgrounds about the tremendous ethnic diversity in U.S. society.

 

Finally, students are introduced to the up-to-date chapters on race and ethnicity in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Canada — again, written by specialists who have conducted ethnographic and sociological research in these areas of the world. These final chapters build on the conceptual frameworks provided in earlier chapters to help illustrate these patterns and dimensions of race and ethnicity in a global context. These chapters provide students with insights about how colonialism, nationalism, racism, and ethnic relations have developed in various areas of the globe.

 

With Race and Ethnicity 2e, I believe you will be able to demonstrate how important anthropological and sociological research is in understanding race and ethnicity issues throughout the world. I am available for questions from anyone considering or reviewing this textbook at my email address, [e-mail].

 

Sincerely,

 

Raymond Scupin

 

Lindenwood University

 

 

Table of Contents

 

BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS:

 

Part I: The Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity

Chapter 1: The Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity, Raymond Scupin

Chapter 2: The Concept of Race in Anthropology, Scott MacEachern

Chapter 3: A History of "Scientific" Racialism, Leonard Liebermanand Raymond Scupin

Chapter 4: Ethnicity, Raymond Scupin

Chapter 5: Ethnicity and Ethnocentrism: Are They Natural?, Donald E. Brown

 

Part II: The Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.

Chapter 6: U.S. Ethnic Relations: Anglos and the "White Ethnics," Raymond Scupin

Chapter 7: American Indians, Rachel Bonney and Raymond Scupin 

Chapter 8: African Americans, Susan Love Brown

Chapter 9: Jewish Americans, Jack Glazier

Chapter 10: Hispanic/Latino Americans, Ellen Bigler

Chapter 11: Asian Americans, Janet Benson

Chapter 12: Arab Americans, Barbara Aswadand Thomas Abowd

 

Part III: Race and Ethnicity: A Global Focus

Chapter 13: Latin America and the Caribbean, Ronald Kephart

Chapter 14: Africa, Sheila Clarke-Ekong

Chapter 15: The Middle East, Laurie King-Irani

Chapter 16: Asia, Raymond Scupin

Chapter 17: Europe, Pamela Ballinger

Chapter 18: Canada, Norman Buchignani

Chapter 19: Conclusion, Raymond Scupin

 

Excerpts

PREFACE Ethnic unrest and tension are prevalent in the contemporary world. Newspapers and television news are rife with stories about ethnic violence among the peoples of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Africa, Sri Lanka, India, Ireland, the Middle East, and the United States. Thus, as globalization rapidly expands and both undermines and strengthens ethnic and national identities, an understanding of race and of ethnicity issues becomes more pertinent. This book is an introductory survey of the basic concepts and research in the field of anthropology and sociology on race and ethnicity in the United States and throughout the world. Both sociologists and anthropologists have been doing research on race and ethnicity for more than a hundred years and have developed a profound understanding of race and ethnicity issues. However, these sociological and anthropological insights have not been communicated widely. Race and ethnicity issues have had immense effects on both U.S. and global political trends and have created innumerable tensions and misunderstandings among different groups. An anthropological and sociological understanding of race and ethnicity has clarified some of these misconceptions and may help relieve some of these tensions. One of the major objectives of both sociology and anthropology is to comprehend both the differ-ences and the similarities among different groups of humans throughout the world. A major lesson derived from anthropological and sociological research is that as different groups learn about each other¿s cultural values, norms, behaviors, goals, and aspirations, the less likely they are to maintain rigid stereotypes and misconceptions about one another. Thus, one of the practical results of anthropological and sociological research is a reduction in racism, ethnocentrism, and animosities and tensions. As students learn to discern what sociologists and anthropologists have learned about race and ethnicity issues, they are more likely to be able to adjust and become more productive citizens in an increasingly multicultural and globally integrated world. A comprehensive understanding of race and ethnicity issues is a fundamental aspect of a well-rounded liberal arts education. WHAT¿S NEW TO THIS EDITION ¿ We have re-emphasized both the anthropological and sociological approaches to race and ethnicity issues to incorporate both disciplines throughout the textbook. ¿ We have condensed the chapter on the History of ¿Scientific¿ Racialism and incorporated the most recent findings on the controversial IQ and race issues debunking the Bell Curve and Phillipe Rushton¿s racialistic conceptions. ¿ We have updated the most recent findings regarding the genetic and paleoanthropological data that highlight the misconceptions of a simplistic typological view of race, emphasizing the social construction of the race concept. ¿ We have added a discussion of David Berreby¿s book Us and Them within the chapter by Donald E. Brown dealing with the universals of ethnocentrism and ethnicity. ¿ We have updated all the census and demographic data regarding all the different ethnic groups in U.S. society. ¿ Ellen Bigler has added a critique of Samuel Huntington¿s book Who Are We? and his simplistic approach in understanding Hispanic/Latino Americans. ¿ We have added more recent materials on the current issues that have an impact on Arab Americans since 9/11 in the chapter on Arab Americans.