Chapter 5

Laten we beginnen. Het is Gratis
of registreren met je e-mailadres
Chapter 5 Door Mind Map: Chapter 5

1. Field Note

1.1. a woman worked ten hours a day, six days a week, turning stacking, and restacking bricks to prevent them from cracking

1.1.1. for her work she earned about 45 cents (US) per hour

1.2. the difference in technology between the two countries is the difference in labor

1.3. in Bali, women and boys make bricks

1.4. in the United States, the vast majority of brick-makers are men, aided by machines

1.5. throughout the world, different cultures and societies have different ideas about what jobs are appropriate for men and what jobs are appropriate for women

1.6. gender is a culture's assumptions about the differences between men and women: their 'characters,' the roles they play in society, what they represent

1.7. society creates boxes in which we put people and expect them to live

1.7.1. these boxes are in a sense stereotypes embodying assumptions we make about what is expected from or assumed about women, men, members of certain races, ethnic groups, and people with various sexual preferences

2. What Is Identity, and How Are Identities Constructed?

2.1. Gillian Rose defines identity as "how we make sense of ourselves"

2.2. we construct our own identities through experiences, emotions, connections, and rejections

2.3. identities are fluid, constantly changing, shifting, and becoming

2.4. one of the most powerful ways to construct an identity is by identifying against other people

2.4.1. first define the "other"

2.4.2. then define ourselves in opposing terms

2.5. Europeans came to define Africans and Americans as "savage" and "mystical"

2.6. one of the most powerful foci of identity in the modern world is the state

2.7. state nationalism has been such a powerful force that in many contexts people think of themselves first and foremost as French, Japanese, or American

2.8. language and religion can function as foci of identity

2.9. Race

2.9.1. the various "races" to which people refer are the product of ways of viewing minor genetic differences that developed as modern humans spread around the world

2.9.2. in precolonial Africa, liens of division sometimes reflected differences in skin tones among people whom Europeans all came to view as "black" during the colonial period

2.9.3. modern ways of dividing people into races have become so pervasive that we find ourselves continually filing out census forms, product warranty information, surveys, medical forms, and application forms that ask us to "check" a box identifying ourselves by races, for example "white," "black," "Asian"

2.9.4. one of the easiest ways to define the "Other" is through skin color because it is visible

2.9.5. what society typically calls a "race" is in fact a combination of physical attributes in a population

2.9.6. sunlight stimulates the production of melanin, which protects skin from damaging ultraviolet rays; the more melanin that is present, the darker the skin will be.

2.9.7. humans living in low latitudes (closer to the equator, from tropical Africa through southern India to Australia) had darker skins

2.9.8. the production of vitamin D, which is a vitamin neccessary to live a healthy life, is stimulated by the penetration of ultraviolet rays

2.9.9. over the millennia, natural selection in higher latitudes, closer to the North and South Poles, favored those with the least amount of pigmentation

2.9.10. people with less pigmentation could easily absorb ultraviolet rays

2.9.11. there is no biological basis for dividing the human species into four or five groups based on skin color

2.9.12. people have constructed racial categories to justify power, economic exploitation, and cultural oppression

2.10. Race and Ethnicity in the United States

2.10.1. unlike a local culture or ethnicity to which we may choose to belong, race is an identity that is more often assigned

2.10.2. definitions of races in the United States historically focused on dividing the country into "white" and "nonwhite," but how these categories are understood has changed over time

2.10.2.1. for example, when immigration to the United States shifted from northern and western Europe to southern and eastern Europe in the early twentieth century, the United States government

2.10.3. as a result of immigration and differences in fertility rates, the United States is becoming increasingly "nonwhite."

2.10.4. "Hispanic" means coming from a country where Spanish is the predominant language, including Spain, Mexico, and many countries in Central and South America and the Carribbean

2.10.5. in the United States, 64 percent of the Hispanic population is of Mexican origin, and 9 percent of peopl ewho define themselves as Hispanic are of Puerto Rican descent

2.10.6. according to the data projections provided after the 2010 Census, the population of "everyone else" will surpass (in numbers) the "White, non Hispanic" population around 2042

2.11. Residential Segregation

2.11.1. racism has affected the distribution of African Americans, American Indians, and others throughout the history of the United States

2.11.2. some of the most dramatic geographic impacts of racism could be found at the neighborhood scale

2.11.3. many cities in the United States remain strongly segregated along racial lines

2.11.4. residential segregation is the degree to which two or more groups live separately from one another, in different parts of the urban environment

2.11.5. in the 2002 Census Bureau report, the authors reported on the levels of residential segregation in metropolitan areas of the United States between 1980 and 2000

2.11.6. they found that overall residential segregation by race/ethnicity is on the decline

2.11.7. in 2010, the most residentially segregated large metropolitan area for African Americans was Milwaukee, Wisconsin

2.11.8. the least residentially segregated is Oklahoma City

2.11.9. the most residentially segregated metropolitan area for Asians/Pacific Islanders was San Francisco, followed by New York and Los Angeles

2.11.10. the report based on the 2010 census date found Buffalo/Niagra Falls to be the most segregated for Asians

2.11.11. Baltimore, Maryland is one of the more residentially integrated cities in the United States for Asians and also for Hispanics/Latinos

2.11.12. the city with the greatest residential segregation for Hispanics was New York, and Baltimore was one of the least segregated

2.11.13. people know where the "other" lives and will purposefully choose to live in neighborhoods with people like themselves instead

2.11.14. in some cities, race is related to class

2.12. Identities Across Scales

2.12.1. we have different identities at different scales: individual, local, regional, national, and global

2.12.1.1. at the individual scale, we may see ourselves as a daughter, a brother, a golfer, or a student

2.12.1.2. at the local scale, we may see ourselves as members of a community, leaders of a campus organization, or residents of a neighborhood

2.12.1.3. at the regional scale, we may see ourselves as Southerners, as north Georgians, as Atlantans, as Yankees living in the South, or as migrants from another region of the world

2.12.1.4. at the national scale, we may see ourselves as American, as college students, or as members of a national political party

2.12.1.5. at the global scale, we may see ourselves as Western, as educated, as relatively wealthy, or as free

2.12.2. each larger territorial extent of geographic space has its own corresponding set of identities

2.13. The Scale of New York City

2.13.1. New York has a greater number and diversity of immigrants than any other city in the United States

2.13.2. the people in New York are much more diverse than the box on census forms labeled "Hispanic" would suggest

2.13.3. the majority of New York's 2.2 million "Hispanics" are Puerto Ricans and Dominicans

2.13.4. Puerto Ricans and Dominicans have had a profound impact on New York's cultural landscape

2.13.5. Puerto Ricans moved into the immigrant Jewish neighborhood of East Harlem

3. How Do Places Affect Identity, and How Can We See Identities In Places?

3.1. our sense of place is fluid; it changes as the place changes as we change

3.2. our sense of place becomes part of our identity, and our identity affects the ways we define and experience place

3.3. Ethnicity and Place

3.3.1. the idea of ethnicity as an identity stems from the notion that people are closely bounded, even related, in a certain place over time

3.3.2. the word "ethnic" becomes from the ancient Greek word "ethnos," meaning "people" or "nation"

3.3.3. in the United States a group of people may define their ethnicity as Swiss American

3.3.4. the strongest identities in Switzerland are most often at the canton level

3.3.5. ethnicity sways and shifts across scales, across places, and across time

3.3.6. using physical appearance and skin color, an observer cannot distinguish the ethnic groups in many of the conflicts around the world

3.3.7. Chinatown in Mexicali

3.3.7.1. the town of Mexicali is the capital of the State of Baja California

3.3.7.2. in Mexicali lies one of the largest Chinatowns in Mexico

3.3.7.3. Mexicali's Chinatown is experiencing a transformation, as Chinese residents have dispersed to the edges of the city and beyond

3.4. Identity and Space

3.4.1. space is social relations stretched out

3.4.2. place is particular articulations of those social relations as they have come together, over time, in that particular location

3.4.3. part of the social relations of a place are embedded assumptions about ethnicity, gender, and sexuality

3.4.4. Sexuality and Space

3.4.4.1. sexuality is part of humanity

3.4.4.2. for example examining gay neighborhoods in San Francisco and London focused on how gay men created spaces and what those spaces meant to gay identities

3.4.4.3. same sex households in certain neighborhoods of cities, such a Adams-Morgan and DuPont Circle in Washington, D.C., and the West Village and Chelsea in Manhattan

4. How Does Geography Reflect and Shape Power Relationships Among Groups?

4.1. power relationships are assumptions and structures about who is in control and who has power over others

4.2. power relationships affect identites directly

4.3. power relationships also affect cultural landscapes

4.4. even without government support, people create places where they limit the access of other peoples

4.4.1. for example, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Catholics and Protestants defined certain neighborhoods as excluding the "other" through painting murals, hanging bunting, and painting curbs

4.5. Just Who Counts?

4.5.1. the U.S. government separated American Indians into those who were "civilized" enough to be citizens and those who were not until 1924

4.5.2. not until 1920 did enough states ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which recognized the right of all Americans to vote regardless of sex

4.5.3. throughout the world, the work of women is often undervalued and uncounted

4.5.4. if women's productivity in the household alone were given a dollar value by calculating what it would cost to hire people to perform these tasks, the gross national income (GNI) for all countries of the world combined would grow by one third

4.5.5. in poorer countries, women produce more than half of all the food; they also build homes, dig wells, plant and harvest crops, make clothes, and do many other things that are not recorded in official statistics being economically productive

4.5.6. the number of women in the "official" labor force is rising while the proportion of men in the labor force globally declined between 1990 and 2010

4.5.7. even though women are in the official labor force in greater proportions than ever before, they continue to be paid less and have less access to food and education than men in nearly all cultures and places around the world

4.5.8. in Africa, the proportion of women employed in agriculture ranges from a lo 19 percent in countries in southern Africa to a high of 68 percent in countries in the eastern, middle, and western Africa

4.5.9. in Northern Africa, 42 percent of women are employed in agriculture and 41 percent of women are employed in services

4.5.10. in Asia, employment of women in agriculture ranges from 11 percent in the eastern Asia, where 76 percent of women are employed in the service sector, to South Asia with 55 percent of women working in agriculture and 28 percent in the service sector

4.6. Vulnerable Populations

4.6.1. power relations can have a fundamental impact on which populations or areas are particularly vulnerable to disease, death, injury or famine

4.6.2. the study of vulnerability requires thinking geographically because not all people and places are affected in the same way by social, political, economic, or environmental chage

4.6.3. fieldwork is often the best way to understand how power structures in society create vulnerable groups at the local scale, and how those vulnerable groups might be affected by particular developments

4.6.4. Sara Halvorson studied differences in the vulnerabilities of children in northern Pakistan

4.6.4.1. she examined the vulnerability of children to diarrheal disease by paying attention to "constructions of gender, household politics, and gendered relationships that perpetuate inherent inequalities and differences between men and women and within and between social groups"

4.6.4.2. she studied 30 families, 15 of whom had a low frequency of diarrhea and dysentery and 15 of whom had a high frequency of these diseases

4.6.4.3. several tangible resources and several intangible resources all influence the vulnerability of children to diarrheal diseases in northern Pakistan

4.6.4.4. she found that people with higher incomes generally had lower disease rates, but that income was not the only relevant factor

4.6.4.5. the least vulnerable children and women were those who had higher incomes and an established social network of support

4.6.5. in North America and Europe, HIV/AIDS is much more prevalent among homosexual and bisexual men than among heterosexual men and women

4.6.5.1. in Subsaharan Africa, women have much higher rates of HIV/AIDS than men

4.6.5.2. women in Accra have lower HIV/AIDS rates because they have greater access to health care than women in rural areas

4.7. Women in Subsaharan Africa

4.7.1. most of Subsaharan Africa, especially rural areas, is dominated numerically by women

4.7.2. young girls soon become trapped in the cycle of female poverty and overwoork

4.7.3. often there is little money for school fees; what is available first goes to pay for the boys

4.7.4. today, the country where women hold the highest proportion of legislative seats is neither Uganda nor South Africa. rather, another African country, Rwanda, is the first country in the world where women hold more than 50 percent of the legislative seats

4.8. Dowry Deaths in India

4.8.1. dowry is the price to be paid by the bride's family to the groom's father

4.8.2. the bride may be brutally punished, often burned, or killed for her father's failure to fulfill a marriage agreement

4.8.3. the power relationships that place women below men in India cannot simply be legislated away

4.8.4. some statistics point to an improving place of women in Indian society, other statistics confirm India still has a preference for males overall

4.8.5. problems cannot really be solved unless power relations shift at the family, local, regional, and national scales

4.9. Shifting Power Relations among Ethnic Groups

4.9.1. in many places, more than one ethnic group lives in a place, creating unique cultural landscapes and revealing how power relations factor into the ways ethnicities are constructed, revised and solidified

4.9.2. areas in multiple ethnicities often experience an ebb and flow of acceptance over time

4.9.3. when the economy is booming, residents are generally more accepting of each other

4.9.4. when the economy takes a downturn, residents often begin to resent each other and can blame the "Other" for their economic hardship

4.9.4.1. for example, "they" took all the jobs

4.9.5. until World War II, the Chinese were segregated from the rest of Oakland's population

4.9.6. after World War II, the ethnic population of Asians in Alameda County became more complex

4.9.7. the Asian population alone doubled in the decade between 1980 and 1990 and diversified to include not only Chines and Japanese but also Koreans, Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians

4.9.8. in California and in much of the rest of the United States, the "Asian" box is drawn around a stereotype of what some call the "model minority"

4.9.9. Power Relations in Los Angeles

4.9.9.1. over the last four decades, the greatest migration flow into California and the southwestern United States has come from Latin America and the Caribbean, especially Mexico

4.9.9.2. the area of southeastern Los Angeles County is today "home to one of the largest and highest concentrations of Latinos in Southern California"

4.9.9.3. on April 29-20, 1992, the City of Los Angeles, California, became engulfed in one of the worst incidents of civil unrest in United States history

4.9.9.3.1. during the two days of rioting 43 people died, 2383 people were injured, and 16,291 people were arrested

4.9.9.3.2. property damage was estimated at approximately $1 billion, and over 22,700 law enforcement personnel were deployed to quell the unrest

4.9.9.3.3. according to the media, the main catalyst for the mass upheaval was the announcement of a "not guilty" verdict in the trial of four white Los Angeles police officers accused of using excessive force in the videotaped arrest of Rodney King, a black motorist