I initially thought that race, ethnicity, nationality and culture were all but one the same. However; after closer encounters with these terms and the thorough study of their definitions as stated on the website I realized that there were some profound differences among them. According to the website “race” is based on the color of one’s skin and it forms a system of hierarchy in-spite of the basic human knowledge. Despite this fact there are people who are still reluctant to let go off their race because they consider it as a source of identification.
Ethnicity on the other hand implies to a group of people who share a common geographic ancestry, historical experiences, customs, traditions, ceremonies, ideology, languages, and other social exercises. Unlike race, ethnicity can be changed over time and it can share many physical appearances. Continuing on, nationality is linked to where one originates/hales from. People with the same nationality can be of different race and ethnicity.
When I went on to the blog to read some of the articles I came across some that were very interesting such as “A wild Intern Has Appeared” by Selam and “How Unbalanced Racial/Ethnic Identifiers Lead to Unconscious Bias and How Unconscious Bias Leads to Unbalanced Racial/Ethnic Identifiers”. Selam brought up some very good points that show how she dealt with his ethnicity and racial identification. You see, she is an offspring of Chinese and Ethiopian parents which she believes made her much more diverse than the people surrounding her because she can speak, read and write both her languages, she celebrates both cultures and she has been to both countries. She further notes that her parents raised her in such a way that she took pride in her heritage. This brings up the idea of “nature vs nurture” because even though she was phenotypically different than the people surrounding her, she was raised to love her heritage and have pride in her ethnicity. Therefore, this solidifies the fact that is is not nature/phenotype that defines of shapes the person, but in fact it is the nurturing (way a person is brought up) that polishes one’s identity.
Continuing on I realized that it is not that simple, Selam revealed that in middle school she faced many racial disadvantages. The school that she went to had very few blacks and she was even more unique in the light of her biracial heritage. She was bullied, passed negative remarks and was called “Blsian” which made her feel very uncomfortable. I realized that there isn’t always a plain road ahead of us. Society is structured in a very strange and harsh manner where being different isn’t always beneficial this further backs up the idea of “nature vs nurture” because even though the school isn’t literally raising Selam however it is still a major factor in shaping her identity. Then comes in the idea of social media which has tremendously affected the lives of many people positively and negatively. Selam used the social media to her advantage and gained support and confidence by realizing that se wasn’t the only biracial person suffering from the discrimination.
The second article addresses “how unconscious bias and negative associations are developed and propagated in the mind. This selective and incomplete information seeps into the consciousness of listeners” when he says that while listing to the podcast many people miss some important information and what ever information they hear is incomplete and this leads to the development of bias among the people.