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White people

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[original research?]

The term "white people" (also "whites" or "white race") has been defined as "being a member of a group or race characterized by light pigmentation of the skin" and "to a human group having light-colored skin, especially of European ancestry." [1][2]

The term white people functions as a color terminology for race;[3] one that emerged from a racialized, European historical context.[4][5]


History of the term

The definition of white people has varied in different time periods and locations. Any definition has implications for areas as diverse as national identity, consanguinity, public policy, religion, population statistics, racial segregation, affirmative action, eugenics, racial marginalization and racial quotas. The term has been applied with varying degrees of formality and consistency in many disciplines. Such disciplines include sociology, political science, genetics, biology, medicine, biomedicine, human languages, cultural analysis, and legal analysis.

Ancient Greece and Rome used the term white as one description of skin color. Its light appearance was distinguished, for example, in a comparison of white-skinned Persian soldiers from the sun-tanned skin of Greek troops in Xenophon's Agesilaus.[6] One early use of the term appears in the Amherst Papyri, which were scrolls written in ancient Ptolemaic Greek. It contained the use of black and white in reference to human skin color.[7] In an analysis of the rise of the term, classicist James Dee found that, "the Greeks and Romans do not describe themselves as "white people" —or as anything else because they had no regular word in their color vocabulary for themselves—and we can see that the concept of a distinct 'white race' was not present in the ancient world."[8]

Assignment of positive and negative connotations of white and black date to the classical period in a number of European languages, but these differences were not applied to skin color per se. Although differences in skin color between southern Europeans and Moors were nearly nonexistent and on occasion, religious conversion was described figuratively as a change in skin color.[9]

The term white race or white people entered dictionaries of the major European languages in the 1600s.[9] Winthrop Jordan, author of Black Over White, argues that race emerged with the inherited status of slavery. He says the shift from Christian, free, and English to white happened in approximately 1680.[10] Theodore W. Allen notes in The Invention of the White Race that white identity emerged in the colonies with slavery, and says that "seventeenth-century commentator, Morgan Godwyn, found it necessary to explain to the English at home that, in Barbados, 'white' was 'the general name for Europeans."[11] White quickly became a legal category, encoded in a variety of laws and conferring different status.

According to Gregory Jay, an English professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,

Before the age of exploration, group differences were largely based on language, religion, and geography. ...the European had always reacted a bit hysterically to the differences of skin color and facial structure between themselves and the populations encountered in Africa, Asia, and the Americas (see, for example, Shakespeare's dramatization of racial conflict in Othello and The Tempest). Beginning in the 1500s, Europeans began to develop what became known as "scientific racism," the attempt to construct a biological rather than cultural definition of race ... Whiteness, then, emerged as what we now call a "pan-ethnic" category, as a way of merging a variety of European ethnic populations into a single "race"...[5]

Physical appearance

Although there is no single universal definition of whiteness, some traits that are associated with Europeans are associated with whites. The most notable trait describing people who identify as white is light skin. Many people from East Asia have light skin comparable with Europeans, however in normal discourse they are not referred to as white. Hence to distinguish whites from East Asians other facial features are considered in particular eye shape. People who are white lack epicanthic folds. Other physical features sometimes associated with white people include a variety of hair and eye colors.

Light Skin

Further information: Human skin color and SLC24A5

White people are archetypically distinguished by lighter skin, and in general, Europeans have lighter skin (as measured by population average skin reflectance read by spectrophotometer) than other ethnic groups.[12] While all mean values of skin reflectance of non-European populations are lower than Europeans, some European and non-European populations overlap in lightness of skin,[13] as noted by the Supreme Court of the United States, which stated in a 1923 lawsuit over whiteness that the "swarthy brunette[s] ... are darker than some of the lighter hued persons of the brown or yellow races" .[14]

Humans have pigment cells, which contain pigment granules called melanosomes. In people of European descent, the melanosomes are fewer, smaller, and lighter than those from people of African ancestry, while the melanosomes of East Asians show intermediate properties.[15]

According to a 2006 study by 10 scientists, lighter pigmentation observed in Europeans and East Asians is due to independent genetic mutations in at least three loci. They concluded that light pigmentation in Europeans is at least partially due to the effects of positive directional and/or sexual selection.

According to the study, the results also strongly suggests that Europeans and East Asians have evolved light skin independently and via distinct genetic mechanisms.[16]

Hair and Eye Colors

Main article: Hair color
Main article: Eye color


1-19%
light color hair
no light color hair
20-49%
light color hair
50-79%
light colored
hair
80%+
light
colored hair
File:Light eye coloration map.PNG
Eye color map according to Frost. The blue represents 80%+ light eyes, blue-green is 50-79% light eye, olive is 20-49% light eye, dark brown is 1-19% light eyes.

A greater population diversity in hair and eye colors occurs in groups which are socially designated as white. Eye color experts Sturm and Frudakis note, "The common occurrence of lighter iris colours is found almost exclusively in Europeans (i.e. recent monophyletic, non-East Asian, non-Native American and non-African lineages) and individuals of European admixture."[17]

Anthropologist Peter Frost geographically locates the variation as follows, "This diversity reaches a maximum in an area centered on the East Baltic and covering northern and eastern Europe."[18]

Blonde

Main article: Blonde

Lighter hair colors occur naturally in humans of all ethnicities as rare mutations, but at such low rates that it is hardly noticeable in most populations, or is only found in children.[19] In certain European populations, the occurrence of blond hair is more frequent, and often remains throughout adulthood. Based on recent genetic information, it is probable that humans with blond hair became distinctly numerous in Europe during the last Ice Age. Before then, Europeans had dark brown hair and dark eyes.[19] Australian Aborigines have a fairly high instance of blond-brown hair. [20]

Red Hair

Main article: Red hair

Red hair (also referred to as auburn, ginger, or titian) is a hair color that varies from a deep red through to bright copper. It is characterized by high levels of the reddish pigment pheomelanin and relatively low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. People with red hair are often referred to as redheads. Red hair is generally associated with Europeans, however similar hair colors are found amongst the populations of Oceania and Black Jamaicans.[21]

Social and physical perceptions of white

Main article: Whiteness studies
See also: Caucasian race, Race, Social interpretations of race, and Race (historical definitions)

Definitions of white have changed over the years, including the official definitions used in many countries, such as the United States and Brazil.[22] Some defied official regulations through the phenomenon of "passing", many of them becoming white people, either temporarily or permanently. Through the mid- to late 20th century, numerous countries had formal legal standards or procedures defining racial categories (see cleanliness of blood, apartheid in South Africa, hypodescent). However, as critiques of racism, scientific arguments against the existence of race, and international prohibitions on state racial discrimination arose, a trend towards self-identification of racial status arose.

Australia

From the late 19th century through 1973, the Government of Australia restricted all permanent immigration to the country by non-Europeans under the White Australia policy, which was enabled by the Immigration Restriction Act 1901,[23] but not formally codified. Immigration inspectors were empowered to ask immigrants to take dictation from any European language as a test for admittance, a test used in practice to exclude people from Asia, South America, Europe and Africa depending on the political climate. Under the policy, large numbers of Portuguese, Italian, Greek, South Slavic, German, Dutch and Polish immigrants were admitted following World War II, assimilating into the country's Anglo-Celtic population.[24] Immigration is no longer restricted to White people.

Brazil

Main article: White Brazilian

Brazil's definition of whiteness is premised on racial mixture rather than hypodescent, producing a range of historical categories for race. As a term, white is more broadly applied than in North America.

Recent censuses in Brazil are conducted on the basis of self-identification. In the 2000 census, 53% of Brazilians (approximately 90 million people in 2000; around 100 million as of 2006) were white and 39% pardo or multiracial Brazilians. White is applied as a term to people of European, Jewish and Arab descent. The census shows a trend of fewer Brazilians of African descent (blacks and pardos) identifying as white people as their social status increases.[25]

Canada

In the results of Statistics Canada's 2001 Canadian Census, white is one category in the population groups data variable, derived from data collected in question 19 (the results of this question are also used to derive the visible minority groups variable). [26]

In the 1995 Employment Equity Act, '"members of visible minorities" means persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour'. In the 2001 Census, persons who marked-in Chinese, South Asian, African, Filipino, Latin American, Southeast Asian, Arab, West Asian, Japanese or Korean were included in the visible minority population.[27] A separate census question on "cultural or ethnic origin" (question 17) does not refer to skin colour.[28]

Norway

According to the Norwegian Social Science Data Service, white is a possible answer to ethnic/people group category question. After Norwegians, Sami, Kvens and other Nordics, it is mentioned as White/European.[29]

United Kingdom

In the UK, the Office for National Statistics uses the term White as an ethnic category. The terms White British, White Irish and White Other are used. White British includes Welsh, English and Scottish peoples, as well as residents of Northern Ireland who identify as British. The category White Other includes all white people not from the British Isles.[30][31] In the UK white usually refers only to people of native British and European origin.[32]

United States

Main article: White American

The U.S. Census currently defines "white people" as "people having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.[33] The U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation also categorizes "white people" as "people having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa through racial categories used in the UCR Program adopted from the Statistical Policy Handbook (1978) and published by the Office of Federal Statistical Policy and Standards, U.S. Department of Commerce.[34]

The cultural boundaries separating White Americans from other racial or ethnic categories are contested and always changing. Among those not considered White at some time in American history have been the Irish, Germans, Ashkenazi Jews, Italians, Spaniards, Slavs, Greeks and other Mediterranean peoples.[35]

Professor David R. Roediger of the University of Illinois, suggests that the construction of the white race in the United States was an effort to mentally distance slave owners from slaves.[36] By the 18th century, white had become well established as a racial term. The process of officially being defined as white by law often came about in court disputes over pursuit of citizenship. The Immigration Act of 1790 offered naturalization only to "any alien, being a free white person". In at least 52 cases, people denied the status of white by immigration officials sued in court for status as white people. By 1923, courts had vindicated a "common-knowledge" standard, concluding that "scientific evidence" was incoherent. Legal scholar John Tehranian argues that in reality this was a "performance-based" standard, relating to religious practices, education, intermarriage and a community's role in the United States.[37]

The following people represent diverse examples of the term: "White People" as described in this article.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ White, from Merriam-Webster online.
  2. ^ White, from the Compact Oxford English Dictionary.
  3. ^ "Referring to races by colors, such as White, Black, and Brown, tends to obscure the fact that skin color and race are not the same." Frank F. Montalvo, "Surviving Race: Skin Color and the Socialization and Acculturation of Latinas," Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 13:3, 2004.
  4. ^ For extensive discussion on skin color as a metaphor for race (and not just in encounter with Japan), see Rotem Kowner, "Skin as a Metaphor: Early European Racial Views on Japan, 1548–1853," Ethnohistory 51.4 (2004) 751-778. See also, Christine Ward Gailey Politics, Colonialism and the Mutable Color of South Pacific Peoples," Transforming Anthropology 5.1&2 (1994). On historical antecedents during the European medieval period, see James H. Dee, "Black Odysseus, White Caesar: When Did 'White People' Become 'White,'?" The Classical Journal, Vol. 99, No. 2. (Dec., 2003 - Jan., 2004), p. 162ff.
  5. ^ a b Gregory Jay, [Who Invented White People? http://www.uwm.edu/~gjay/Whiteness/Whitenesstalk.html], 1998. Cite error: The named reference "GJay" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. ^ James H. Dee, "Black Odysseus, White Caesar: When Did 'White People' Become 'White,'?" The Classical Journal, Vol. 99, No. 2. (Dec., 2003 - Jan., 2004), p. 162.
  7. ^ Alan Cameron, Black and White: A Note on Ancient Nicknames, The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 119, No. 1 (Spring, 1998), pp. 113-117
  8. ^ James H. Dee, "Black Odysseus, White Caesar: When Did 'White People' Become 'White,'?" The Classical Journal, Vol. 99, No. 2. (Dec., 2003 - Jan., 2004), p. 163.
  9. ^ a b James H. Dee, "Black Odysseus, White Caesar: When Did 'White People' Become 'White,'?" The Classical Journal, Vol. 99, No. 2. (Dec., 2003 - Jan., 2004), p. 164.
  10. ^ Winthrop D. Jordan, The White Man's Burden, (condensed version of Black Over White), 1974, p. 52.
  11. ^ James Allen (1994). The Invention of the White Race: Racial Oppression and Social Control. Verso. ISBN 086091660X.
  12. ^ Jablonski NG, Chaplin G. 2000. The evolution of skin coloration, p. 19.
  13. ^ American Anthropological Association, "The Human Spectrum", Race: Are we so different? website.
  14. ^ John Tehranian, "Performing Whiteness: Naturalization Litigation and the Construction of Racial Identity in America," The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 109, No. 4. (Jan., 2000), p. 827.
  15. ^ Fish gene sheds light on human skin color variation [1]
  16. ^ Heather L. Norton, Rick A. Kittles, Esteban Parra, Paul McKeigue, Xianyun Mao, Keith Cheng, Victor A. Canfield, Daniel G. Bradley, Brian McEvoy and Mark D. Shriver (December 11, 2006) Genetic Evidence for the Convergent Evolution of Light Skin in Europeans and East Asians Oxford Journals [2]
  17. ^ Sturm RA, Frudakis TN. "Eye colour: portals into pigmentation genes and ancestry," Trends in Genetics, 2004 Aug;20(8):327-32.
  18. ^ Why Do Europeans Have So Many Hair and Eye Colors? by Peter Frost Université Laval (Canada) and St. Andrews University (Scotland) [3]
  19. ^ a b "Cavegirls were first blondes to have fun", from The Times.
  20. ^ http://anthro.palomar.edu/vary/vary_1.htm
  21. ^ Phenotypic Expression of Melanocortin-1 Receptor Mutations in Black Jamaicans
  22. ^ Adams, J.Q. (2001). Dealing with Diversity. Chicago, IL: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. 0-7872-8145-X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  23. ^ Immigration Restriction Act 1901 [4]
  24. ^ Stephen Castles, "The Australian Model of Immigration and Multiculturalism: Is It Applicable to Europe?," International Migration Review, Vol. 26, No. 2, Special Issue: The New Europe and International Migration. (Summer, 1992), pp. 549-567.
  25. ^ Gregory Rodriguez, "Brazil Separates Into Black and White," LA Times, September 3, 2006. Note that the figures belie the title.
  26. ^ "Groups" in Statistics Canada, Sample 20001 Census form. Statistics Canada, 2001 Census Visible Minority and Population Group User Guide
  27. ^ Human Resources and Social Development Canada, 2001 Employment Equity Data Report
  28. ^ Census 2001: 2B (Long Form)
  29. ^ http://www.nsd.uib.no/data/ny_individ/norStudy/norVariable.cfm?norVarID=7989
  30. ^ Identity, Ethnicity and Identity, National Statistics online. Retrieved 03 November 2006.
  31. ^ Census 2001 - Ethnicity and religion in England and Wales, Ethnicity and religion. Retrieved 03 November 2001.
  32. ^ Kissoon, Priya. King's College of London. Asylum Seekers: National Problem or National Solution. 2005. November 7, 2006.
  33. ^ The White Population: 2000, Census 2000 Brief C2KBR/01-4, U.S. Census Bureau, August 2001.
  34. ^ Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook, U.S. Department of Justice. Federal Bureau of Investigation. P. 97 (2004)
  35. ^ John Tehranian, "Performing Whiteness: Naturalization Litigation and the Construction of Racial Identity in America," The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 109, No. 4. (Jan., 2000), pp. 825-827.
  36. ^ Roediger, Wages of Whiteness, 186; Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War (New York, 1998).
  37. ^ John Tehranian, "Performing Whiteness: Naturalization Litigation and the Construction of Racial Identity in America," The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 109, No. 4. (Jan., 2000), pp. 817-848.

Bibliography

  • Jackson, F. L. C. (2004). Book chapter: Human genetic variation and health: new assessment approaches based on ethnogenetic layering British Medical Bulletin 2004; 69: 215–235 DOI: 10.1093/bmb/ldh012. Retrieved 29 December 2006.
  • Oppenheimer, Stephen (2006). The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story. Constable and Robinson Ltd., London. ISBN 978-1-84529-185-7.
  • Thomas A. Guglielmo, White on Arrival: Italians, Race, Color, and Power in Chicago, 1890-1945, 2003, ISBN 0-19-515543-2
  • Matthew Frye Jacobson, Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race, Harvard, 1999, ISBN 0-674-95191-3.
  • Frank W. Sweet, Legal History of the Color Line: The Rise and Triumph of the One-Drop Rule, Backintyme, 2005, ISBN 0-939479-23-0.
  • Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, Routledge, 1996, ISBN 0-415-91825-1.
  • Karen Brodkin, How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says About Race in America, Rutgers, 1999, ISBN 0-8135-2590-X.
  • Neil Foley, The White Scourge: Mexicans, Blacks, and Poor Whites in Texas Cotton Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997)
  • Theodore Allen, The Invention of the White Race, 2 vols. (London: Verso, 1994)
  • Thomas F. Gossett, Race: The History of an Idea in America, New ed. (New York: Oxford University, 1997)
  • Ivan Hannaford, Race: The History of an Idea in the West (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 1996)
  • Audrey Smedley, Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview, 2nd ed. (Boulder: Westview, 1999).
  • "The United Independent Compensatory Code/System/Concept" A textbook/workbook for thought, speech and/or action for victims of racism (White supremacy) Neely Fuller Jr. 1984
  • Rosenberg NA, Pritchard JK, Weber JL, Cann HM, Kidd KK, et al. (2002) Genetic structure of human populations. Science 298: 2381–2385.Abstract
  • Rosenberg NA, Mahajan S, Ramachandran S, Zhao C, Pritchard JK, et al. (2005) Clines, Clusters, and the Effect of Study Design on the Inference of Human Population Structure. PLoS Genet 1(6): e70 doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.0010070
  • Tang, Hua., Tom Quertermous, Beatriz Rodriguez, Sharon L. R. Kardia, Xiaofeng Zhu, Andrew Brown,7 James S. Pankow,8 Michael A. Province,9 Steven C. Hunt, Eric Boerwinkle, Nicholas J. Schork, and Neil J. Risch (2005) Genetic Structure, Self-Identified Race/Ethnicity, and Confounding in Case-Control Association Studies Am. J. Hum. Genet. 76:268–275.
  • Daniel A. Segal, review of Racial Situations: Class Predicaments of Whiteness in Detroit American Ethnologist May 2002, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 470-473 doi:10.1525/ae.2002.29.2.470

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