4Race: Lesson 4b; Social Construction of Race (Continued); The Changing Definition of Whiteness

As we wait for students, please choose one of the readings below and open it in a new window.  Read it now and look for how "race" or whiteness has changed over time.

Changing Definitions of Whiteness

Here are some sociology readings about how different groups have changed over time:

• Here is a historical study of race from UCLA anthropologist, Karen Brodkin, called How the Jews Became White...
• Arab Americans and racial identity by Kristine J. Ajrouch and Amaney Jamal
• How Italians became white; Vicious Bigotry and Reluctant Acceptance (NY Times) and this article details the largest single lynching in US history which was perpetrated against Italian Americans.
• How Armenians became white.
• When the Irish weren't white.
• Hispanic identity and race in Chicago by Ana Y. Ramos-Zayas (2001) and the 2020 article from The Dubois Review published by Cambridge Press, "Whiteness" in Context, Racial Identification among Mexican-Origin Adults in California and Texas
• Are Asian Americans Becoming White? by Min Zhou 

White Americans, the New Minority?: Non-Blacks and the Ever-Expanding Boundaries of Whiteness.  Journal of Black Studies.  1997.  Jonathan W. Warren and France Winddance Twine, sociologists.  From the article,  

All of these are examples of how race has changed over the years in America.  Who is considered white changes because there is no empirical or objective way to define race.  Race doesn't exist in any biological or empirical sense, it only exists as a social construction.
Google Form Here
After reading, answer individually :
1.  What are the factors that affected racial identity in the article that you read?  Cite both the racial identity affected and the factors that contributed.

2.  How did racial identity change over time?  Was this ingroup identity or outgroup identity that changed?

After discussing 1and 2, answer 3 and 4 using the discussion:

3.  Is it surprising that the idea of who is white has changed so much over the years?  Which group is most surprising to hear about?  

4.  What do the articles highlight that demonstrate similarities and differences in racial identity formation in the US between different races?  What conclusions can we make from a critical discussion of all the articles?