Panethnicity
Encyclopedia
Panethnicity is the grouping together, and collective labeling, of various independently distinguishable, self-identified and self-sustained ethnicities into one all-encompassing group of people.
Often labels of panethnicity group together people of different natio
nalities and/or ethnicities that may in fact be very different from each other. The grouping is often done based on similar physical characteristics
, sharing of a common language
, or sharing of a common religion.
Groups that have similarities in background, language, and other characteristics in turn might form groups that come to be panethnic as a way to form group solidarity. Likewise, some groups choose to embrace the panethnic labels that have already been given to them by outsiders.
When racial or ethnic discrimination
occurs, if outsiders have already panethnically labeled peoples as one group who will all be discriminated against, then in turn, the group often will accept the label of panethnicity as a way to unite and fight the discrimination and stereotyping.
In the United States, with the Civil Rights Movement
, the increase in collective action based on identity contributed to the formation of many panethnic groups.
the designation of white may be considered both a panethnicity and a social construct. The US government defines a "white" person as any person of European origin, and this may include a number of cultural, linguistic, and religious groups. Thus, a person from Sweden and one from Italy likely would be classified as "white" on the basis of light skin coloring, but an Algerian or other non-Western person, almost without regard to his or her complexion, might get treated by prejudiced people as "non-white," largely on a cultural basis (as evidenced by bigoted labels that are sometimes applied and the way Arabs and Turks are victims of prejudice in various Western countries). In the United States
, panethnicity is most often seen in the labeling of all Spanish
-speakers from Latin America
and Spain
as Hispanics, or all Spanish-speakers and Portuguese
-speakers from Latin America as Latinos. The "one-drop rule" usually is not applied in the United States to Hispanics with African roots, nor is it typically applied to individuals from areas such as the Middle East with some Subsaharan ancestry.
In both the case of "Hispanics" and "Latinos", the categorization into a panethnicity is done irrespective of the country of origin (e.g. Mexican
, Peruvian, Argentine
, Dominican
, Spaniard, etc) or the racial origins (white
, mestizo
, mulatto
, black, Amerindian, etc) of those people grouped into the panethnicity.
Other U.S. examples include the labeling of all people from not only East Asia
, but also South Asia
, as Asian Americans, or (reflecting the so-called "one-drop rule") all people with any degree of sub-Saharan Africa
n descent (even if predominantely of Europe
an or other ancestries) as African American
, and all indigenous American tribes as a collective Native American
"ethnicity" with the implication that they represent one people with a single shared identity.
, in its common modern definition, is also a widely employed example of panethnicity or pan-nationalism. Arabs are a grouping of people (some would say "peoples") of various ancestral origins, religious
backgrounds and historic identities (much in the same way peoples merged though assimilation in other parts of the world, as in the case of, say, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, and others merging with indigenous British people to create an English ethnicity), whose members identify
as such on one or more of the grounds of language
, culture
, or genealogy
. The idea that all Arabs are one nation and must unite as one state demonstrated much power in the past, with President Abd al-Nasir of Egypt emerging as a charismatic leader transcending boundaries. The rise of the Ba`th Party during the 1940s represented the same idea. This led to several attempts to establish a united Arab state (with Italy and German unification in the nineteenth century sometimes pointed to as precedents)and the actual establishment of a United Arab Republic (including Syria and Egypt) during 1958-1961. (Arab nationalists might object to the term "panethnicity" as applied to them and see themselves as one ethnic group on the basis of their common language.) While this movement soon lost its momentum, the idea of one Arab nation still exists but now tends to be undermined by religious and other identities. Those self-identifying as Arab, however, rarely deny the diversity of the Arabs. There are always multiple identities, with a more localized prioritized ethnic orientation, such as Egyptian, Lebanese
, or Palestinian
— in addition to further tribal, village
,and/or religious identities.
Some Arabic-speakers, who would otherwise be labelled Arabs, sometimes reject the label as a self-designation or as an imposed one, whether by outsiders or by other self-identified Arabs who would include them as fellow Arabs. Such is the case with some Egyptians to varying degrees and some Lebanese (particularly some Maronites), who may identify solely as Egyptian or solely as Lebanese (or, as in the case of the Syrian Social National Party, identify the Ferile Crescent region as a pan-Syrian nation), with little or no additional identification with each other, nor with Syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Moroccans
, etc, as Arabs.
, the single largest ethnicity in the world, are generally thought to originate from the Central Plain of China
. Because of long term migration, however, and assimilation of minorities
, DNA studies show the Han to be genetically diverse.
of China, though imagining themselves the heirs to the nomadic Manichean
Uyghur Empire
in Mongolia
, were arbitrarily termed this in the 1930s by warlord Sheng Shicai
to try to exploit the leadership, despite being a heterogeneous population of sedentary Turkic
Muslims around the Tarim Basin
. The Uyghurs accepted this classification because it allowed them to compete as a "nationality
" with the Han and the Hui
, and so they became the largest ethnic group (and titular ethnicity) in Xinjiang
.
and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
. Panethnic organizations can serve to help groups achieve goals based on common interests and also to pool their resources together.
Panethnicity has allowed for Asian Americans to unite based on similar historical relations with the U.S., such as U.S. military presence in their native country. The Asian American panethnic identity has evolved to become a means for immigrant groups such as Asian Americans to unite in order to gain political strength in numbers.
Often labels of panethnicity group together people of different natio
Natio
Natio may refer to:* Nation, as its original Latin term* Nation , a student organisation in ancient and medieval universities* Natio Hungarica, term for the people of Hungary irrespective of their ethnic background...
nalities and/or ethnicities that may in fact be very different from each other. The grouping is often done based on similar physical characteristics
Phenotype
A phenotype is an organism's observable characteristics or traits: such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, behavior, and products of behavior...
, sharing of a common language
Natural language
In the philosophy of language, a natural language is any language which arises in an unpremeditated fashion as the result of the innate facility for language possessed by the human intellect. A natural language is typically used for communication, and may be spoken, signed, or written...
, or sharing of a common religion.
Background
Panethnic labels are often, though not always, created and employed by outsiders of the group that is being defined panethnically. Mainstream institutions and political policies often play a big role in the labeling of panethnic groups. They often enact policies that deal with specific groups of people, and panethnic groups are one way to group large numbers of people. Public policy might dole out resources or make deals with multiple groups, viewing them all as one large entity.Groups that have similarities in background, language, and other characteristics in turn might form groups that come to be panethnic as a way to form group solidarity. Likewise, some groups choose to embrace the panethnic labels that have already been given to them by outsiders.
When racial or ethnic discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
occurs, if outsiders have already panethnically labeled peoples as one group who will all be discriminated against, then in turn, the group often will accept the label of panethnicity as a way to unite and fight the discrimination and stereotyping.
In the United States, with the Civil Rights Movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
, the increase in collective action based on identity contributed to the formation of many panethnic groups.
United States
To AmericansUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
the designation of white may be considered both a panethnicity and a social construct. The US government defines a "white" person as any person of European origin, and this may include a number of cultural, linguistic, and religious groups. Thus, a person from Sweden and one from Italy likely would be classified as "white" on the basis of light skin coloring, but an Algerian or other non-Western person, almost without regard to his or her complexion, might get treated by prejudiced people as "non-white," largely on a cultural basis (as evidenced by bigoted labels that are sometimes applied and the way Arabs and Turks are victims of prejudice in various Western countries). In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, panethnicity is most often seen in the labeling of all Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
-speakers from Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
as Hispanics, or all Spanish-speakers and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
-speakers from Latin America as Latinos. The "one-drop rule" usually is not applied in the United States to Hispanics with African roots, nor is it typically applied to individuals from areas such as the Middle East with some Subsaharan ancestry.
In both the case of "Hispanics" and "Latinos", the categorization into a panethnicity is done irrespective of the country of origin (e.g. Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
, Peruvian, Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Dominican
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, Spaniard, etc) or the racial origins (white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
, mestizo
Mestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
, mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
, black, Amerindian, etc) of those people grouped into the panethnicity.
Other U.S. examples include the labeling of all people from not only East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
, but also South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, as Asian Americans, or (reflecting the so-called "one-drop rule") all people with any degree of sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
n descent (even if predominantely of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an or other ancestries) as African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, and all indigenous American tribes as a collective Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
"ethnicity" with the implication that they represent one people with a single shared identity.
Arabs
ArabArab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
, in its common modern definition, is also a widely employed example of panethnicity or pan-nationalism. Arabs are a grouping of people (some would say "peoples") of various ancestral origins, religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
backgrounds and historic identities (much in the same way peoples merged though assimilation in other parts of the world, as in the case of, say, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, and others merging with indigenous British people to create an English ethnicity), whose members identify
Identity (social science)
Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
as such on one or more of the grounds of language
Natural language
In the philosophy of language, a natural language is any language which arises in an unpremeditated fashion as the result of the innate facility for language possessed by the human intellect. A natural language is typically used for communication, and may be spoken, signed, or written...
, culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
, or genealogy
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
. The idea that all Arabs are one nation and must unite as one state demonstrated much power in the past, with President Abd al-Nasir of Egypt emerging as a charismatic leader transcending boundaries. The rise of the Ba`th Party during the 1940s represented the same idea. This led to several attempts to establish a united Arab state (with Italy and German unification in the nineteenth century sometimes pointed to as precedents)and the actual establishment of a United Arab Republic (including Syria and Egypt) during 1958-1961. (Arab nationalists might object to the term "panethnicity" as applied to them and see themselves as one ethnic group on the basis of their common language.) While this movement soon lost its momentum, the idea of one Arab nation still exists but now tends to be undermined by religious and other identities. Those self-identifying as Arab, however, rarely deny the diversity of the Arabs. There are always multiple identities, with a more localized prioritized ethnic orientation, such as Egyptian, Lebanese
Lebanese people
The Lebanese people are a nation and ethnic group of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state....
, or Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
— in addition to further tribal, village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
,and/or religious identities.
Some Arabic-speakers, who would otherwise be labelled Arabs, sometimes reject the label as a self-designation or as an imposed one, whether by outsiders or by other self-identified Arabs who would include them as fellow Arabs. Such is the case with some Egyptians to varying degrees and some Lebanese (particularly some Maronites), who may identify solely as Egyptian or solely as Lebanese (or, as in the case of the Syrian Social National Party, identify the Ferile Crescent region as a pan-Syrian nation), with little or no additional identification with each other, nor with Syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Moroccans
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, etc, as Arabs.
Han
The Han ChineseHan Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
, the single largest ethnicity in the world, are generally thought to originate from the Central Plain of China
Central Plain (China)
Zhongyuan or the Central Plain of China refers to the area on the lower reaches of the Yellow River which formed the cradle of Chinese civilization. It forms part of the North China Plain....
. Because of long term migration, however, and assimilation of minorities
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
, DNA studies show the Han to be genetically diverse.
Uyghurs
The UyghursUyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
of China, though imagining themselves the heirs to the nomadic Manichean
Manichaeism
Manichaeism in Modern Persian Āyin e Māni; ) was one of the major Iranian Gnostic religions, originating in Sassanid Persia.Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived...
Uyghur Empire
Uyghur Empire
The Uyghur Khaganate, or, Uyghur Empire or Uighur Khaganate or Toquz Oghuz Country was a Turkic empire that existed for about a century between the mid 8th and 9th centuries...
in Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, were arbitrarily termed this in the 1930s by warlord Sheng Shicai
Sheng Shicai
Sheng Shicai was a Chinese warlord who "ruled" Xinjiang province from April 12, 1933 to August 29, 1944....
to try to exploit the leadership, despite being a heterogeneous population of sedentary Turkic
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
Muslims around the Tarim Basin
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is a large endorheic basin occupying an area of about . It is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's far west. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern is the Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The...
. The Uyghurs accepted this classification because it allowed them to compete as a "nationality
Nationality
Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....
" with the Han and the Hui
Hui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
, and so they became the largest ethnic group (and titular ethnicity) in Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
.
Movements
As a unified group, many panethnic organizations have developed such as La RazaLa Raza
In the Spanish language the term Raza translates to "race". Its meaning varies amongst various Spanish-speaking peoples. For instance, in Spain, "Raza" may denote specifically Spanish and often of a something or someone of a European Christian heritage. The Francoist film Raza, from 1944, which...
and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of Asian-Pacific American trade union members affiliated with the AFL-CIO...
. Panethnic organizations can serve to help groups achieve goals based on common interests and also to pool their resources together.
Panethnicity has allowed for Asian Americans to unite based on similar historical relations with the U.S., such as U.S. military presence in their native country. The Asian American panethnic identity has evolved to become a means for immigrant groups such as Asian Americans to unite in order to gain political strength in numbers.
See also
- Pan-SlavismPan-SlavismPan-Slavism was a movement in the mid-19th century aimed at unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where the South Slavs had been ruled for centuries by other empires, Byzantine Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Venice...
- Hispanidad
- Pan-TurkismPan-TurkismPan-Turkism is a nationalist movement that emerged in 1880s among the Turkic intellectuals of the Russian Empire, with the aim of cultural and political unification of all Turkic peoples.-Name:...
- Pan-GermanismPan-GermanismPan-Germanism is a pan-nationalist political idea. Pan-Germanists originally sought to unify the German-speaking populations of Europe in a single nation-state known as Großdeutschland , where "German-speaking" was taken to include the Low German, Frisian and Dutch-speaking populations of the Low...
- TuranismTuranismTuranism, or Pan-Turanism, is a political movement for the union of all Turanian peoples. It implies not merely the unity of all Turkic peoples , but also the unification of a wider Turanid "race", also known as the controversial Uralo-Altaic "race," believed to include all peoples speaking...
- Ethnic NationalismEthnic nationalismEthnic nationalism is a form of nationalism wherein the "nation" is defined in terms of ethnicity. Whatever specific ethnicity is involved, ethnic nationalism always includes some element of descent from previous generations and the implied claim of ethnic essentialism, i.e...
- Romantic NationalismRomantic nationalismRomantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
- Meta-ethnicityMeta-ethnicityMeta-ethnicity is a relatively recent term that arises occasionally in academic literature or public discourse, and when it does, seems to be an attempt to describe a level of commonality that is wider and more general than ethnicity, but does not necessarily correspond to nation or...