White people
For other uses, see White (disambiguation).
A white person is generally considered to be one who is relatively light complexioned. What exactly is meant by it depends on the context in which the term is used. In the United States, it tends to be used for people of Caucasoid descent and European heritage. In some countries the term may encompass non-Caucasoid groups of people which are otherwise phenotypically European and of pale complexion, such as euro-mestizos, quadroons, octoroons in the Americas; or non-European sub-groups of Caucasoids that may range from fair to dark and near "black" complexions, such as Middle Easterners and North Africans.
White is sometimes also used to describe the purported common ethnicity of these people, generally as a term of self-identification.
In North America, and to a lesser extent other countries, the term Caucasian is used for "white" people. Anglo-Saxon is a less commonly used synonym, and generally implies, and inaccurately incudes, other Northern European ancestries not deriving from England.
Historic use of the term
The term white is used in contrast with other racial colour terms, such as black, brown (non-white hispanics or South Asians), yellow (Asian or Oriental), and Red (Amerindian), etc, all of which tend to be defined with reference to "white" (in other words, a "black" person is simply defined by having darker skin than a "white" person). These terms were in more common usage in the beginning of the 20th century as ethno-historians attempted to trace humanity's history through linguistics, a process that has been largely superceded with the advent of DNA analysis. At the turn of the 20th century, some scholars thought of white people as being the desendents of Indo-Europeans and divided them into two categories: Semitic (who are not Indo-European) and Aryan. Although the most prevalent term in casual conversation, the term white is increasingly rare in academic and formal discussions of racial demographics, but it is still often used in discussions of racial attitudes, particularly in the humanities, and in fields such as African American studies (Black studies), critical race theory and whiteness studies.
Who is white?
The scope of the term White has changed over time, and varies from place to place. In the United States, the term usually applies to people of ethnic European descent or anyone that looks European with no other discernable non-European racial features. The strictest definition held by white supremacist groups around the world is that anyone of total ancient ethnic indigenous European ancestry is 'white.' (Although few actually insist on a genealogical record, and tend instead to make their judgement on relative skin colour.) This definition excludes Jews, Gypsies, Turks, Arabs, Persians, and any others that either look markedly different or claim their ancestors came from outside of Europe. The key idea is that an individual must be pale-skinned and not belong to one of the excluded groups.
In Haiti, Cuba and Brazil, lighter skinned mulattos (people of mixed African and European descent) of considerably more European ancestry and appearance are often considered "white"; in the United States or Canada, those same people would always be considered "black", while in Europe they would be classed as 'mixed race' - used a blanket term for all people with multiple racial heritages (such as golfer Tiger Woods), not just mulattos. British Afro-Caribbean slang includes the terms 'Red' for those with half-black, half-white ancestry, and 'Yellow' for those who are 3/4 white, 1/4 black. See also: One drop rule.
| Race in the US Federal Census |
|---|
The 7th federal census, in 1850, asked for Color:[1]
|
The 10th federal census, in 1880, asked for Color:[2]
|
| The 22nd federal census, in 2000, had a "short form"[3] that asked two race/ancestry questions:
1.Is the person Spanish/Hispanic/Latino? 2.What is the person's race?
This census acknowledged that "the race categories include both racial and national-origin groups." See also Race (U.S. Census) |
| Race in the UK_Census |
Census 2001 asked for a person's ethnic group:[4]
|
Other difficulties of the term, in the United States for example, is that Anatolian Turks, Arabs, Iranians, caucasoid Jews (Northern/Eastern European Ashkenazim, Iberian Sephardim and Middle Eastern Mizrahim), may also be seen as non-White by a majority of people, even though some people in these groups may look similar to Southern Europeans; and in the case of Ashkenazim, to Northern Europeans.
In the United States, generally speaking, the biggest dilemma of White inclusion is for Americans of Middle Eastern and North African descent; Berbers, Anatolian Turks, Arabs, Iranians, Kurds, Mizrahim, etc. For the purposes of statistics they are always categorised as White by US government agencies and the US census, however, this racial classification does not always lead to a sense of inclusion for most of them, as they are often excluded from the general structural concepts of White-American society, and may even experience hostile rejection.
By contrast in Europe, Canada and Australia those same Middle Easterners and North Africans are almost never regarded as White, neither by society's general understanding of the term nor by government institutions. Instead, they are regarded as racial minorities. This latter understanding of the term in Australia has little to do with White separatist exclusionism, but rather a traditional (and still currently espoused) definition of White which has never encompassed Middle Easterners or North Africans, and which unlike the history of the definition of "White" in the United States, has undergone continuous alterations to include an ever growing number of people. See also: Wog - As a racial reference in Australian English.
In the American context, where Middle Easterners and North Africans are grouped as White by government agencies, the plebeian's contention of excluding these Caucasoid groups of North Africa and the Middle East from the "White" label is based largely on the argument that there is a significant Black sub-Saharan component in much of their populations; due to the importation of Black slaves, by Arab slave traders across the Sahara desert, with whom they mixed. It is undeniable that many Arabs in North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, etc) and the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, etc.) have enough black African ancestry or are dark enough - at times being as dark complexioned as some African Americans - to be considered "Black" by popular US standards. However, at least for the Arabs of the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, etc.), though a good proprotion can be as dark as Arabs from North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, just as many are lighter-complexioned by comparison, comparable to Southern Europeans, and can be more closely related to Persians – and vice versa – due to both the ancient slave trade and the wars that involved Macedonian, Byzantine, Roman, Holy Roman, Persian and other empires.
Additionally, the popular definition of White in the United States often excludes all Hispanics, moreso those from the Americas (even if of unmixed European descent, or of distant admixture but of European phenotype) and at times also questioning the whiteness of those from Spain. Of the countries of Latin America, those that it can be said are composed of an overwhelmingly European population are Argentina and Uruguay. Chile and Costa Rica are also quite "European", and posses mestizo majorities in which the European element often dominates over the Amerindian, though very few would acknowledge that admixture and simply identify as "White". Countries such as Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru, on the other hand, posses Amerindian majorities, and although they also harbour large mestizo minorities, these are on average much more Amerindian than European. Furthermore, Guyana and Surinam have significant South Asian populations. Also, Haiti and the Dominican Republic are composed mainly of people of African or mixed African descent.
Bestowing the "non-White" label upon ethnic European peoples of Southern European, Eastern European (Slavic) and Ashkenazi (Northern/Eastern European Jewish) descent, is a serious point taken in an ideology that is highly espoused by many White separatists. This occurs even within countries such as Italy, where northern Italians have been accused of possessing racially motivated separatist sentiments stemming from allegedly irreconcilable differences with Southern Italians. Polls suggest that most Italians see this as a bizarre and confusing attitude and reject any 'racial difference' between the North and South of Italy.
Most White Supremacist groups in the United States, however, have accepted Southern Europeans and Eastern European Slavic peoples as White. This is demonstrated in the written requirements to be part of white racialist organizations such as the National Alliance. The requirement for membership is that an individual be of 'wholly European, non-Jewish ancestry.' In recent years some American White supremacists have have formed an alliance with the peoples from the Middle East, North Africa and Central/West Asia, niminally accepting them, in an attempt to more effectively target Jews. They do not consider Middle-Eastern people to be 'white' but are fearful of thier limited numbers, and need new alliances.
Criticisms of the term
One recent genetic study suggests that approximately 30% of self-identified Whites (non-Hispanic) in the U.S. possess some sub-Saharan Africa ancestry (from the population now called "Black" or African American in the U.S.). Among those Whites found in the study to have Black ancestry, they average an admixture of 2.3% Black (of 128 grandparents, 3 are Black and 125 are White). The author of the study, Penn State molecular biologist Mark Shriver, a self-identified White who had no idea that he had any African ancestry, discovered he was in fact 22% Black.[5] Many however have argued that the percentage rates are too small in most cases to warrant the abandonment of the umbrella terminology, contending that those Americans who retain some form of miscegenated blood due to interracial couples are more often a rather invisible part of the populace. Indeed, Whites who have ancestors which settled in the Western United States during the 19th century may have American Indian and/or freed African American ancestors.
The broad usage of "White" is sometimes criticized by those who argue that it de-ethnicizes various groups, although the same charge is not leveled at the question of ethnic diversity within Blacks. During the era of Jim Crow Laws in the Southern United States, facilities were commonly divided into separate sections for "White" and "Colored" people. These terms were defined by law, with people of northern and western European being labeled "White" and African-Americans labeled as "Colored". The categorization of people of other ethnicities and mixed ancestries varied from state to state and in different municipalities.
A more contemporary criticism is that many Black people have lived in areas of North Africa associated with Arab and thus considered "white". Mostafa Hefny, an obviously Black Egyptian, is among those whose original ancestors were from North Africa and who is classified as White, despite the obviousness of his Black identity and his socialization as a Black man in America.
Areas of habitation
Countries with a majority of White ethnic Europeans include all the nations of Europe, as well as some of the countries colonized by them through the 15th century to 19th century; such as the United States, Canada, Argentina, Uruguay, asiatic Russia and oceanic Australia and New Zealand. In these nations, the relatively small indigenous populations were overwhelmed by White colonists from one or more European "mother countries". The distribution of Europeans worldwide may be explained by the traditional argument that Europeans thrive best in temperate climates above about 30° latitude in both hemispheres, but do not fare well in the tropics, except at high elevations. Indeed, Europeans have colonized most of those portions of the north and south temperate zones which had low indigenous population densities at the time of their "discoveries", which excluded East Asia but included virtually all other temperate regions. Blacks and Amerindians, who have traditionally been thought to tolerate tropical climates better than Whites, are (along with mestizo and mulatto peoples) predominant in tropical Latin America.
Whites are also nearly unique in that they exhibit a variety of hair and eye colours. In parts of the world north of 50° North latitude, sunlight is low and weak enough that people (and white coloured polar animals for that matter) with blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin have an advantage over those with darker colouration. Benefits include resistance to rickets, possibly frostbite, and a suggested aesthetic appeal. However, the only major part of the world where such conditions exist is in northern Europe and western Russia. Parts of Alaska and western Canada, and, in the Southern Hemisphere (south of 50° South latitude), a small section of South America including Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands would fit the requirement as well, but they were thinly populated at the time of discovery and are now dominated by the descendants of European settlers.
Significant minorities of Whites live in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, New Caledonia and other Pacific Islands, and in the various Latin American and Caribbean countries. Many of these nations have experienced considerable political conflict between the White minority (descended from settlers from the former colonial power) and a mixed or non-European unmixed majority, heightening the sense of White racial identity.
See also
Further reading
- Karen Brodkin, How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says About Race in America, Rutgers, 1999, ISBN 081352590X.
- Matthew Frye Jacobson, Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race, Harvard, 1999, ISBN 0674951913.
- Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, Routledge, 1996, ISBN 0415918251.