I was reading an article in the Mythopoeic Society‘s journal, Mythlore, concerning the concept of “Northernness,” as found in the Chronicles of Narnia. In this article (Narnia and the North: The Symbolism of Northernness in the Fantasies of C.S. Lewis, by Nancy-Lou Patterson), the author states that “[w]e must remind ourselves that the British use the word ‘race’ to mean something like what North Americans mean by ‘nationality’ rather than in a strict genetic sense, and with the further suggestion of language as a determining factor.”
Not to become academic here whatsoever, but merely because it’s an … odd convergence in my life to have been reading this article & to happen upon this thought, while at the same time having had to provide my “race” to a web-site in the U.K. I found it highly amusing to go through the selections, and returned to the site today in order to collect the choices from the “Ethnic Origin” drop-down box:
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Now, I chose one, but … the U.K. is certainly a different world. It’s all clean, sterile, and scientific, here in the U.S., and it’s closer to the vision held by the Nazis than the vision held by the boys in Kilts. Funny, that’s all, that I’d never really considered that there might be a different way of looking at it. It is rather an arbitrary thing, I suppose, when it comes down to it. I’d just never considered it, that’s all, or at least not in this way. Odd.
And what’s an “Irish Traveller,” by the by? Is that a jab at the gypsies? Or are we talking about people who’re descended from Irish who relocated to the U.S. or something, and are now considering moving back to the homeland?
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Well, I’m no expert, but Irish Travellers are a group unto themselves—typically characterised by a certain group of people from a limited number of clans living in caravans (RVs) in a rather nomadic lifestyle. They typically are involved in trading-type business ventures, are not looked upon well for the amount of rubbish they leave at their camp sites after leaving. Amazingly, to an Irish person they are definable by there facial features and speech as being a Traveller. They are a highly close-knit community. They are not especially valued in the general Irish society—as demonstrated by the terms ‘knacker’ and ‘tinker’. I think Brad Pitt convincingly played one in Snatch.
Right, rather broad brushstrokes there, but then again, the comment box is of limited size….
Yep, pretty much what a simple yarn said.
They are a distinctive group of people, some ‘settled’ in regular houses, most living on official or unoffical halting sites. Their language is called Shelta and their name for traveller is Pavee.
It’s a very different culture in some ways, and they face a lot of discrimination (I can see how a lot of it would arise though).
I think that there would be only two categories in the US. American and Un-American
Somebody had waaaay too much time on their hands when they came up with that list.
Thanks to Cheryl & Isobel for the info on the Travellers. I’m learning quite a bit about the world of the UK, and it’s … odd, because I’m also realizing that the US is quite isolated, culturally. Not that that’s such a new thought, or anything, but that these are issues which don’t even enter into the media to which we routinely have access, you know?
In any event, I found myself wondering about that list … and thought that, perhaps, the people didn’t have enough time on their hands. The list is form a Scottish university … and there’s no place on the list to say that you’re Welsh.
Do Welsh people simply not attend university in Scotland? Or are they considered English by the Scots?
Interesting comment about the Welsh. Yep, I’d guess they’re lumped in with the British, although to go there you learn that they are quite proud of their Welsh-ness and have retained their own culture, especially their native language much better than the Irish do.
But funny, in looking again at the drop down list of race, it sort of makes sense to me looking with ‘British-influenced’ eyes…grouped by former dominions and their sub-categories and the everyone else. Then again, that’s not to say that the Scottish university couldn’t stand to do with an update on their forms!
And yes, as a US citizen living in Europe, I would agree with you that the US is rather naively myopic about the rest of the world.
This “choose your own race” question annoys the heck out of me! Aside from that I actually fit into both the ‘White-Irish’ and “Other White background” categories, I just don’t see how this is relevant to anything – and I usually end up writing this in the “Other, please describe” box.
The other day I had to do a UK university-based questionnaire about how much I liked the library, and they found it necessary to ask my race as one of the questions! How is my race relevant to how much I do or do not like the library!?!
In Canada you never get asked this question, although in some situations (applications, etc. usually) you are offered the chance to declare whether or not you have aboriginal status, and this is almost always an optional question.
Maybe you can help me out on this – why do the UK (and the US!) feel the need to constantly categorise everyone by race for even the most basic of questionnaires? I’d understand if they were questioning my citizenship for relevant purposes, but is my race really going to affect how I use the library?!
K, I’ll end my rant now. Sorry. 🙂
Glenda,
As far as the “why” of asking the question, I think that’s probably another entire can of worms. The “short” answer is that 1) funding requirements dictate that they ask (to qualify for certain grants), 2) equal access is supposedly guaranteed so they need to assure that people of different ethnicities are given access, 3) they use the data in an aggregate manner for studying trends.
The “scary” way to answer is that the data is used in profiling. Profiling has been given a bad connotation, but is not necessarily a bad thing … provided that the parties are aware of the profiling. For example, if your library were to change the books they displayed to you on an online search, due to your race, then that would be potentially discriminatory – unless you were aware of the difference.
That said, it’s a bit of a fetish, which we have grown used to, and to which we submit on a regular basis. We wonder at the ethics, and we wonder at the efficacy.
And we wonder if focusing so intensely upon race isn’t, in fact, promoting racism, as it continues to focus upon the (imaginary) differences between the “races.”