Omi And Winant Racial Formation Analysis

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RTC 1 – Article 3: Omi and Winant, “Racial Formations” What is racial formation? In article three of Rethinking the Color Line, Michael Omi and Howard Winant say racial formation is “social, economic, and political forces used determine the content and importance of racial categories” (pg. 20). The racial formation perspective operates at two levels: the first is your racial identity and the second is the way social structure is set up. Omi and Winant look at the historical development of race to be more as a changing aspect instead of the traditional way of seeing race as a stable, unchanging concept. Omi and Winant describe race to be based on social class and social relations, so like where you live and who you associate with. They also …show more content…
You can see someone with tan, brown skin and think they are Mexican but in reality they might be Indian or Dutch. Just because someone has a certain color skin doesn’t mean they are of that ethnicity; a person who looks African American could have a British accent if they were from England. Race and ethnicity together are becoming more diverse as people move and develop relations with others.
RTC 2 – Article 4: Snipp, “Defining Race and Ethnicity” The definition of race and ethnicity are constantly changing. The article stated that there were three different definitions for race in 1953. It was George Simpson and Milton Yinger who said there was mystical, biological, and administrative definitions for race. “Mystical definitions are rooted in folklore, religious beliefs, and other traditions such as origin stories that are largely outside of empirical experience” (Pg.24). Mystical definitions have no scientific value and are basically made up races. “Biological definitions of race are perhaps best knowing to more than a century of publications on the subjects of eugenics and ethnology” (Pg. 24). Biological definitions try to categorize race based on a person’s biological self. “Administrative …show more content…
You had the wealthy white land owners, the white indentured servants, and the black indentured servants from Africa which soon turned into slaves. Society then divided into the North and the South; North was against slavery while the South depended on Slavery because of the large crops and need for labor. There were also instances where either white men and black women or black men and white women would marry or have a child. Would that child be considered white and be free or black and become a slave? And what would happen with the parents? Both articles mention the one drop rule which is if you have one drop of “black blood’ then you were said to be a negro. The parents were also then to be punished. This grew into new racial formations because a new race had been created due to the child technically being half white and half
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