Inflective and reflective whiteness in the sociology of race and ethnicity: a comment on an integrative framework for the field

Zulema Valdez and Tanya Golash-Boza offer an integrative framework for the sociology of race and ethnicity to bridge a divide undergirding different, yet related perspectives in the field. Their work provides an initial roadmap for linking the cultural perspectives often taken in the study of ethnicity to the structural perspectives utilized in the study of race. The authors put these perspectives in dialogue with one another to elucidate the strength of integrating commonly used approaches in each area, while avoiding the pitfalls of relying only on one paradigm. Behind much of sociology’s theoretical developments to understand racial and ethnic groups’ experiences in US society, and in relation to global discussions of race and ethnicity as well, are influences of identity and ideological processes inflected and reflected by whiteness. This comment reflects on how these processes can shape future conversations considering the intertwined cultural and structural processes framing group experiences and life chances.     

Who's invited to the (political) party: race and party politics in the USA

ABSTRACT

From the political behemoths of the Democratic and Republican Parties, to the Civil Rights Era racially progressive Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and reactionary American Independent Party, to the contemporary third party Green and Libertarian Parties, party politics in the USA has a long and storied relationship to the reproduction and contestation of racial domination. Recent works illuminate the strategic use of racial discourse by major party political elites, their deployment of racialized political platforms, and the relationship of these phenomena to power dynamics and racial interests but have yet to fully move beyond the two-party system and engage with innovations in political and cultural sociology. We outline openings for an empirically-grounded sociology of political parties that would reveal the micro- and meso-level features of racialized party politics and the operations of discursive and performative power within both major and minor political parties.     

The savannization of moist forests in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia

In the Rio Ranchería watershed of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, between 500 and 1500 m, savanna vegetation is interspersed with moist forests. The savannas are composed of native savanna grasses like Aristida adscensionis L., Arundinella sp., Panicum olyroides Kunth, and Schyzachyrium microstachyum (Desv.) Roseng., Arrill & Izag and the African Melinis minutiflora P. Beauv. There is also Curatella americana L. and Byrsonima crassifolia (L.) H.B.K., two typical tree species of the neotropical savannas. Although moist forest patches occur more often on lower slopes and narrow valley bottoms, they can also be found on mid- and upper-slopes and less often on ridges. Thus, these forest patches are not gallery forests as are found throughout the neotropics, but the result of deforestation and fractionation of a continuous forest. A comparison of soil profiles between the savannas and remnant forest patches on the same slope, showed the disappearance of the A and B horizons (approx. 50 cm) under savanna vegetation. The sharp difference between the savanna and forest soils at the Rio Ranchería does not appear to be due to a change in soil water status along a toposequence or differences in the underlying bedrock. We hypothesize that the savannas of the Rio Ranchería watershed, are the result of deforestation and land practices on infertile soils derived from granite. The savannization process was likely initiated by Amerindians by means of the frequent use of fire or clearing lands for the cultivation of maize. The introduction of cattle by Spaniards (c. 1530) and the frequent use of fire to maintain grazing fields, contributed to further degradation of the habitat. While some tropical landscapes recovered their forest cover when human pressure was removed approximately 500 years ago, areas such as the Rio Ranchería watershed have suffered permanent damage. The savannas of this region are likely to remain unless fire is suppressed and soil restoration practices implemented.     

Normal reference ranges for and variability in the levels of blood manganese and selenium by gender,age, and race/ethnicity for general U.S. population

Data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for the period 2011–2012 were used to determine normal reference ranges and percentile distributions for manganese (Mn) and selenium (Se) in blood by gender, age, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status as determined by annual family income, and smoking status. The effect of gender, age, race/ethnicity, family income, and smoking status on the levels of Mn and Se was also determined by fitting regression models. Males had lower adjusted levels of Mn and higher adjusted levels of Se than females. Adjusted levels of Mn decreased with increase in age but adjusted levels of Se were lower in adolescents aged 12–19 years than adults aged 20–64 years. Non-Hispanic black (NHB) had the lowest levels of both Mn and Se and non-Hispanic Asians (NHAS) had the highest levels of both Mn and Se. Non-Hispanic white (NHW) and NHB had lower levels of Mn than Hispanics (HISP) and NHAS. NHB and HISP had lower levels of Se than NHW and NHAS. Low annual income (<$20,000) was associated with lower levels of Se than high annual income (≥$55,000). Smoking negatively affected the adjusted levels of Se among seniors aged ≥65 years but this was not observed in other age groups. Mn levels were not affected by smoking.     

The multiple dimensions of racial mixture in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil: from whitening to Brazilian negritude

Abstract

The notion that racial mixture is a central feature of Latin American societies has been interpreted in different, if not strictly opposite, ways. On the one hand, scholars have presented it as evidence of weaker racial boundaries. On the other, it has been denounced as an expression of the illusion of harmonic racial relations. Relying on 160 interviews with black Brazilians, we argue that the valorization of racial mixture is an important response to stigmatization, but one that has multiple dimensions and different consequences for the maintenance of racial boundaries. We map out these different dimensions – namely, ‘whitening’, ‘Brazilian negritude’, ‘national identification’ and ‘non-essentialist racialism’ – and discuss how these dimensions are combined in different ways by our interviewees according to various circumstances. Exploring these multiple dimensions, we question any simplistic understanding of racial mixture as the blessing or the curse of Latin American racial dynamics.     

Dividing and defending Ogden: the intersection of race making and space making in a diverse community

While researchers frequently link the construction of racial meanings with the construction of spatial meanings, studies of race have paid little attention to how other forms of space making affect racial divisions. This study, based on interviews collected while residents of Ogden, Utah travelled around their city, explores how collective attachments to place intersect with racialized divisions of it. Residents saw their community as divided into good (white) and bad (people of colour) areas. Yet, they also united as residents to defend the city against negative assessments. These multiple and shifting understandings, simultaneously dividing and uniting the city, suggest that other forms of spatial meaning making can challenge racialized definitions of space.     

Pariah capitalism and the overseas Chinese of Southeast Asia: Problems in the definition of the problem

This paper explores how current shifts in racial discourse and demographics are reflected within the negotiation of paid domestic work. Various scholars have pointed out that racism in the United States has become increasingly covert and institutionalized, void of racial terminology and invisible to most whites. This shift has been institutionalized in the negotiation of domestic work, as alternative racial markers such as language and citizenship replace explicit racial terminology. Through an analysis of thirty interviews with white women who employ domestic workers this research examines contemporary negotiations of racial privilege and subordination in domestic work. Overall, white employers insisted that race did not matter when making hiring decisions; however other cultural markers such as language mattered greatly, at times even resulting in firing. In addition, complex and contradictory narratives about immigration were used to simultaneously both vilify immigrant workers and romanticize their work experiences.     

The racialization of Kurdish identity in Turkey

Until the 1990s, the Kurdish issue in Turkey largely involved the Turkish state, an ethnic group and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The 2000s witnessed community-level clashes between Kurds and Turks, signalling the Turkish population's rise as an actor in the issue. This paper makes two claims. First, communal clashes indicate that Kurdish identity is not an ethnic identity alone, but is experiencing a racialization process, based on four indicators: emphasis on physical characteristics in the definitions of Kurds; linking Kurdish identity with the absence of certain moral characteristics; the increasing assignment, rather than self-assertion, of Kurdish identity; and discourses of racial extinction. Second, the racialization of Kurdish identity corresponds to historical change in conceptions of diversity. Racialization became possible after a distinct Kurdish identity was recognized but normatively unwelcomed.     

Feeding behaviour of Belminus ferroae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), a predaceous Triatominae colonizing rural houses in Norte de Santander,Colombia

Belminus ferroae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) was collected from houses in the localities of San Alberto and Santa Catalina in the municipality of Toledo, Department of Norte de Santander, Colombia. Precipitin tests revealed that the main hosts of B. ferroae are insects belonging to the order Blattodea, whose haemolymph serves as food (89.43%). A low rate of haematophagy was indicated on rodents, dogs and humans (7.32%) and no natural infection with Trypanosoma cruzi was found by either microscopic examination or polymerase chain reaction. The finding of B. ferroae inside houses, feeding primarily on Blattodea with only a minor tendency to feed on vertebrate blood, is indicative of both the evolutionary path from predator to blood‐sucker taken by Triatominae and their tendency to adapt from silvatic to domestic habitats.     

Nematode infection in Mugil incilis (Lisa) from Cartagena Bay and Totumo Marsh, north of Colombia

Nematode infection indices were recorded in Lisa, Mugil incilis, from Cartagena Bay and Totumo Marsh, north of Colombia, during an 8-mo period (February to September 2002). Parasite prevalence (74.67% vs. 53.48%), intensity (9.73 +/- 2.98 vs. 2.73 +/- 1.07), and abundance (7.49 +/- 2.21 vs. 2.04 +/- 1.17) were significantly greater in Cartagena Bay, an estuary polluted by domestic sewage and industrial discharge, compared with those of Totumo Marsh, a body of water with low levels of contamination. Parasites were found below the spine, within the liver and the intestinal mesenteries, and a small percentage in muscle. Morphological analysis of nematodes indicated the presence of the third larval stage of several species belonging to the Anisakidae. Size correlated moderately and significantly with parasite intensity in fish collected from Totumo Marsh (R = 0.336; P < 0.001); in Cartagena Bay the correlation was also significant, but low and negative (R = -0.212; P = 0.003), clearly showing differences in host-parasite ecology. Fish health status, as represented by condition factor and hepatosomatic index, did not show any correlation with the parasite prevalence in fishes collected in either sampling areas. These results suggest, for the first time, that the consumption of Lisa from the Atlantic coast of Colombia could represent a risk for human infection.     

Reductive dehalogenation of trichlorophenol in sediment from Rio-Bogotá, Colombia: the potential for intrinsic bioremediation and biostimulation

The domestic and industrial wastes from approximately 8 million residents are discharged to the Rio-Bogotá river. This study demonstrates the reductive dehalogenation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol by Rio-Bogotá sediments and that the addition of an external carbon source can stimulate the process in microcosms.     

Yaguarasaurus columbianus (Reptilia,Mosasauridae), a primitive mosasaur from the Turonian (upper cretaceous) of Colombia

New remains of Yaguarasaurus columbianus found in the Turonian beds of the upper valley of the Magdalena River, in Colombia, are described. Three aspects of the cranial morphology of Y. columbianus are of particular interest. First, its morphology is one of the most primitive among mosasaurs; second, it exhibits most similarities to the cranial morphology of the aigialosaurs; and finally, it exhibits some traits that are unknown in other mosasaurs, including certain cranial features that resemble those of the terrestrial varanoids.     

Racialization and religion: race,culture and difference in the study of antisemitism and Islamophobia

Abstract

It is striking to observe the virtual absence of an established literature on race and racism in the discussion of Islamophobia; something that is only marginally more present in the discussion of antisemitism. This special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies locates the contemporary study of antisemitism and Islamophobia squarely within the fields of race and racism. As such it problematizes the extent to which discussion of the racialization of these minorities remains unrelated to each other, or is explored in distinct silos as a series of internal debates. By harnessing the explanatory power of long-established organizing concepts within the study of race and racism, this special issue makes a historically informed, theoretical and empirical contribution to aligning these analytical pursuits.     

The fertility-inhibiting effect of mosquitoes: Socio-economic differences in response to the Zika crisis in Colombia

We estimated the impact of the Zika virus outbreak on birth rates and demand for health care services in Colombia. Our analysis exploits the variation in the level of natural protection against mosquito-transmitted diseases across the country. This characteristic induced exogenous variation in Zika incidence, which allows us to construct a control group of municipalities with similar historical fertility trends but with differential exposure to the Zika crisis. We implemented a difference-in-differences model after matching, as well as synthetic control. We found a decrease in birth rates of approx. 10% in the last two quarters of 2019. The impact of the virus was similar irrespective of the women’s education level, and we found no discernible impact on teenage pregnancy.     

Lessons learned and challenges for environmental management in Colombia: The role of communication,education and participation strategies

Environmental management has increasingly focused on promoting social engagement in biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation as a way to foster sustainability. However, a critical challenge that still remains is the adequate implementation of strategies of communication, education, and participation (CEPA) oriented to reconnect the social and ecological dimensions in the systems. This study analyzed the main features and types of CEPA implemented by the Colombian Regional Autonomous Corporations in environmental management projects that consider ecosystem services. We found a variety of CEPA focused on a wide range of stakeholders. Communication and education were the most frequently implemented in the projects. Within communication, spreading information about the projects was the most common, while education focused on instrumental training of local communities. Participation, the less frequently implemented, mainly aimed to ensure government and decision-makers involved in the initial phases of the projects. We conclude that there is a need to increase and improve education strategies in conservation projects to make decisions based on critical and reflective thinking, and foster the engagement of a broader set of stakeholders in the processes.     

The genus Mesadenella (Orchidaceae) in Colombia with description of two new species

Two new species of Mesadenella, M. longipetiolata and M. bicordata, are described, illustrated and placed within the key to identification of Colombian Mesadenella species. The information about distribution and ecology of the new species as well as brief taxonomic notes are provided.     

High genetic diversity on a sample of pre-Columbian bone remains from Guane territories in northwestern Colombia

Ancient DNA was recovered from 17 individuals found in a rock shelter in the district of "La Purnia" (Santander, Colombia). This region is the homeland of pre-Columbian Guane, whom spread over the "Río Suarez" to the "Río de Oro", and were surrounded to the west by the Central Andes, south and east by foothills of Eastern Andes, and north by the "Chicamocha" river canyon. Guanes established in a region that straddles the Andes and the northern Amazon basin, possibly making it an unavoidable conduit for people moving to and from South America. We amplified mtDNA hypervariable region I (HVI) segments from ancient bone remains, and the resulting sequences were compared with both ancient and modern mitochondrial haplogroups from American and non-American populations. Samples showed a distribution of 35% for haplogroup A, 41% for haplogroup B and 24% for haplogroup D. Nine haplotypes were found in 17 samples, indicating an unusually high genetic diversity on a single site ancient population. Among them, three haplotypes have not been previously found in America, two are shared in Asia, and one is a private haplotype. Despite geographical barriers that eventually isolated them, an important influence of gene flow from neighboring pre-Columbian communities, mainly Muiscas, could explain the high genetic polymorphism of this community before the Spanish conquest, and argues against Guanes as being a genetic isolate.     

Characterization of Thielaviopsis paradoxa Isolates from Oil Palms in Colombia,Ecuador and Brazil

Ceratocystis paradoxa (Anamorph: Thielaviopsis paradoxa) is parasitic on a range of economic and food crops and is the cause of dry basal rot, a limiting disease in oil palm. The objective of this study was to determinate the pathogenic and genetic diversity of Thielaviopsis isolates from oil palms in Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil. A total of 164 strains of Thielaviopsis paradoxa were characterized using pathogenicity tests, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers and PCR sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of 5.8 S ribosomal DNA. Oil palm seedlings were inoculated by injecting the base of stems in the seedling stage with a fungal suspension and severity scores of disease reactions were evaluated. PCR amplification of the ITS region resulted in a 590 base pair (bp) product. Digestion of the PCR product with two restriction enzymes produced three restriction patterns, which according to ITS sequences could be classified as T. paradoxa. Six RAPD primers gave polymorphic bands in T. paradoxa. Population structure analyses of the RAPD data suggested that most of the isolates obtained in this study belonged to a single population. The genetic diversity of the isolates from South America was intermediate, and therefore, T. paradoxa is likely to be predominantly clonal compared with Ceratocystis species. Sporadic sexual reproduction may occur for T. paradoxa but is secondary to clonal reproduction. Data on pathogen diversity will provide information on breeding strategies and population structures.