Mostly for Mike and Firekeeper,
I really enjoy the message boards you’ve set up at the Reiki Cafe, but when I finally did take the time to sign up and create a user profile for myself the question about ethnicity put me off a bit.
It seems strange to me to even ask a question like that, although it seems very American to me [I know I feel biased, just saying that :-))], but I’ve seen the same categories listed before in US media, from Cosby to CNN
And the categories listed at the Reiki Cafe: African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Caucasian, Latino, Native American, are rather US oriented if you think about it.
I feel there’s a danger in using categories like that, because you can never fit everybody in. I mean what about native Greenlanders or the Sami people from Scandinavia? Or what about Africans who are not American, why not American/non-American Caucasians as well. And are people from the Middle east Caucasian? Or people from let’s say India, are they ethnically Asians? I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, but categories like these seem to reveal more about the people who made them up (or the cultural perspective of those who made them up) than the people being categorized. Once you start to think about it, don’t you feel you only get really tangled up?
And as for myself; with Asian skin and European, perspective of life, values cultural identity etc, where would I fit in? [I’m adopted from Asia, brought up in Sweden by Swedish parents]
Yes, I know “Other” is an option given at the Ethnicity question as well, and that I didn’t even have to leave an answer at all.
But my main question is; why is the question of ethnicity even there? Was it put in out of sheer habit? Or is it supposed certain purpose? Does somebody’s skin color really tell us anything of importance about someone else?
I only want you to consider this issue from another perspective.
No offense intended. Only hoping for an enlightening discussion.
/Dreamlight
