Understanding Ethnicity and Race
Because most people use the words “Ethnicity” and “Race” interchangibly, they tend to think that it means the same thing but it is completely different. Understanding their difference is important especially since we have diverse people that surrounds us in our daily life.
ETHNICITY is defined as the way a person identify themselves culturally. These identities can include language, religion, nationality, ancestry, dress and customs. Ethnicity can be displayed or hidden depending on the individual. Being part of an ethnic group means adherring to the cultural practices of the other members of the group.
RACE refers to the way you describe a person using their physical characteristics. These characteristics can include eye color, skin color, hair color or facial structure.
Difference between Ethnicity and Race
According to Live Science (2012) a simple way to differentiate these two terminologies is to think that Race is associated with biology while on the other hand, ethnicity is associated with culture.
DIVERSITY IN AUSTRALIA
People from different cultures, religion and etc. gather in Australia and live there because Austrialia is said to be one of the most multi cultural country in the world. Australia is one of the most welcoming country that accepts all people regardless of their sex/gender, ability/disability, race/ethnicity and social class. Wherever you go, you can see different cultures from the restaurants, shops and etc.
In 2013, 60% of Australia’s population consists of migrants. Migrants contributes a lot to the economy. Although we have a good reputation for being a multicultural country, it doesn’t stop some people to think that they are superior than the others. This resulted to the enforcement of The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 where racism of any kind is againts the law. This sends a strong message of how Australia is commitment to racial equality and equity.
Barriers to racial equality:
According to the Australian Human Rights (2014),
- One in ten Australians believe that some races are inferior or superior to others.
- 18% of Australians have experienced discrimination because of skin colour, ethnic origin or religion.
- There are 192 complains about racial hatred lodged under the Racial Discrimination Act in 2012-2013. This shows a 59% increase over the previous year, with a large proportion of the complaints (41%) involving material on the Internet.
- Recent migrants said they faced hurdles in finding their first job mostly because of lack of Australian work experiences, experiencing communication barriers and having difficulties with their skills or qualifications being recognised.
Although Australia is said to be culturally diverse, there are a lot of issues the Indigenous people of Australia, the original owners of the land are facing today.
Who are Indigenous Australians?
An ATSI (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders) are:
- Of aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.
- Identify themselves and are recognised and accepted by their community.
- Have strong links to territories and land.
- Maintain distinct languages, cultures and beliefs,
- Resolve to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems.
When talking about the topic of Ethnicity/Race, we cannot exclude the Indigenous poeple of Australia. They have one of the most oldest culture and traditions in the world. Despite of this, they are experiencing discrimination on their own land. According to Australians Together (n.d) most of this is cause by the lack of understanding and respect towards the Indigenous culture and traditions, historical injustice, institutional injustice and social injustice.
Indigenous people are usually described as lazy, alcoholic and violent. These kinds of stereotypes are what causes the lack of understanding between Indigenous people and non- indigenous people and resulted to the discrimination of Indigenous people. A lot of things happened during the colonisation period. The dispossesion of the Indegenous people of their land caused a major loss of their identity. Their culture, tradition and language are mostly gone because the Europeans wanted them to learn the western way of living. The results of the stolen generation is still ongoing. Even now, Aboriginal children are still taken away from their parents and is placed in a western home where they learn about the western culture.
In 2008, the Australian government made a move to formally address the disadvantages being experienced by the Indigenous people by enforcing a strategy called “Closing the Gap”.
The aim of closing the gap is to reduce disadvantage among Indigenous people in regards to life expectancy, physical and mental health, education and employment, family and wellbeing, and incarceration. (Australians Together, n.d)
To know more about Indigenous Australians, watch the clips below:
As educators or future educators we must create a classroom environment where students from diverse backgrounds feel culturally safe and be able to engage in discussions and activities without being judged by other people. We can do this by:
- Knowing the backgrounds of your students and expressing interest in their cultures. Acknowledge their culture and respect it. (Lynch, 2015)
- Be the role model in the classroom. Students will most likely to observe and copy your actions in the classroom. Being a good role model means being welcoming and accepting of everyone’s differences.
- Explaining to your students about the different cultures and traditions of people and how we should respect each individual regardless of their background.
- Say the Acknowledgement of country every day before the start of class to pay respect to the Indigenous people.
- Establish clear expectations in the classroom: Treat everyone with respect.
- Treat your students equally. The most important thing is to give them opportunities to try and experience things fairly.
- Use a respectful tone when talking about cultures or a sensitive topic.
REFERENCES:
Australian Human Rights Commission. (2014). Face the facts: cultural diversity. Retrieved from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/education/face-facts-cultural-diversity
Australians Together. (n.d). Indigenous disadvantages i australia. Retrieved from https://australianstogether.org.au/discover/the-wound/indigenous-disadvantage-in-australia/
Live Science. (2012). What is the difference between race and ethnicity? Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/33903-difference-race-ethnicity.html
Lynch, M. (2015). 6 ways teachers can foster cultural awareness in the classroom. Retrieved from https://www.theedadvocate.org/6-ways-teachers-can-foster-cultural-awareness-in-the-classroom/
World Atlas. (2019). What is the difference between race and ethnicity? Retrieved from https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-the-difference-between-race-and-ethnicity.html
Supporting Student Diversity 