Brown (racial classification)

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Brown people or brown race is a political, racial, ethnic, societal, and cultural classification, similar to black people and white people.

Historical concepts

See also: Race (historical definitions), Scientific racism, and Color metaphors for race

Carolus Linnaeus original model had just four races, white, yellow, red, and black. His protege, anthropology founder Johann Blumenbach, completed his mentor's color-coded race model by adding the brown race, "Malay", for for both the Malay division of Austronesian (Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Madagascar, Formosans, etc.) and Polynesians and Melanesians of Pacific Islands, and for Papuans and aborigines of Australia. As well as the mixed blood of the Latinos.[1][2] Blumenbach characterized the racial classification scheme of John Hunter when he wrote, "John Hunter reckons seven varieties:... (6) &e., Turks, Abyssinians, Samoiedes and Lapps;"[3] In 1775, "John Hunter of Edinburg included under the label light brown, Southern Europeans, Sicilians, Abyssinians, the Spanish, Turks and Laplanders, and under the label brown, Tartars, Persians, Africans on the Mediterranean and the Chinese."[4]

Some anthropologists added the brown race back in as an Australoid category (which includes aboriginal peoples of Australia along with various peoples of southeast and south Asia, especially Melanesia and the Malay Archipelago),[5] and viewed it as separate from Negroids (often lumping Australoids in with Caucasoids).[6] Jean Baptiste Julien d'Omalius d'Halloy differed from Blumenbach, including Ethiopians in the brown race, as well as Oceanic peoples. Louis Figuier adopted and adapted d'Omalius d'Halloy's classification and also included Egyptians in the brown race.[7]

As surmized by Carleton Coon in 1939, "He [ Giuseppe Sergi ] also made it clear that the so-called Brown Race, in its dolichocephalic and leptorrhine or mesorrhine forms, was for the most part an extension of the same Mediterranean family into southern Asia."[8][9][10]

By the 19th century, the notion of a single "brown people" was being overthrown. Cust[11] mentions Grammar in 1852 denying that there was one single "brown race", but in fact several races speaking distinct languages. The 1858 Cyclopaedia of India and of eastern and southern Asia[12] notes that Keane was dividing the "brown people" into quaternion: a western branch that he termed the Malay, a north-western group that he termed the Micronesian, and the peoples of the eastern archipelagoes that he termed the Maori and the Polynesian. Anthropologists and scholars were at the least dividing the people of the Pacific into the "dark people" and the "brown people". The "dark people" were the inhabitants of the Western Pacific as far as Fiji. The "brown people" were the people inhabiting the islands to the east of Fiji, as far as Easter Island.[13]

In 1915, Donald Mackenzie conceived a "Mediterranean or Brown race, the eastern branch of which reaches to India and the western to the British Isles and Ireland... [and includes] predynastic Egyptians... [and some populations of] Neolithic man".[14]

Biblical concepts

Main article: Shem

It is known in the Bible that Noah had three sons; Shem, Japheth and Ham. The word "Semite" refers to a descendant of Shem. The 13th century Christian scholar Ibn al- Ibrī (Bar Hebraeus), known for the fidelity with which he reproduces earlier writers, asserts that Noah divided the world among his three sons, with Ham getting the Land of the Blacks (sūdān), Shem the Land of the Browns (sumra), and Japheth the Land of the Reds (łuqra).[15]

20th and 21st century concepts

The appellation "brown people" has been applied in the 20th and 21st centuries to several groups, usually mixed race ones. (Forbes,[16] in pointing out the disconnection between the colour labels and actual skin colour, observes that "[b]lack and white when mixed as pigments may produce gray, but when 'black' and 'white' humans mix the result is usually some type of 'brown'".)

Both Forbes and Telles point out that this classification is biologically invalid. However, as Telles notes, it is still of sociological significance. Irrespective of the actual biological differences amongst humans, and of the actual complexities of human skin colouration, people nonetheless self-identify as "brown" and identify other groups of people as "brown", using characteristics that include skin colour, hair strength, language, and culture, in order to classify them. Forbes remarks upon a process of "lumping", whereby characteristics other than skin colour, such as hair colour or curliness, act as "triggers" for colour categories "even when it may not be appropriate".[17][18]

Coloureds in South Africa

Main article: Coloured

In 1950s (and later) South Africa the "brown people" were the Coloureds, who were largely, and erroneously, believed to have been the production of black-white sexual union out of wedlock. The Afrikaans terms, which incorporate many subtleties of heritage, political agenda, and identity, are "bruin" ("brown") ,"bruines" ("browns"), and "bruinmense" ("brown people"). Some South Africans prefer the appellation "bruinmense" to "Coloured".[19][20]

The South African pencil test is one example of a characteristic other than skin colour being used as a determiner. The pencil test, which distinguished either "black" from "Coloured" or "Coloured" from "white", relied upon curliness and strength of hair (i.e. whether it was capable of retaining a pencil under its own strength) rather than upon any colour factor at all. The pencil test could "trump skin colour".[21][22]

Stephen Biko, in his trial in 1976, rejected the appellation "brown people" when it was put to him by Judge Boshoff:[23]

Boshoff: But now why do you refer to you people as blacks? Why not brown people? I mean you people are more brown than black.
Biko: In the same way as I think white people are more pink and yellow and pale than white.
Boshoff: Quite ... but now why do you not use the word brown then?
Biko: No, I think really, historically, we have been defined as black people, and when we reject the term non-white and take upon ourselves the right to call ourselves what we think we are, we have got available in front of us a whole number of alternatives ... and we choose this one precisely because we feel it is most accommodating.

Oakes[23] characterizes Biko's argument as picking "black" over "brown" because for Biko it is "the most valid, meaningful and appropriate representation, even though in an individualistic decontextualized sense it might appear wrong" (Oakes' emphasis).

This contrasts with Piet Uithalder, fictional protagonist of the satirical column "Straatpraatjes" (whose actual author was never revealed but who is believed to have been Abdullah Abdurahman) that appeared in the Dutch-Afrikaans section of the newspaper APO between May 1909 and February 1922. Uithalder would self-identify as a Coloured person, with the column targeted at a Coloured readership, introducing himself as "een van de ras" ("a member of the race") and characterizing himself as a "bruine mens".[19]

Pardos in Brazil

Main article: Pardo

In Brazil, the "brown people" are the "pardos", one of the official racial classifications ("branco", "pardo", "preto", "amarelo", and "indigena" being Brazilian Portuguese for "white", "(grey) brown", "black", "yellow", and "indigenous", respectively) that have been used by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics since 1950. It is a broad classification that encompasses people of mixed race, mulattos, and assimilated indigenous people ("caboclos"). In the first census in the 20th century to ask a colour question, the census of 1940, the three available categories were white, black, and yellow. Colour was chosen by the census enumerator, and any respondent who did not fit one of the three was classified as "pardo". In the 1950 census, "pardo" was added as a choice, and colour was chosen by the respondent.[18][24]

Unofficially, Brazilians also use a racial classification of "moreno", also meaning "brown". In a 1995 survey, 32% of the population self-identified as "moreno", with a further 6% self-identifying as "moreno claro" ("light brown"). 7% self-identified as "pardo".[18]

Note that despite "moreno" is commonly used by some uneducated persons as a racial classification (mainly in Brazil), "moreno" is, in fact, the Portuguese equivalent to the English word "burnet(te)". It is used to describe a brown, dark brown or black haired person opposing to a blond (loiro/loira/louro/loura) one. In Portugal, it is also used to refer to skin colour, it is used usually referring to a heavily tanned white person. It is often preceded by the adjectives more or less, and is used to compare one person's colour to another. Recentley "mais moreno" (more "moreno") has been used to refer to black or brown peoples (specially non white Brazilians).

Mestizo and Hispanic

Main articles: Hispanics and Mestizo

In the United States some Hispanic Americans and mestizos are referred to by some as "brown people". There is a strong division over this, however. At opposite ends of the spectrum are those that take pride in calling themselves "brown", and those who assert that there is no such scientific classification and totally reject the idea. In the middle are those that assert that the combination of indigenous Indian and Spanish heritage has led to a group of people who are, informally, "brown".[25][26]

Judith Ortiz Cofer notes that appellation varies according to geographical location, observing that in Puerto Rico she is considered to be a white person, but in the United States she is considered to be a brown person.[27]

The 1960s in the United States saw the creation of "brown pride" movements such as the Chicano Movement and La Raza. However, in contrast, many people classified, mainly for cultural reasons, as "Mestizos" assert that they are white, and reject any assertion that they are not, finding such assertions to be offensive. Contreras, a syndicated newspaper columnist in the United States, states that "in fact, there are a lot of 'brown' people", observing that he sees this colour whenever he looks in a mirror. He states that "[w]e, who trace back to the union of the Spanish Conquistadors and Indian women, can choose one of three paths. [... We] can insist upon being white if, of course, we can prove at least 50.1% white blood. Or we can ignore our white blood and be 'indigenous' and refuse to participate in America [...]. Or we can assert ourselves as a new people, we of brown skin, of Spanish and Indian blood. [...] We are Mexicans and Americans of Mexican descent.".[28][26][25]

South Asians

It is said that the racial qualities mentioned by Elliot Smith were the exact same as those mentioned by Giuseppe Sergi who wrote of the "mediterranean race". Sergi too spoke of a brown race[29][30] although he discussed their distribution through Eurafrica. Perhaps this Mediterranean category can be extended to even Caucasoids of Latin America as Latin Americans descend from Iberia, which is classified by many within the Mediterranean race. Many see South Asia as an extension of the brown race.[31]

The term 'Brown' was also used by British Empire as a derogatory term for Natives of Indian sub-continent, south Asia, and Australia.

See also: Government classification of Indian Americans

Some South Asian Americans still identify their race as brown.[32] Sociologist A. Rajagopal thinks South Asian Americans identify as brown to identify with Hispanic Americans who may also identify as brown.[32] Indian Americans and Hispanic Americans who identify their race as brown may not identify each other as the same race.[32]

Middle East and North Africa

Arabs perceive themselves as a brown people, though they have been included in the white American category in the United States Census and are considered white in other countries, like Brazil. In 1993 the Arab American Institute proposed that the 2000 US Census make a new Middle Easterner racial category.Arabs are classified as non whites in the UK [citation needed] and Australia. The inclusion in US census white category does not bear any relation to the actual position of Arabs passing racial identity in white society, where they are commonly being seen as non-whites by the mainstream white public and hence face similar or even worst problems anti-Arabism, finding jobs and housing more than other perceived brown people like Hispanics and South Asians. In Canada, Arabs are placed within the "non-white" visible minority group in the Canadian census. Most Arabs strongly resent being labeled as white people though some Arabs from the Levant arabized Arabs, may actually want to be seen as white and also resent being labeled brown[citation needed]. Most Arabs from Egypt,Sudan, Saudi Arabia,Yemen, Oman and the Gulf have got a dark skin color similar to that of South Indians and Ethiopians.

References

  1. ^ Jane Desmond (2001). Staging Tourism: Bodies on Display from Waikiki to Sea World. University of Chicago Press. p. 54. ISBN 0226143767.
  2. ^ John G. Jackson (1938). Ethiopia and the Origin of Civilization: A Critical Review of the Evidence of Archaeology,... New York, N.Y.: The Blyden Society.
  3. ^ Blumenbach, Johann. The Anthropological Treatise of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. London: Longman Green, 1865.
  4. ^ Bernasconi, Robert. Race Blackwell Publishing: Boston, 2001. ISBN 063120783X
  5. ^ Houghton Mifflin. "Definition of Australoid". Yahoo Education.
  6. ^ Bert Thompson (August 1990). "The Origin of Races". Reason & Revelation. 10 (8). Apologetics Press: 33–36.
  7. ^ Joseph-Anténor Firmin and Antenor Firmin (2002). The Equality of the Human Races. Asselin Charles (translator) and Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban (contributor). University of Illinois Press. p. 17. ISBN 0252071026.
  8. ^ Chapter VIII, section 6, "Racial Classification within the White Family"
  9. ^ P. 27, Racial Theories in Fascist Italy, By Aaron Gillette
  10. ^ P. 52, Are Italians White?: how race is made in America By Jennifer Guglielmo, Salvatore Salerno
  11. ^ Robert Needham Cust (1878). A Sketch of the Modern Languages of the East Indies. Trübner & co. p. 13.
  12. ^ Edward Balfour (1976). The Encyclopaedia Asiatica, Comprising Indian Subcontinent, Eastern and Southern Asia. Cosmo Publications. p. 315.
  13. ^ William Wyatt Gill (1892). The South Pacific and New Guinea Past and Present with Notes on the Hervey Group. Charles Potter. p. 6.
  14. ^ Mackenzie, Donald A. Myths of Babylonia and Assyria Montana:Kessinger Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1417976438
  15. ^ [M. Sprengling and W.C. Graham, ed., Barhebraeus‘ Scholia on the Old Testament, pp. 34-35 and 44-45. Bar Hebraeus‘ father was a Jewish convert to Christianity (thus the name). The quotation is from J.B. Segal, The Encyclopedia of Islam, second edition, 3:805, s.v. Ibn al- Ibrī.
  16. ^ Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race and the Evolution of Red-Black Peoples
  17. ^ Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race and the Evolution of Red-Black Peoples
  18. ^ a b c Edward Eric Telles (2004). "Racial Classification". Race in Another America: the significance of skin color in Brazil. Princeton University Press. pp. 81–84. ISBN 0691118663.
  19. ^ a b Mohamed Adhikari (2005). Not White Enough, Not Black Enough: Racial Identity in the South African Coloured Community. Ohio University Press. pp. 26, 163–169. ISBN 0896802442.
  20. ^ Gerald L. Stone (2002). "The lexicon and sociolinguistic codes of the working-class Afrikaans-speaking Cape Peninsula coloured community". In Rajend Mesthrie (ed.). Language in South Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 394. ISBN 052153383X.
  21. ^ David Houze (2006). Twilight People: From Mississippi to South Africa and Back. University of California Press. p. 134. ISBN 0520243986.
  22. ^ Birgit Brander Rasmussen (2001). The Making and Unmaking of Whiteness. Duke University Press. p. 133. ISBN 0822327406.
  23. ^ a b Penelope Oakes (1996). "The Categorization Process: Cognition and the Group in the Social Psychology of Stereotyping". In W. P. (William Peter) Robinson and Henri Tajfel (ed.). Social Groups and Identities: developing the legacy of Henri Tajfe. Routledge. ISBN 0750630833.
  24. ^ David I. Kertzer and Dominique Arel (2002). Census and Identity: The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, and Language in National Censuses. Cambridge University Press. pp. 63–64. ISBN 0521004276.
  25. ^ a b Raoul Lowery Contreras (2003). Jalapeno Chiles, Mexican Americans and Other Hot Stuff: A Peoples' Cultural Identity. iUniverse. p. 39. ISBN 0595292569.
  26. ^ a b George Eaton Simpson and J. M. Yinger (1985). "Minority family patterns and intermarriage". Racial and Cultural Minorities: An Analysis of Prejudice and Discrimination. Springer. p. 301. ISBN 0306417774. In the eastern states, numerous groups of people of mixed descent reside. These mestizos are known by such names as Jackson Whites (New York and New Jersey) [...] and Melungeons (Tennessee). In Virginia, there are many groups known as Rumps, Issues, Cubans, and Brown People [...] Many Mestizos think of themselves as Whites and resent any suggestion that they are not white.
  27. ^ Pauline T. Newton (2005). "An Interview with Judith Ortiz Cofer". Transcultural Women Of Late-Twentieth-Century U.S. American Literature. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 161. ISBN 0754652122.
  28. ^ Scott Sernau (2005). "Challenging the system: Social movements". Worlds Apart: social inequalities in a global economy. Pine Forge Press. p. 319. ISBN 1412915244.
  29. ^ P. 27, Racial Theories in Fascist Italy, By Aaron Gillette
  30. ^ P. 52, Are Italians White?: how race is made in America By Jennifer Guglielmo, Salvatore Salerno
  31. ^ Chapter VIII, section 6, "Racial Classification within the White Family"
  32. ^ a b c Morning, Ann. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. "The Racial Self-Identification of South Asians in the United States." 2001. July 21, 2007. [1]

Further reading

  • Alexander Winchell (1890). "XX. Genealogy of the Brown Races". Preadamites: Or, A Demonstration of the Existence of Men Before Adam. S. C. Griggs and company. pp. xvii et seq.

See also

External links

Template:Ethnic stereotypes

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