Unit 3b-Religion and Ethnicity

Chapters 6 and7 © Robin Foster

Chapter 6

Religion

People care deeply about their religion.Some religions are designed to appeal to

people throughout the world, some in a particular area.

Religious values are important to understanding people.

Most religions require exclusive adherence.Migrants take their religion with them.

Religion

Religion

Large Global Appeal-60% of people Three main: Christianity, Islam and

Buddhism

Branch-large basic division within a religion. Denomination-division of a branch that

unites local congregations into a single legal/administrative body.

Sect-small group that has broken away from an established denomination.

Universalizing Relgions

Relgions of the world

24% of the world. Appeal primarily to one group living in one

place.

Example: Hindu

Ethnic Religions

Appeal primarily to one group of people living in one place-24% of the world.

Ethnic Religions

Religions

Branches:◦ Roman Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox

◦ Protestant includes-Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian

Smaller branches-Ethiopian Church and Coptic Church of Egypt.

Christanity

USA Religions

“Submission to the will of God.”

Most Muslims live in the Middle East.

1.3 million followers

Islam

Five Pillars of Faith

Sunni-83% of all Muslims.

Largest Branch in the Middle East and Asia.

Shiites-16% of all Muslims.

Located in Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Turkey

Branches of Islam

Division of Islam

Buddhism

400 million followers

Mostly found in China and SE Asia.

Buddhism is also split into branches

Buddhism

1. All living beings must endure suffering.2. Suffering which is caused by the desire to live,

leads to reincarnation (repeated rebirth in new bodies or forms of life.).

3. The goal of all existence is to escape suffering and the endless cycle of reincarnation into Nirvana (a state of complete redemption), which is achieved through mental and moral self-purification.

4. Nirvana is attained through an Eight-fold Path, which includes rightness of belief, resolve, speech, action, livelihood, effort, thought and meditation.

Four Noble Truths

Most religious functions are performed by monks not the general public.

Buddhist

Sikhism Guru Nanak Only god is perfect

and people have the capacity for continuous improvement.

Other universalizing religions

Baha’IHe taught that there

is only one God, that there is only one human race, and that all the world’s religions represent stages in the revelation of God’s will and purpose for humanity.

Other Universalizing Religions

Hinduism Confucianism Daoism (Taoism) Shintoism Judiams Shamanism-animism

Ethnic Religions

Christanity-missionaries-individuals who help to transmit a religion through relocation diffusion.

Islam-missionaries and Arab traders.

Buddhism-Emperor Asoka

Most ethnic religions have limited if any diffusion.

Diffusion of Religions

Most religions share some common characteristics:

Holy placesThe calendarPlaces of worshipDisposing of the deadReligious settlements

Religion

Hindu Creamation

Baha’I Temple

Orthodox Patriarch

Western Wall in Jerusalem

Hindu Temple

Hierarchical Religions-have a well-defined geographic structure and organize territory into local administrative units.

Examples:◦ Roman Catholic◦ Mormon

Administration of Space

Roman Catholic Hierarchy

Self-sufficient and interaction among communities is confined to little more than loose cooperation and shared ideas.

Islam Baptists Church of Christ Judaism Hindu

Autonomous Religions

A literal interpretation of a strict and intense adherence to basic principles of a religion.

Fundamentalism

Religious principles have become increasingly important in the political organization of countries.

Taliban in Afghanistan-laws related to strict Islamic values◦ Men were beaten for shaving beards◦ Thieves had hands cut off.

Religion vs. Government Policy

Hinduism vs. Social Equalitycaste system

Religion vs. Government Policy

Eastern Orthodox and Islam vs. Soviet Government.

1918-Soviet government eliminated the state church.

Communist government discourage religious activity worldwide.

Religion vs. Communism

Religion vs. Religion

Protestants vs. Catholics

Catholics have been discriminated against and denied higher paying jobs and better schools.

Ireland

Middle East

2,000 years of conflict over the area near the Mediterranean.

All three major religions trace their origins to this area.

Jerusalem is a holy city to the three major religions.

Middle East

Jerusalem

West Bank

The West Bank is located within Israel, but is claimed by Palestinians who are predominantly Muslim.

The end of WWII created Israel as an independent state.

Middle East

A cargo cult is a religious practice that has appeared in many traditional tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced cultures. The cults focus on obtaining the material wealth (the "cargo") of the advanced culture through magic and religious rituals and practices.

Cargo Cult

Chapter 7Ethnicity

“Few Humans live in isolation.”

Ethnicity is an identity with a group of people who chare the cultural traditions of a particular homeland or hearth.

Ethnicity comes from the Greek “ethnikos” which means national.

Regions of distinct ethnic identity remain in the world and USA.

Ethnicity

African American and Hispanic are the two largest ethnic groups in the USA.

Ethnic groups may live within particular regions of the USA, or within particular neighborhoods in cities.

Ethnicities in the USA

Ethnic groups within a region

Ethnic groups within a region

Ethnicities within a city

Ethnic neighborhood

Ethnicity is the identity with a group of people that share distinct physical and mental traits as a product of common heredity and cultural traditions.

Race is the identity with a group of people who share the same biological ancestor. ◦ Race comes from the middle French word for

Generation.

Differentiating Race and Ethnicity

Biological descendant Race is inherited.

Example: Caucasian, Asian, African

Developed in the 1800’s by anthropologists based on skin color, bone structure and hair.

Cultural heritage

Ethnicity is learned

Example: hispanic, african-american

Race Ethnicity

1. Immigration from Africa to the colonies in the 1700’s.

forced migration, triangular trade

African American Migration Patterns

Triangle Trade

1. Immigration from the South to the North during the 1900’s.

Search of jobs during wartime.

1. Immigration from inner city ghettos to other urban neighborhoods, late 1900’s and early 2000’s.

Migration from Mexico and Latin America.

Early colonists and Westward settlement.

Clashes with the Native Americans.

Ethnicty

Segregation laws in the USA.

Plessy vs. Ferguson

Separate but Equal

Racism-racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

A racist is person who subscribes to the beliefs of racism.

Racism

Apartheid

Physical separation of the races into different geographic areas.

In 1991, Apartheid laws were repealed.

Apartheid

Nationality is identity with a group of people who share legal attachment and personal allegiance to a country.

Every person in the USA is American in Nationality.

Every American is also a member of a race.

Nationalies

Nationality map

Self-determination-ethnicities have the right to govern themselves.

Nation-state is a state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality.

Best example in Europe

Danes (Danish ethnicity) corresponds to state of Denmark.

Nearly all speak Danish.

Denmark

Loyalty and devotion to a nationality Promoted through flags and songs. An example of a centripedal (directed to

the center) force which is an attitude that tends to unify people and enhance the support for a state.

Nationalism

Multi-ethnic states share more than one ethnicity◦ Example: Belgium

Multi-national states contain two or more ethnic groups with traditions of self-determination who agree to peacefully co-exist.

Example: the UK

Multi-ethnic/national states

Ethnic conflict has returned since the fall of Communism.

Each group has longstanding grievances against the other groups.

Ethnic Conflicts

Africa-control of Horn of Africa.

Ethnic groups what to be dominant within the various countries.

Ethnic Clashes

Christian Blacks and animist rebels and Arab-government forces in North, involved in a Civil War.

Ethnic cleansing in black controlled Darfur.

Darfur

India-forced migration for religious regions.

Creation of Pakistan for Muslims in the region.

Divided states

Tamil-North Sinhalese-

South

Fighting has gone on for more than 2,000 years.

A ceasefire was declared in 2002

Sri Lanka

The process in which a more powerful ethnic group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create an ethnically homogenous region.

The goal is to rid an entire are of an ethnicity so that the surviving ethnic group can be the sole inhabitants.

Ethnic Cleansing

The former Yugoslavia

6 republics 5 named for the main nationalities 3 major religions-Catholic, Orthodox, Islam 4 official languages

Balkanization-the process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among it’s ethnicities.

Yugoslavia

Ethnic cleansing between the Hutus (farmers) an Tutsis (cattle herders).

Hutu’s killed most of the Tutsis out of fear the Tutsis would gain control of an independent nation.

Rwanda

Yugoslavia