how do you figure out your ethnicity? or race?

Question

is ethnicity and race the same, and how do you come to a conclusion on what your background is. I've always had difficulty trying to find my own ethnicity or race because I don't understand these labels and choices that are given in questionnaires.. can someone help to better clarify this for me?

Answer 1

This link should help u out.

Answer 2

First of all, there's only one race.....the human race. If people were actually different races, then we would'nt be able to procreate between these races. Though we differ on the outside, we are the same inside, and procreate with each other.
As for ethnicity, this has to do with where you come from. If you were born in America, then you're American. If you want to go further back, then you can say you're descended from the ancestors of a particular country. If you just want to use physical features as a marker, then know that humanity comes from 3 great groups, the Blacks, the Whites, and the Asians. Every other feature comes from different combinations of these three.

Answer 3

Race is easy - you're a member of the human race.

Ethnicity is your ancestry. Who were your parents and then your grandparents and their parents and their parents and so on. The places THEY came from, that's your ancestry.

Now within a single place there can still be differences - you can be Iraqi, but they make a huge distinction between Suni or not.

You can be African, and you can be from Nigerian, but what is important is what TRIBE your people came from.

In some cultures, ethnicity is traced through the female line (you are Jewish if your mother was Jewish, your father doesn't count).

The starting point is to know your ancestors, and there are a number of sites that help you trace those back. The Mormons have a huge center in Salt Lake City dedicated to that, and it was recently announced that a number of shipping records from the 18th and 19th centuries are going to be made available on line.

Good luck.

Answer 4

I agree they are a pain and really no one's business nor do they have any legitimate need to know, because the US Supreme Court ruled it's illegal toi treat people differently on account of race. (Please keep the laughter down to a loud roar). All races have washed back and forth across the earth since their particular group branched off the family tree over the last 60,000 years or so. BUT most people are lucky if they can trace their generations back three centuries on half their own family tree. One fascinating new (but expensive) method is the human genome mapping project run by the National Geographic Society and outfits like "familytreeDNA", which can trace the direct paternal or maternal lines, so even if adopted, you could come up with similar surnames and regional origins for both your parents. As for the form, "white, non-hispanic" instead of plain "caucasian" is a difference based on language/culture, not DNA, like African, Asian, Middle East, Indian, Native American, Aborigine, etc. would be obviuosly different. The way to stomp out racism, is to stop dividing people into racial catgories, because we all have the same origin, and unless/until we start emmigrating into space, we all have the same fate.

Answer 5

Ethnicity and race are not the same thing...ethnicity is more specific, race is more general..for instance, a person who is German would say that their ethnicity is German, and their race is white..but it cannot be used in reverse because not all white people are Germans...when you say "ethnicity" you are referring to the specific countries or country where you or your ancestors originated from. The U.C. concesus categorizes race according to where they or their ancestors originate from in a borad sense..for example, the race "white" is considered anybody whose ancestors originate from Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East, and even people who live in Latin-American countries where they are mixed with Spanish. "Black" is defined as anyone whose ancestors originate from south, west, or e. Africa, or the Carribean (Jamiaca, e.g.). Asian would be anyone from Asia.

Answer 6

well just to let you know were all the same race and its human, but ethnicity is your background ,were your family comes from

Answer 7

I don't know how they differ but I think they do.

Like a German and a Celt and an Anglo are all Caucasian, but they are three different ethnicities and DO LOOK DIFFERENT!!!!

I don't know the difference. I don't know what defines race other than skin colour.

Answer 8

ethnicity is more divided up. Races are big block groups like white, black asian etc. etnicity is much more accurate, rly. East asian, south asian, arab, west african, north african, Caribbean, afro-american, south american, scandanaivian, slavic etc. More specific than race, more general than nationality.

Answer 9

Go to http://www.ethnoancestry.com/products.html and request Total genomic ancestry test. It will tell you what your percentage of each race is by examining your Ydna and Mtdna

Answer 10

a race and ethinicity is different

caucasian is a race ethnicity would be irish, italian swedish and etc.

i wish i could know the different ethnicities in me, but i cant because of slavery and everything got messed up, all i know is that my race is black, i always hear white kids saying im scottich and german and all that

are both your parents mixed? like is one black and white and the other asian and hispanic you know somehthing like that if so then just say u are multicultural or multi-racial, but of course the u.s. would consider u black because of the one drop rule