What is meant by "of ethnic origin" and where does the colour of my skin fit in?

Answer 1

It means of a racial origin other than the one of the bureaucrat who filled out the form. Skin colour is included.

Answer 2

The term 'Ethnic' is generally used when talking about people of colour, and usually where they are in a minority. But the term itself can be, and should be used very much more widely. The British are much too disparate now for the term to be effectively used for them, and it is more often used when the subject is distinctive and easily recognised. Such as those with black or brown skins. The term is in no way offensive, and in fact I would be proud to belong to a group that is easily recognised as different from the masses by way of customs, food, appearance, etc. You will remember the term 'Ethnic Cleansing', as used in the recent Balkan conflict. There it was used to describe people who were if no way black or brown. There, the main factor was religion, which also plays a role when the term Ethnic is used.

Answer 3

To answer your question, please see definition below.

"An ethnic group or ethnicity is a population of human beings whose members identify with each other, [1] and who are regarded as distinctive by those outside the group, turning the group into a "people." [2] Ethnic groups are united by common cultural, behavioural, linguistic, ritualistic, or religious traits, usually but not always on the basis of a common genealogy or ancestry. [1] Processes that result in the emergence of such a community are summarized as ethnogenesis........

While ethnicity and race are related concepts (Abizadeh 2001), the concept of ethnicity is rooted in the idea of social grouping, marked especially by shared nationality, tribal affiliation, genealogical relationships, religious identification, language use, or specific cultural and traditional origins, whereas race is rooted in the idea of a biological classification".


For me, I think it is getting more and more difficult to define ethnic origin as the descriptions will need to be widened to take into account the fact that the world is shrinking with people migrating all over and adapting the cultures of where they live as opposed to sticking to the culture of their birth or geneolgical history.

Answer 4

If you fill in a government origin form (voluntary) when you are appling for a job then there will be multiple categories such as "Black Afro-Carribean" "White" etc. This can backfire because I overheard a South African (white) colleague trying to fill the form in and she was bemoaning the fact there was no way on the form to put "White African". She was getting so worked up that I eventually had to say to her "Just tick the box for pedantic African".

Answer 5

Where you were born. From where you originated.

Skin fits around the skeletal frame and is usually a colour that shows where yu comin from.

Answer 6

Ethnicity refers to the potential differences in appearance and behavior that come from a person having been taught by people who were taught by people whose upbringing was vastly different to the others who surround us, by virtue of them having been raised in different places and different cultures.

Skin color is quite often one of the signs that a person's ethnicity might be vastly different to our own, as most people with skin colors that are vastly different from our own, are much less likely to have been reared in the same manner as we.

Skin color, however is by no means neither the best indicator of ethnic differences, nor is it all that reliable--- especially in the case of adoption.

I have a cousin who adopted a child from not quite half-way around the world, whom a totally blind person would not have any reason to suspect any potential ethnic factors in his upbringing, who, for most intents and purposes, is every bit as much like me as any of all of the rest of my first-cousins-once-removed. But, because of his skin color, he really doesn't even come close to fitting in at any of our family reunions. Younger cousins will ask me who my kids are, and once they're told, they'll be on their way. Those same cousins, asking who Jared is, will almost invariably ask him whom he came to the family reunion with, and it almost invariably takes him the same elongated period of time to gain their acceptance that my children rarely go through.

My answer to any questions of Jared's "ethnic origin", is that he was bred and born, and raised in the U.S. of A (please note the strategic use of conjunctions and punctuation), in a family of mainly western-european ancestry.

Answer 7

Where are your parents from.
Mostly see these on application forms
as a way to prove they are not discriminating
and are choosing people from all walks of life.

Answer 8

it means origanal orgin of our race

i am German American and my ancestors all came from Germany....and i am considered white and a Yankee

so thats about 65% of the USA...thanks mate

Answer 9

ethnicity would be where your ancestors came from, like african, european, asian, etc. your skin would reflect this normally, unless you are of mixed racial background.

Answer 10

there looking for the last trace of the master race