i'm not sayin italian a whole diff. race, but isnt it sort of an ethnicity.....?

Question

not officially maybe but if ur a southern italian who has ancestry from very ethnic places...including spanish and arabic...who knows maybe traces of african or somethin..not sure......is that white?

and NO I DONT WANNA BE WHITE WHY DO PPL THINK THAT HELLLLLL NOOOOOOO sry no offense white ppl

Answer 1

It isn't "sort of" an ethnicity. It IS an ethnicity.
From the American Heritage Dictionary:
"The notion of race is nearly as problematic from a scientific point of view as it is from a social one. European physical anthropologists of the 17th and 18th centuries proposed various systems of racial classifications based on such observable characteristics as skin color, hair type, body proportions, and skull measurements, essentially codifying the perceived differences among broad geographic populations of humans. The traditional terms for these populations—Caucasoid (or Caucasian), Mongoloid, *******, and in some systems Australoid—are now controversial in both technical and nontechnical usage, and in some cases they may well be considered offensive. (Caucasian does retain a certain currency in American English, but it is used almost exclusively to mean "white" or "European" rather than "belonging to the Caucasian race," a group that includes a variety of peoples generally categorized as nonwhite.) The biological aspect of race is described today not in observable physical features but rather in such genetic characteristics as blood groups and metabolic processes, and the groupings indicated by these factors seldom coincide very neatly with those put forward by earlier physical anthropologists. Citing this and other points—such as the fact that a person who is considered black in one society might be nonblack in another—many cultural anthropologists now consider race to be more a social or mental construct than an objective biological fact."

So, basically, to some it may be considered "white" or "caucasian" to others maybe not.
Does it really matter though in the grand scheme of the world?

Answer 2

During centuries Italians were considered the black sheep of Europe because of their darker skin tones.

For the fact that Italy had play such an important role in the history of Europe and the western civilization,Italian will always be considerate as white.

If Italy was situated in the middle east that wouldn't be the case.A mulatto looking Italian will be considerate as white but a white looking Lebanese or Turkish will be non-white.

Being white is like a military rank inside society.If you can become white then you OK.

Answer 3

My husband and I are both half Italian and half French Canadian. He looks Italian and I look French. We both feel that Italian is different than white but by no means is it black or arabic or spanish, at least not closely.

Most Italian families are secretive, snobish and intrusive. I believe that to be why my rule of never dating a purebread anything worked. My mutt of a husband is a great mix.

Answer 4

Some ppl will say that you are white because lots of ppl are italian and they call them white. Unless you have a tan. But other ppl don't really say anything. But alot of ppl will say that you are white. But who cares!!!!

Answer 5

Yeah, I think you're spot on. Italians can be considered white, but because many Italians' lineages differ from eachother, and from other whites, Italians can also be considered their own ethnic group.

Answer 6

I'm and American and I live in Italy, and I've never heard an Italian refer to their-self as white, but I also have never heard then ferer to their-selves and anything but Italian.
I know that though most Italians have the dark hair, dark eyes, and darker skin, it's not terribly unusual to see a blond hair, pale skin, blue eyed Italian.

Answer 7

Maybe the southern italians and sicilians because of their very close proximity to nothern africa and other "ethnic" countries.

But in the north they are probably more european/white looking than those in the south.

Answer 8

Race is a human constructed social phenomenon. You could call blue-eyed people a race, if you wanted to. People with knobby knees could be another. There really isn't any science behind race. (In other words, you are over thinking it.)

Answer 9

I think you are obsessed with color. . . You have a HERITAGE, the actual white, black, yellow, brown labels are the ones that perpetuate prejudice.

Answer 10

being Italian just means you were born there......your race is another story......