Ethnic Studies Glossary

The process by which members of an ethnic or racial minority adopt the cultural norms, values, and behaviors of the dominant group, often under social or political pressure.

A political identity adopted by Mexican Americans during the civil rights era to express cultural pride and resistance to assimilation, associated with the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

A framework that sustains racial inequality through race-neutral explanations and the denial of systemic racism, as theorized by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva.

A framework from legal studies examining how laws and institutions systematically perpetuate racial inequality beyond individual prejudice.

The process of dismantling colonial structures and reclaiming sovereignty, culture, and self-governance by formerly colonized peoples.

The dispersion of a people from their original homeland and the cultural connections maintained across scattered communities.

W.E.B. Du Bois's term for the internal tension of perceiving oneself through one's own identity and through the devaluing gaze of a racist society.

The disproportionate exposure of communities of color to environmental hazards and their exclusion from environmental policy decisions.

An interdisciplinary academic field analyzing the histories, cultures, and political experiences of racially and ethnically marginalized groups.

The dominance of one group over others maintained not only by force but by cultural and ideological control that makes the ruling group's values seem natural and universal.

The state of being Indigenous to a place, encompassing the political, cultural, spiritual, and territorial relationships Indigenous peoples maintain with ancestral lands.

A theory that racial minorities within a nation-state experience colonial-like conditions of economic exploitation, cultural suppression, and political domination.

The concept that overlapping social identities create unique, compounded experiences of discrimination that cannot be understood by examining single categories alone.

The process of racial and cultural mixing, particularly in Latin American contexts, and the resulting hybrid identities, cultures, and worldviews.

A stereotype portraying Asian Americans as universally successful, used to deny systemic racism and create division among minority groups.

A political ideology favoring the interests of established inhabitants over immigrants, often expressed through anti-immigrant sentiment and exclusionary policies.

Edward Said's concept describing the Western cultural construction of Eastern societies as exotic, backward, and fundamentally Other.

The formation of a shared political identity among distinct ethnic groups who share a broad racial categorization, such as Asian American or Latino.

Cedric Robinson's theory that capitalism has always depended on racial hierarchy and exploitation as integral to its functioning.

Omi and Winant's theory that racial categories are socially constructed through historical and political processes rather than being biologically fixed.

The social process by which racial meaning is attached to a group or practice that was not previously classified in racial terms.

The discriminatory practice of denying financial services to residents of neighborhoods based on racial or ethnic composition.

The right of a people to freely determine their own political status, governance, and cultural development.

A form of colonialism in which outsiders permanently occupy Indigenous land, seeking to replace the original population rather than merely extract resources.

The system of interconnected policies, practices, and norms across institutions that collectively produce and reinforce racial inequality.