In my last column, I argued that the people of Hawaii shouldn’t celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month because it highlights large racial categories and thereby obscures significant differences among the included ethnic groups.
This column follows up on a May 28 article on CNN, “The differences between race and ethnicity – and why they’re so hard to define.” My intention is to provide some clarity about those differences, particularly from a Hawaii perspective. Doing so may also serve as background for my future columns in which I discuss problems and issues related to race and ethnicity.
I’ve discussed the meaning of those two concepts in Hawaii in a chapter, “Race and/or Ethnicity in Hawai‘i: What’s the Difference and What Difference Does It Make?” It appeared in an edited book, “Beyond Ethnicity: New Politics of Race in Hawai‘i,” in 2018.
I also will elaborate on my contention in my previous column that ethnicity and indigeneity matter much more than race does in Hawaii.
The CNN article asserts that the differences between race and ethnicity are difficult to define and that these concepts “are messy and lack concrete definitions.” That probably is the case for the general public but not necessarily for scholars of race and ethnicity and, I hope, for the students who took my ethnic studies courses.
In my chapter noted above, I stated that an ethnic group is defined primarily according to cultural criteria, such as language, religion, values, symbols and meanings. In contrast, a racial group or race is defined on the basis of phenotypic or physical criteria — commonly but not universally skin color, hair color or texture, and facial characteristics.
Based on these definitions, since culture can be acquired…
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