Cross-Cultural Comparisons

As we think about prejudice processes and how they operate, I encourage you to develop a cross-cultural perspective. So lets explore some cultures. As you digest these materials, think about what they say about human nature and the nature of prejudice processes.

The Week 2 Lecture Quiz will be on all of the material found in these tabs. Be sure to read and watch each component. (About 1-1.5 hours of material)

Racism in Japan
Ethnic Tensions in Nigeria
Ethnic Discrimination in Turkey
Homophobia in Russia
Sexism in Vietnam
Religious Conflict in France

Racism in Japan

Watch the first few minutes of this video to understand a type of racism found in Japan.

Ethnic Tensions in Nigeria

Instructor note: In the USA skin tone plays a huge role in diving groups. Is skin tone the cause of prejudice in Nigeria? If not skin tone, what is the source(s) of prejudice and what does that say about the nature of group identity and prejudice processes?

Ethnicity in Nigeria

Arts Apr 5, 2007 12:39 PM EDT

Article from: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/africa-jan-june07-ethnic_04-05

Hausa-Fulani
Muslim Hausa and Fulani are the predominant ethnic groups in Nigeria’s northern region. Though the groups originated in different parts of West Africa, religion, intermarriage and adoption of the Hausa language by the Fulani have unified the groups over time. In contemporary Nigerian society, they are often referred to collectively as Hausa-Fulani.

The largest of the major ethnic groups, Hausa and Fulani have been politically dominant since Nigeria’s independence from Britain in 1960.

Islam is a key component of their ethnic identity and continues to inform their role in modern Nigerian society and politics. Their culture is deeply patriarchal and patrilineal.

In recent years, Hausa and Fulani were instrumental in adopting and upholding Sharia, a system of Islamic law, in 11 of the country’s northern states.

Igbo
The Igbo, the main ethnic group in southeastern Nigeria, has represented some of the staunchest opponents of Sharia law. In many northern Hausa-Fulani-dominated states, minority populations of Igbo claim to have been unfairly targeted by laws that do not pertain to their faith.

Unlike neighboring Hausa and Yoruba cultures, Igbo society was traditionally decentralized and non-hierarchical. This made its members easier converts for European missionaries and today most Igbo are Christian.

Under British colonial rule, many Igbo served in government and military roles and were later key players in Nigerian independence. But over the last few decades the group has become less politically dominant.

Discovery of large oil reserves near Igboland in the early 1960s and proposed redistricting led many in the group to fear that they would be cut out of revenues from the country’s natural resources.

In 1967, an Igbo secessionist movement in Biafra state led to a 30-month war with the Nigerian government, in which hundreds of thousands of Igbo starved to death.

After the war, Igbo were reintegrated into Nigerian society, but in a more marginalized role. Despite lingering ethnic tension, they now play an important part in southeastern Nigeria’s oil trade. In recent elections, however, they have struggled to coalesce around a single candidate for the presidency.

Yoruba

The Yoruba are one of Nigeria’s most urban ethnic groups. Historically, their culture centered on densely populated city-states each controlled by an oba, or king. Yoruba now form the majority in Lagos, the second most populous city in Africa.
In modern day Nigeria, Yoruba speakers do not always identify with their larger ethnic group, but rather the many smaller Yoruba-speaking communities.

This pluralism extends to Yoruba views of religion. As Islam and Christianity spread to Yorubaland over the past few centuries, the group embraced both faiths alongside its many traditional and animist beliefs. This blend and acceptance of religion survives in modern times and has mitigated some religious conflict in places where Yoruba form the majority.

Like the Igbo, Yoruba held important roles in the British colonial government, participating significantly in both political and economic life. Since independence, the group has been overshadowed by the more numerous and dominant Hausa-Fulani.

However, in 1999 a Christian Yoruba named Olusegun Obasanjo became Nigeria’s president and first elected head of state. He was reelected for a second term in 2003.

Ethnic tensions
The Nigerian government has worked out tentative power-sharing arrangements to help ensure that its many ethnic groups have some say in how the country’s natural resource wealth is spent. But major questions about ethnicity and how to balance the many competing interests still dog the society.

Cities remain largely segregated along ethno-religious lines, and confrontation between ethnic groups is common. Often, ethnic clashes in one part of the country can set off a chain of reprisal riots and attacks in other parts of the country.

All major ethnic groups have formed militias to protect their own interests and perpetrate violence on other groups. While illegal, these vigilante groups continue to act with impunity for lack of stringent law enforcement.

Video

Watch at least the first 4 min. of this video. It provides insight into ethnic group attitudes in Nigeria.

Ethnic Discrimination in Turkey

‘Minority groups face increasing discrimination in Turkey’

March 20, 2014, Thursday/ 17:00:00/ MELTEM NAZ KAŞO

From the webiste: https://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/177120/

Despite March 21 being both the UN-designated International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the start of the Nevruz festival, which marks the first day of spring and has been celebrated by people from diverse ethnic communities and religious backgrounds for thousands of years, some prominent voices in Turkey have used the occasion to tell Today's Zaman that discrimination is increasing against those who do not practice Sunni Islam or identify as ethnic Turks.

map of turkey, which is located in the middle east Aren, a Christian of Armenian heritage in his 30s, says that on one occasion, when he was exercising at the gym, some people opened windows soon after he started running and said that “the room had started to smell like an Armenian.” Another man of Aren's age referred to a dumbbell as being “as heavy as an unbeliever's dead body.” He tells Today's Zaman that this is far from being the most severe incident he has experienced in Turkey in terms of discrimination due to his ethnicity and religion. He could well be right. Other prominent incidents of racial and religious discrimination -- such as the murder of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist who was killed outside his office, and three Christians who were brutally murdered at the Zirve publishing house in Malatya -- reveal that intolerance can be deadly.

On paper, Turkey has taken significant steps to fight against discrimination. After the long-running public debates over the implementation of a “democracy package” -- an initiative to extend rights to Turkey's disadvantaged minorities -- hate crime entered the Turkish statute books for the first time in December 2013. Hate and prejudice crimes are defined as “crimes committed against someone or some group based on their language, race, nationality, skin color, gender, disability, political views, philosophical beliefs or religion.” Yet, unlike the preferred definition of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), it lacks criteria based on ethnicity and sexual orientation. In addition, the largest ethnic minority in Turkey, the Kurds, are not specifically included in the regulation.

Doğan is of the opinion that legal amendments to criminalize discrimination are ineffective due to the lack of emphasis on constitutional equality. “The [Justice and Development Party] AK Party government has underdelivered with the democracy package,” he says. He thinks that political leaders -- regardless of the political party they adhere to -- are not sincerely dedicated to fighting against discrimination and hate crimes. “They [politicians] have resisted [drives to outlaw discrimination].”

Similarly, Zeynep Arslan, a representative from the Hrant Dink Foundation who coordinates the Media Watch on Hate Speech Project, told Today's Zaman about the project's research from the last four months of 2013. “There has been an increase in racial, ethnic and religious discrimination that should not be underestimated. The provocative tone toughened in the media, criticizing the illegalization of hate crime, especially during the Christmas season in order to target Christians,” Arslan says. She points out that most discrimination she has uncovered is against individuals or groups who identify as Armenian, Christian or Jewish. “The next most serious targets of discrimination are Kurds and Westerners,” Arslan claims.

She also mentions that popular political discourse which makes headlines also results in the increase of hate speech and discrimination.

Turkey hosts both religious and ethnic minorities, ranging from ethnic groups like Armenians, Jews and Kurds to religious groups like Alevis, Shiite Muslims and Eastern Orthodox Christians. CIA World Factbook statistics claim that an estimated 25-30 percent of the Turkish population belong to an ethnic minority, while 25.7 percent adhere to a minority religion, including large numbers of Alevis, a non-Sunni Muslim group combining Anatolian folk Shiite Islam with Sufi elements.

For visual context, here are pictures of Turkish people

PIcture of religious turkish people, wearing clothes that look just like people of the Kurds

And Kurdish people

PIcture of religious kurdish people, wearing clothes that look just like people of the Turks

Homophobia in Russia

Watch this entire video to gain insight into the type of climate lgbtq+ people faced in Russia following the passage of a law in 2013 that prohibits any "gay propaganda."

Sexism in Vietnam

Instructor note: Sadly, sexism is found in most places in the world. Why do you think this so prevalent? What are psychological, economic, and cultural factors at play?

Sexism rampant in Viet Nam: UN

From: https://www.vn.undp.org/content/vietnam/en/home/presscenter/undp-in-the-news/sexism_rampant_in_Viet_Nam.html

HA NOI — Vietnam has made great strides in terms of economic performance, but at the same time, there are signs of rising economic inequality and disparity in the country.

The statement was made by United Nations Resident Co-ordinator John Hendra at a conference to launch the Asia-Pacific Human Development Report on Gender.

This was backed up by figures provided by the UN on three aspects of gender inequality in Viet Nam: economic power, political voice and legal rights.

In Vietnam, women make up 46.6 per cent of the workforce but most women work in the informal sector which is not covered by social protection.

Furthermore, as more than half of working women are unpaid family workers, they receive no direct income. Those who are paid earn only 87 per cent of the hourly wage received by men.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)'s first nationwide family survey, Vietnamese women do not have an equal say in decision-making at the household level, and have a lower level of ownership and control over key assets, such as houses, land and large-scale purchases.

Besides, only a few Vietnamese women hold important political positions. Though Vietnam has the highest rate of female participation in the National Assembly among ASEAN countries, women are not well-represented in senior decision-making in the Party and in the administration: only one minister and five deputy ministers are women.

Vietnamese women are also hindered by their retirement age of 55, while that for men is 60.

This might not only limit women's chances of promotion and access to training, but also discourage employers from hiring women, the review of Vietnamese legal documents by the United Nations Development Fund for Women said.

To make the situation even worse, a recent study by the Supreme People's Court estimated that 21 per cent of couples experience domestic violence. Almost two-thirds of women believe it is acceptable for men to beat their wives, the General Statistics Office 2006 Survey said.

"The silence and stigma that surround violence against women is so strong that many women are afraid to speak out," Hendra said.

He suggested that it was necessary to ensure that all Vietnamese families value girls equally with boys and invest in their capabilities and well-being.

Religious Conflict in France

Watch this entire video. Pay attention to the way that each group thinks about each other.

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