07.31.04 - 3:53 p.m.

[This was an ongoing discussion w/someone. I remember that I offended someone by claiming that race is a socially constructed category, that it has no basis other than its social construction. I still believe that. I don't know if I ever finished this argument, though. Time washes away so much, doesn't it?]

First, some definitions:

Culture is a way of seeing, living in, and structuring the world around you. It also encompasses material culture � art, music, entertainment, food, business-models, political organization � and so on. Ethnicity is identification with a particular culture largely via the idea of national origin, common language, family history, family structure. Race is a social category based on someone�s skin color. That�s the way I have been using the terms, and that�s then way I think the terms should be used.

Culture, by the way, is not fixed, certainly not in modern society. Culture is also fluid. One may belong to one underlying, fundamental culture (in the case of the U.S., I would call this a national culture in which most residents and citizens participate and which is shaped by most residents and citizens) as well as innumerable others, whatever they may be: regional, ethnic, personal. As fundamental as culture is to how we think and feel, it is also � to some degree � an internal choice, to embrace one�s cultures or reject them, to find with which to replace them. The �barriers� between cultures are permeable barriers. Things cross over. Does Yeats �belong� only to �Irish� culture? Does Langston Hughes �belong� only to �black� culture? Heck no, to both questions. Given the current state of the world � with all the media cross-fertilization and so on � no culture is �pure.� To the extent that that opens the world to us, that�s a good thing. To the extent that U.S.-dumbed-down-media-culture erodes interest in other cultural activities, that�s sort of sad.

Can you look at someone and tell what culture he or she is from without cultural clues like hairstyle/jewelry/clothing? No. Can you look at someone and tell what �race� he or she is? Yes. Which is the more valid category? The one we impose upon people or the one people choose for themselves?

-- oh, man, I was inverting what he said, I think. Or something, I don't know.