2. Ethnicity Dictionary Definition
1. relating to or characteristic of a human group having racial, religious,
linguistic, and certain other traits in common
2. relating to the classification of mankind into groups, esp on the basis of
racial characteristics
3. denoting or deriving from the cultural traditions of a group of people:
the ethnic dances of Slovakia
4. characteristic of another culture: the ethnic look ; ethnic food
Your ethnicity is defined by your cultural identity which may demonstrate
itself through customs, dress, food. Ethnicity suggests an identity that is
based on a sense of place, ideology or religion. You can be British but of
Jewish ethnicity.
3. Stereotypes of Ethnicity
• Alvarado’s (1987) stereotypes in the representation of ethnicity and
race;
• EXOTIC
• DANGEROUS
• PITIED
• HUMOUROUS
• A recent revision of this has added the SEXUALISED stereotype
4. Change
• Representation of people from other cultures in the media has
changed dramatically since earlier days where they were defined in
their potential for comedy and ‘foreignness’
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfl6Lu3xQW0
5. Otherness
• People from other cultures still tend to be defined by their
‘otherness’. This can be see as either positive or negative.
6. Stereotypes and miss-representation
• Some stereotypes and
miss-representations can
be dangerous as the
representation that is
constructed by the media
is often the only
experience of these
cultures some audiences
will have.
7. Tokenism
• Some programmes
have representations
of ethnic minorities
but are often accused
of having ‘token’
representations or
just a heavy focus on
the stereotype.
