How to Describe Ethnicity in Writing

Ethnicity can be seen as a more positive identity than one forged from the shared negative experiences of racism. Resources for writers who want to include characters who are a different race ethnicity or culture from their own in their work.


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Background Describe your ethnic racial and cultural background.

. What generation in the US. Define in your mind a the languages spoken by your characters great-grandparents and b how they each see and understand ethnicity. But I wouldnt attempt to write any ethnic character without a lot of research into that particular ethnic culture.

Unless your plot hinges on phrenology or an ethnicity reveal barf I vote for ambiguous since all perceptions of difference would likely be relative to the protagonists worldlinessIts going to be MUCH faster to relate something like She had the proud features of her island people tells us the important part. While people might choose to define themselves based on their race they can also use their ethnicity. There are certain names that give a clue to status and class too ie.

Likewise capitalize terms such as Native American Hispanic and so on. Its important to stay current in your understanding of the concepts of race and ethnicity. A Look at Ethnicity.

When writing the assignment about Ethnic Groups remember this is a culture study. An individual can be described as biracial if their heritage is mixed. If and when you write a character whose ethnic or racial heritage is different from your own here are some tips from Writers Relief that may help.

Do not hyphenate a phrase when used as a noun but use a hyphen when two or more words are used together to form an adjective. Depending on the context white may or may not be capitalized. People can have shared races but identify with different ethnic groups.

If someone has dark brown skin thats not racist although you may want to steer clear of descriptors like chocolate-coloured or other flowery options. Black Asian Native American. Ethnicity is broader than race and has usually been used to refer to long shared cultural experiences religious practices traditions ancestry language dialect or national origins for example African-Caribbean Indian Irish.

Writing About Race and Ethnicity As health communicators we know its our responsibility to choose our words carefully especially when were tackling topics like. American Indian or Alaska Native. And of course more often than not history and culture overlap.

If you dont have friends from other racial and ethnic groups. Dont try to be subtle - just be concise. If you have searched a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help in your coursework.

Tips For Writing Characters Of A Different Heritage. Multiracial mixed heritage dual heritage mixed-race mixed-ethnicity or simply mixed. However you are searching about unique cultural traits as well as pan-human cultural traits.

If youre subtle most readers will assume the character is white. Therefore use Black and White instead of black and white do not use colors to refer to other human groups. Personally when Im writing with my black character Phoenix I like to simply not regard race find a pleasing word to describe his skin color.

Doing so is considered pejorative. We are a professional custom writing website. Ethnicity refers to the cultural markers or affiliations a person holds.

Depending on context white may or may not be capitalized. African Americans migrated to northern cities. You can enhance your writing with a bit of history if you are having trouble filling the pages.

Racism is about stereotyping prejudice and injustice. Sometimes names can give an indication of a persons ethnicity. Has no Hispanic or Latino origins.

I purposefully declined to describe what ethnicity they look like only that one can tell their ethnicity from appearance. Where shes from as opposed to Her. Terms describing a person who has parentage or ancestors from more than one ethnic andor racial group.

Chesnut Ebony Mocha Umber. Ask your friends from different racial and ethnic groups to read your descriptions. Racial and ethnic groups are designated by proper nouns and are capitalized.

1 Consider your characters name. Sassy or good at math or vivacious strong or athletic Theres a lot of variation among Asians Try to be more specific about their ethnicity. Its not a foolproof method however.

Learn about common stereotypes and tropes language to use and avoid find research sources and learn about available on demand classes. But creating a character of an ethnicity different than your own or which you have no experience with holds particular challenges. Do some wordplay with physical descriptions and think about how the descriptions might empower or limit young readers.

Know your characters relationship to ethnicity. Unlike race which is based largely on physical attributes your ethnicity is based on traditions language nationality or cultural heritage. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America including Central America who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community attachment.

Do not hyphenate a phrase when used as a noun but use a hyphen when two or more words are used together to form an adjective. Some people can get confused between interracial and biracial whats the difference. In my novel I have a whole group of people who are immigrants.

Simply describe him as you would anyone else. When you think of your ethnicity you look beyond your physical characteristics to traits that you share with the culture around you. Capitalize racialethnic groups such as Black Asian and Native American.

People can have different races but be part of the same ethnic groups or group. Wing Hun and Rupinder are from two very different cultures as are Brandon and Piotr.


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