Whiteness is a term used in Columbia to express the privilege of the white group as a race. Whitening in Columbia is referred to as a change of oneself to a better social existence that values white in terms of culture, beauty, and civilization. In Colombia, the whites were considered a more superior race. In an attempt to defy this racial discrimination in Colombia, the Indian and black population engaged in miscegenation across generations as one way of whitening. As Vigoya (2015 pg. 500) depicted, "During the long period in which the ideology of miscegenation prevailed, black men and women were excluded from debates about national identity…” . Miscegenation did not solve racial discrimination as depicted by (Vigoya 2015, p. 502) “However these racial categories did not disappear but were now replaced with expressions of ethnicity and culture associating the country problems with class without consideration of the connection between class and race.” However, the introduction of multiculturalism provided an opportunity for the black opportunity to have an ethnic identity that was more solid than before. It also allowed them to move freely and rise to higher social and economic classes without any form of racial discrimination.
In Canada, racial discrimination is minimal compared to the case in Colombia. A multiculturalism policy was enacted in 1971 (Jedwab, 2020). It is seen as a way of enhancing integration as immigrants could embrace their own culture and identity while living in Canada without any discrimination. This ensured that all Canadian citizens, regardless of their origin, keep their identities and take pride in their diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. This is in great contrast to the Colombian social system, which did not appreciate different racial groups. They discriminated against the blacks and considered the whites as the more superior race. As a result, the black community did not take pride in their color and resorted to tom whitening to gain recognition.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
References
Jedwab, J. (2020, March 20). Multiculturalism . The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/multiculturalism
Vigoya, M. V. (2015). Social mobility, whiteness, and whitening in Colombia. The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology , 20 (3), 496-512. https://doi.org/10.1111/jlca.12176
