themark

Every place in the world seems to have a grim past when it comes to racism. What about Panama? What's Panama's history with racism?

Lalaguayaba

As usual, check a book or the Wikipedia for the history of Panama and racism; in a nutshell, most Spanish colonies are noted for early prejudice against black slaves and the native Indian tribes. As time wore on and intermarriage became common, an entire vocabulary was developed to describe just how much black or Indian blood a person had, and on which parental side it was contained. Since the mid-1800's, there have been large populations of Japanese and Chinese moved to South and Central America--to the point where Peru and Brazil have the largest concentrations of ethnic Japanese outside of the original islands. Just do quick searches for Afro-Caribbean population, Asians in Latin America, Afrobrazilians, Spanish conquest and intermarriage, etc. and see what pops up. You'll find some interesting stats, like that Argentina is 98% white due to the fact the mass influx of German, Russian and English settlers over the past 200 years have made it the largest Spanish-speaking Anglo country in the world.
You can also just make sure that you look carefully at what has already been posted in the forum: http://www.panamaforum.com/living-pa...on-panama.html

Happy hunting.

Cheers.

themark

Thanks for the tips. I had not idea that Argentina is 98% white.

mikebikeboy

it's not 98% white. this is a misconception based on different countries defining the term "white" in different ways.

in the US, "white" typically means english, scottish, or irish and places like norway...basically people with pale pale skin and eyes with lots of different colors.

in argentina, "white" means someone who has light skin. So, a "white" person in argentina is often of hispanic heritage or italian or spanish.

hope I helped. if i'm wrong please correct me. thanks

Lalaguayaba

Yes, Mikebikeboy--that is exactly what I meant. If you are white, of any European extraction, you are still 'White.' The problem is that most Americans confuse the issue of being a European Hispanic with being Mexican or from somewhere else in Central/South America where the population is heavily mixed with local Indian populations.

"White" means the same thing in the U.S.--light skin, that's it. 'White' is considered as 'Caucasian' is, not a factor of where you're from, be it the UK/Scandanavia/Germany/Spain/France--but what shade your skin is...stupid, but still used in demographics research.

Just to further confuse the issue, those of middle eastern Arab or other Semetic decent are also grouped as 'White,' regardless of skin-color.

Cheers.

mikebikeboy

I find it so odd how people are grouped, especially since most people are mixed race. Even if you are mixed with different "white" bloods, say English and Norwegian, you are still technically mixed race.

I consider myself mixed even though out in the public people see me as white. I'm scottish on my dad's side and native american on my mom's. both sides of my family practice their respecitve cultures.

i guess it's human nature to group people according to what they look like or whatever but it's too bad it causes problems...

Panamax

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"Few cities in Latin America can match the diversity, cosmopolitanism and sheer energy of Panama City..." - THE ROUGH GUIDE