Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Xenophobia as an inherent barrier to diversity

[Gerald Manata (gmanata2003]

     It is interesting to observe tendencies in us that seem to run counter to 
our xenophobia and ethnocentrism. Example abound. Children born and raised in 
America's post WWll multiethnic and the post 1950's multiracial neighborhoods  
for example, often exhibit very few signs of racial or ethnic bias. By the time 
these children grow up, their childhood multi-racial/ethnic friends have become 
part of their "tribe", cemeted together, instead, by common customs, mores, 
behaviors and memories.
     And then, of course, there is mating.
     Here our instincts defenitely steer us toward diversity. Think of all the 
traders and explorers in history who had no trouble falling in love with 
members of other groups. And then there are all those conquering armies in 
history, whose main incentives for the soldiers was often that, once they had 
killed the enemy troops,  they could mate with their women, who, of course, 
were of a different ethnic or even racial groups. This would sometimes lead to 
a new stable melting pot society. America did not invent this. They have been 
around "since the beginning."

OC611NGC <normangauss [at] charter.net> wrote: 
Xenophobia: Sociobiological explanation (Excerpt from Wikipedia)
"The effects of xenophobia (dislike against the genetically dissimilar 
out-group and nepotistic favoritism towards the genetically similar 
in-group) are analyzed by many sociobiological researchers. Some see it as 
an innate biological response on the part of the evolved human organism in 
inter-group competition. In his famous book, The Ethnic Phenomenon, Pierre 
L. van den Berghe, anthropological professor of the University of 
Washington, discusses the concepts of kin selection, ethnic nepotism, and 
the biologically-rooted tendency of people that are more similar genetically 
to behave more generously toward each other. In Becoming Evil: How Ordinary 
People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing, author James Waller argues that all 
human beings "have an innate, evolution-produced tendency to seek proximity 
to familiar faces because what is unfamiliar is probably dangerous and 
should be avoided. More than two hundred social psychological experiments 
have confirmed the intimate connection between familiarity and fondness. 
This universal human tendency is the foundation for the behavioral 
expressions of ethnocentrism and xenophobia" (Oxford University Press, USA, 
2002, p. 156). Frank Salter, an ethological researcher of the Max Planck 
Institute, deals with similar "taboo" topics in his controversial book, On 
Genetic Interests: Family, Ethnicity and Humanity in An Age of Mass 
Migration; this work has been praised by well-known sociobiology innovator 
E.O. Wilson as "a fresh and deep contribution to the sociobiology of 
humans." Salter posits an "innate group-descent module" in the human mind to 
explain the universal occurrence of ethnic nepotism. In Salter's view, 
favoritism towards one's own ethnicity is an evolutionarily-based 
"objective" value and, from a political science perspective, Salter proposes 
a "universal nationalism", in which all planetary ethnic-based communities 
or nations have the right to preserve their own heritage and 
distinctiveness."

This article mentions ethnocentrism in addition to xenophobia.

"Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the 
perspective of one's own culture. Ethnocentrism often entails the belief 
that one's own race or ethnic group is the most important and/or that some 
or all aspects of its culture are superior to those of other groups. Within 
this ideology, individuals will judge other groups in relation to their own 
particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, 
behaviour, customs, and religion. These ethnic distinctions and 
sub-divisions serve to define each ethnicity's unique cultural identity.[1]

Anthropologists such as Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski argued that any 
human science had to transcend the ethnocentrism of the scientist. Both 
urged anthropologists to conduct ethnographic fieldwork in order to overcome 
their ethnocentrism. Boas developed the principle of cultural relativism and 
Malinowski developed the theory of functionalism as guides for producing 
non-ethnocentric studies of different cultures. The books The Sexual Life of 
Savages, by Malinowski, Patterns of Culture by Ruth Benedict and Coming of 
Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead (two of Boas's students) are classic examples 
of anti-ethnocentric anthropology."

Trying to diversify cohousing communities has merit, but the effort fights 
the natural tendency of like-minded people to cluster and exclude people who 
do not fit in.  Thus the effort to stop the fighting between Protestants and 
Catholics in Northern Ireland, between the Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq, 
between the Serbians and the Croatians, between the Hindus and Muslims, 
between the Arabs and the Jews in the Middle East, between the Christians 
and Jews in Eastern Europe, all illustrate the natural tendency of people to 
cluster and regard themselves as special.  One of the reasons I believe that 
Jews have been persecuted is because of their reluctance to proselytize 
Gentiles and to exclude anybody who does not fit their a priori criteria of 
bona fide Jews.  Christians have welcomed all kinds of people into the fold 
and have thrived because of this.  However, anybody welcomed in must abide 
by the standards of the religion to remain members in good standing.

Norm Gauss











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