gradientlair:

I just read an article about a Black woman named Yolanda Spivey who simply changed her race to “White” (and changed her name to “Bianca White”) on Monster.com and had an interesting (albeit predictable, at least to other Black women and Black men) result: 

At the end of my little experiment, (which lasted a week), Bianca White had received nine phone calls—I received none. Bianca had received a total of seven emails, while I’d only received two, which again happen to have been the same emails Bianca received. Let me also point out that one of the emails that contacted Bianca for a job wanted her to relocate to a different state, all expenses paid, should she be willing to make that commitment. In the end, a total of twenty-four employers looked at Bianca’s resume while only ten looked at mines.

Keep in mind that all of the important information (except name and race) on both resumes were the same. I know her experience is truth. How? Because I did a similar experiment before. More than once, actually. It’s rather comical in how grotesque the result is. Apparently, being White and extroverted makes me damn near orgasmic to employers. Being Black and introverted makes me a social albatross for their company.

Human resources (and honestly, “casting director” in Hollywood…think of the correlations and implications therein) is predominantly staffed by White women. This is statistical fact. They are the gatekeepers. They choose who they want and who they like. As Spivey mentioned:

Other than being chronically out of work, I embarked on this little experiment because of a young woman I met while I was in school. She was a twenty-two-year-old Caucasian woman who, like myself, was about to graduate. She was so excited about a job she had just gotten with a well-known sporting franchise. She had no prior work experience and had applied for a clerical position, but was offered a higher post as an executive manager making close to six figures. I was curious to know how she’d been able to land such a position. She was candid in telling me that the human resource person who’d hired her just “liked” her and told her that she deserved to be in a higher position. The HR person was also Caucasian.

Been there. I have over a decade of watching and experiencing this. I’ve mentioned similar tales before about how I was perceived in a corporate office because I am a Black introvert, how my wages faired when compared to White men and similar experiences.

I don’t know why this is a shock to any Black person in America.

White folks?  Well, they’re shocked that we can speak clearly, so…

Rather than wrongly lump all nomadic peoples under the umbrella term, “gypsy”, here is a guide of appropriate terms to use.

Terms to not use when referring to nomadic people or nomadic sub-ethnic populations:

gypsy [jip-see] noun
Usage note: The term gypsy is a degrading pejorative for persons who belong to the Romani ethnic population. 
A member of a nomadic Indo-Aryan people of generally dark complexion who migrated originally from India & Pakistan, settling in various parts of Asia, Europe, and, most recently, North America.

vagabond [vag-uh-bond] adjective
1. Wandering from place to place without any settled home.
2. Leading an unsettled carefree life.
3. Disreputable, worthless, shiftless.

vagrant [vey-gruhnt] noun
1. A person who wanders about idly and has no permanent home or employment.
2. An idle person without visible means of support, as a tramp or beggar.

drifter [drif-ter] noun
1. A person who goes from place to place, job to job, etc.
2. A boat used in fishing with a drift net.

hobo [hoh-boh] noun
A tramp or vagrant.

tramp [trӕmp] noun
1. A person who travels about on foot, usually with no permanent home, living by begging, doing casual work.
2. A long hard walk.
3. An iron plate on the sole of a boot.
4. (slang) A prostitute or promiscuous girl or woman.

pikey [paiki] noun
Usage note: A slang pejorative used in the United Kingdom to describe members of the Pavee sub-Irish ethnic population; commonly known as Irish Travellers.
1. A vagrant.
2. A member of the underclass (possibly derived from the term turnpike).


Words you should use when referring to nomadic people or nomadic sub-ethnic populations:

nomad [noh-mad] noun
A member of a people or tribe that has no permanent abode but moves about from place to place, usually seasonally and often following a traditional route or circuit according to the state of the pasturage or food supply.


ROMANI
An Indo-Aryan people who migrated from the Rajasthan & Punjab regions of India & what is today part of the nation-state of Pakistan following the invasion of the Persian Muslims and now live primarily in Europe and the Americas.





DOMARI
An Indo-Aryan people who migrated from the Rajasthan & Punjab regions of India & parts of what is now the nation-state of Pakistan shortly after the invasion of the Persian Muslims who now live throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, and across North Africa. Very closely related to the Romani.





HADZA
An ethnic group living in north-central Tanzania in the Great Rift Valley. The language of the Hazda is most closely related to the Khoisan language family, though they are genetically isolated from neighboring ethnic populations. 
 




BANJARA
An ethnic people from the Rajasthan region of India. They live primarily in north-west Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and the Eastern Sindh province. They are divided into two tribes; the Maturia & the Labana.





TURKMEN
A sub group of the ethnic Turkic people who live primarily in Turkmenistan & Afghanistan, northeastern Syria, Iran and Iraq. The language is Turkmen, of the Oghuz dialectal branch of Turkic. It is closely related to Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqui, Gagauz, and Salar.





NUKAK
An ethnic people who live between the Guaviare & Inirida rivers within the Amazon basin in the nation-state of Columbia. The Nukak are seasonally nomadic. Their language is a dialect of the Nadahup language.





PAVEE
Commonly known as Irish Travellers, the Pavee are a sub-ethnic group of Irish who live mostly in the Republic of Ireland & the United Kingdom. The Pavee speak a dialect of the Shelta language, as well as Irish Traveller Cant; which derives from Gaelic.






BEDOUIN
An Arabian sub-ethnic population who live mostly throughout the Arabian Peninsula, as well as in Egypt. The Bedouin are divided into various tribes, each of which generally speaks one of three Arabic dialects; Najdi, Hassaniya, or Bedawi.





YUPIK
The Yupik are a people indigenous to regions of Alaska and the Russian far east. They include the following tribes; Alutiiq, Central Alaskan Yu’pik, Siberian Yupik, and the Nuakan, Chaplino, and Sirenik. The Yupik language is still widely spoken in both Alaska & Russia. There are five Yupik dialects.





HMONG
The Hmong are an ethnic population living in regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, & Thailand. The Hmong have many ethnic sub-divisions & speak their own language; Hmong.





MAASAI
A sub-ethnic group of the Nilotic people living in Kenya & Tanzania. The language they speak is Maa, which is a member of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Many Maasai also speak Swahili & English fluently.





LORI
The Lori are an ethnic population who live in Pakistan & Iran. They are divided into two sub groups; the Sarmas-Lori & the Zabgisgahi. The Lori are speculated to have migrated from India. They speak the Balochi language.





This in no way accounts for all peoples who were ever once or are still nomadic by culture, tradition, oppression, or necessity. Each nomadic population belongs to a certain ethnicity. Certainly, not all nomadic peoples are related, and thus, we cannot be placed under umbrella terms & misappropriated words.

It is most respectful to always ask what a particular individual prefers to be called. Self identification is important to all human beings no matter to which race or ethnicity we belong. Ascribing English adjectives, derogatory terms, or pejoratives from the English language to various nomadic peoples is insulting & ignorant.  

We are more than nomads. We are people; human beings with emotions who identify with & embrace a particular heritage & culture. Please respect us as such.

superhusbandslove asked: Hi, I was just wondering if you have a list of resources for finding out more about pre-colonial Philippine culture, especially with religion. Thanks.

——

(Made Rebloggable by Request)

There’s actually several and they are the primary sources in learning about pre-colonial Philippines. You can find most of them online on this site with English translations. There they have a database of all the volumes of The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, that is a combined composition of all the historical records of the Philippines and our ancestors between those years. There are no written records written by us because we were an oral culture, any stories and important information was passed down orally through each generation. The only things we actually did use our writing was for poems, songs, and short messages with one another. If we did write down any information they were on perishable objects like bamboo or palm leaves, and if not they were on things like the famous Laguna Copperplate, however we haven’t found them yet. Perhaps someday we might find some more written records by us but for now we still haven’t found any besides the Laguna Copperplate, so we must make do with what the early Spaniards wrote about us and the islands, which thankfully they did in some detail or else known of that would be known today. That and also records from neighboring area’s like China and Borneo.

But anyway here are some useful documents that do mention cultural stuff.

- Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas. Miguel de Loarca, June 1582
- Conquest of the island of Luzon. Manila, April 20, 1572
- Customs of the Tagalogs (two relations). Juan de Plasencia, O.S.F.; Manila, October 21 1589
- Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas. Antonio de Morga 1609

There is also William Henry Scott’s book, Barangay: 16th Century Philippine Culture and Society, which is a book based on his studies on those historical records in a more convenient organized book.

As for our indigenous religions they also mention that on there. If you want to read that in a more organized way read William Henry Scott’s book (it’s pretty organized as it’s already laid out for you with different sections like physical appearance, food and farming, trades and commerce, religion, literature and entertainment, etc. ) You can read parts of it online on Google Books, however it’s limited, so once you start reading you will only be able to read a few pages. Once you use your limit then only a few pages are able to be viewed. If you live in the Philippines however they do have a copy that you can borrow and read in the library in Ateneo University and most likely in UP.

You can also look at this site for a brief overview of our indigenous beliefs and practices for someone today interested in reviving them. The website was made by someone who does practice our indigenous beliefs and practices and is geared toward for those interested in reconstructing our indigenous beliefs. If you have any questions about that feel free to message me as I also practice our indigenous beliefs.

Him: What’s his nationality?

Me: American.

Him: No, I mean, what’s his ethnicity?

Me: Chinese, specifically Han Chinese?

Him: So his ethnic background is Asian.

Me: No, that’s his race. 

Him: GAH! That’s what I meant!

Me: Then why didn’t you ask that? 

Race=Sociological Construct, (Black, White, Asian) 
Ethnicity=Socio-cultural background, (also socially constructed,) (Han Chinese, Cajun, African-American, Latino)
Nationality=Country of Origin, (American, French, Chinese, Korean, Mexican, Iranian, ect, ect.)