John O'Groats to Land's End: Racial Equality in Rural Britain? (From Rural Racism, P 36-60, 2004, Neil Chakraborti and Jon Garland, eds. -- See NCJ-208839)

• NCJ Number: 208842
• Author(s): Philomena J. F. de Lima
• Date Published: 2004
• Length: 25 pages
• Sale Source: Willan Publishing
• Publication Format: Book (Hardbound)
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Drawing on a wide range of local and national research, this chapter focuses on the experiences of minority ethnic households in rural Scotland and England.

Abstract

Noting that an important aspect of analyzing the experience of minority ethnic households in rural areas is to reach an understanding of how "rural" is defined, this chapter examines how government definitions focus on population densities and distance from heavily populated urban areas. These definitions miss those features of "rural" life most relevant to ethnic minorities, i.e., the dominance of White residents who have shared a homogeneous culture largely unaffected by changes in urban areas. As used in this chapter, the term "minority ethnic" refers to people sometimes described as the "visible" minorities. These include people of African, Asian, Caribbean, and South American descent, as well as Black British-born citizens and people of mixed cultural or ethnic heritage. The assumption that racialised identities apply primarily to "non-White" people is a feature of the rural mind-set. Research in the Highlands of Scotland has found that a person's "color" continues to play an important role in defining notions of "belonging" and "identity." Evidence, often based on inadequate data sources, suggests that the key features of rural minority ethnic populations are their small numbers, diversity, and lack of concentration. Although evidence suggests that the majority of racial harassment cases involve verbal abuse, there are many incidents that involve property damage and physical attacks. Combatting rural racism has yet to be fully integrated into the national government's rural policy agenda; and where rural racial equality initiatives exist, they tend to operate separately from rural policymaking in general. Initiatives by rural agencies should incorporate the perspectives of rural minority ethnic residents in policy and strategic discussions as well as research. 17 notes and 5 references