Racially Ambiguous Travel Glossary: The Important Key Differences Between BIPOC, BAME, and POC

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This post about racially ambiguous travel initially started off as a mini background information section for my traveling while mixed post that…turned into something not so mini.

In fact, it turned into a whole lil dissertation paper over there so I decided to split it up, at least the background bit, and make it a separate post. Because, let’s get real, you can’t even BEGIN to dissect the different faucets of racially ambiguous travel if you don’t even understand what race and ethnicity are, how they differ, how they can overlap, and what it means when someone is “ambiguous.”

If you already have a good handle on the differences between ethnicity, nationality, and race, then by all means – skip ahead to my traveling while mixed post. That’s where all the JUICE is. But if you’re still feeling your way around the sometimes confusing and ever-changing terminology around race and ethnic identities, and what racially ambiguous travel is, keep reading!

Terminology 101: The Basics

If you only take away ONE thing from this racially ambiguous travel post, make sure it is this:

RACE =/= ETHNICITY =/= NATIONALITY.

Idk why that’s still hard for people to grasp, but here we are. Don’t worry, I’m here to help you with a quick summary. Just keep in mind that I am speaking from an American point of view.

All of thiiiiissss *gestures wildly at the air* is a societal construct, and views and definitions (especially on race) are different around the world.

Nationality:

Literally, your nationality is your citizenship. What that little seal says on your passport. If I had a dollar every time someone asked me what my nationality was, when they really meant race or ethnicity, I would have so much money that they wouldn’t even be close enough to me to ask.

ex: American, Cuban, Korean, Canadian, Venezuelan, Kenyan, French, Jordanian, etc

Nationality can also be inherited, and is the case for many immigrants and children of immigrants. For example, regardless of what a person LOOKS like, let’s say their parents’ nationality was Mexican, but they were born and raised in America. They may choose to identify as Mexican-American, even if they themselves have never been to Mexico and are not a Mexican citizen.

That said, sometimes people do not identify with the nation that is currently governing the land. I say currently because – remember – borders are fake and are subject to change. New countries pop up, old countries dissolve. The world keeps moving.

We can’t forget all of the people whose land were stolen with broken treaties, violent occupation, and silencing and erasure (globally!!!) by the United Nations and allied countries that benefit from it. There are countries, kingdoms, territories, and districts occupied by foreign powers and they have no global say in the matter.

Hawai’i. Palestine. Cyprus. Ukraine. Syria.

All of the Indigenous, First Nation, Native, Inuit, Metis, and Aboriginal lands in the Americas and Australia.

If those people don’t identify as American, or Canadian, or Australian, or whateverr – that’s their prerogative. Regardless of whatever “country” their land is governed by or what passport they hold.

Ethnicity:

A little more in-depth than nationality, your ethnicity is defined by common racial, ancestry, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage (mythology, traditions, cuisine, generational trauma…). It is the culture part of it, which of course can overlap with a person’s nationality and/or race.

ex: Hispanic, Edo, Ilocano, Galician, Navajo, Hmong, Tamils, Māori, Slavic, Zulu, Arab, Jewish, Basque, Aymara, etc

I like to think of ethnicity as your “roots.” That is -of course- a simplified way of thinking, and for sure different regions around the world classify ethnicity differently. But, you get the gist.

Sometimes ethnic groups can be sub-divided (like having different ethnic groups within the overarching Desi community), or overlapping, but I’m not here to nit-pick every detail.

Can you be a certain ethnicity but…not know it?

Because of the global trade of enslaved Africans and Indigenous genocide driven by colonization, many who descended from those peoples, especially in the Americas, do not know their African or Indigenous ethnic roots.

That is why Black, African- or Afro- signifiers have taken the place of a specific ethnicity in the Americas. AND it has developed a true culture of its own.

African-American. Afrolatino. Black Canadian. Afro-Caribbean.

The shared experiences and trauma from people whose ancestors were enslaved created a community from which new foods, traditions, phrases, cultural rules, dialects – heck entire LANGUAGES – developed separately from the general “American/Canadian/etc” (nationality) aspect of their life.

A lot of how the world works today was built on the principal of “anti-Blackness,” and as a result, provided a shared thread that weaved BLACK into an ethnicity.

Well…what about white people?

Notice: white is not an ethnicity.

That is because “white” does not have a singular religious, linguistic, cultural, or ancestry commonality.

What does one white person have in common with another random white person from another country except the color of their skin?

Whiteness is not static. It is INTENTIONALLY vague, so that it can adapt to whatever is necessary to remain dominant over others.

Case in point, Irish people were initially discriminated against in America (for being immigrants, not for their skin color btw). However, it became more beneficial to white supremacy to include Irish people because it placed MORE people into a mindset of anti-Blackness and upholding racist laws in the US.

White is solely a skin color. That’s why I don’t capitalize it (white people – talking about a color/someone’s light skin), whereas I do capitalize Black in reference to its ethnicity standing (Black people – the ethnicity, not necessarily how dark someone’s skin tone is).

Ya dig?

That said, a lot of times (but not always), ethnicity is STRONGLY tied to race, and since this is background info on racially ambiguous travel, let’s get into that next.

Race:

“A category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits.” Like skin color, for example. Race in America is generally classified based on skin color and some common physical traits, usually facial.

ex: Black, Asian, Hawaiian/Polynesian, white…and then “other/whatever else”

THIS IS DIFFERENT FROM YOUR ETHNICITY. You can be Cree…and be white. You can be Hispanic or Latino…and be Asian. You can be Jewish…and be Black.

But on that note, the way America defines race at all is…well, absurd.

And extremely lacking.

Especially the “something else” part, which is a blanket term for (non-white) Indigenous folks (from the Americas), mestizos*, and other “brown” people. For example, many Arab people are not white themselves (racially/physically), but America defines Arab and Middle Eastern ethnicities as white racially. So…

Clearly, the US census has issues with these definitions.

The term mestizos* refers to people who are ethnically Hispanic/Latino with a mix of Indigenous and European (white) racial heritage. BUT, due to colonization, Indigenous culture was (violently) punished and stifled, which forced many people to lose ties to their Indigenous ethnic identity.

Today, at least according to Mexico’s census, Indigenous ethnicity is reserved exclusively for people who have maintained a separate Indigenous (ethnic) identity through language/cultural practices/tribal affiliation/etc.

Since I am neither ethnically Indigenous nor Hispanic/Latine, imma sit over here and stay in my lane about the nuances of those communities, cuz idunno them. I’d suggest following Indigenous community activists, educators, and scholars (from different countries and regions in the Americas!!) if you would like to know more.

So, race is completely all made up and varies immensely depending on where you are. In South Africa for example, “colored” is a legit race, buuut we’ll get into that a little later on.

Mixed? Racially Ambiguous? Biracial? What’s the Difference?

Well, they’re…basically what they sound like. AND – they are all referring to race. How you APPEAR to other people.

Gender is not a binary, and certainly someone’s sex does not dictate their gender (or visa versa) – but for the following examples, I will be using “mom” as the parent who contributes the egg and “dad” as the parent who contributes the sperm to make a human.

In a nutshell, mixed people have biological parents that are from different racial (often overlapping with ethnic) groups. Dats it.

Their mom is Asian and their dad is Black. One parent may be white and the other is Native American. Yanno, whatever. If their parents are each one race (ex: mom is a, dad is b), then that’s where the term biracial comes from. That person is a AND b- two races.

If that person’s parents are more than one race (ex: mom is a and b, and their dad is c), then that person is multiracial – technically more than one race, but typically used in reference to 3+.

So then….what does it mean when someone is racially ambiguous? This IS a supplemental piece on racially ambiguous travel after all. Yeah, yeah, I’m getting to it, I promise.

Well, racially ambiguous just means that it may be difficult to place someone based on their physical features. Because, again, race is PHYSICAL.

So when someone’s appearance deviates from the distinct characteristics that may be associated with certain races (skin tone, nose shape, eye shape/color, facial structure, lip fullness, hair texture, etc), then it might be hard to “place” that person.

Most people may assume that a racially ambiguous person is mixed – but that’s not always the case.

Obviously, humans come in all shapes, sizes, and skin tones. That INCLUDES within race. A Black person with lighter skin or eyes doesn’t mean they are mixed. Someone can be racially ambiguous and NOT be mixed.

Similarly, there is no ONE way that a mixed person will look.

A mixed person does not always look HALF the characteristics of one race and HALF of the other. Their skin tone will not always be exactly in-between the skin tones of their parents. A mixed person may not look racially ambiguous at all. They may just look like the race of ONE of their parents.

Genetics, man.

So then What is White-Passing?

When we talk about racially ambiguous travel, the term white-passing always comes up. From an American stand-point , which I believe an American came up with the term (but don’t quote me), white-passing is when someone from a historically non-white ethnic group physically looks white to a majority of people. Although it does not EXCLUSIVELY happen to mixed people, that’s typically the case.

I think the most pop-culture relevant example is probably Halsey, an American music artist. Her mother is white, with Italian, Hungarian, and Irish ethnic heritage, and her father is Black (African-American). So ethnically, yes, Halsey is Black (and Italian, and Hungarian, and Irish), and she grew up immersed in Black culture with her Black family. But physically, she looks white. Similarly, Pete Wentz, Vin Diesel, Wentworth Miller.

In the sense of racially ambiguous travel, if Halsey goes somewhere where no one knows her, they would assume her ethnicity is NOT Black (and probably treat her accordingly). I’m not in the business of defining anyone else’s identity, but a word to everyone: you don’t KNOW someone’s ethnicity, so don’t speak for them. But at the same time, racially ambiguous folk, be aware that the world treats you differently because of your physical traits – especially white-passing people – so know when it’s appropriate to let someone else speak on an issue.

How do those categories affect racially ambiguous travel?

Race affects the way we move through the world, both domestically and abroad. Depending on where you travel, your race can be the factor that tells locals you are (probably) a tourist – and that’s not inherently good or bad.

But for someone who is racially ambiguous, physically, they are often seen as an outside category. An other. There is a moment of limbo for racially ambiguous travel, where someone’s brain slowly sifts through their “human race” catalogue to try to place and associate this “unknown” individual.

In that way, racially ambiguous travel is extremely individual – even each individual situation and person “assessing,” depending on what their brain finally lands on.

In general, I think (American) society is starting to open up to the ideas of expanding and changing labels – even getting rid of some entirely – in an effort to make life more inclusive, welcoming, and accepting.

So that people don’t have to feel “othered.”

However, societal views and ACTUAL legal jargon/government action are two highly different things. Racial categories that were once commonplace to describe people that are offensive NOW (e.g. mulatto, savage [in reference to Indigenous people], Negro) are still used in US constitutions. I mean, they were offensive THEN too, but yanno.

So then, what DO we call non-white people?

Er…aside from how THEY identify themselves you mean?

In the US, there are a tonnnn of groups and acronyms and words used to refer to “non-white” people as a group. Minority. Ethnic. People of color (a non-white color that is). Like, what do the first two even mean?? There is literally a grocery store aisle just called “ethnic foods.” Super umbrella term.

We could spend days here, so I’m just going to quickly bullet some of the most common race terminology to give you a glossary of understanding.

Acronym Glossary

• Minority: what the US refers to anyone who isn’t “standard” cough white-cis-straight cough American, though usually colloquially in reference to race or ethnicity.
• URM: stands for “underrepresented minority,” and is more commonly used to include communities that are not race-specific, such as the LGBTQ2SAI+ community.
• Ethnic: a more ambiguous way to refer to someone not-white or having a non-European/Anglo ethnicity.
• Mulatto: an outdated way to label people of mixed race (usually when someone is Black + something else).
• African-American: refers to people in the United States who have ethnic origins to Africa. In contrast to Black-American, used for/by Black Americans who do not identify with a particular ethnicity in Africa.
• ADOS: stands for “American Descendant of Slavery,” and is actually a group that coined this term to more firmly highlight the essence of Black/African-American ethnicity in contrast to Black Americans who have immigrated from another country.
• AAPI: stands for “Asian American and Pacific Islander,” can also be seen as APA (Asian-Pacific Islander).
• Diaspora: the voluntary or forcible movement of people from their homelands into new regions
• POC: stands for “Person of Color” – a more updated version of “ethnic.”
• WOC: person of color, but also a woman
• BIPOC: a more recent updated version of POC, BIPOC stands for “Black, Indigenous, [and/or] person of color.” It specifically mentions Indigenous persons (who may or may not racially be “of color” but face ethnic discrimination).
• D&I: stands for “diversity and inclusion.” Diversity refers to a range of WHO (race/ethnicity, gender, disability, economic class, etc) and inclusion is HOW or what is being done to make the space accommodating, accessible, comfortable, and/or welcoming.
• DEI: stands for “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” with equity meaning fair and impartial treatment without bias.
• BAME: stands for “Black, Asian and minority ethnic.” (used primarily in the UK and not in the US).
• QPOC: stands for “queer people of color,” commonly used in the UK and Canada (also seen as QTIPOC which includes trans and intersex).
• Racialized people: used in Canada as a term for “non-white” people, but recognizing the race is completely a social construct.

Why are there so many terms for “non-white” people?

I think NPR sums up the WHY behind the sheer amount and constant changing of terminology when referring to non-white racial groups.

Pejoration.

But also, language is fluid.

Also, it’s made up.

As society and its views change, the language around it changes as well. When “Negro” fell out of popularity in social use, it was replaced by “colored,” and then “African-American/Black.”

The same happened to Native American and Asian people (who have socially and legally been…called more offensive things). Note that those offensive terms are still in government and legal use, but I digress.

Our language around race continues to grow and constantly change in an effort to be more inclusive. From just lumping people together as “minorities,” we moved to…lumping them together as “POC,” and THEN to “BIPOC” to emphasize the distinct ethnic experiences of Black and Indigenous peoples that are different than other POC.

That said, note that the term for white people has never really changed. They’ve always just been white.

Why is that?

It’s because “white” has never been associated with something offensive with institutional discrimination and prejudice.

And on that note:

Let’s go back to pejoration

Honestly, it’s because our institution (I’m talking American specifically here), is uncomfortable directly mentioning race. Probably because if that institution mentions RACE, then they’d have to acknowledge that it itself was created to uphold white ideology and white supremacy.

I’ve literally had someone ask me if it was “okay” to say the word Black, or to mention a Black person as BLACK.

In my head, I’m like…”how else would you describe their race? Would you really say they were a BIPOC person??”

Specifically, I have seen the way non-Black people squirm and dance around the words that denote race, especially when referring to someone who is Black, and that is because of pejoration.

Pejoration is when a word is so often used in the same air as something negative, then the word itself begins to take on that negative connotation. Guilty by association. It’s like correlation, but for linguistics.

So when the media is constantly going on about propaganda of BLACK on BLACK CRIME and BLACK people who are on WELFARE and VIOLENT BLACK GANGS who deal DRUGS and BLACK UNEMPLOYMENT RATES…

People started association BLACK with “negative.” Which…leads to people not wanting to use the word Black out of fear of it being “negative” in context.

So instead, they use more generic terms such as *~*diverse or BIPOC*~*

If you know who you are specifically referring to – just say that.

Racially Ambiguous Travel Terminology: Conclusion

So how does all of this relate back to racially ambiguous travel?

(See, I told you we would eventually loop back around)

When we talk about race in the travel industry, it’s important that we are clear by using clear terminology. It’s also important to know what the terminology is as readers so that we can engage and participate in those conversations.

When we talk about race in terms of travel, we should also be aware of racially ambiguous travel, people who cannot be easily grouped into one of these glossary terms. If you are talking about Black travelers, do you mean what is “Black” to YOU? What if someone is Indigenous but doesn’t “look” Indigenous? Are you leaving out racially ambiguous travel when you address concerns?

I mentioned earlier that this glossary was originally meant just for my traveling while mixed post which is all about racially ambiguous travel (def go read that one after), but while I was writing all of this out, I realized that it would be a good reference for anyone’s blog post! If you are a blogger, feel free to link to it!

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