Race and Ethnicity or Racialized Ethnicities?

The traditional distinction between race and ethnicity is considered highly problematic. In the literature, ethnicity is frequently assumed to be the cultural identity of a group within a nation state while race is assumed to be the biological and/or cultural essentialization/naturalization of a group based on a hierarchy of superiority and inferiority related to the biological constitution of their bodies. It is posited that, depending on the context of power relations involved, there are ‘racialized ethnicities’ and/or ‘ethnicized races.’ The racialization of Puerto Rican identity in New York City is an example of the former and the use of racial categories such as ‘black’ as an ethnic identity is an example of the latter. By using the notion of coloniality of power, this article attempts to justify the use of the notion ‘racial/ethnic identity’ rather than using these concepts as separate or autonomous categories.