Hyperdescent is the practice of classifying a child of mixed Race classification of human beings race ancestry in the more socially dominant of the parent s races. Hyperdescent is the opposite of hypodescent the practice of classifying a child of mixed race ancestry in the more socially subordinate parental race . Both hyperdescent and hypodescent vary from other methods of determining lineage, such as patrilineality and matrilineality . Examples of hyperdescent Brazil is an example of a country with a history of European slavery of black Africans somewhat analogous to that of the United States of America . However, while for African American black Americans , hypodescent became the dominant rule for determining lineage, in Brazil, the practice of hyperdescent was followed. Thomas e. Skidmore, in Black into White Race and Nationality in Brazilian Thought explains that many of Brazilian elite encouraged a national process of whitening through miscegenation . Skidmore writes, In fact, miscegenation did not arouse the instinctive opposition of the white elite in Brazil. On the contrary, it was a well recognized and tacitly condoned process by which a few mixed bloods almost invariably light mulattoes had risen to the top of the social and political hierarchy. p. 55 Hyperdescent is the rule in the rest of Latin America as well. The mestizo populations of Latin America usually consider themselves to be of European culture rather than Indigenous peoples of the Americas American Indian . This is also apparent in the United States , where the practice of hypodescent is the rule among the non Hispanic population contrasting with hyperdescent among Hispanics. Nearly half of U.S. Hispanics called themselves white in the 2000 Census, along with 80 of the population of Puerto Rico. Non ... 90 of Hispanics and non Hispanic white . Hyperdescent was also practiced by the Arabs when they overran ... ancestry. Or date January 2009 Another example of hyperdescent is in Iceland , which was populated ... more details
In societies that regard some race classification of human beings race s of people as dominant or superior and others as subordinate or inferior, hypodescent is the automatic assignment of children of a mixed union or mating between members of different socioeconomic groups or ethnic groups to the group that is considered subordinate or inferior. ref http highered.mcgraw hill.com sites 0072500506 student view0 chapter5 faqs.html What is hypodescent? , Human Diversity and Race Conrad P. Kottak, Cultural Anthropology, Online Learning, McGraw Hill, accessed 21 Apr 2010 ref The opposite practice is hyperdescent , in which children are assigned to the race that is considered dominant or superior. Parallel practices include agnatic descent and cognatic descent , which assign race according to the father or mother, respectively, without regard to the race of the other parent. Since either parent or both might be of mixed race, hypo and hyper descent can operate in tandem with, or separately from, a system of agnatic or cognatic racial assignment. History The American practice of applying a rule of hypodescent began its development in the colonies, as slavery was established. But, it developed in its most strict legal definitions and application after the end of slavery in the early 20th century. After the Reconstruction era , white Democrats regained power in southern states and reasserted white political supremacy through the passage of Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era United States disfranchising legislation and constitutional amendments, as well as Jim Crow laws, including racial Racial segregation segregation . States followed this with more stringent laws classifying more persons as black based on traceable or any ancestry. For example, in 1822 Virginia, a person was considered legally white with up to one fourth African ancestry equivalent to one grandparent . Under its Racial Integrity Act of 1924, Virginia defined as black a person with any known African a ... more details
as, a member of the prominent parent s ethnicity. See Hyperdescent and Hypodescent . Because of this, the term ..., as demonstrated by the fact that many persons were assigned a caste based on hyperdescent or hypodescent ... more details
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