 | This page in a nutshell: Racial descriptors should be avoided in favor of neutral ethnic group-based descriptors. |
This guideline contains website naming conventions on racial descriptors used to describe people.
Racial descriptors
editHow to refer to, list and categorize a person or group on Wikipedia is determined by the term that the person or group usually uses for themselves (an endonym) rather than any term an outsider(s) may apply to that person or group (an exonym). This is typically their own ethnic group name (e.g. Pumi people).
Racial descriptors are discouraged, particularly if they are regarded as pejorative by group members or if they otherwise conflict with a group's general self-view.
Ethnic groups are commonly used to describe groups of people on Wikipedia; however, race is not. Exceptions are in articles about racial social constructs (e.g. White people, Black people, Brown (racial classification), or pages within Category:Historical definitions of race). Ethnic groups may be used to describe groups of people even if race is a stereotypical characteristic used to describe the ethnic group in their particular country (e.g. White South Africans, Black British). As the racial classification of humans is a social construct specific to the society in which it is constructed, such racial descriptors are subjective and therefore non-neutral and less precise when applied to global groups of people. See Lists of ethnic groups for groups that are typically considered ethnic groups rather than races.
If there is a discrepancy between how a person most frequently refers to himself/herself and how his/her own ethnic group typically self-identifies, the ethnic group's self-designation takes precedence and should be used. For example, a Tamil man who may often refer to himself as "black" (an ambiguous term) should instead be identified as "Tamil" only since his personal view is anomalous within the context of the larger Tamil population's self-view.
Use specific ethnic group or nationality terminology, unless a broader geographic grouping is appropriate. For example, describe people from Nigeria, Ethiopia and Egypt (countries in Africa) as Nigerian, Ethiopian and Egyptian rather than African. However, it may sometimes be appropriate to use continental descriptors to describe groups of people who are natives or inhabitants of specific continents, or have ancestors from specific continents, where the meaning of the continental descriptor is clear.
Titles of articles
editWikipedia articles about peoples, ethnicities and tribes should be titled in accordance with the naming conventions described above and WP:ETHNICGROUP. Furthermore, articles should be named according to the common English-language term for that population. If the group's endonym (self-name) is commonly used in English, it would be the best article title.
Titles of categories, lists and navigation templates
editCategories, lists, and navigation templates are different yet complementary systems of grouping and organizing Wikipedia articles. As with articles, such grouping systems should be titled in accordance with the naming conventions described above in addition to other relevant policies and guidelines. For example, we do have Category:Jewish musicians, but we should not have Category:Semitic musicians. Similarly, we have List of African-American inventors (ethnicity-based), but we should not have List of black inventors (race-based).