Professional Documents
Culture Documents
DIVERISTY
Is “race” a myth?
Questions about “Seeing Daylight”
Are the Tlingit a
race?
If not, to what race
do they belong?
What do we mean
when we the word
“race?”
Race is a biological concept
Race is a
geographically (hence,
reproductively)
isolated subdivision of
a species, or
subspecies.
If reproductive
isolation lasts long
enough, then a new
species is produced.
Do human “races” exist?
Human populations have not been
reproductively isolated long enough
to have developed into biological
races.
Early human classification into races
have been dependent solely on the
evaluation of phenotype (manifest
biology—appearance, skin color, hair
texture, etc.).
The “Standard” Geographical
Groupings of Races
Negroid or African—Africa.
Caucasoid—Eurasia.
Mongoloid—Asia and Americas.
Australoid—Australia and Oceania.
Each group is based on differences in
appearance (skin color, hair texture,
body form, etc.)
Geographic “types” are ambiguous
Only 6% of human genes account for
the phenotypical differences seen
between “races.”
Greater overall variation exists within
each “racial” grouping than between
such groups.
The phenotypic traits that do exist
are largely adaptive in nature.
Distribution of Type “O” blood
How does the previous map
compare with the Biasutti Skin
Color Map?
Look at Map 9 in your atlas. If
human races were as distinct as
many have assumed, should
shouldn’t there be some correlation
between skin color and blood type?
Skin color is a function of melanin
production in the dermis layer of the
skin. Skin coloring is adaptive.
Skin pigmentation, Vitamin D, and
survival
Vitamin D not common in nature; the
human body synthesizes it in the skin with
the help of ultraviolet radiation.
Vitamin D is necessary for directing the
body’s use of calcium.
Too much Vitamin D is toxic; too little will
result in debilitating bone disease.
Skin pigmentation levels monitors Vitamin
D production.
Dark skin protects skin from
excessive ultraviolet radiation
Northern populations, with little
sunlight, require minimal
pigmentation to produce Vitamin D.
Tropical populations require
protection from too much ultraviolet
radiation and too much Vitamin D.
Light skinned people are maladapted
for tropical areas.
Summary about human variation
Human variation essential for survival
of the species.
Some differences attributed to “races”
the result of biological adaptive
response to climate to certain regions
of the world.
Humans groups have never been
isolated long enough to form true
biological races.
Social Constructions of Race
Social races are groups assumed to have
true biological differences based on
culturally arbitrary rather than scientific
assessment.
Examples: “blacks” and “whites.” What is a
“black race?” A “white race?”
Racial categorization in American culture:
A child of mixed parents (one black and one
white) is socially labeled as black, even
though genetically, the child could just as
easily be considered white (genotype
50/50).
Rule of Hypodescent
Descent is the assignment of social identity
based on ancestory.
Hypodescent is the American cultural
practice of placing the children of parents
representing different groups (“mixed
marriages”) in the minority status.
Example: Louisiana law states that anyone
with 1/32nd black ancestry is legally black.
The Pervasiveness of Hypodescent
The flap over Miss
Saigon for the New
York production:
Jonathan Pryce, a
“caucasian” actor,
could not play the
role of a
French/Vietnamese
pimp. The actor
needed to be
“Asian.”
Race and the U.S. Census
Race tracked in the
U.S. since 1790, since
slaves counted as 3/5th
of a white person and
Indians were not
taxed.
New census has a
place for considering
multiple racial
affiliations.
Canada: visible
minorities vs. “race”
Hypodescent in Japan
“Pure” Japanese 90% of the
population.
Japanese say Koreans “smell
different.”
Burakumin, although genetically
indistinguishable from other
Japanese, are considered unclean,
and segregated into separate
communities.
Other approaches toward “race”:
Brazil
Brazilians use up to 500 different
racial labels.
Class status, though, is based on skin
color.
Dark skin suggests hard labor, but
“money lightens.”
Brazil lacks racial aversion.
In spite of racial admixture,
hypodescent never developed.
“Race” and Intelligence
19th century arguments for racial
superiority have survived to some degree
(Nazi Germany’s pure “Aryan race.”).
Class-based societies perpetuate the
myths, in part to fuel segregation and
domination.
Poverty=minority=unintelligent has been
reinforced by unscientific testing.
Culture and environment appear to be the
factors at work, not innate intellectual
potential.
Conclusions
A great level of human biological diversity
exists, although more variation occurs
within geographical groups than between.
Most social definitions of race are based on
phenotype, although some may be
mythological.
Innate intelligence varies from individual to
individual, irrespective of ancestry. Most
testing has cultural bias.