Hey everybody!
I was surprised and intrigued after reading the statements about race from both the American Anthropological Association as well as the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. The AAA states that historically, race has been defined by much more than physical differences alone. They state that race today in the United States of America is defined as a “social mechanism invented during the 18th century to refer to those populations brought together in colonial America.” It was also “modeled after an ancient theorem of the Great Chain of Being, which posited natural categories on a hierarchy established by God or nature.” In the article written by the AAA, I was very surprised to hear the statement that ninety-four percent of physical variation lies within racial groups and that racial groupings only differ from each other by about six percent. I was shocked that these groups only differ from one another by about six percent because I thought that it would be much larger and different genes.
While reading the article by the AAPA, I learned about their 11 statements regarding race. In summary the include: All humans are a single species of homo sapiens, all groups living in different geographic areas have evolved over the same amount of time, biological differences reflect hereditary factors, great genetic diversity in the human population, and that there are obvious physical differences between populations living in different parts of the world. The article also talks about gene flow and how it affects hereditary characteristics and how they are continually changing.These are only a few of the very important premises the AAPA includes while talking and determining the definition of race. I was surprised to see how detailed this article was and the guidelines they set while defining what race is and who it is applied.
Overall, current definitions of race in America are defined and results from recent migration patterns. I would explain the non-existence of biological race to a person who was unfamiliar with the topic by first addressing the points that all humans are one species, homo sapiens. No matter where we live geographically or how different we look, we know that we have all evolved from that ancestral group over the same amount of time as one another. I would also say that are genes are not much different from one another and we cannot just label something if we have no rules or classification set out for different races. Although we may look different on the outside, we are the same on the inside. It’s kind of like dogs. No matter that breed, they are all one species dogs and should be equal to one another. Race is a very prominent topic in today’s world, but I hope as generations go on, we can teach one another that we are all the same and should be on the same page. We all are the same species, no matter what color hair, skin, size, gender, etc. We need to focus more on US than THEM. Together as one.
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Hello, Pete I really enjoyed reading your post and feel that you made many great points. I think it’s great that race in America today is defined as “social mechanism invented during the 18th century to refer to those populations brought together in colonial America.” I think it’s important for more people to know that race is nonexistent and it was just created to build a hierarchy system. I think it’s good that you would explain to an individual that all humans are one species which is homosapiens. I think this is one of the easiest ways to explain it. Especially because we all come from the same ancestral group. I also think your example of dogs was really useful. I think that it may be easier for individuals to relate to that example as dogs are such a common household pet in America and people may find that example relatable.
I was also surprised that racial groups only differ from each other by about six percent. I guess it makes sense that there is so much similarity between them because unless a lot of people within a group are mating with one another then there would be more similarities within that group. But, as the readings mentioned there is a lot of cross-racial mating today due to how accessible the world has become. I liked how you explained the non-existence of biological race. It is so important to acknowledge that we’re all in this together. Many problems could be resolved if we deconstructed race. I think you made a good point about dogs although people treat dogs differently based on their breed and associate certain behaviors with them.