The American Anthropological Association and the American Association of Physical Anthropologists both maintain the belief that the early overemphasis of differences in humans’ phenotypic traits in the scientific community of the 18th and 19th centuries laid the groundwork for the racial categorizations that society still clings to long after these early scientific beliefs have been denounced by a majority of the scientific community. It is even stated by the American Anthropological Association that racial groups only differ from one another by about 6% of their genes, while the most variation in genes actually lies within each group. The early scientific community that learned based on what could be readily perceived and equated what they did not know with divine purpose, an oversimplified justification for the variation in human beings was bound to be one that favored those in power. Those who had power felt vindicated by this power, clinging to the belief that it was handed down to them from divinity due to their superior status. Those who did not have power and were continually told that they were less than were unable to move out of this position after this social structure took form. With our deeper understanding of genetics and the theory of evolution in contemporary science, the factors that have always divided us can now be understood and explained. It is through this explanation of the true nature of our differences that anthropologists seek to denounce the antiquated understandings of race for the betterment of society. In the end, anthropologists would like to make clearer to the general public that we are all much more alike than we are different. Our non-physical differences are a product of perpetuated social norms and our physical differences in regards to any one specific trait can be viewed on a spectrum, rather than with dividing lines.

I found the point made by the American Association of Physical Anthropologists on the diminishing of differences between human groups to be particularly fascinating. From our lecture, we learned that variations in skin color were due to the geographical location of populations and the amount of UV radiation they were exposed to. In a high UV environment, darker skin helped protect humans from sun-burn related illnesses. In low UV environments, lighter skin helped humans to produce enough vitamin D from the sun to avoid vitamin D deficiency. It is interesting that by looking at the variation of skin color we can see the mark that the sun left on our ancestors as a primitive selective pressure. After humans began to migrate and find other humans in different parts of the world, intermixing of the genes controlling skin color began, leading to even more variation in skin color that was no longer based solely on selective pressures. Today, we can observe differences in skin color on a spectrum and the selective pressure that first caused these differences has a much less extreme effect on human beings, as we have invented things such as sunscreen and vitamin D supplements. Coupling this reduced environmental pressure with the increased mobility of humans around the globe which leads to more intermixing could eventually lead to a human race that begins to look much more homogenous.